Barnes & Noble: The Return of the Pre-Order

In the latest — and hopefully final — chapter of the Barnes & Noble exclusive pre-order for the Tori Amos – Live From the Artists Den DVD, several people (including myself) have received 30 day extension approval requests from B&N. In the note, they apologize for being unable to fulfill the pre-order and explains that unless ones approves the extension within 24 hours, the order will be canceled.

This is all very mysterious as several others canceled their pre-orders, reordered the DVD and have already gotten shipment notices!

However, a quick call to their customer service number shed some light on the mystery: turns out that the pre-orders are shipped from one location where they do not have the DVD in stock. Meanwhile, new orders were being shipped from another location where the item is. Why they couldn’t just automatically change the source location for the pre-orders, the world may never know…but it does mean that those who are still hanging on to your pre-orders, you might as well re-order (or pick up a copy at a store) and, once you get a shipment notice, go ahead and cancel the pre-order.

Barnes & Noble Canceling Some Artists Den DVD Pre-orders

Despite our hope that the shipment delay notices we reported on earlier this week did not foreshadow problems with the Tori Amos: Live From the Artists Den DVD pre-order, it sadly seems that this has not turned out to be the case.

Many people have let us know they received order cancellation notices from Barnes & Noble today saying that they will be unable to fulfill the pre-order. Mind you, not everyone has gotten these notices and, in fact, a few have either received their pre-order or at least have gotten a shipment notice since the delay notice. (For those keeping score at home, I’ve yet to receive either a shipment or cancellation notice since the delay e-mail earlier this week.)

Meanwhile, many Barnes & Noble stores continue to have the title in stock (and more than a few people who got the delay notice have canceled their pre-orders and picked the DVD up at the store) so it appears to be a case of Barnes & Noble taking more pre-orders than they could deliver on.

Update: The DVD can still be ordered online from Barnes & Noble and at least one person has reported getting a shipment notice already! Stranger and stranger…

If we get any information about this from either Barnes & Noble or The Artists Den about this situation, we’ll pass the details along.

Thanks to the many of you who got in touch with us about this matter!

Barnes & Noble Artists Den DVD Pre-Order Shipments Delayed

Several people — including myself — have received notices from Barnes & Noble that shipment of their Tori Amos – Live from the Artists Den DVD pre-orders has been delayed. Pre-orders are expected to be 1-5 days late, so it’s not too long of a delay. And, as we’ve heard from more than a few folks who have been purchased the DVD in Barnes & Noble stores, we know copies of the DVD are out there and hope the shipping delay will be minimal and is not indicative of a bigger problem.

In any case, unfortunate as that may be, the actual episode of the program will be airing on PBS stations this week so if you are one of the unlucky folks in the this boat, you should at least be able to watch the show before too long!

The Week of the Artists Den

Just a quick reminder that the episode of Live from the Artists Den featuring Tori is slated to air on PBS stations across the United States during this week. In most markets, the program airs towards the end of the week (Thursday in Philadelphia, Friday in New York City, Sunday in Los Angeles), but check your local PBS station’s listing to make sure.

If you can’t wait that long, a commercial DVD of this performance, which includes two songs not shown during the broadcast, is released today through Barnes & Noble.

Live From The Artists Den DVD Details

Update: Mere minutes after we finished this article, the DVD release details were posted to ToriAmos.com and Everything Tori, along with the pre-order link to Barnes & Noble! Shazam! (Now if we could only get some information about that fabled American Doll Posse tour DVD!)

Several music and entertainment news sites including Altsounds, Lena Lamoray and The Music Slut are now reporting details about the upcoming Tori Amos: Live from the Artists Den DVD release.

According to what appears to be a press release from The Artists Den, the limited edition DVD will be released on July 13th, the same week the episode premieres on public television, with an exclusive pre-order through Barnes & Noble. It’s not clear if Barnes & Noble will be the exclusive retailer for the DVD or not. Other Artists Den releases are available elsewhere so we’d guess that would eventually be the case for this DVD as well but we will have to wait and see.

The release will include all 12 songs performed at the taping (not just the 10 in the broadcast) and also feature an interview conducted by noted music journalist and critic Alan Light, a tour of the Park Avenue Armory’s Veterans Room lead by Tor and the directory of the Armoryi, a hardbound scrapbook featuring behind-the-scenes photos of the event and a history of the venue, and a print of a hand-written postcard by Tori.

As the text of the Lena Lamoray and Altsounds articles is identical, it would seem that their source is a sneak preview press release about the DVD so we would expect an official announcement about this on The Artists Den website and Barnes & Noble to appear soon.

Thanks to six58, Eliot and Armen for the tips!

Update: According to The Artists Den (and despite the claim of Barnes & Noble to the contrary), this DVD is region-free (Region 0) so it will be playable on any DVD player that supports NTSC. Thanks to elasia for doing the legwork to find that out!

Bösendorfer Gives Midwinter Graces Some Love

Bösendorfer has reported on the release of Midwinter Graces, in light of the fact that Tori used Bösendorfer piano while recording the record. The brief article doesn’t reveal any new details and covers many of Tori’s talking points about the album: the Solstice being the celebration of the return of light to the world, her desire to be inclusive and that many of the traditional carols of the season had their starts as drinking songs and sea shanties. Still, it’s good to see them give the record some coverage.

Thanks to Steev and Mark-Alexis for bringing this to our attention!

Little Earthquakes in the News

For an album that is coming up on its 18th birthday — still not old enough to drink in the States at least — Little Earthquakes remains a landmark record that continues to be definitive and singular listen even to this day.

Out magazine has recognized that by naming it one of their 100 Greatest. Gayest Albums (Of All Time). Coming in at #54 (just like last time), Perez Hilton has this to say about the album: “A song has the ability to convey so many emotions, and that’s exactly what this exquisite album does. It takes you on a very powerful journey.” (And while we’re on the topic of Out, keep an eye on their site for a new interview with Tori sometime soon!)

Meanwhile, the latest issue of Rolling Stone mentions an online-only article in which Tori goes through Little Earthquakes track by track. The article does not appear to have been posted yet but we’ll link you to it soon as it shows up — assuming you don’t link yourself there first.

Thanks to Matthew, “Mark-Alexis* and Colleen for catching these!

Pitchfork Disgraces Midwinter Graces

Every year around this time, Pitchfork skewers the worst album covers from the past twelve months on their trident and, as you might have guessed from this article’s title, Midwinter Graces has landed on their 2009 list. It’s all the way down at the bottom — not sure if that makes it #1 or #20 — with the quip, “Just take that Final Fantasy cutscene and run with it, girl!” Perhaps not the jab we’d make but, well, let’s just say the cover wouldn’t make our Best Covers of 2009 list.

Thanks to Astred and the others who brought this to our attention.

Amazon's 25 Days of Free

As part of it’s 25 Days of Free promotion, Amazon.com is giving away a holiday song every day of December up through Christmas. “Snow Angel” from Midwinter Graces is the song of the day for December 2nd and you can pick it up at Amazon — regardless of whether you’ve been naughty or nice!

A Silent Night With You - Video and Single

Hot on the coattails of the “Pink and Glitter” video, AOL Music has added a solo, acoustic performance of “A Silent Night With You” that, as Spinner reports, was recorded in a Los Angeles studio.

Perhaps not coincidentally, “A Silent Night With You” was released as a single in the United Kingdom this week — that’s the cover artwork over there to the right. The single includes two b-sides: acoustic versions of “Pink and Glitter” and “Jeanette, Isabella.” At this point, the single appears to be digitally released only and can be found on iTunes UK, Amazon.co.uk, Play.com and presumably other fine digital outlets.

While we curmudgeons wait for a physical release of the single, everyone can enjoy this live performance of the song, courtesy of AOL:

Thanks to John, Mark-Alexis, Alfred and “Josh* for the tip!