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I added three more sightings to the Dent. The first is an article on Bösendorfers from the Financial Times that includes several Tori quotes. The second is an article in the Washington D.C. bar guide tabloid OnTap about D.C. musicians who made it big. The other is a strange article from The Times of India Online about hickeys!
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Article in the Financial Times about Bösendorfers
There is an article in the October 10, 2003 edition of the Financial Times. The article covers Bösendorfer pianos, and the fact that in celebration of its 175th anniversary, Bösendorfer recently opened its first showroom outside Vienna, called Bösendorfer New York. The article includes quotes from Tori. You can read her quotes below and read the entire article online at news.ft.com. Thanks to Sarah and jeffcfwong for this sighting.
Pop star Tori Amos also has a pair of Bösendorfers - one at home, one for the road. "She's a gorgeous, living, breathing being," says Amos of her traveling piano, which is shipped to accompany her to concerts. When home, Amos plays a 2.8-metre Bösendorfer.
"You have to pick one that matches your personality," she says, "and these pianos are each unique. It's like Stradivarius with his violins, each one is different from the next." And like those of Stradivarius, the sounding parts of Bösendorfer's instruments are made of spruce from Italy's Fiemme Valley.
Bösendorfer pianos are distinctive in several respects. Handcrafted in the classical tradition of Viennese woodworking, the instruments tend to have a rich, earthy sound. The largest model, the "Imperial", was first produced around 1900. At 2.9 metres, it is 18cm longer than Steinway's largest grand pianos and uses spruce, rather than maple, for the rim.
Unlike other piano makers, Bösendorfer uses naturally dried wood (not heat-dried), including Bavarian spruce aged for three years. But the trademark Bösendorfer quirk is the Imperial's nine extra keys in the lowest register, the only piano to diverge from the centuries-old standard 88. The extra keys aided Busoni in his transcription of Bach's organ works and were employed in compositions by Bartok, Debussy and Ravel.
Amos is a fan of the extra keys. "They're my sub-woofers," she says. "In a live show, they have a great effect. The low sound really kicks you in the stomach."
Amos visited the Bösendorfer factory in Vienna recently and was impressed with the workers' artistry. "When you get into the inner Bösendorfer sanctum, the guys have their hands on this precious wood and are looking at naked pin-ups of beautiful women's bodies and listening to Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones. It's not vulgar, though, it's about crafting beautiful instruments with sensuality."
[...]
Amos agrees that choosing an instrument is a matter of personal taste. "When you pick the right piano, it's like a love affair," she says. "Your instrument becomes a family member, only these ones are like great wine, they last for ever. The worms will have eaten me and my Boozy [Bösendorfer] will be sitting there, knowing every one of my secrets."
Tori in OnTap, a Washington D.C. bar guide tabloid
Richard Handal reports:
I picked up the October 2003 issue of On Tap and saw Tori listed in this article about D.C. musicians who made it big, and also in their D.C. music timeline. Funnily enough, I read this in my main Starbucks three blocks from Richard Montgomery High School. Here are links to these items on their website. FWIW, YMMV, etc.:
http://www.ontaponline.com/articles/index.php?id=150
Break Out Bands
Some of the most notable names in the music industry who have capital connections.
Some say there's not a music scene in D.C., but maybe they aren't looking hard enough. This sidebar serves as a guide to some notable names in music with capital connections; artists who help make
Washington one of the best music towns in the country.
Tori Amos
Tori Amos wasn't always the sultry siren of the piano, seducing audiences and holding court to her legions of obsessively dedicated fans. She used to be Myra Ellen Amos, child piano prodigy, youngest student ever at the renowned music conservatory the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She grew up the daughter of a Methodist minister and a housewife in the Maryland suburbs. Either the circumstances of her religious household or expectations of a classical music career influenced her to play her own music, earning her expulsion from Peabody at the age of 11. Amos started playing DC and Baltimore clubs as a teenager, performing jazz and working the piano bar circuit. She left for California in the early '80s, tried her hand at punk with her band Y Kant Tori Read, but ultimately met success and a bigger audience with her solo debut album "Little Earthquakes" in 1992. Amos not only found her own melodies, but built a solid base of admirers that connected with her emotional material, personal (if esoteric) lyrics, hypnotic harmonies, and clearly talented musicianship. Six albums later she still draws a crowd at her piano; she's set to release a 2-disc collection of her work next month.
ALICIA WALLACE
[ . . . ]
http://www.ontaponline.com/articles/index.php?id=151
[ . . . ]
1981
Influential D.C. punk band Black Flag forms. Henry Rollins moves to L.A. with band before forming Rollins Band in 1987.
Ellen Amos graduates Richard Montgomery High as homecoming queen. A decade later, Tori Amos releases "Little Earthquakes."
Rare Essence's first hit single, "Body Moves." With string of hits, group ascends as one of Washington's top go-go bands. Founder and drummer Quentin 'Footz' Davidson, a WAMA Hall of Famer, developed group from southwest Washington neighborhood to draw crowds to festivals at USAir Arena and other national and local venues.
Birchmere moves to Alexandria, as home for bluegrass and acoustic music. With groups like Seldom Scene and Johnson Mountain Boys, Washington becomes known as "Bluegrass Capitol of the World."
[ . . . ]
Bizarre Tori mention in The Times of India Online
The October 12, 2003 edition of The Times of India Online has an article about hickeys being the latest style accessory sported by international celebrities. I promise I am not making this up. You can read part of the article below, including their Tori mention. I will only say that I can never recall seeing Tori with a hickey... You can read the entire article online at timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Thanks to Richard Handal for pointing this out to me.
Brad Pitt's got one. His wife Jennifer Aniston's got one. And so has Believe singer Cher. We're talking about hickeys -- love bites left by pucker power at its most passionate -- and the latest style accessory sported by international celebs. Yes, tattoos and body-piercing are passe -- the really hip crowd wears a hickey in just the 'right' place.
So, gone with the wind are the days when hickeys needed to be hidden from the public eye. "Today, a hickey is planted where it can be seen by everyone," says psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh, MD, "With our consumerist culture, it has become increasingly difficult to display one's individuality through purchases. The psychology behind getting a hickey and flaunting it is that it gets you all the attention you need. In fact, a hickey is just a new way of attracting the spotlight."
Although hickeys started as the exclusive symbol and domain of teenage angst and suburban rebellion, it now seems that everybody is interested. So, celeb such as Robert DeNiro and John Tesh, Dave Grohl and Tori Amos are now sporting hickeys.
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