This transcript was written by Tori fan Kim, who did an incredible job and to whom I am eternally grateful :)
MSNBC "The Site" tv show, July 15. Transcription. Visuals in (). *=italics
Site: (young brunette woman standing alone on Site set)...I got to talk to Tori backstage about her new celebrity on the World Wide Web. (footage of Tori in concert playing a few lines of "Sister Janet". Tori is wearing a grey t-shirt, blue jeans, hair pulled back pony-tail style with a pink hair clip, gold earrings, various chain necklaces) (Dissolves to Tori seated quietly in chair backstage, listening)
Site: Your fans can find you anywhere on the Internet. People can all reach each other. People in Australia can talk to your fans in Cuba who can talk to (visual of Website) your fans in the United States. What do you think of that kind of ability with the technology to do that ? (Tori shrugs)
Tori: Um...what they tell *me* anyway, usually before a soundcheck, um, there are usually a few people outside hanging out. And they inform me (grins, pulls one knee up towards self with both arms loosely) what's going on. They kind of let me know, (camera moves in to medium closeup) um, that world, because I don't know this world that much. And it seems like, um, there are people that would've never, obviously never met each other. And a lot of times, what they tell me is, it starts off talking about the music (camera moves in closer) and then it kind of becomes a relationship that has nothing to do with me any more. That's kinda fun. (camera edit; 'film ' jumps to later in conversation) I don't know how to turn a computer on. That is not my arena. If you put me in a piano shop (Web page animation: burning piano with Tori in front) then I'm really at home. I'm very comfortable there.
You gotta kinda giggle. I think it's fun (shot of Website w/many site choices) that if I write songs that make people wanna talk, then I'm doing what I always wanted to do as a writer. ("Sister Janet" plays over Web page w/various Tori photos) I always wanted to make *myself* think. (Camera back to Tori again, in closeup) I always kinda wanted to you know (here she puts one hand on top of her head and one under her chin and pulls her head to one side, almost touching her shoulder. She appears to be wearing a braided leather bracelet on one wrist and has song titles written on one hand-left?-Upside Down appears to be 1st on list) go OK hang on a minute, what am I not seeing here ? I know you're here, (gestures with both hands to interviewer) he's there, he's there, (gestures toward each crew member), I know certain obvious things but what am I missing ? What am I not being told here ? What is the mystery ? And I usually think there's a mystery to every person and to every conversation. (shot of Webpage then moves closer to the quote on that page :"My relationship with my harpsichord is a lot like my relationship with boys") There is always a subtext. And I'm fascinated with the subtext so I try and write about it. (Footage of Tori in concert again: camera begins to the side and back then zooms in closer 'til is at the end of the piano bench, as if a front row seat from there, while she sings "And all the wizards" etc.) (while she sings further, the visual changes to Webpage "Tori Amos The Goddess")
I really love to be involved in, um, projects that people shake their head at. It's just great to be a pioneer, isn't it ? Everybody, I think, would love to be a pioneer. Whether you're, um, you know, just along for (laughs) the ride, (back to a Website) because you're going to places that haven't been charted before. So in a sense, (back to Tori, closeup) the whole concept of what is a pirate ? What is that whole, um, I don't know, lifestyle that we don't think there is any more ? Well it is, but it's in these little boxes. (back to a Web page) This is where everybody talks about the new frontier.
Site: Where do you think, with the technology going as it is, in five years, (wide shot of Tori seated; camera is behind back of Site interviewer's head) Tori Amos' stage show ? Same as it is now, you out there with your piano and your band, or totally different ? (quick shot of Tori at piano, then back to a Website).
Tori: Oh, I don't know. I always...I do have a feeling that in five years the whole media will change. Because, think about it. (Tori closeup) There's gonna be some kid in Philly or something that, um, has his own radio station that's playing music that maybe a million people wanna hear. And I don't know how it would happen, but he or *she*, uh, has rigged it up so you plug your computer into your car and it's all audio. And you can hear what this kid, I don't know, maybe even 16 years old, *their* vision, (puts both hands up, one on each side of her face, and looks from side to side between them like thru a periscope) (then, a Website again) and I do think that it's gonna create other markets. So that's why I think the Internet (Tori seated) will be a powerful place. 'Cause you're gonna get, not what the (gestures right) Religious Right, or (gestures left) the Left decides, because somebody's bought them, you know, *whatever*. You get the real thing. (Website: as "Sister Janet" plays, camera moves into cloesup of animated Website Tori winking one eye).
(Interviewer, alone again in darkened studio, Site set:)
Site: Learn more about Tori at thesite.msnbc.com or our express address thesite.com
Please give me feedback, comments, or suggestions about my site.
Email me (Michael Whitehead) at: mikewhy@iglou.com
