Party Like It's 2009: December Tour Dates, Recaps, Holiday Merch Offer
--Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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 (on our main website when next at a computer) 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 January! Very excited to be working with
When I'm Mobile. 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!
Possibly Grammy Noms, Microsoft Feature, iPhone App, Free Stuff for Tour Aid, More
--Tuesday, 13 October 2009
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&R Music 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.
Last but not least, I surreptitiously snuck into the studio with Steve Bowman and David Henry and Will Kimbrough for two straight days. Sweaty, exhausted, happy. Working on a top-secret project details to come.
For more news from Tori, please check her main website at torisparks.com when next at a computer.
