Foley's New Book Raises Money For RAINN

Wrestler and Toriphile Mick Foley appeared on the Daily Show this week and talks about his life and work with the ever-awesome Jon Stewart. This interview is full of Tori tidbits — including the fact that Mick is donating half the proceeds from his new book, Countdown to Lockdown, to RAINN. He also shares that he used to listen to one special Tori song before wrestling matches, and talks about his other philanthropic interests. Thanks to the many of you who sent this in:

Celebrate RAINN With(out) Tori In Washington

Update: We’ve received clarification from Tori’s management that she will not be in attendance at this event. Tori is sponsoring it but will not be there. Still, it’s a worthy cause to support so attend if you can and donate if you can’t!

RAINN is celebrating the progress they’ve made fighting sexual assault and supporting victims of sexual assault with a fund-raising event in Washington DC on November 18th. Actress KaDee Strickland and pro wrestler Mick Foley will be the special guests in attendance. If you would like to join them, purchase tickets, or just make a donation to support the organization, at RAINN’s website.

Thanks to Alex F. and @ToriFan247 for pointing this in our direction!

Map The Music: Welcome To Amsterdam

Map the Music, a documentary created by Samantha Hale that celebrates the community-building and healing powers of live music and features Tori, among other artists, is close to selling out of its first pressing!

In honor of this, Sam has posted a new clip featuring footage from Tori’s performance with the Metropole Orchestra last month interleaved with comments from many of the fans in attendance talking about what Tori, her performances and live music in general mean to them.

Check out the video below and, if you like what you see, pick up a copy of the DVD from Insound. If they sell out, they may just have to make more!

Thanks to Chris for the tip!

Happy Halloween From The PS22 Chorus

Friends of the site and Internet darlings, the PS22 Chorus got into the Halloween spirit by covering Tori’s “Hungarian Wedding Song!” The costumed chorus’ performance, which includes some nifty pantomime from two of their members, was posted on YouTube and their blog a few days before Halloween, so this is a bit of a belated boo…but still cute!

Thanks to @kirkland24 for catching this and letting us know!

Rock of Ages Welcomes Tori!

A couple weeks ago—on October 19th to be precise—Tori stopped by the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York to take in a performance of the musical Rock of Ages and to visit with the cast and crew. Theater website Broadway.com reported on her visit and also posted a photo gallery of Tori posing with the various cast members, from which we’ve lifted that there photo to the right where she’s flashing the horns with Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider.

Thanks to @talkingtori for alerting us to this over on Twitter!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Tori Talks (Talked) to Daughtry on Private Sessions

This past weekend, A&E rebroadcast the episode of Private Sessions featuring Daughtry which included a segment in which the band reacts to a question Tori puts to them about the favorite places and haunts they have found while out on the road. In response, the band spends a fair amount of time discussing Tori’s influence on them and, eventually, gets around to addressing the query she put forth.

You can catch the snippet in this YouTube clip; Tori’s question starts around the 4 minute mark.

The episode originally aired on July 19, 2009 — while Daughtry was touring around the same time that Tori was out on the Sinful Attraction Tour.

Room for RAINN in Manchester

Well, this sounds like an amazingly fun event: Toriphiles, including longtime fan Linda, are organizing a benefit party for RAINN on November 6 at Room in Manchester, England. The event will include fan performances, a Tori drag act, canapes, champagne, Tori-themed cocktails, and, of course, a chance to meet fellow Ears With Feet. Everyone who attends will be asked to give a donation, and all the money will go toward RAINN. The event is from 7 to 11 p.m. Those of you on Facebook can see all the details here. Many thanks to H for the tip!

Take A Trip With The Metropole, The Sea Is The Sky

Tonight, Tori performed live with the Metropole Orkest — her first ever concert with orchestral accompaniment — at Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall. This unique event featured several songs that you’d expect, such as “Flying Dutchman” and “Yes, Anastasia,” some that you might not have, such as “Snow Cherries From France” and “Programmable Soda,” and several songs from Midwinter Graces. The full setlist has been posted in the Tour section along with some early reviews from some in attendance and some YouTube videos uploaded by people who should be asleep now! If you were there, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the show and would love to share your photos and video from the performance as well.

Also, extremely good news for those of us who were not able to go to the show: it was recorded! Before playing three songs a second time, Tori indicated that the concert was being recorded for a later radio broadcast. As more details about that surface, we’ll be sure to spread the word.

Thanks to @peterpijpelink for posted the setlist on Twitter and to the folks over on unforumzed for their help with filling in some blanks as the show went along!

The Night Of The Metropole

Tonight’s the night! Tori will be performing with The Metropole Orkest at Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. This promises to be an exciting and unique show as it is her first performance with an orchestra!

The concert starts are 8:15 PM CEST — that’s 10:15 PM in Moscow, 7:15 PM in the UK, 2:15 PM in New York and 11:15 AM in Los Angeles. Check that link above for the exact time in your location.

We’re looking forward to covering it, hopefully as it happens. Keep an eye on our Amsterdam concert page as well as our Twitter.

In The Studio With The Metropole Orkest...

Last weekend, the Metropole Orkest, with whom Tori will be performing in Amsterdam on October 8th, announced on Facebook that they would be in the studio with Tori this week. After some initial confusion, they’ve clarified that they are working on new arrangements of several of Tori’s songs, prepared by John Philip Shenale, one of Tori’s long-time collaborators, especially for the performance.

It’s still not clear whether or not these sessions are for a studio release or are just rehearsal recordings to work out the kinks for the performance. While the latter does seem more likely at this point, the Orkest has released orchestral albums of the music of pop musicians. For instance, Moke, a Dutch band who will be performing with the Metropole the night after Tori’s concert, will be releasing an album recorded with them earlier this year. So, it certainly is possible that a commercial release with Tori will evolve out of this project but whether one does or not remains to be seen.

In any case, keep an eye on the Orkest’s Facebook and Twitter as they have been posting updates and some photos from their time in the studio this week.

Update: More clarification from the Metropole Orkest about this week’s studio sessions:

To all you Tori fans out there let’s clear one thing up, we’re only rehearsing for next weeks’ concert. So don’t get your hopes up for a new CD!