[Note:
Apparently, during the Alanis and Tori 5 1/2 weeks show in Las Vegas
on September 24, 1999, broadcast on Pay Per View, Tori, once again,
pulled out this infamous comeback: "Eat my pussy."
If anyone wondered if the original incident in Massachusetts was one
of remorse or embarrassment for Tori, wonder no more. This time,
it was really great timing as Tori was doing "The Waitress,"
which explores how an otherwise peaceful person can find "violence
in mind." The conflict of feelings is summed up in the
line "I believe in peace, BITCH." Tori held up a middle
finger for quite a few seconds, and growled "Eat my pussy,"
without missing a note. It seemed to be just part of the performance.
The word in Toriland is, however, that Tori was responding to a drunk
heckler in the front -- in her own special way. Hear her for yourself
-- download Eat My II :) ] <![CDATA[Oops...you're
missing a component and can't hear what the rest of the world is hearing!]]>
On
Tuesday evening, August 31, 1999, Tori performed at the Tweeter Center
for the Performing Arts in Mansfield, Massachusetts (better known, and
I mean BETTER, as Great Woods.) It was a stop on her 5 1/2
Weeks Tour, a double-headliner with Alanis Morissette.
Halfway
through the show, Tori settled in for a "quiet time"
-- the band takes a break and Tori wows the crowd with just her
beautiful voice and her Bosey. First, Tori filled the air with
her spine-tingling rendition of the Stones' Angie. Then
it was time for her ballad of innocence, uncertainty and change, Winter.
Tori
told the audience that a girl, named Nicole, had bought a ticket for
the show but "couldn't make it," Tori's euphemism for death.
The girl, as we all learned later, had recently taken her own
life. Her friends were in the audience and they had written to
Tori. Would she dedicate something to Nicole?
Winter
was for Nicole. "Snow can wait; I forgot my mittens.
Wipe my nose, put my new boots on. I get a little warm in my
heart when I think of winter. I put my hand in my father's
glove...."
That
was about as far as Tori got before she stopped to deal with a
disturbance from the front row. Now, I couldn't hear this from
19 rows behind, but numerous reports indicate that a group of guys
were a bit noisy and from their little corner of the venue came the
request for Tori to "show us your tits."
That
was probably the single worst moment to choose to say something so
stupid. But now we have this treasured wav file, a recording of
Tori's response:
"Guys,
eat my pussy. Guys -- either shut up or show me your
dick." A reviewer from the Boston Globe
blasted her for the obscene outburst. "Alas, she felt it
necessary to interrupt [Winter] to chide (in language laced
with genital references) two men she saw chatting."
This
makes it sound as if Tori was unprovoked or unreasonably harsh.
Those who know more about the incident, and about Tori, can forgive
her "genital reference." We need people like Tori to
trample upon the practice of defining women in terms of their sexual
organs, using language jerks like these will understand. If I'm
a pair of tits, then you're a dick. Fair is fair.
Tori
-- you go girl! And thanks, Jesse!
Tori's
reaction, and the atmosphere created, which, effectively, ruined Winter's
innocence, can be better explained by Tori, herself. In a 1997
interview for the audio documentary Star Profile of Tori Amos,
she explains her remarkable relationship with her audience:
There
has to be a large amount of trust from my end because, um, I reveal a
lot more in my songs than I do anywhere else, really, in my life. I've
always been that way. I've been most honest in my music. And, um, I
think I usually find out what I'm thinking when I hear a song back. I
can say, "Oh, that's what's really going on behind my heart, not
what I've told him -- or her." If I feel threatened I sing very
differently. We can go anywhere when I feel safe. When I don't feel
safe, then I'm just trying to show you that I used to be 7-foot-3 in
another life and I'm really 5-2 now. And so it becomes more of armor
instead of really transcending everything and being able to be free.
And that's why over the years I get to know the people I'm singing to
because I sing very differently when I feel safe.
I
don't have to sing every night. I do it because I love to. But to do
it there has to be respect, but on both sides. They're really amazing.
I call them "Ears With Feet" now. And when "Ears With
Feet" come we all know we can take a journey together that I
can't take when I'm on my own. I take a different journey. But when
you have that many people in the same room, it's really fascinating to
me what energy combined can do together. And you can't have disrespect
on either side and travel well.
She's
got a heart of gold. Truly, she's one of the warmest and most
sensitive people you could ever hope to meet. Just don't piss her
off!