I remember the first time I saw Tori Amos in concert at the University of New Hampshire. I attended the show with my roommate Jill and our seats were on the floor, in the second section back from the stage. I had the best view that night.
   Tori was playing with just her piano and no backup band. I get chills just thinking about hearing her sing live. She gets into every aspect of her songs. You can tell that they mean so much to her, as if they were living beings that she had created and is now setting free to wander through the ears of whoever will listen.
   I�ve since seen her at least twice more, and she still amazes me with the way she plays the piano and the strength of her voice. I believe that she is a truly beautiful person, inside and out.
   I am in the process of reading her autobiography, �Piece by Piece.� I have read quite a bit and it starts out with her family history and her creative process. I highly recommend it to those who already like her music.
   The second time I saw her in concert at UNH I was a photographer with the college newspaper, The New Hampshire. And somehow, we got clearance for me to take pictures during the first three songs at the concert. It was the most amazing thing in the world. Along with a few other photographers, I got to stand in the space between the stage and the audience, in this pit area, in order to get the best shots. And boy, did I get some great ones. I still have the negatives and I hope to get them professionally printed at some point so that I can hang them in the house. Although I still don�t trust giving the negatives to anyone who might ruin them accidentally. I hope to send her a copy of the photographs if I ever get them printed. I will probably put some on this website if I can get them scanned correctly. I developed the negatives myself and I was shocked that they even came out, because I used a high speed film with no flash and the arena was extremely dark. It is an experience that I will never forget. I didn�t even mind that I had to walk home in the rain after the concert, as long as I had my camera and those photographs.
   This is just one brush with a celebrity that I�ve had in my life. Somehow, I lucked out and met Weird Al Yankovic too, mainly because my husband was gutsy enough to toss a music review I had written about his album on the stage before a concert at Hampton Beach. But that tale is for another time. (See the Weird Al article coming soon.)