Hunters And Christmas Parties: 20 Years Of Little Earthquakes

In or around New York City? Looking for a good way to get into the mood for the imminent release of Gold Dust? Then head on down to Brooklyn’s Bar Matchless on Wednesday, September 26th and make your way to the back room for “Hunters and Christmas Parties,” a Tori-themed edition of Last Wednesdays at Matchless celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Little Earthquakes.

Host DJ Russ will be joined by special guest DJs Matt Heart Spade and Cherry Magdalene of ADVENTURES[s] to present an evening of music by Tori and related artists as well, and we quote, “themed attire, horses, donut holes, wings, everything.” Who could resist?

The deal gets started at 9:30 PM in Matchless’ back room at 9:30 PM Eastern and, second-best of all, it’s free!

Happy Blogday, Tori!

NME’s Lucy Jones ties together Tori’s birthday and the current political and cultural environment in her post of today on the NME blog, Why We Need Tori Amos’ Outspoken Feminism More Than Ever. Drawing together the threads Pussy Riot, Todd Akin, and George Galloway, Jones presents the themes and messages in Tori’s music as well as her activist roles in founding RAINN and speaking out against sexual assault to make the point that Tori is as relevant today as when she burst onto the music scene twenty years ago.

On the other hand, taking a more personal approach, which we would expect many fellow Toriphiles share, blogger Mary reflects on the significance of Tori on her music in her life. Many thanks to her for sending us the link — and if you have a similar creation to share in honor of Tori’s birthday, please send them in and we’ll append them to this article.

Beth Coulter, 1961-2011

Beth Coulter, a longtime Toriphile and avid member of RDT in its heyday, died New Year’s Eve of brain cancer. She was 50 years old.

Beth — or Bethey, as we knew her — was a ruthless optimist, always fighting for what was right. Even in her last weeks, she went up against the PA housing authority to convince them to let a homeless friend of hers become her live-in caretaker. Ultimately, she won.

Bethey was a historian and writer. A number of her stories and articles are available on her Web site, Fairy Blessings. There, you can read several pieces she wrote about Tori. She also wrote about a fellow Toriphile, Rachel Sinai, who was murdered in 2000.

Until yesterday, Bethey’s Facebook page was active and full of loving goodbyes from people she knew. Unfortunately, her page has been removed or made private since then. However, we caught a quote from Bethey that one of her friends provided, and we’d like to share it:

I would like to teach the world that it is but the end of one journey, and the beginning of an even greater journey. If people can face death with anticipation instead of fear, I will feel I have done what I was meant to. And I hope to repeat Steve Jobs’ final words…“OH WOW, Oh Wow, oh wow…”

Introducing Tori Songs!

Everyone has their favorite Tori songs, whether it’s the one that hooked you on her music in the first place, the one that spoke to you most deeply or the one you just happen to be listening to at any given time, but ever wonder what all those personal lists might add up to if they were mathemagically combined?

Well, wonder no longer!

Toriphiles Daniel and Amanda have done all the work, taking the 50 favorite Tori Amos songs of 57 different fans, punching all that data into their solar-powered ENIAC 5500 and coming up with a composite list of 50 songs…and they’re counting them down as we speak.

Follow along with the countdown on the way to #1 on their tumblog or, if you prefer, on Twitter or Facebook.

Also, ToriSongs has teamed up with fellow fansite Tori’s Maze who are blogging about each song as it is unveiled. The song posts are chronicled in their News & Updates section — definitely worth a look!

Toriphiles-A-Go-Go!

As is often the case, there are many interesting happenings in the Toriphile world that we’d like everyone to be aware of. So, here’s a quick catch-all article to remind everyone of some things we’ve mentioned before as well as to make sure people are aware of some other things that we haven’t.

First, the Tori Amos & Fans Facebook group is assembling a Meet & Greet photo book which will be given to Tori as a gift of remembrance to say “Thank You” for everything that she has given of herself to her fans. If you would like to be included in the book, e-mail your meet & greet photo to psllive@hotmail.com as soon as possible! Please include your name and, if you’d like, a message you’d like included in the book and the date and place the photo was taken. If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet Tori yet, they’re more than happy to accept a photo of yourself with, if you’d like, a caption that saying how you feel about her and her music. You can see the cover that has been created for the book over to the right — pretty impressive looking! If you’d like to be part of the project, e-mail your photograph to Peter and Tammi at the address above as soon as you can!

Second, Haulie Free is pleased to announce that All These Years, a Tori Amos-inspired website for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence she originally created back in 1999, has been relaunched! While the site has gotten a face-lift, it still provides resources and information as well as news and inspiration for survivors. As we know, this is a subject near and dear to Tori’s heart so please support the site and its users.

Finally, a quick reminder that Samantha Hale’s documentary Map The Music which features Tori, along with many other artists, will be broadcast on The Documentary Channel this Thursday, November 24th at 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM Eastern. Additionally, the Kickstarter she started to fund a sequel film is nearing it’s deadline. Check it out and if you like the idea of the project, consider making a donation to help make it happen!

No Meet and Greet At Royal Albert Hall

Due to restrictions at the Royal Albert Hall, there will be no M&G before Wednesday’s London show. This info is directly from Tori’s management.

Help Filmmaker Samantha Hale "Map" Tori's Music

Samantha Hale, director of Map the Music, is raising money so she can head out on the road with Tori this winter to talk to her and her fans about the connections between music and love. To make Map the Music 2, she’s currently raising $5,000 over at Kickstarter. If you pitch in, you can get any number of cool rewards, from a limited-edition DVD of the finished movie to a personal phone call from Hale herself. The deadline to contribute is December 1.

PS22 Chorus Sings "Fearlessness"

They’re just a few weeks into the school year — and just getting to know the music on Night of Hunters — but our favorite kids choir decided to tackle “Fearlessness.” Check it out:

After the performance, some of the kids talk about what they think of the song, as well as their own fears and how they conquered them.

Chorus director Gregg Breinberg reports, “Soloist Faith and her fellow chorus members show amazing depth and soul in this beautiful cover version of Tori’s song, based on the piece “Orientale” from 12 Spanish Dances by classical composer Enrique Granados. Certainly this is a challenging song for a brand new chorus to tackle (these kids are only working together for three weeks!), but somehow the new crew pulls it off (understatement alert!) with a multiple chill-inducing performance.”

Pre-Show Toriphile Gathering: Finland

Tommi Bäckman has arranged a pre-show Tour Opening party for Toriphiles of all ages at Cafe Helsinki before the Night Of Hunters tour kicks off this evening. Cafe Helsinki is located at Urheilukatu 36 (about 200 meters from Ice Hall). There will be food available (no alcohol). The party starts at 15:30. Have fun!

Mapping More Music!

Map The Music, a documentary film about music and the importance of live music to the people who love it, will be broadcast on The Documentary Channel on November 24th! Tori is one of several artists featured in the film, along with Imogen Heap, Cary Brothers, Kate Havnevik, Zoe Keating, Guy Sigsworth of Frou Frou, Rachael Yamagata, and Charlotte Martin.

While we’ve mentioned the film before, if you would like to read more about the film and its creator Samantha Hale who, as it so happens, is also a devoted Toriphile, we recommend that you head on over to Peter Zimmerman’s feature article in Glide which takes a deep and long look at the film and its subject matter.

Check out the “Welcome to Amsterdam” clip Samantha put together for a Tori-colorded taste of what Map The Music is like: