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MTV.com (www)
live online chat
Tuesday, April 9, 1996

Live online chat with Tori Amos
hosted by Matt Pinfield

MtvMattP: Tori this is the first night of your American tour... you just did Europe as well

Tori: We did 30 shows in Europe, just finished in Italy. I took a week break in Tuscany.

MtvMattP: How was that

Tori: I found out I'm allergic to pasta.

MtvMattP: Was it a different type of pasta

Tori: It was the best pasta I ever had in my life. I had to drink just to take away the pain of the idea that I couldn't eat what I was there for. We don't have to explain how I found out I'm allergic to pasta. The thing is, the man I was with, who's absolutely lovely, was very supportive and just encouraged me to drink port.

MtvMattP: So it kind of covered up for the way you felt

Tori: It helped take the pain away. Plus it kind of... he didn't feel like he wasted his money taking me to Tuscany.

MtvMattP: What cities were your favorite to play... generally every night

Tori: If I said every night I'd be a lying sack of shit. The thing is, people always go "I heard you didn't like the show." They don't understand sometimes that I'm dealing with technical things on the stage, I'm not hearing what they're hearing. I'm like John Travolta in Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Brad Pitt could be on the other side, but depending n what the bubbles' doing that day, he could look gross. It has to do with the hall, monitor system there are so many variables.

MtvMattP: that has to do with the monitor system

Tori: I'm not always talking about the audience. If we have little to work with and the acoustics are not good, sometimes the vibe can just make up for everything. It all has to work together.

MtvMattP: Alright, now let's take some questions. I know there are so many fans of yours out on the WWW, and internet. It's really evident with the amount of Web sites and conversations all based on your music and conversations

[due to technical issues, the live chat is interrupted at this point]

MtvMattP: Tori, if you can answer that question about the relationship between "God" and "Muhammed My Friend"

Tori: People, when they ask me why didn't I make God a woman, and I go, "Like I made the Catholic Church, too?" I find that sometimes when I'm singing about religious mythology, people are getting their own opinions in there instead of what really happened like in The Crusades anything that wasn't Christian being tortured particularly the Cathares I was in a place called San Galgano - it's truly endless the control and domination that the institution wielded the burning of the witches over a period of years mostly women and when I wrote Muhammed My Friend, it was mostly about having a cup of tea with Muhammed and talking about the circumcision of the female part of God in every religion. Even Greek mythology, Zeus was the big bad dude. Everyone was fragmented. Athena, separated from her sexuality but had her wisdom. Aphrodite who had her sexuality in truth did not have many other aspects, like wisdom, which was acknowledged.

MtvMattP: Let me start by saying I just got to see your sound check and a couple of songs you did for some lucky radio winners I was really moved by your version of "In the Springtime of His Voodoo," it was all engrossing and strong and I love it. I want to say I'm really excited to hear all the new songs from the album tonight. Are you very excited to be here in the States again?

Tori: Every night I try and take the songs as they're coming to me. They seem to be shifting and changing with the tour because if you're a classical piece you're practicing and performing a piece until it's exactly what the music says. If you've been around my family after church and had to sit for those Sunday dinners and inanimate objects like the piano becomes the most exciting everything to you.

[due to technical issues, the live chat ends at this point, but Matt Pinfield gives a commentary on the concert]

MtvMattP: One of the things that you'll find different on this tour from past ones is the addition of a guitarist, whose sound blends with Tori's very well. And because of the way he's positionined on the stage, it doesn't take away from that living room intimacy that you're used to seeing with Tori.

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