"Live And Unrehearsed" - Video Webcast
August 16, 1999

Updated August 31, 1999


Mikewhy here reporting live from Nashville, TN, my first stop on the way to Ft. Lauderdale! I am at my friend Danica's house, and earlier in the evening we watched the video webcast "Live And Unrehearsed." I must say I was really pleased with it! It lasted for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Tori answered a bunch of questions, and seemed to be in a good mood. She also sang 7 songs live. The host of the webcast was John Norris of MTV. Thanks to Danica, I have a few screen shots from the webcast

If you go to the special page MTV has for the webcast, you can still access a few Real Video clips from the webcast.

On August 17, 1999, SonicNet posted an article called "Tori Amos Unveils New Songs, Tour Plans In Webcast." It is a nice summary of the webcast.

On August 22, 1999, MTV 120 Minutes showed Tori playing "Bliss" from the webcast. Then the following week, on August 29, 1999, MTV 120 Minutes showed Tori again from the webcast playing "God"! Most Toriphiles did not know about that one. I would recommend that you check MTV 120 Minutes frequently over the next few weeks in case they decide to show more from the webcast. The quality is much better than Real Video! ;)

Here are a few comments on the webcast:

From Sparkboy:

Mikewhy's comments are in brackets

Lots of notes here... not in order. I'll try.

I missed God due to a bad connection. After Bliss, she talks with the host, sips tea, he calls her "Queen of the Web" which I think is interesting. She said "I don't know how to turn on a computer" and talked about looking stuff up and how she had to get one of her "techies" to help. [Tori said she had a soft spot for tecnical people.]

They talked for a while about rehearsals and recording. Tori said the band referred to this stage as "Tori Boot Camp" because they were playing six hours per day.

The host asked about the sound of the new album. Tori said "It's very rythmic, sort of what I'm interested in now... gotta have hips in it."

They discussed the monkey, and Tori told a cute story about the Clunky the Monkey, and that when the bishop would come over he would always sit on the monkey, especially when he was praying. [Tori said the Bliss monkey was the same as the Marianne purple monkey.]

She said she had planned to do beesides and a few new things, but Marcel "he's a nudist" told her it wouldn't work together, and she realized it was a new record coming. About this time Alanis asked her to do the tour, and she said yes because Matt Chamberlain told her she should do some touring for the new album... [Marcel actually came on stage for a while and sat with Tori.]

They talked about the Venus themes... she said "{after losing the baby} , I was fortunate I could create something." with emphasis on the "something." He asked if it would be a darker or lighter record, and she said she never compared them, since it was like comparing your children. But this record, she said, examined the dark side of Venus, her passion. Suede is behind her left ventricle, Bliss is "somewhere else" and Juarez "has her own space." She said Venus was very demanding and vicious about the whole thing. They talked about naming the album and I think she said it occurred in Ohio, but that must be wrong. Surely not! I mean geez... I'm going to erect a monument if that is what she said. [Tori said her work is about things that hide behind the heart.]

The host seemed VERY well-read in Tori history and lyrics, moreso than anybody I've ever seen in an interview.

She sang a line from Glory of the 80s. "I took a taxi from LA to Venus in 1985." About that time "it was great being on the bottom of the food chain... you had to create your own scene." [She complained of how PC things have gotten, and how people these days are in to health food and exercise, but then they treat you like shit.]

Merman was beautiful. She talked about being old before that and said "a friend of mine wrote down the lyrics to this one, so I think I can remember it."

She played something from her piano bar days... not sure what it was.

1000 Oceans was great... she hadn't played it live before she said, and was a bit nervous.

Sugar was amazing, with lots of improv.

Cornflake Girl sounded like on MTV Unplugged in 96. Jon Evans was much more prominent on the song than before. Very nice.

A beautiful show... technical difficulties, but we expected that. [Note from Mikewhy: From my end there were no technical difficulties, so it varied from place to place!]


Here are a few more comments from Mikewhy

The set list was:

  • God
  • Bliss
  • Hey Jupiter
  • Merman
  • 1,000 Oceans
  • Sugar (with band)
  • Cornflake Girl

Tori said she could never be held hostage to a set list. That she has a realtionship going on with her audience. The "show shifts."

She wants the 5 1/2 Weeks Tour to be different from Woodstock. They talked about all the violence of Woodstock and she said that while Marcel would enjoy "running around naked and burning shit down," she would rather be loving it up with somebody. She said there could be places for people to express their violent impulses, but not in a setting where there are non-consenting people involved. She said something like, "They charge 5 bucks for a hotdog and all hell breaks loose."

She mentioned Shirley Manson affectionately as a "Hussy."

She talked about the tour with Alanis and the huge success that Alanis has experienced. She started talking about her own "underground" following and the fact that she is not seduced by the Jerry Springer show, though she was not claiming that Alanis was.

Tori was asked if her fans would give Alanis a fair chance. Tori seemed to think they would. "They're elegant people. Not tacky." She said she would not engage in any rudeness toward Alanis and that she would embarrass anyone who did.

She said the woman she most admired in the 20th Century was Sylvia Plath.

Her favorite words are "toodles" and "yummy" and her least favorite word is "potty."

She said there would be 2 version of the 1,000 Oceans video, and the Euro version would show the lesbians kissing! (I am not sure if this was a joke or not...)


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