Tori Moves Up On VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music List

VH1’s 100 Greatest Women In Music is being aired this week and, rather than let people wait, they spilled the beans by posting the complete list on their Tuner music blog. As we hoped, Tori does make an appearance on the list, in the 54th spot. Not a bad showing at all and, as she showed up in the 71st spot the last time VH1 produced a series on this subject in 1999, it’s a move upwards.

That position means Tori will be included in tonight’s (Wednesday’s) airing of the show when they cover places #60 through #41. The episode premieres at 10:00 PM Eastern and Pacific with multiple rebroadcasts and, eventually, clips and full episodes on vh1.com. So, if you’re only interested in what they have to say about Ms. Amos, tonight’s is the one to watch.

Needless to say, in a list of 100 greatest anythings, there is bound to be some contention and this one is no exception. There are some surprising omissions and unexpected inclusions, not to mention interesting ordering. In VH1’s defense, they were primarily focused on popular music from the past twenty or so years so some older groundbreakers (Joni Mitchell, Carole King, etc.) were left off while some recent powerhouses (Adele, Nicki Minaj, etc.) slipped on. Personally, we’re not too worked up about it given the nature of these things and are just pleased to see that Tori, despite her dimiinished popularity, remains well-ensconced in the echelons of female performers.

thanks to Jeff for the tip!

VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music Starts Tonight

As we reported earlier, VH1’s 100 Greatest Women In Music premieres this week on VH1.

Based on the press release about the show, we know Tori is one of several industry experts, pop culture commentators and music artists interviewed about who made the list and how the artists ranked and, one hopes, that she placed in the list as well.

The first of the five episode series airs tonight on VH1 at 10:00 PM Eastern and Pacific and the rest will be shown at the same time over the rest of the week. Clips, highlights and eventually full episodes from the series should be available on VH1.com before too long.

Additionally, VH1 is running a poll to crown the greatest female artist as well. Tori’s listed in three of the six categories — All Time, 90s and Pop. If you’re so-inclined (and don’t mind authorizing VH1 to link to a Twitter or Facebook account), cast your vote for Tori there. You can vote as much as you want so go stuff that ballot box.

CNN Newsroom #musicmonday Features Tori

Tori was Brooke Baldwin’s guest for the #musicmonday feature of today’s CNN Newsroom. Taken from an interview done last December during the Night of Hunters tour, the spot features Tori discussing the energy she derives from performing live and accepting her age, characterizing herself as a “classic car” — presumably with restrung wires and polished rims, no doubt!

If, like us, you missed it when it was on, check out the clip on the CNN Newsroom blog — or just watch it below:

Thanks to @adora_boy, @hereinmyhead124 and mkgtweety for the tip!

VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music

According to a press release from VH1, Tori will be one of several industry experts, pop culture critics and music artists offering commentary during VH1’s “100 Greatest Women in Music,” a 5-night special special premiering during the week of February 13th. The series will numerate the top hundred women artists who have made their a mark on the music industry over the past twenty years.

Considering Tori’s career neatly overlaps with the two decades the program is examining, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see her pop up on the list herself — particularly as she did so the last time VH1 did this but, as always, we shall see…

Check it out starting Monday, February 13th at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT. The series concludes on Friday, February 17th.

Thanks to mayfly for the tip!

Shirley Temples At Mr. Henry's - Tori's First Paying Gig

The Guardian’s Nige Tassell talked to a slew of musicians, actors and celebrities about significant firsts in their careers and the responses were compiled in an article that appeared in the January 12th edition of the paper. Our heroine leads off the column, reminiscing about the first time she was played to play live at a gay bar in Georgetown, Washington, DC after leaving The Peabody.

Of course, this may not new news to the seasoned Toriphile but if you haven’t seen this from previous interviews, it’s an amusing little story.

Thanks to Brian and @iammatthewwolf for the link!

Note: the Guardian article got noticed by BANG Showbiz so a repackaged version of her portion of the article has appeared elsewhere as well, such as CTV News and The Times of India.

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Listen To Tori On The World Cafe

If you missed Tori on The World Cafe, which was broadcast on WXPN and other public radio stations in the United States last Friday, January 13th, you can now stream it on npr.org from their extensive audio archive.

The half-hour in-studio appearance included an excellent chat between Tori and WXPN’s Michaela Majoun about Night of Hunters and three live performances: “Nautical Twilight,” “Edge of the Moon,” and “Winter.” (The set list on NPR’s site includes “Cactus Practice” but that was just an album cut played to showcase Tori’s daugter’s Natashya’s voice.) Additionally, a live performance of “Snow Angel,” which was not broadcast, is included as a web extra — the link to that is on the left below the setlist.

While you’re there, take a peek at the other Tori-related audio in NPR’s archive. There’s quite a collection of live performances, studio appearances and interviews going all the way back to 2002.

Happy 20th Birthday Little Earthquakes!

Twenty years ago today, Little Earthquakes, Tori’s debut solo album, was released in the United Kingdom. (It would be another month until the record was available in North America.) For more than a few Toriphiles, these songs were the ones that introduced us to Tori, whether we were lucky enough to hear then them or it was some time afterwards that the record came into our lives. Whether because of the lyrical, emotional or musical components — or some combination thereof — this record enchanted us then and continues to do so today and the songs from it always seem to produce the biggest cheers at her shows.

After its release, Little Earthquakes peaked at #14 in the UK charts, and remained on the charts for 23 weeks. It was certified gold in January 1993, platinum in January 1995, and double platinum in March 1999.

A couple of months after Little Earthquakes made its UK debut, Tori spent an hour chatting with MTV’s John Norris about the album, her decision to move to London to record it, and everything that followed. Here’s a snippet:

The rest of the interview is available over on YouTube, for those who want to spend more time in the Wayback Machine.

As she’s mentioned in several interviews over the past few months, Tori will be observing the anniversary of Little Earthquakes with a collection of her songs recorded with The Metropole Orkest. The career retrospective will revisit songs from throughout her career. At this time, the exact release date is not known but the rumor mill seems to point to it being available in Autumn. (The rumor mill also grinds about the possibility of some tour dates but we’ll have to see how that pans out!)

So, if you have a chance, pull Little Earthquakes out today and give her a spin. It’s a safe bet you’ll both enjoy it!

Update: We weren’t the only folks to observe the 20th anniversary of Little Earthquakes last Friday. NME, one of those everyone-loves-to-hate UK music magazines, featured a look-back at the album on their Popwatch blog while Stereogum cast a reflective eye on the album that puts our little piece on the event to shame. Friend-of-the-Undent Trent Vanegas also put in his two cents about the record’s historical and personal significance over on Pink Is the New Blog. Thanks to Oliver and Chris for the links!

Tori Visits The World Cafe Today

According to upcoming schedule for the NPR radio program The World Cafe, Tori is slated to be David Dye’s guest on today’s program, Friday, January 13th.

The program originates at Philadelphia radio station WXPN and airs there at 2:00 PM Eastern. It is also carried on a plethora of public radio stations, archived at npr.org and available as a podcast so there are plenty of places to check it out once broadcast.

Thanks to Lorna for the tip!

Watch Tori on The Rosie Show

As we all know, Tori did a taping for the The Rosie Show last month while touring to support Night of Hunters and the segment was aired this evening. Tori’s visit to the show took up the second half of the episode and included performances of “Silent All These Years” and “Edge of the Moon” as well as a lengthy chat with Rosie about Night of Hunters and Tash.

All three portions of the appearance have been kindly posted in the video section of The Rosie Show’s website — check them after the jump!

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Your Chance To Catch The "Fab Four"

In case you didn’t get enough of the Apollon Musagète Quartett — Tori’s “Fab Four” — on the Night of Hunters tour, you’re in luck: They’re touring parts of Europe this spring, and will even hit some spots in the UK and Ireland. New Yorkers are in luck: they’ll be at Carnegie Hall in November. For more information, click the link above to their Web site, or follow them on Facebook. Click through the jump to see their upcoming tour dates!

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