Hello -

On occasion I've thought about writing to you for the insightful stories and unblinking look at the world you give me every morning but for various reasons never get around to it.

However, yesterday I felt like I was goosed when Bob Edwards declared there would be an interview with Tori Amos the next day. This morning I could barely keep my head on straight as I got my day started, thinking excitedly(!) about my hour-and-a-quarter long commute wherein I would get to listen to Morning Edition. Of course, the day before Thanksgiving there isn't much traffic and so my commute was just shy of an hour in which I was tantalized with announcement of the upcoming interview no less than three times.

When I pulled in to work I all but flew to my computer and begged it to hurry as it booted up and opened a browser. A few more seconds were spent in agony as RealAudio buffered the stream from KCRW.com (the Santa Monica public radio station that I listen to at 89.9 in my car) and not too soon. I had thought the interview would come at the end of the hour as your art reviews and interviews usually seem to be placed, but this one began about 20 minutes before the hour.

Ah, but what a joy it was to hear the sweet strains of "Crucify" from Tori's first solo album. The Internet certainly loves Tori and I'm only a little surprised you didn't mention A Dent in the Tori Universe where many of us get the latest Tori-news. Also I was surprised that you mentioned the first two albums as doing well, the next "few" as doing not so well and named the last album. The "few" - four albums, one of which is double - have defined and have seen a progression in her growth as an artist. Each one has brought more "obsessive" fans to her side which in many ways has defined her fan base.

It's difficult to explain the draw she has with fans and why we go from being attentive fans to fanatical "Ears with Feet" but the joy and truth she inspires in us is so rare in the world that it's hard to avoid seeing everything she does and says as the words and deeds of a goddess. She is extremely supportive of her own fans' creative endeavors to the point that it is common for her to accept works of art they have created in her honor, and often sporting her image. So when she sidles up to her Bösendorfer, tosses a leg over the side of the bench, throws her head back and whispers to us conspiritorially about boys who aren't up to the challenge of being men, women who aren't so foxy, and just plain being in the wrong band it's very difficult indeed to keep from thinking of her as someone we know personally. We weep silently with her when she confesses her setbacks and holler our triumph when she tells us about leaving the precious things broken in her wake.

For my part I can barely wait until December 18th when she plays the Universal Amphitheatre in Hollywood. I look forward to sitting in the midst of the diverse community Tori brings together - thin, pale goths, girls with homemade wings on their backs, lesbians, frat guys, scrawny white guys of ambiguous sexuality, teeny boppers who've just discovered her and matrons who've been listening to her since Why Kan't Tori Read was released. In Los Angeles it's true the audiences wait to be entertained, and that makes for a tough crowd. But the fans that make a point of going to every single Tori Amos concert they can during a tour until their money runs out (doesn't even matter if you cross state lines a few times) make the experience truly memorable.

So thank you for the little bit of air time you gave her this morning. It's truly appreciated.

Nobody
Los Angeles, CA

what do you plan to do with all your freedom
the new sherrif said quite proud of his badge
you must admit the land is now in good hands
yes time will tell that
you just lift your lamp
-"Scarlet's Walk"
-Tori Amos

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The interview will be archived at NPR. Theoretically you can start listening to now, but it doesn't seem to actually be up yet. It's really darned short for all they didn't talk about, but it got me in a mood to go see her. Still have to wait three weeks. ARgh. *fidget*