Tori On End Sessions On KNDD 107.7 In Seattle Taped On September 11, 1998 Aired On September 20, 1998

Tori did a special performance/interview for radio station KNDD 107.7 "The End" in Seattle. It was part of a normal series of specials the station calls End Sessions. Tori taped the "End Session" on September 11, 1998 before her Seattle concert. About 30 people won passes to the session and got to hear Tori play and meet her afterwards. The special aired on Sunday night, September 20, 1998. The broadcast began at 8:30PM and lasted for 30 minutes. KNDD has a web site, and last time I checked they had an End Sessions section which included several photos from Tori's appearance on the show!

Thanks to the wonderful Danica, I now have a complete transcript of Tori's interview! Read that, as well as accounts from people who were at the taping, below.

A Transcript Of The Interview From Danica

Sister Janet
{applause}
Tori Speaks:

"Thanks guys. This next song I wrote in like, um not alot of time, because this girl was so horrible....and she lived above me. We lives in these tiny little places in east Hollywood...and she said something to me, she was listening to my music one day and she said um ...i was just begining to write Little Earthquakes, and i hadn't written this one yet, and she said [Tori's voice goes higher and using a smart-assed type tone] 'You know you should really do something like the Indigo Girls.' And I was going..well why do you think i should do that, and she goes [in that smart-assed tone again] 'Well cause you know it's like really good music and stuff and i can really understand what they are saying' and i'm like but you're an idiot! And the thing is i like Amy and Emily, they are very nice, but this girl um...is just...yanno..she's...she's...she's...smegma. That's not a cuss word Tim [radio station guy] i know they can put that out, i know they can put that out. The christians can't get me for that one.

Leather
{applause}
Tori Speaks:

"So I was uh, we were in Cornwall and we were hangin out, a bunch of us. And um, the great thing is that we always had a saying 'it's 6 o'clock in the world somewhere' and that means you can have a drink. You know, when you think its too early to drink, we don't drink that much. That depends on who we are comparing ourselves to. But we have a European way we look at thinks, its not like we never kind of go to work...i can't play the piano if i'm doing anything cause i can't find it for one thing...and then once i'm sitting on the stool i still can't find it..so um. There was a time when we would decide it was 6 o'clock and it was like 9:30 in the morning. And um, one time we were having this moment and my friend Tam was telling me a story about a girl named Besty Brown who used to torture her and come up to her [Tori giggles] ..that's the thing she used to come up to me and go [in a fast frenzy type voice 'Hi I'm Betsy Brown, do you do judo? i do judo!'. And I went into the studio and thins kinda happened.

Purple People [piano only]
{applause}
Tori speaks:

"I had written this thing and i couldn't get the first line...i was in France with my friend Beenie, i go alot of places with my friend Beenie. We were with another friend of hers and her mother, anyway...2 of them were having an argument, so i decided champagne for everybody was a good idea. And thats what you do in France, and it was like, after lunch, so thats good...that's improvement. And um, anyway they make very good champagne, we had Krug and if you know if you ever have that experience ..just like...even if you have to steal it...it's really worth the experience. So. okay, i sent champagne around because everyone is arguing, and Beenie comes to like update me on the fighting on who's winning. And so um I'm standing at the top of the stairs in a schmoozy suite, i'm embarassed to say, but i was. And so we're standing at the top, and she goes 'lets go out to the deck and talk about this. So its one of those round stair cases like they have on the Love Boat. And so I'm in these Prada Studio? platforms, and um, i'm at the top of the stairs and i fall [Tori giggles] all the way down stairs cause i trip on my platform shoes, it serves me right. So i trip all the way down and i lie flat on my face, and i swear to Christ...i'm lying flat and my nose is like taped to the rug, and i said 'oh Beenie i need more champagne, this is so horrible'. But i laid there and i go 'oh my god Beenie oh my god, i have a first line.'"

Playboy Mommy [piano only]
{applause}
Tori speaks:

"This next song, should have ended up on the album, Under the Pink, and i'm sure you've heard me tell this story, but it litterally was on the album, but i threw it off in mastering which is the final stage. That's sort of like...you know you just don't ...do that. Thats one of those moments, that if you are ever in this circumstance you need to say...you know what? Im going to go have some nachos..and i'm going to sit down and i'm going to come back tomorrow. Because when you do something like that you are a total idiot. So this is my favourite song probably on that album, and nobody got to hear it, so here it is.

Honey
{applause}
Tori thanks the crowd and it's over.

Here is a report on the Sept. 20 on-air broadcast from Melody:

She performed five songs in the following order:

Sister Janet
Leather
Purple People
Playboy Mommy
Honey

She was very entertaining in between songs. She started out the session by saying she was going to play some B-sides that not everyone would know them so don't think she is copying somebody!

She talked about each song before she played it excluding Sister Janet. She talked about her experience writing Leather while she was living in LA. She talked about a friend of hers that inspired Purple People. And she talked about a very funny story of how she got the first line of Playboy Mommy. I will send you as close to I can come to a transcript when I can listen to it some more.

She ended the session by playing honey. Before she played this song she said the story of how this was her favorite song off of Under the Pink and how it got kicked off during Mastering.

Here is a report on what happened from Brian Jenson who was at the taping of End Sessions:

Hi, I have been on vacation catching Tori in Seattle and Portland and I happened to be fortunate enough to win a pass to see Tori's intimate gathering for the radio station The end 107.7. You had to answer tori trivia correctly to win...my question was...what year and what label was she signed to. ('87 atlantic). My friend Tiffany and I were ecstatic, since we were merely visiting seattle to see tori's show. It is set to air on Sunday night like you have posted...as for the time I have no idea. It was incredible to experience tori in an intimate setting though...like winning the lottery. I'm writing to give you the setlist since it appears you don't have it yet. Anyway, she was scheduled to show up at Glenn Sound, a little sound studio near the Key Arena, we had to be there lined up at 2:45 with our guest. They IDed us and gave us passes (sort of like backstage pass laminates) and the winners got a copy of "from the choirgirl hotel". The paper that the station gave to us said that it would start around 3:00...well Tori was running late so it didn't start until about 3:30. We went inside to a small room which had a baby Bosey and two candletrees (tall candlesticks with lit candles that were treelike). There were throw pillows on the floor for us to sit so we were sitting only five feet from tori!!! We weren't allowed to take pictures or anything but it was still a meet and greet after the performance. A fan asked her as she was sitting down to drink her tea and honey "Are you jiggy wit it?" refering to the MTV VMA awards, and tori replied "I aint gettin' jiggy with nothing". It was hilarious. This was her setlist

Sister Janet
Leather
Purple People
Playboy Mommy
Honey

She mentioned that she was playing mostly B-sides for us since she doesn't get the chance to do them much. She told a story about Purple People how someone asked her if she does judo. She also told how she came up with the first line for Playboy Mommy...she was staying in France in a posh suite and having marqueritas with Beene, I think she said her mom and Beene's mom were fighting downstairs. Tori was wearing her Prada platforms and went to see what was up, she ended up falling down the winding staircase (that she compared to the one on the love boat) and fell all the way to the bottom landing flat on her face...she got up and told beene "I've got the first line to the song". She had been struggling with it I guess... It was an amazing performance...once in a lifetime chance for us.

After she was done someone took polaroids of each of us with tori and tori autographed them...my friend Tiffany asked tori if her hair was naturally curly and tori said "yes, but not naturally red"....I thanked her for signing my guitar back in salt lake and she definitely remembered it.

A report from dre:

I was a very fortunate soul to be able to attend a special tori concerts for only 30 people. This was for the Seattle radio station 107.7 the end. The only way to attend this private show was to win, by answering tori trivia. The question i answered was "What was tori's first music video?" i new the answer (big picture) and when i finally got through the dj said everyone was saying silent all these years, and i had won, i started crying on the phone. Friends tell me that they heard my name announced on the radio and that they were so jealous and happy. So any ways on tho the show.

It took place the afternoon of the Seattle concert September 11. We were supposed to be at the secret studio (not located at the radio station) by 2:45 pm. i was there at 2:30 and most of the winners were too. While me and my friend (we were allowed one guest) waited to go inside , the station came down the line and handed everyone special "backstage pass" looking purses top wear around our necks that included ear plugs and a laminated card showing in the front of a shot from Jackie's Strength video and the date and the words "End Session With Tori Amos" on the top. they also gave each of the winners a cd of Choirgirl. I was so excited already, we were let in the building about 3:15 and they told us to help ourselves to some food in the lobby, but all of us headed straight to the recording room to get our seats on the floor. We all sat on pillows a couple sat on bean bags. It was still 15 minutes till tori would walk in. The room was only about 30 feet by 30 feet. WHen we first walked in my heart skipped because it looked so pretty and intimate. Tori's baby grand bose was sitting in the room among many candles and white christmas lights. We all sat there in the small room waiting for tori to prance in, we could see mark hawley back in the sound engineers room behind the glass. This performance was recorded by the radio station to play at a later date. i have heard that it will air on the 20th.

So now it was time....the dj who gave the prize away came into the room to welcome us and to congratulate us and said she was really nervous herself. And then she announced 'Here's Tori Amos" we all clapped politely and turned back to look through the glass room and we saw tori comming threw and into thee recording room. I could hardly contain my self and i was so happy to see her. It was really intimate to be sitting literally 5 feet from her on the floor. She said, "Hello everyone, how are you?" and then she asked what brilliant trivia questions the dj gave us. The girl next to me mentioned that one was what is tori's real name. in response tori said "Only some things your mother should know." She had her cup of honey and ginger i believe right at her side. She said she was stumped on what to play so she got together some b-sides and such. I couldn't believe it was just tori and not the band...this was extra special...i have never seen her perform with out the band because my first show was the sneak preview show. ok so the set list she used was:

Sister Janet
Leather
Purple People
Playboy Mommy
Honey

Tori told stories between each song mostly about the song she was about to play. She was top key. She didn't miss a note her voice was crisp and perfect. I cant remember all the stories word for word but some of the key facts were: Before Purple People she told a story of her friend who had a bully when she was little named Betsy and every time Betsy would come up to you she would put her arms out and say "Judo Chop". Tori was so cute when she did this, she stuck out her arms and one leg like a judo or karate chop. That's how she got the part of the song "do you do Judo." Purple people was so beautifully done. Another story was for Playboy Mommy. She wrote the song while in France and she still needed the first line and there was this one night she was with her friend Beenie and Beanie mom. And so Beenie's and her mom were fighting and so tori had the brilliant idea to buy everyone champagne (the european attitude as tori mentions). So She was in this house that had a twirling metal stairway "like on the love boat" and tori says she's on the top of these stairs and steps down and falls the rest of the way and lands flat on her face with "her nose taped to the carpet" and her arms spread out and she laid there on the carpet and says "Beenie i got the first line". Hopefully the radio station wont cut the stories for the airing because they fit so well.

She played for about 35 minutes and then it was time to meet her. Since she was running late we didn't have time to take our own pictures with her or get our things autographed. So the plan was that she would take a polaroid with each of us and then sign it. So me and my friend stood in the single file line that led up to her Bose and we got to her and she reached for my friend Gina's hand and said hi how are you and then tori asked her who is your friend and Gina says, thats my friend dre. Then tori reaches and grabs my hand and brings me close to her for a big hug. I was on cloud nine My friend thanked her for Honey and then tori asked how Gina was and then tori asked how i was and i said ok and tori saw it in my eyes and said "everythings not so good, what's wrong?" Tori had read my mind. I proceeded to tell her that i had lost five members of my family in the past six months and she gave me a hug and keeping her hand on my back i told her that her album Boys For Pele has helped me through those hard times especially the song not the red baron. She immediately asked if im going to the show tonight and i said of course and she said " i will try and see if we can do that one, we haven't done that particular song but i'll try to get pele out for you ok?" i said "thank you tori". i held her hand and said good luck tonight and she said thank you. and we left and it wasnt over yet i still had to go to the concert.

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