I have added more reviews and comments about Welcome To Sunny Florida from various Toriphiles.
More Details
The most recently posted reviews are at the top.
From Kevin:
Some corrections and additional info on the specs that someone sent you.
This DVD as it is right now is not in 5.1 surround. It's in 4.1. The center channel is missing. This is a mistake. Other countries apparently have the Center.
For people with Widescreen High Definition Sets, they may want to know that the DVD is not anamorphically encoded.
If people complain to Sony, they will likely fix it the Dolby Digital problem and replace DVDs. If everyone that called also compained about Professional Widow, they might fix that as well. It's clear the original mix was not censored, since the offending words are part of the surround mix (which is mostly used for echo and perhaps some reverb).
Sony has had problems in the past and replaced disks. A recent case, is Bruce Springsteens Live from Barcelona disk 2, which had software problems.
It may do no good on PW, but it would most likely get Dolby Digital track fixed and at the very least make Sony aware that fans prefer it uncensored. I've read posts on Home Theater message boards where people didn't buy the DVD because of the PW issue.
The number for Sony's CS is 1800-255-7514. In NJ its 856-722-8224. Callers will need to tell them the name of the DVD, the catalog number and their DVD Model number.
People should be clear that the 5.1 track is missing the center channel. If they notice other problems, mention them as well.
If they are going to say something about Professional Widow, they should make it clear that the DVD did not say it was a "clean" or edited version.
It takes about 2 weeks for them to get back to you.
From Raena:
I've been reading the reviews and they seem to be focused more on the DVD than the b-sides, so I thought I'd drop you a line on what I feel about Scarlet's *gorgeous* treasures. I think this is the best group of b-sides since the Choirgirl singles. Allsix of them are SO Tori. I feel at home with them completely. Bug a Martini is fun and kind of similar to Don't Make Me Come To Vegas (but even better in myopinion). Tombigbee is rockin. I love hearing (and seeing on the DVD) Tori belt this baby out. I had heard Seaside over the internet a year ago and Itotally adore this simple beauty. Rubies is a misty-eyed song for me... I just imagine Tash's little hand turning inside Tori's belly during this song. *sigh* I LOVE the addition of the acoustic guitar especially during the chorus. My personal favorite and one of my ultimatefavorite songs(along with Siren, Sister Janet and Marianne): Indian Summer. The first time I heard this gem was the live concert version (Aug 2003). It took a little getting used to the studio version, but I have to say that I think this song is one of the most breathtaking and women-empowering songs of all Tori's "girls". The first time I heard the "girls take your hands like you pray" part into the "gently, gently" verse, I burst into tears. Only Tori could write such a song focusing on the energy alive within our bodies, creating bothpleasure and a spiritual connection between the physical and mental. Finally, "another was to pray" is given honor and respect and Tori singsher sogently and beautifully.
So, to finish off, I've been a damn happy toriphile the past two weeks. One of the DVD highlights for me was seeing Tori prepare for her show. Being a performer myself, I completely relate to the neccessity of grounding and centering before a show. I though it was interesting to see her backstage "altar" aligned toward the north direction, which is a common practice in Wicca. Annointing one's self with oil is another commonpagan ritual as well as dancing in a circle. The wholepreparation seemed very magical to me and exactly what I would imagine Tori to do before a performance.My only wish isthatTori tours again soon... to Canada!!
From Gina:
I am watching the new dvd now, and took in the CD for a few days now...my overall impression is that Tori has given fans a gift of something as close to her true self as she can package and put on the shelves....was anyone else as amazed by the moment in the interview where she explains how the songs appear to her and can make themselves tiny? I wish interviewers would spend more time on this sort of stuff with her, she is like a medium for the songs to come through, this gave me chills...I would so love to hear her explain this more. anyhow also the other personalized touches of her family and prayer. I am in awe of how her energy sustains itself throughout the show. I have seen her live a handful of times but it is so much more apparent this close up.
My one year old son is glued to the screen right now for tombigbee, btw...he loves her music and will spin in circles and clap when he hears her. ;-) I love all 6 songs on the hidden treasures cd. Apollo's Frock is awesome, very much reminscient of earlier work. And Ruby is a personal new favorite for me because I went through similar grief while pregnant, wondering how much the baby can sense, how much of your rage they take on or remember in some way. I think the guitar is a great touch on these two songs, as well. Bug A Martini is very cool but I can see why its a bee. They really break it down on this one, though, and its pretty catchy. Indian Summer is a great song to remind us of our spiritual obligation during these crazy times...its so easy to just ignore and comply and be lazy spiritually, or even just confused. This one has alot of power if not a lot of melody...
From Kristy:
WOW is all I can really say about this dvd! I am so happy that it came out so well. I really wasn't expecting the dvd to be as good as it is. I am just going to list some things that I found really amazing about the dvd.
First, I love the format of the dvd. It was filmed like a mini-movie. And I LOVE how we get to see what goes on backstage and behind the scenes. I think that has to be the most interesting part about the dvd, besides Tori playing of course.
Second, the dvd was edited really well. There was a comment about not being able to see much of Tori moving around because of the close-ups, but I have to disagree. There were many close-ups yes, but there were many, many times where you actually got to see Tori play the piano. I mean where she actually was hitting the keys with her fingers. And wow, I knew she could play before this, but to actually see her fingers hit the keys up close is amazing. You can really see this during Cornflake Girl. She is so fast and quick that her fingers don't even look like they touch the keys. Plus, the shots are even kinda edited to the beat of the music which was really interesting. I liked the fact that there were many different kinds of shots and not just one shot for two and a half hours.
Third, and I was really surprised by this, but there are many shots of Tash throughout the dvd in the beginning. But I guess Tori and the film crew were going for the most authentic version of what it is really like to be at a concert behind the scenes. Tash is so adorable, and to me she looks just like Tori. Tori seems to literally light up when Tash is around. Very cute!
Fourth, I loved being able to see the little rituals that Tori does before the show. Tori, Tash and some of the crew do ring around the rosy then Tash gives Tori a kiss goodnight, Tori kneels and prays for a moment, and then Tori, Matt and John put some sort of oil on their wrists and rub them together as a sort of good luck type thing. I am guessing these are all Native American rituals.
Fifth, The actual concert itself is INCREDIBLE! I was fortunate enough to be at that show that night and it was just fantastic to be able to remember it all again. Plus, the sound is so amazingly clear. It is extremely crisp sounding, and the piano sound is so defined during the concert.
Sixth, I love thatduring Cooling Tori gets a little teary eyed. And at the end of the concert during Hey Jupiter Tori kinda bites her lip to hold the tears back. I love those sappy moments.
And finally, the extra features are so fantastic! The photo gallery with Past the Mission is just wonderful. There are some really great pictures from the tour that were chosen for the montage. Also, there are interviews with Tori and with her parents which are very interesting. And the outtakes in the credits are really funny.
The one thing I was hesitant about was the censoring of Professional Widow, but at least you get to see how insane that song was and how Tori really belted it out in the end, granted you can't hear it at the level the rest of the song is at. Oh well, that's record companies for you, always trying to censor stuff. But the beginning of the song where Tori spits the water out on the stageis so awesome. That was the first indication to me that Tori was reallygoing to break it down.
Oh and how could I forget the new songs. The B-sides are truly GORGEOUS! They are all really fantastic. I've been listening to them all day yesterday and today. They are a great edition to my Tori catalogue.
So basically, this is such an INCREDIBLE dvd to own and I am so glad we finally got a dvd from Tori. Now let's hope they never stop coming!
From Bernie (damage_on):
My review of the new Tori package follows-
"Scarlet's Hidden Treasures" CD:
I was really very happy, as all good Toriphiles were, to get not only the three glorious Scarlet B-Sides BUT the other three treasures! I was a little bothered that Mountain was missing, but that was probably the weakest Bee anyway. Seaside is by far one of my all time favorite songs by the Goddess.So delicately arranged is this mournful and important reminder of where we are politically, that a tear always rises when I listen. I got lucky - she did this liveduring show # 1 last summer on her tour with Ben Folds & I was there. The opening notes are reminiscent of the beautiful Merman from years ago. Indian Summer is similar, yet more involved, at least upon initial listening. The blatant reference to President Bush is akin only to the in-your-face F**k You of the newly re-recorded Sweet Dreams on Tales of A Librarian. Tombigbee was such a big concert play for her and the boys this past year (one of the best performanceson the DVD, by the way). I feel like it has been around for a long time. The actual Tombigbee is a river about 644 km (400 mi) long, rising in northeast Mississippi and flowing generally southward through western Alabama to join the Alabama River and form the Mobile River. Given her Native American roots and strong opinions on the rape of the land, Tori's song is clearly a commentary.In the Mississippi River valley of the United States (among other areas),Native American civilizations arose with farming cultures and city-states prior toEuropean colonization. Europeancolonizationfacilitated slavery and causeddisease (among other things):this slowly undermined Native American culture. Ruby ThroughThe Looking Glass is my personal favorite of the three new songs. Not only does sheaddress the nature of gender eloquently, as usual, but she offers a subversive wink to traditional notions ofsaid roles. If one of these songs went to radio for airplay, this is the most commercially friendly. Bug A Martini and Apollo's Frock are complicated and long. Both are similar to older, more sophisticatedsongs of Tori's. They remind me of Yes, Anastasia from Under The Pink and Sister Named Desire, a Bee from the UK Talula single. I need a lot more time with them...to assess them, drink them in. Can't say much more yet.
"Welcome To Sunny Florida" DVD:
I don't have much to add here that hasn't already been said by other Toriphiles. A good product. Everyone is sick of hearing it, I know, but the editing of the words Starfucker, Shit and Cock in the otherwise FLAWLESS performance of the angry, villainous Professional Widow is a CRIME. This should be corrected and re-released. This COMPROMISES THE SONG, as that stupid remix of it did on Tales Of A Librarian, and it restrains the truedemeanor of thisenraged piece of genius. This would be my favorite performance from the DVD if it wasn't for that. Instead, my top7 from the live DVDgoes somethinglike this:
1. Crucify (oh my...she's "never goin' back again" - geez, this is intense stuff) TIED WITH Your Cloud
2. Professional Widow
3. Tombigbee (she rocked this b**ch)
4. Father Lucifer (she's so peaceful here)
5. Leather
6. Concertina (so happy she played something from To Venus And Back...)
7. Cooling TIED WITH Sugar
Also, I must add, when Tori's mother Mary talks about how fans have contacted her and told her how Tori's music has encouraged them to not commit suicide...I....I was just so MOVED. What an effect this woman has.
OVERALL, with 4 stars being the best:
CD - 3.75
DVD - 3
Combined Score: 3.4
Looking forward to the new CD...
From Marc Silva:
Although I very much enjoyed the DVD (but felt it would have been better if Steve Caton was still in the band), I thought that the songs on the CD were somewhat lacking (with the exception of "Seaside"). I don't dislike them, exactly, but usually I think her B-sides are album worthy, and this time I don't think that is the case. The do fit with the whole "Scarlet's Walk" motif, but as far as B-sides are concerned, they just seemed really different from what I have come to expect. Perhaps they I will grow to like them better with repeated listenings.
One final thought - I really wish she would have included "Mountain" on the CD. That was my favorite track from Scarlet's Web. I don't know why it wasn't included, there was certainly space for it.
From Jon:
Posted to the Precious Things mailing list
THE BEST part has to be at the beginning when fans tell how many shows they saw and get interviewed..This one miss thing is like, can that camera take some weight off me, I almost died! Anyhow, lots of behind the scenes backstage stuff. They show her getting ready, they show lots of Tash and then Tori praying to this alter thing before she walks on stage, reminded me of some sort of witchcraft stuff and her and the boys rub oil all over there arms. Kinda weird. The show was great, I think it's a good production although the camera angles missed alot of the best stuff like when she's playing both pianos. They should have just centered it on her and when she switches from the keyboards to the piano with that cute little thrust of her body which is soo sexy. It seemed they kept on her face rather than those moments at the keyboards...grrrr. One of the sexiest moments (for me anyhow) was before Professional Widow when she looked like she was in a trance and took a big gulp of water and then leaned forward and just spit it on the stage...it was HOTT in a way only Tori can do! Another thing is that Pro. Widow was censored, they blocked out shit and fuck, but at the end when she says hard cock...she screamed it so loud that if you have your TV on full blast you can here her say it even though it was trying to be blocked out! I don't know why she did that, because she says pussy in Sugar and Fuck That during her solo time which was not censored..doesn't make any sense and Tori is not one to censor. Tombigbee ROCKED, I watched that performance alone like 3 times in a row, it was wild. I wish she would have done more songs in the Wurlitzer and Rhodes...they have such a unique awesome sound. I'm not gonna give anymore away, but there is lots of great interview stuff including a long interview with her Mother...Hope to hear what others think as well!!
From Troy:
I was able to get my hands on the new DVD last night, and it is simply incredible!! Just wanted to pass on a few comments to you. The tour book section with past the mission is awesome! Great pictures of Tori and the band, and the song is fantastic.
The interludes are awesome!
Next, the interview is great. Unlike the person who said it had a great sense of finality to it, I totally disagree. Tori even said she'd be touring again in 2005!
In a couple of places it shows a close up of her hands, and on her left hand she has some handwriting. I tried to blow it up to see if I could read it, but no luck. Any idea what she could be writing on her hand, since she has set lists everywhere, I wonder if it is lyrics maybe?
Finally, I haven't seen her perform Professional Widow since the Dew Drop Inn tour, so I don't know if she does it every time she performs it or just for the DVD, but she censors herself and never says fuck or shit. Seems kind of odd, since Tori is hardly one for self censorship.
Oh well, that's it! I am sure you are going to love it!!! It was the only Florida show I missed, and am I ever sorry that I did!
From Mike:
Mike reveals a few interesting facts about the CD. He says the main feature runs for 2 and a quarter hours and that the audio mixes are excellent. The interview with Tori lasts for 25 minutes, and there is also an interview with her parents. The video is presented in widescreen, the DD5.1 track is presented at 448KBps while the linear PCM track is at 1536KBps. The tour gallery is a series of stills set to the live version of Past The Mission, which is also presented in both 5.1 and PCM.
