silent all these years
August 28, 2003, 9:26 pm
When I was 12, a friend of mine made me a mix tape that included the song "Winter" by Tori Amos. It instantly became my favorite song and made me almost want a horrible relationship with my dad just so I could relate to the song better.
Then high school came and just about every song on the Little Earthquakes album made sense in some kind of way. Here was a wailing woman who knew her power and her frailty all at once; it was a very important album for me at the time (and, you may snicker, was as important to me at the time as Alanis' first album, but it was 1995 and EVERY 16 year old girl felt that way!).
Last night, I saw the Tori Amos and Ben Folds concert. Tori was dramatic, powerful, charismatic, and ethereal. She was everything you'd expect from a Baltimore gal reknowned for her card carrying status as an artistic space cadet genius. Hearing "Precious Things" live made my hair stand on end; her ditty about fearing for the safety of Gene Simmons' groupies during the blackout in Chicago was hilarious, and she played for two and a half hours. Even though I was really, really tired, about to fall asleep, and had only to see Ben Folds, I was captivated.
Tori doesn't just play her music, and she doesn't make love to her music; she literally FUCKS her music: hard, fast, and unapologetically. And while at times I found the incessant trilling to be too much, I had to commend her insane artistry: this is a woman who SELLS and LOVES what she does, and I can't fault her that.
Ben was, as always, awesome. I was disappointed in the sneering, butch-cum-femme hippie crowd that saw Ben as "low art". Poo on that, I say, Ben Folds RULES. In the most insulting installment of Tori fans run amuck, someone yelled "TORI! TORI!" during a very soft rendition of "Cigarette"...a song I fucking love. Asshole. Also, a chick scoffed, "This is why boys shouldn't be allowed near pianos" while I was going to the loo. I think she was offended by the "YOU FUCKING WHORE! YOU FUCKING WHORE!" verse of "Song for the Dumped", but it was hard to tell.
My good buddy AnnieWaits has a funnier version of her Ben/Tori experience. Go read that.
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So I get an email from Ryan the Funeral Director that said
"Sally,
Sarah and I watched a little movie called 'Chicago'. I thought I'd see it because you loved it and advised me to see it. I swear to God, if I had a vagina, I would be you! I loved it!"
It then went on to say that I'm no longer to be Sally O'Malley amongst the Shore Boyz, but heretofore known as "Mama".
I tell you what, I could spice it up Queen Latifah style any day you want, bro.
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Much better day today with the Theatre Arts kids from Tuesday that I wasn't sure I liked. They're a lot nicer than I gave them credit for; however, my 2s? The ones I really liked before? They suck. They turned on me today.
"Jessica," said Robin, one of my colleagues, "I've never heard you be MEAN before!"
I don't care if they like me anymore; I have enough kids that love me...I just want this particular group of 9th graders to really, really learn. They have no place to go but up, and I'm determined to make them get there. It's sad that they respond so negatively to my unconventional methods of teaching, but really dig taking notes and lecture...*sigh* I'll keep working, though. Perhaps I expected too much of them too soon.
Haven't even been in school a week and I've reached my "school story" quota for the year. Damn. I've got to get a new job.
Heh heh, I'm just kidding.