Announced Shrove Tuesday

This blog will feature a Tori related "snippet" each day until May 1st when the new album drops. I'm not a bloggy type of person, but I was trying to think of something to do to countdown to the release of "American Doll Posse" perhaps because Tori season is my favorite season of all. To preface, my first Tori season was way back in 1996. The internet was very slow back then, but it still connected me with other Tori fans and I began to decipher the mystery of Tori. BMG music club had accidently sent me "Boys For Pele." At first, I was frightened by the shrill voice and demanding harpsicord. I couldn't understand the lyrics and what I did understand made little sense, but the more I listened the more I became fascinated and the songs became a part of me and suddenly made perfect sense. Thus, my first Tori season was upon me, and it was a whirlwind time, full of discovery and mirth. It took me a full year to absorb "Boys For Pele" then I finally bought the previous albums, "Little Earthquakes" and "Under the Pink."

Cut to April 1998, the curtain was falling on my middle school career, one night on Easter break I stayed up late to flip between David Letterman and Jay Leno. Luckily, I switched to Dave just as he announced Tori's performance. I recognized her red hair from the CD he held, and then there she was, and I hit "record" on the vcr-- inadvertantly taping over an episode of my beloved X-files, but it was no matter, because here was Tori in her Tori Glory-- rocking out to "Spark" I watched it the first time, and then I immediately rewound and watched it again and again. I put on the closed caption to try and figure out the new lyrics. And Tori season was upon me-- from April 14 or so-- until the album came May 4th. I took the day off from my afterschool job and made my mom come pick me up from school and drive me to Best Buy. I went in and found the last copy on the shelf of the new album. I proudly took it up to the cashier, so eager to get it into my cd player and devour it. I told the cashier that I got the last one, and he disdainfully brought me back to reality, "oh..we have like 100 more in the back."

That Rocky summer of 1998, July 18th--- Tori came to Iowa, specifically to Ames. I got tickets, and my dad said he would drive, but he didn't want to go to the actual concert, so I made my dear friend Megan accompany me, and we set out for Ames. The audience members were so coool! Walking into the venue we saw people drawing lifelike portraits of Tori. Hair of every color, piercings of every make and size! I felt like I was a part of the Tori community. I snuck in my 35mm camera, and we made our way to the right side balcony seats-- $18 each, I thought how much they seemed to cost. Tori came out after six years of waiting and I honestly can't remember a lot of the concert because I was in complete awe of her talent. It was so amazing, I wanted to do the typical 14 year old "I love you Tori" but when I yelled out it sounded weak and probably didn't make it down to Tori's ears. It seemed important to do that though. After the concert, I had been instructed to run outside so we could get home and beat the traffic, as my dad had been waiting in the car for the past 3 or more hours. We went out the back door, and saw the bodyguards setting up barricades. We stood watching for a moment, realizing that people were flooding out and lining up-- Tori was going to come out of the building! I saw my dad leaning against the building and I told him to get in the barricade so he ran up front and got in the line up. I was hoping he could save us a spot, but by the time Megan and I got around we were pretty much stuck in the middle of the fervor. Tori finally came out and slowly made her way around. I stuck my camera up in the air, trying to get an semi-aerial shot of Tori, but when the pics came out the flash had only illuminated the back of the petchoulli scented hippy's standing directly in front of us. Tori slid around the left side of the barricade where Megan and I were located and I got in a semi-hug and I told Tori that I loved her-- Her reply, "Love you too, darling." Tori got on her bus and a little puppet head waved out the back of the window. My dad said, "Wow, I got to meet Tori-- she's so short and her hips are bigger then I thought. She's probably eating pizza now-- I saw the delivery guy come and deliver the pizza on to the bus." I was so jealous of my dad, but it was cool, cause I sort of got to meet Tori, even if it was very brief and impersonal and framed by the hippy guy's sweaty armpit.

Next Tori season is September 1999--- one short year later and Tori's releasing "To Venus and Back" I'm a new sophomore and eager to relive the joy of Tori. It felt like it had been forever since her last tour and I can't wait to see her again. This time I saw Tori before I had heard the new album, which was different because I didn't fully appreciate the songs live because I was hearing them for the first time. I recruited my friend Angie and once again, my dad got to drive us to Chicago, Tinley Park to see Tori on Sept. 11 1999. She was playing Alanis, Angie was more of an Alanis fan and so that was cool. I signed us up to have dinner at Gino's with other Toriphile's in the Chicago area. I was now more savvy as to the workings of the meet and greets, but we still couldn't get in to the venue early to see Tori. A bunch of other Tori people did, and my heart burned with the jealousy of a 1000 suns at their Tori autographs and joyful smiles. Again, my dad sat in the car and Tori was wonderful as always, but I prefer her in a smaller venue, the amphitheater atmosphere was too big, and I watched Tori on the jumbotron screen more than focusing in on her red matador costume-- "For the Bulls". The stand out for me was "Blood Roses" and also "Juarez" the "No Angel Came" was so haunting and I couldn't wait to hear the album. Wonderful Tori Season.

The next Tori season came in 2001, a year marred by tragedy, no doubt but the emotional outpouring is burned into my mind. "Strange Little Girls" saw Tori covering male artists songs, and also touring alone with the piano. I got tickets for Chicago and Minneapolis because I was greedy and not thinking about logistics and travel. 2 days after Sept. 11 attacks, my parents let me and my friend Sara drive to Chicago to see PJ Harvey-- (one of the best concerts i have ever been to-- but this isn't a blog about PJ Harvey) October of my senior year, and I was busy as Student Body President and Editor-In- Chief of the school paper. My parents let me go see Tori in Chicago and Minneapolis within a few days of each other on the condition that I didn't miss any school, no matter how tired I felt. Sara and I drove to Chicago and went to the arie crown theater at McCormick place, and this time I actually met tori at the meet and greet and got pictures and autographs, and I was so happy. Unfortunately, my Tori pictures got ruined because they were on a floppy disk which I kept in the glove box of my car-- for safe keeping-- and the whole disk melted. Yes, that was when the digital camera recorded directly to floppy disk. Good old days. Tori put up a really good concert, and we were supposed to drive back to Iowa that night, but we got so tired so we stayed at some random guy's house in Wrigleyville and drove home at 7am. We got caught in rush hour traffic and didn't make it to school until 1pm, I had to call the principal and explain why I couldn't be there to lead the student government meeting.

A few days later, I went to minneapolis (6 hour drive) with this girl I didn't know named, who was a little crazy-- or high, I'm not quite sure which it was. Well, I drove up there and the concert was awesome. Then I had to head back, but I got lost and I got tired and the girl had earlier said she could drive if I got tired, but then when I actually did get tired told me she didn't have a license and had actually never driven a car. She then fell asleep in the back seat for the remainder of the ride. I checked the map and realized I was completely lost and on a back highway-- I saw that the interstate met up again a long way down, so I just drove -- rather than back track and I was speeding along this dark and deserted highway at about 75 miles an hour along the foreign twisty harvest season road, right up until I almost hit a deer, and my life flashed before my eyes. What would have happened if I had hit that deer? I don't even want to know-- I didn't have a cell phone back then! I felt awful for endangering the life of the strange girl asleep in the back seat who never knew how close we came to being stranded and or dead. So my nerves shaken I then took the road at about 20 mph. Which added quite a bit of time to our journey. Finally, I made it back to the main road, but what should have taken 6 hours took 9. I dropped the girl off at her house in Iowa City at about 7:30. I drove directly home, changed my clothes after a long internal debate whether I should just crawl into bed and say screw school, but I made that deal with my parents and I wanted to prove I was responsible enough to drive to Minneapolis and see Tori all night. So I went to school, and didn't learn anything at all.

There is more Tori Season ahead, but I'm only through 2001 and I have been at this for an hour, so I will fill you in tomorrow- in the second installment of "American Doll Posse Countdown" Happy Shrove Tuesday-- tricky Tori