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Tori Sparks



Last Updated: 12/24/2009

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City: NASHVILLE
State: TENNESSEE
Country: US
Signup Date: 5/22/2005

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Monday, November 30, 2009 

Current mood:  animated
Category: Music
Attn: Nashville. A Note from Tori.

Pssst!

Just a reminder that we'll be playing an in-store show at Grimey's New and Preloved Music, THIS SATURDAY, December 5th at 4pm. Grimey's is located on 8th Ave. S. Featuring the Ineffable Dan Cohen on guitar and the Shocktaculous Matthew Burgess on percussion.

The show will last about an hour, and will be upstairs, in the store itself. Free admission - AND, free Gigi's cupcakes! (It is my birthday, after all, so I felt morally obligated to provide some kick-ass cakes. Come celebrate with us!)

Hugs are also free. I've really missed you all while I've been on the road this fall and winter.

If you've never been to an in-store, it's a unique experience. Come on down, bring the kiddies, and Happy Birthday to me. And to you, if you arrive early enough to snag a cupcake.

Much love to you and yours, including any estranged relatives,

Tori


http://www.torisparks.com
http://www.myspace.com/torisparks




8:31 PM 
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009 

Current mood:  inquisitive
Category: Music

Greetings, Torilings. That's sort of like Earthlings, but you get the idea. The year is speeding to a close, and you know what that means! Tons of December tour dates. From now till New Year's, it's on! Here's the skinny.

A few big shows to watch for: The Nashville Birthday Bash and Grimey's In-Store (free cupcakes!) … The 3rd Annual Hometown Holiday Bash … Two big-time benefit concerts in Gainesville … The Annual SPR Thanksdrinking Day Ball … BIg New Year's Show in Louisville … And our first time in Arizona, starting TOMORROW. Full schedule posted here.
XXXMas Orders - Happy Holiday offer to you, 'cause we love you. Any order placed through the Tori Store between now and December 18th will also receive a free bonus dropcard, compete with extra songs, music videos, interviews, and other goodies. If you're ordering for a friend, we'll even include a personalized gift card. Just ask.

Already have Scorpion and all the other albums at home? Remember that the new DVD, Tori Sparks: Live at the Rutledge is a 45-minute extravaganza of rock... and totally fits in stockings. Just sayin'.

Tour Recap!

MIDWEST and THE CAROLINAs: Revisiting good friends and meeting new faces in Bloomington, Indy, Chicago, Toledo. Played at Ft. Wayne's most rockin' rock club, and in Covington, played an arts center with floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows, jello shots, and a massive pipe organ. Survived a rockslide and 20-degree weather, opened for Malcom Holcomb and ate Thai food at 2am. Saw a rainbow and met Georige Gershwin's great-nephew. Played at colleges and learned the meaning of ecopragmatism. Thanks to the Shelby Star and others for the write-ups.

WEST COAST: The West Coast tour and CT dates were a madcap ride as always. Highlights included getting to play an in-store at the original Tower Records location in Sacramento, the Halloween Bash, first time in Olympia, full band show in Seattle, first time in Vancouver, New Hampshire, more. I got to see a belly dancing show, eat Peruvian food, get lost in multiple Chinatowns, hung out in a cell at Alcatraz, fell very ill after a 13-hr drive, translated French to English and back during a mid-flight medical emergency, rode down Sunset Strip at midnight on a motorcycle, got a purple hat in San Francisco, went to the Jimi Hendrix Experience Music Project. Played the Associated General Contractors Awards in Nashville, and they thought it was cool that I know what rebar is. Ha. Thanks to The Stranger in Seattle and to Crossbridge for the newspaper features, KATU AM Northwest for the TV interview, all the supportive radio stations - you know who you are! Only two days off in 32 days.

Coming Soon... A mobile version of ToriSparks.com will be launched in December! Very excited to be working with WhenI'mMobile. Access to the smartphone-ready version of the site will include an exclusive free download, not available anywhere else! Please stay tuned.

Next year's tour dates include revisiting north, south, east, west, and central United States and Canada - including never-before-played states such as Kansas, Montana, Quebec more -- and touring in Europe (England, Ireland, France, to be continued). Schedules and details to come in January 2010.

Merry Early Holiday Season, Happy New Year's! Remember that when the big sparkling ball drops in my garish and beloved Times Square, I'll be toasting to your health, and hopefully, excessive happiness. Prost!
10:08 PM 
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Monday, October 05, 2009 

Current mood:  voluminous
Category: Music
Featured on Microsoft's Windows Media Player homepage! Thanks to ReverbNation and Microsoft for supporting independent music. See the press release here.

Also! Scorpion is up for six possible Grammy nominations – crazy, I know. While “Record of the Year” is way more likely to go to, say, Springsteen, “Best Contemporary Folk Album” and “Best New Artist” are – with your help! -- possibilities. NARAS members, I’d appreciate your vote. Thank you for your consideration.

The September tour(s) and Dewey Beach Music Conference were a blast, thank you to friends and fans and associates who made the trek possible. Special thanks to Vikki Walls. Huge Upper Midwest and West Coast tours starting October 11th and 26th, respectively. Dates posted now! (Can’t wait for the big Halloween Bash in San Francisco, just wait till you see my costume. Mwahahahaaaa.) We really need help spreading the word for this month’s shows, so please drop us a line if you’re interested in getting some cool free stuff in exchange for helping to rally the troops, hang posters, or generally spread the word. See you on the road!

Guess who has an iPhone App? (Springsteen, again. Tori too!) Games, puzzles, photos, music, instant access to tour dates, all the insider info available at the click of an Apple product. Awesome.

New Yorkers! Thank you for making the Bitter End show and the Best Buy in-store a blowout couple of shows. Photos are posted online at MySpace, Facebook, the like, now. Speaking of stores, I’d like to ask you a favor -  stop by local record store J&RMusic World and pick up your copy of Scorpion. Nashville! Please grab a copy of the album from Grimey’s. Pretty please, support your local record store so that they can afford to keep supporting indie touring artists. West Coast, don’t feel neglected.  You can get your copy at  Canyon Way (Newport OR), Dimple Records and R5 Records (Sacramento), Music Millennium 60 (Portland)  Rasputin Music (Berkeley), Amoeba (San Fran and Los Angeles), more.


5:10 AM 
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009 

Current mood:  working
Category: Music
Thanks to NewSong for choosing “Penny on a Rail” as a Southeast Regional Finalist. People's Choice Voting is open NOW. I'd appreciate it if you'd vote. Twenty seconds of your time = instant gratitude and good karma. Results announced August 31st.

Speaking of, “Penny on a Rail” is an excerpt from the upcoming DVD,  Tori Sparks: Live at the Rutledge. More clips are viewable on YouTube. The DVD will be available through the website, as well in Nashville’s Curious Heart Emporium. New site to launch this week (at long last).

Touring like a crazy lady! Just confirmed a zillion shows in September, October, and November – more added daily as I battle the booking monster. Complete schedule (so far) is here. From Seattle to Arizona to New York to Chapel Hill to Tampa to wherever, we’ll be there.

Indie Music Stores Unite! The Scorpion in the Story is now available exclusively at Grimey’s in Nashville. Other indie music establishments carrying the new album include Amoeba (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Rasputin (San Francisco), J&R (New York), R5 (Sacramento), Dimple (Sacramento), Melody (Washington DC), Earshot (Greenville), Easy Street (Seattle), Silver Platters (Seattle), Millennium Music 60 (Portland), and others. Support local music, support local record stores. You could order it from Best Buy or Amazon, but if you have the choice, please get it from these guys. Much love.

Press rolling along: Reviews (Roots Music Report, Billings Gazette, Heaven Magazine) , interviews (MusicToGoUSA, others), music video features and more galore. Special thanks to MSSVision for always promoting/supporting the music vids, including the Merry Go-Round music video, and concert footage of ”Tigers Mouth”. It’s not easy work to be an indie broadcaster. Cheers.



6:35 PM 
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Monday, July 20, 2009 

Current mood:  blessed
Category: Music

Charting

Scorpion is at #95 (and climbing) on the Americana Terrestrial Radio Chart! Thank you for keeping the requests coming. Download the album at iTunes, eMusic,  Napster, Rhapsody, all other digital download sites! I won't be mad if you even download it twice. 


In other news, "Tall Towers" from the new record is on the Paste Magazine New Music Sampler this month. Yay. Thanks to everyone at Paste for rocking my socks off, and for being nice folks, too.

Interviews

Special thanks NBC 10 in Philadelphia for the wonderful live interview. I was soooo tired, but it was soooo worth it. A live recording of a to-be-released bonus song (shhh!) will air regionally on NBC immediately following Saturday Night Live, date TBA.

Thanks to Michael Buckley and Voices of the Bay on WRNR103 in ....Annapolis..... The taped interview will air later this month. Check out the live interview on Down Home Cookin' with Larry T on WKIX in Florida here. (Big supporter of all 3 albums. Thanks Larry! I owe you a popsicle!)

Watch the Random Acts of Music episode, live from Henry J Production studios in Canton.

Lastly, Playback feature! Fun.

Just wrapped up the whirlwind July run!

A few highlights: Raising money for Hungry for Music at the benefit concert in DC, playing the packed-out SESAC showcase at the Rockwood Music Hall, eating a massive Ruben at Katz’s Deli, meeting the founders of MSSVision after all their support, staying in an old Gothic church-turned-art-center in Rome, hearing stories about the Miami mob while in Ithaca, driving through gorgeous hill country, www.jefffasano.com, Rhyne’s shaved head, Mick’s talking cat, sharing the stage with multiple Aussies, the Focus Music Concert, seeing so many incomparable friends and associates, picking up a last-minute showcase in a burlesque club. (All clothes stayed on, by the way.)

A few lowlights: Getting towed in Manhattan, being harassed by a creepy cop at the North American Motor Inn (itwas like being in that Samuel L. Jackson movie), $150+ spent in tolls, an 8 hr drive from DC to Boston turning into 11 hrs in traffic, internet troubles, Easton gig getting pulled 45 min before sound check, running out of socks. (I bought more, it’s ok.)

NYC (gets its very own category): The city was its usual, weird, gorgeous, exciting, bloody, wonderful self. Five shows in four days, meetings, museums, met so many incredible people, saw great friends new and old, wandered into an amazing French restaurant (owner spontaneously brings out champagne for lunch). Saw the city from the roof, explored the lower east side, fell in love at least three times. Still coming down. Specialest of thanks to rock divas Left on Red.

Only a few shows planned in August as we prep for some truly exciting, big stuff coming up in the fall… I can’t tell you what it is yet, ‘cause then I’d have to kill you. (So, best that I save it for later.) Please stay tuned. More tour dates – literally all over the country and in ..Europe.. – to be announced in the coming weeks.


And, 'cause I want to, I’m recommending a few tasty soon-to-be addictions that will make you wanna slap yo’ mama. So, eat this… some can be found all over, and some are region-specific.

Cricket Soda (DC), Salsa at Cantina Laredo (Nashville), Rick's Cheesesteaks (Philadelphia). Mariage Tea (NYC), White Sangria (Pittsburgh), Utz Sourdough Preztels (Ithaca), Stuffed Dates (Harrisburg), Fried Mushrooms  (Bloomington), Dunkin Donuts #5 Combo (Boston), Las Paletas – any flavor!  (Nashville), Le Paris Sandwich and the Violet Macaron at  Macaron Café (NYC),  Beaujolais (Annapolis).

 
4:55 AM 
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 

Current mood:  triumphant
Category: Music
The new album is out at last, for real, not kidding this time. Grab your copy online, on iTunes, or anywhere CDs are sold. (Distributed through Burnside Distribution out of Portland.) Pre-ordering is now closed, thank you to everyone who grabbed their early special edition. The deluxe edition of the album as well as all-new Scorpion merch will be available on the new-and-purple, er, -improved, version of ToriSparks.com, to launch on June 30th!

Want to win a signed special edition of Scorpion? Click here. Contest runs through July 1st. Also see contest banners on CMJ.com, Tripwire, and Pitchfork. Download “Tall Towers” FREE this week at CMJ’s Download This.

Thanks to Jewly Hight and the Nashville Scene for the Critics Pick on the CD + Music Video Release Extravaganza in Nashville. The show was an absolutely smashing success. We recorded it live – footage posted soon – and raised a ton of money for VH1’s Save the Music Foundation. Thanks again to the local sponsors, to the indelible inedible Tori Sparktaculous band, and to everyone who helped make it a blow-out evening. Special thanks to emcee Shannon Cain.

Drumroll, please! The “Merry Go-Round” music video is posted now. Ta-da.Click for pure unadulterated wackiness.

More early reviews and features from Folkwax, Music News Nashville,, and a music video feature by the Shelby Star. And we’re just getting started… keep those requests coming.

4:22 AM 
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Sunday, May 31, 2009 

Current mood:  busy
Category: Music
T-minus 16 days ‘till Scorpion drops! The Scorpion in the Story will be out, released, available, on June 16th. Yay. We’ll be launching a fabulous new website with a bunch of behind-the-scenes coolness and extras. To everyone who has already preordered Scorpion, your super-exciting copies will be sent out on June 5th. (Preorders available through June 4th.) The Deluxe Version includes a dropcard containing the music video for “Merry Go-Round,” as well as exclusive interviews, previously unreleased bonus tracks, original demos, and super-fun remixes by DJ D. Rich. Plus a hip poster. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty exciting to me.

Heads-up on the June concert situation: The big one is, of course, the CD + Music Video Release Extravaganza next Thursday, June 4th at the Rutledge in Nashville. It’s shaping up to be a huge crazy party, so please come show your pretty face. Look for a Critic’s Pick in the Nashville Scene, as well as an album feature from Music News Nashville and Music City Unsigned. Details in the previous blog post.

The Operation Troop Aid Benefit Concert and the Nashville Songwriters’ Fest are also coming up later this month. Details here. July brings a TON of tour dates up through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, DC, many more. Details here.
Scorpion on the radio! College radio is off to a fantabulous start, and Americana/AAA radio adds start tomorrow (June 1st). Please call your favorite local radio station and request songs from The Scorpion in the Story! Speaking of getting out there, big thanks to Henry J Productions for hosting the Random Acts of Music television taping. It aired two weeks ago in over 1 million households. Future airtimes here.

Some of you are familiar with Paste Magazine. It’s one of the few great music magazines left in the world. Their emphasis is on fresh, new, quality music, and their staff are hardworking hardcore music fans. The magazine is in trouble, and it’s raising money to keep itself afloat. The song “Leaving Side of Love” from Scorpion is included in a bundle of 120+ rare tracks from various artists that are your free gift when you donate even a single dollar to the Campaign to Save Paste. The compilation includes tuned from the Plastic Ono Band, the Cowboy Junkies, Matthew Sweet, Brandi Carlile, Josh Rouse, Neko Case, the Decembrists, yours truly, and more. Other thank-you gifts include signed promo posters from R.E.M. and other goodies. Details here.
8:12 PM 
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Monday, April 27, 2009 

Current mood:  adventurous
Category: Music
Thanks to the IndieShows Blog for being the first to post a fantabulous prerelease review of the new album. (Jeez, we just sent ‘em out a couple of days ago – you guys are on the ball!) Speaking of The Scorpion in the Story, only a few special-edition preorders remain! Snap ‘em up in the next day or so, otherwise we’ll have run out of cool freebies to send along with your preorder. (Regular preorders will still be available through June 4th.)

Glass Mountain Records is very excited to be partnering with When I'm Mobile, an ubercool new company based in New York. All Tori websites will be launched in custom iPhone and mobile device formats starting in June. Stay tuned.

CD + Music Video Release Extravaganza details posted now. Get the dirt on Facebook or on the website. Thanks to local businesses Curious Heart, Corner Music, and more for donating items for the doorprizes and giveaways. Portions of CD sales at the show will go to benefit VH1’s Save the Music Foundation. Mike Younger and Ben Cyllus open.

Bonus! Photos from the Music City Rollergirls vs. Big Easy Rollergirls bout (feat. A Tori-style National Anthem performance) are posted now. Special thanks to Brian Murphee, Erin O’hara Block, and the Bowmans.

2:48 AM 
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 

Current mood:  fabulous
Category: Music

PREORDER Tori Sparks' NEW album The Scorpion in the Story. This is a special offer ONLY for those of you who have opted into the Tori mailing list or are myspace friends. Preorders won’t be available to the general public until tomorrow, April 2nd.  Click here to preorder.  Preview the new album on MySpace.  

The first one hundred folks to preorder will receive the Deluxe Version of the album for the price of the regular record! The Deluxe Version includes a limited-edition poster (signed and numbered), and a download card featuring exclusive interviews, previously unreleased bonus tracks, and a music video for the song "Merry Go Round" (feat. the Music City Rollerderby Girls). All preorders after 100 will have the option to order the Deluxe Version if they prefer.

A tale in thirteen chapters, The Scorpion in the Story is collection of true stories from the road. Also includes bonus track "Le Manege," the French version of the song "Merry Go-Round." The Scorpion in the Story will be released to the public on June 23rd.

In other news… SXSW and the Mississippi-Texas tour were a whirlwind of fun, sun, illegal parking, breakfast tacos, and Bluebonnets. Special thanks to RedGorilla MusicFest, Houston’s GoGirls, Skeeterhawk Record, the Dallas Songwriters’ Association, and Tredway and Friends, and all the wonderful folks I met or reconnected with on the road. The kindness of strangers is like pure gold when you’re traveling – keep up with the day-to-day adventures on Twitter. Can’t wait to come back, I love Tejas.

The previous two albums (R + R and UTYS are also now available at T-Bone Records in Hattiesburg MS, in case you didn’t pick ‘em up at the shows. Yay.

1:38 AM 
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Friday, February 27, 2009 

Current mood:  amorous
Category: Music

Hey all! Thanks for your patience while we were in the studio. Yes, it’s true that Tori’s third album The Scorpion in the Story is finished, done, sent off to be printed as we speak…. er, type. The new record is a concept album, a tour diary in thirteen chapters that charts Tori’s travels across the United States. The songs are based on the true stories of people Tori met while on the road. The album features guest appearances by stellar players such as Will Kimbrough and Viktor Krauss (yes, Allison’s brother), and is Tori’s second collaboration with producer David Henry and drummer Steve Bowman, formerly of the Counting Crows. Limited-edition preorders available on April 1st. Details to come.

Tori is on Twitter – yay! -- and has rejoined Facebook. (Last time, the Facebook demons kicked her off for listing too many tour dates. Never fear, her full tour schedule is on her  MySpace site, Sonicbids EPK, Reverbnation site, and website. Of course, they’re also on Glass Mountain Records’ MySpace and website. Get your daily dose of Tori! And as if that wasn’t enough, please feel free to contribute info to Tori’s Wikipedia page  -- you’ve really hit the big time when someone makes you a Wiki, or so we’re told.

Thanks to Folk Alliance for hosting Tori at their conference this month. See raw footage of an impromptu hotel-lobby performance here.Speaking of conferences, read an exclusive interview with Tori about her upcoming Texas tour and RedGorilla MusicFest showcase on the Two Groove Austin music blog.

Calling all good Samaritans! Look for Tori’s song “Under the Rug” to be released on May 15th on the Project Cure 2009 music compilation. All proceeds from sales will benefit the Immune Deficiency Foundation, National Ataxia Foundation, and the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. The compilation will be made available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and more.

See you in Austin!




6:34 AM 
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