Some fascinating new content has recently been added to the Toriphoria web site. Jason, who runs the site, has uploaded screen shots and an MP3 sound file of Tori's April 24, 1991 performance of "Year of the Cat" with Al Stewart.

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You can find these screen shots and the Mp3 file at Toriphoria.

Here is an email from Richard Handal about this new update to Toriphoria that he posted to various Tori Amos mailing lists:

Hi, Gang:

Some fun and interesting stuff. It's not widely known, but on 24 April 1991 Tori performed on a grand piano to back up Al Stewart at London's Royal Festival Hall during his song "Year of the Cat." Tori spoke of this during her own solo concert there on 29 October 1999, saying that Al told her his usual pianist had the Russian flu, and that he wanted her to take his place for this one gig. She said she told Al she was concerned about her work permit situation and of the chance she might be discovered performing without proper documents, and that Al told her she could work under another name; she would be Villainess [sic] Tchaikovskaya--as in, the Russian composer Tchaikovsky.

Al had indeed presented Tori as Viliana Tchaikovskaya, although the scenario Tori provided in 1999 about this incident seems designed more as humor than history--but I digress.

In early July 2003 a videotape of this concert came up for auction on eBay, and I really wanted to see it and to help arrange the sharing of it. I wrote my friend Nancy for advice, as she buys and sells on eBay all the time as part of her and her husband's antiques business. It was a wonderful surprise when Nancy generously offered to bid on the item with her own money so it could be shared among Tori people. She did manage to place the winning bid, and I arranged for the videotape to be converted first to the North American NTSC video format, and then to be transferred by Jason of the Toriphoria website to an MPEG. I made an MP3 of the audio and Jason took a lot of screen shots from the MPEG, and he put them and the MP3 on his website: . (See the link on the Tori Amos Timeline.)

Believe me when I say that there's high entertainment value in this item! The playing is wonderful, and is indicative of the engaging manner with which she was able to perform in 1991 with another musician. Tori and Al had managed about an hour of rehearsal time in a side room of the auditorium, and Al's and her parents were in attendance that night. Her playing was expressive and richly-textured and, combined with her over-the-top-cute stage presence, it makes for an exquisitely charming experience to visit this evening in her career with a good friend from nearly a year before Little Earthquakes was released--even some three months before Me and a Gun was written.

I've never dwelt in trading circles, but I'm sure this video in MPEG and perhaps other forms will be widely-traveled on CD and someone may even come up with enough server space and bandwidth to host it, so I imagine if one were to keep one's ear to the ground a copy would present itself before long.

Much thanks to Nancy and Jason for helping bring this item into the light of day; and Tori--what can I say. Big fun. Heh.

Be seeing you,

Richard Handal, H.G.