Book Review - Comic Book Tattoo

(This post inspired by Tori Amos, but dedicated to Lysdexicuss)

There is an interesting article here about how the cover art was made. 

            Its Tori Amos' 47th birthday today, so I'll be reviewing a book that is pretty much one of my favorite possessions. It is a 500 page graphic novel anthology inspired by her lyrics. If my house were burning down and I could only pick 5 books out of the hundreds in my library to save, this would be among them. I was mildly into comics before this came out, but to be honest it gave me an appreciation for them which I never knew was in me. It likely has something to do with Amos being one of my favorite musicians since I was 11 (although her last few albums haven't really been my cuppa, the first 7 are enough to make my devotion eternal). Also, I'm an art major so obviously visual wonderment has a direct line to my heart. You'll have to forgive me if I start fandoming, comics and Tori Amos together is almost enough to make me orgasm. However since this is a book review, I'll do my best to stay focused.

This is the only image of Amos herself in the book.

             The project was put together by Rantz Hoseley, an old friend Tori wrote (Flying Dutchman) one of her earliest songs for. It starts with an introduction by the increasingly prominent writer Neil Gaiman, another close friend whom she met through Rantz. The book includes 51 stories which correspond to as many songs from across Tori's unimaginably gargantuan repertoire of music. Each story would start with a black page including the song title and lyrics, then the following pages would show the story. There are 80 contributing artists, boasting an assortment of techniques and styles. One of the best things about this book is the variety of visual appeal. It ranges from modern cartoon to detailed illustrations to paintings to collages and everything in between. As an artist, I use this like an inspiration scrap book. I can go back to the stories over and over again to find stimulation to which can help me break through any artistic barriers I might be experiencing in my work. Throughout this post I'll include some single pages from a few of the stories to give you an idea of the diversity in the genres. It might seem like I'm giving away a lot but trust me, this doesn't even begin to scratch at the surface of this iceberg, and I've not included the best ones.

 

             The very best thing about this book is that its not just meant for Amos fans. When the artists were presented with the songs they would be working with, it was made clear that they were not to create comic book "music videos" out of them. They were told to focus their creative energy on making visual representations of how the songs make them feel, rather than designing literal translations of them. Amos asked the artists to present their own interpretations of what the songs mean to them, instead of trying to imagine what they meant for her. Therefore, if her music hasn't been something you've really been into, it wouldn't really effect your enjoyment of the comics themselves. As a fan (or an Ear with Feet, if you're down like that) I really enjoy seeing these alternate realizations of the songs which I've seen in the light of my own thinking for so long. These stories make me see things in the songs I somehow missed before, and I'm always interested in looking at things from a different perspective. 

 

Full list of contributors: David Mack, Josh Hechinger, Matthew Humphreys, Jonathan Tsuei, Eric Canete, Jason Horn, Dean Trippe, Sara Ryan, Jonathan Case, Rantz A. Hoseley, James Stokoe, Tristan Crane, Atticus Wolrab, Kako, Nikki Cook, Drew Bell, Kevin Mellon, Jeff Carroll, Mike May, Jeremy Haun, Amber Stone, Leif Jones, Elizabeth Genco, Carla Speed Mcneil, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Andy Macdonald, Nick Filardi, Cat Mihos, Andre Szymanowicz, Gabe Bautista, C.B. Cebulksi, Ethan Young, Joey Weltjens & Lee Duhig, Omaha Perez, Irma Page, Mark Buckingham, Rantz A. Hoseley, Ming Doyle, Mike Maihack, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, Alice Hunt, Trudy Cooper, Jonathan Hickman, Matthew S. Armstrong, Neil Kleid, Christopher Mitten, Kristyn Ferretti, Stephanie Leong, Sonia Leong, Peov, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Laurenn Mccubbin, John Bivens, Hope Larson, Emma Vieceli, Faye Yong, Chris Arrant, Star St.Germain, Mike Dringenberg, Paul Maybury, Jim Bricker, Craig Taillefer, Dame Darcy, G. Willow Wilson, Steve Sampson, Neal Shaffer, Daniel Krall, Adisakdi Tantimedh, Ken Meyer Jr., Mark Sable, Salgood Sam, Tom Williams, James Owen, Seth Peck, Daniel Heard, Ivan Brandon, Callum Alexander Watt, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Pia Guerra, Mark Sweeney, Kristyn Ferretti, Jessica Staley, Shane White, Ted Mckeever, Chris Chuckry, Jimmie Robinson, Lea Hernandez Derek Mcculloch, Colleen Doran and Jason Hanley.

"I have been surprised, excited and pleasantly shocked by these comics that are extensions of the songs that I have loved and therefore welcome these amazing stories of pictures and words because they are uncompromisingly inspiring. It shows you thought is a powerful, formidable essence and can have a breathtaking domino effect." - Tori Amos, 2008

Tori Amos and Puppets

A new musical by Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson is reported to premier at the Lyttelton Theatre in 2012.

The show, based on George MacDonald’s 1864 fairy tale The Light Princess, has recently enjoyed its first workshop at the National Theatre led by Marianne Elliott.

And, as if an Amos musical wasn’t exciting enough, the workshop was said to focus around the art of puppetry, a topic of knowledge for Elliott who worked as the co-director of War Horse.

Intrigued minds may be wondering, will the eagerly anticipated musical be an amalgamation of music from a sensational American song-writer and fantastic, high-tech puppets?

If, so count me in. If not, a musical featuring the work of Amos is sure to be simply divine. Amos has sold over 15 million records worldwide and has collaborated with the likes of Trent Reznor, Michael Stipe and Maynard James Keenan.

Click the link to read the entire Article at Show and Stay

Bonnaroo 2010 - Artist of Note

Very sadly, for financial and avoidance of sun poisoning reasons, I did not get to attend Bonnaroo this year (since my stint in '04 at the tender age of 16 I have decided I will be sticking to smaller, a bit more mellow, festivals from now on). However, I did get to do the next best thing: Watch the Bonnaroo Live Feed!!! I have to say, while the image froze occasionally the audio was strong and consistent, and honestly with ticket prices these days, it completely made me feel better about not going. I got to see a lot of the artists I would have gone to see, right from the comfort of my lovely air conditioned home (and with a little hdmi cable magic I transfered it from the PC to the flat screen - now that is how you do it folks). I had so much fun watching all the talented artists like Damien Marley, Tenacious D, Nas, Tori Amos, Dave Matthews, Jay-Z, Norah Jones, Weezer, Michael Franti and even good ole John Fogerty. But I was truly impressed by one stand out performance in particular:

Regina Spektor

I've been dabbling in this girl's music for a few years now and I've had a handful of songs which I truly adore, but I'd never seen her play live. It really is an experience. She's got such a good energy about her and while she could use a little fine tuning on her stage presence, working the crowd in between songs, seeing her play is really inspiring. She's got the same essence about her that you can see in Tori Amos' early work from 90-94 (her technical skill may not be as high but her songs certainly have more of a hook to the masses), with a more diverse taste for different instruments that she actually plays herself. She played her beautiful piano for a while, then a guitar, then a piano and chair at the same time, and then the keyboard for a more electronica diddy. Needless to say, I was intrigued. As her career progresses it will really be treat to see her music evolve.  Overall the songs were light and beautiful, perfect for the summer festival atmosphere. Then there were a few really powerful beasts in there like Machine (wow...with sirens and everything), and Apres Moi with her gorgeous Russian vocals interwoven through the song (I had chills, y'all). I was just sitting here thanking God for a modern piano girl who truly knows how to compose a great song and use those strings (ala the highly talented but disappointingly under productive Fiona Apple). The feed cut off the last few songs of her set to show someone else play for a while but I'll be catching up on those last four songs I missed as soon as I get done typing away on here. 

Set List:

1. The Calculation

2. Folding Chair

3. Eet

4. Sailor Song

5. Machine

6. Laughing With

7. On The Radio

8. Better

9. Dance Anthem Of The 80s

10. Bobbing For Apples

11. That Time

12. Apres Moi

13. Poor Little Rich Boy

14. Samson

15. Us

16. Fidelity

17. Hotel Song

18. Love, You're A Whore

An mp3 of the entire show can be found here: 

http://reginaspektor.su/concerts/2010/13.06.2010%20-%20Bonnaroo.mp3

I can tell you one thing, I think its high time I throw down the money and finally get an album...this definitely won't be the last time she'll be popping up here at The Soul-Quake. Regina, you have got my attention.

Can't Stop What's Coming

"...the main thing about Bells is that there is no resolve, and that's what that whole song was saying. Can't stop what's coming, can't stop what is on its way. All I can do is respond truthfully, and the concept that we'll always be friends, or we can always work it out, I would have bet you that I could have worked anything out with this person. I would have bet my hand I could have worked anything out. I'd be missing a hand right now. It'd be the one-armed Tori tour. I couldn't have foreseen this. And I think, how many people, in marriages or families, and they're going, 'Wait a minute. I'm a rational being. This is a rational being, so we think.' Of course, I'm a little -- I'm partial, but I would have thought, yes, we could work it out. And when it got to in the end 'blankettes,' and the spelling changed, and when I was writing it down, I did it 'blankettes' as in -- well, what it means to me is just blank women, chicks. Yet they were making mudpies and creating and it's void now. And if you talk to people that know her, they think she's a together, great babe. And if you talk to people that know me, I'm a together, great babe. And yet we just couldn't do it. So there is a triangle on this record of the betrayal of women. It's not just that relationship. It's many other things in the other tunes. But Bells is the spirit speaking, not the ego speaking, but the part of me that still loves a friend that for whatever reason you can't make a resolve. You just can't do it. The big lesson in this whole year has been that there isn't a resolve for many things. Life isn't about, well, if I just get to this mountain peak, it's over. There are like 5,000 peaks in the distance."
-- Tori; The Baltimore Sun, '94