VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music

According to a press release from VH1, Tori will be one of several industry experts, pop culture critics and music artists offering commentary during VH1’s “100 Greatest Women in Music,” a 5-night special special premiering during the week of February 13th. The series will numerate the top hundred women artists who have made their a mark on the music industry over the past twenty years.

Considering Tori’s career neatly overlaps with the two decades the program is examining, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see her pop up on the list herself — particularly as she did so the last time VH1 did this but, as always, we shall see…

Check it out starting Monday, February 13th at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT. The series concludes on Friday, February 17th.

Thanks to mayfly for the tip!

Shirley Temples At Mr. Henry's - Tori's First Paying Gig

The Guardian’s Nige Tassell talked to a slew of musicians, actors and celebrities about significant firsts in their careers and the responses were compiled in an article that appeared in the January 12th edition of the paper. Our heroine leads off the column, reminiscing about the first time she was played to play live at a gay bar in Georgetown, Washington, DC after leaving The Peabody.

Of course, this may not new news to the seasoned Toriphile but if you haven’t seen this from previous interviews, it’s an amusing little story.

Thanks to Brian and @iammatthewwolf for the link!

Note: the Guardian article got noticed by BANG Showbiz so a repackaged version of her portion of the article has appeared elsewhere as well, such as CTV News and The Times of India.

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Listen To Tori On The World Cafe

If you missed Tori on The World Cafe, which was broadcast on WXPN and other public radio stations in the United States last Friday, January 13th, you can now stream it on npr.org from their extensive audio archive.

The half-hour in-studio appearance included an excellent chat between Tori and WXPN’s Michaela Majoun about Night of Hunters and three live performances: “Nautical Twilight,” “Edge of the Moon,” and “Winter.” (The set list on NPR’s site includes “Cactus Practice” but that was just an album cut played to showcase Tori’s daugter’s Natashya’s voice.) Additionally, a live performance of “Snow Angel,” which was not broadcast, is included as a web extra — the link to that is on the left below the setlist.

While you’re there, take a peek at the other Tori-related audio in NPR’s archive. There’s quite a collection of live performances, studio appearances and interviews going all the way back to 2002.

Happy 20th Birthday Little Earthquakes!

Twenty years ago today, Little Earthquakes, Tori’s debut solo album, was released in the United Kingdom. (It would be another month until the record was available in North America.) For more than a few Toriphiles, these songs were the ones that introduced us to Tori, whether we were lucky enough to hear then them or it was some time afterwards that the record came into our lives. Whether because of the lyrical, emotional or musical components — or some combination thereof — this record enchanted us then and continues to do so today and the songs from it always seem to produce the biggest cheers at her shows.

After its release, Little Earthquakes peaked at #14 in the UK charts, and remained on the charts for 23 weeks. It was certified gold in January 1993, platinum in January 1995, and double platinum in March 1999.

A couple of months after Little Earthquakes made its UK debut, Tori spent an hour chatting with MTV’s John Norris about the album, her decision to move to London to record it, and everything that followed. Here’s a snippet:

The rest of the interview is available over on YouTube, for those who want to spend more time in the Wayback Machine.

As she’s mentioned in several interviews over the past few months, Tori will be observing the anniversary of Little Earthquakes with a collection of her songs recorded with The Metropole Orkest. The career retrospective will revisit songs from throughout her career. At this time, the exact release date is not known but the rumor mill seems to point to it being available in Autumn. (The rumor mill also grinds about the possibility of some tour dates but we’ll have to see how that pans out!)

So, if you have a chance, pull Little Earthquakes out today and give her a spin. It’s a safe bet you’ll both enjoy it!

Update: We weren’t the only folks to observe the 20th anniversary of Little Earthquakes last Friday. NME, one of those everyone-loves-to-hate UK music magazines, featured a look-back at the album on their Popwatch blog while Stereogum cast a reflective eye on the album that puts our little piece on the event to shame. Friend-of-the-Undent Trent Vanegas also put in his two cents about the record’s historical and personal significance over on Pink Is the New Blog. Thanks to Oliver and Chris for the links!

Tori Visits The World Cafe Today

According to upcoming schedule for the NPR radio program The World Cafe, Tori is slated to be David Dye’s guest on today’s program, Friday, January 13th.

The program originates at Philadelphia radio station WXPN and airs there at 2:00 PM Eastern. It is also carried on a plethora of public radio stations, archived at npr.org and available as a podcast so there are plenty of places to check it out once broadcast.

Thanks to Lorna for the tip!

Watch Tori on The Rosie Show

As we all know, Tori did a taping for the The Rosie Show last month while touring to support Night of Hunters and the segment was aired this evening. Tori’s visit to the show took up the second half of the episode and included performances of “Silent All These Years” and “Edge of the Moon” as well as a lengthy chat with Rosie about Night of Hunters and Tash.

All three portions of the appearance have been kindly posted in the video section of The Rosie Show’s website — check them after the jump!

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Your Chance To Catch The "Fab Four"

In case you didn’t get enough of the Apollon Musagète Quartett — Tori’s “Fab Four” — on the Night of Hunters tour, you’re in luck: They’re touring parts of Europe this spring, and will even hit some spots in the UK and Ireland. New Yorkers are in luck: they’ll be at Carnegie Hall in November. For more information, click the link above to their Web site, or follow them on Facebook. Click through the jump to see their upcoming tour dates!

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John Philip Shenale: The Glide Magazine Interview

As a producer, I understand that things are changing every album. And my relationship with Tori, from my historical point of view, is that she represents, for me, a complex, multi-faceted musical talent that always surprises me. And as a result, I love that situation because it’s always challenging and a new approach. It’s a constant question of how to handle the emotional fabric of the songs but still move forward. It’s always something new. And watching her create and invent really inspires me to do the same, so that’s where a lot of the impetus comes from. It’s always a psychological and metaphysical experience with her. She’s one of the deepest artists I’ve ever worked with.

We don’t get many chances to hear from John Philip Shenale, the composer and arranger behind so many of Tori’s orchestra-infused songs — and a major force involved in the creation of Night of Hunters. Glide magazine recently sat down with him for an extensive interview, which they published in two parts just as Sin Palabras was released last month. Click through the jump to check out the whole thing!

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Tori Visits The Rosie Show This Week

It’s not obvious from the schedule on Rosie.com, but the page for the January 10th episode of The Rosie Show indicates that the segment featuring Tori taped back in December will be aired on January 10th, along with an interview with Darrell Hammond.

The Rosie Show is on OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) and airs at 7 PM Eastern/6 PM Central. Hopefully the segment will be available to stream on Rosie.com after it hits the airwaves…

Thanks to Mitchell for the tip!

Beth Coulter, 1961-2011

Beth Coulter, a longtime Toriphile and avid member of RDT in its heyday, died New Year’s Eve of brain cancer. She was 50 years old.

Beth — or Bethey, as we knew her — was a ruthless optimist, always fighting for what was right. Even in her last weeks, she went up against the PA housing authority to convince them to let a homeless friend of hers become her live-in caretaker. Ultimately, she won.

Bethey was a historian and writer. A number of her stories and articles are available on her Web site, Fairy Blessings. There, you can read several pieces she wrote about Tori. She also wrote about a fellow Toriphile, Rachel Sinai, who was murdered in 2000.

Until yesterday, Bethey’s Facebook page was active and full of loving goodbyes from people she knew. Unfortunately, her page has been removed or made private since then. However, we caught a quote from Bethey that one of her friends provided, and we’d like to share it:

I would like to teach the world that it is but the end of one journey, and the beginning of an even greater journey. If people can face death with anticipation instead of fear, I will feel I have done what I was meant to. And I hope to repeat Steve Jobs’ final words…“OH WOW, Oh Wow, oh wow…”