flamewar

[Brian J Dillard <dillardb@student.msu.edu>]

geez! this tori-vs.-kate thing reminds me of those old marvel comics
lettercolumns where kids wrote in debating vociferously about who would win in
a match-up, the thing or the hulk?

i, for one, see few similarities between the two women, not that my knowledge
of _either's_ performance styles is that wide-ranging (the tapetree and one
viewing of hammersmith, a few tori videos).

however, i do subscribe to the theory of trickle-down influence. would madonna
exist if oscar wilde hadn't? probably no. has madonna ever read wilde?
doubtful! who knows, perhaps kate's influence has been wide-ranging but diffuse
enough that tori has been influenced by people who were influenced by kate. as
for the photo, hey, i wasn't there so i don't know. but it is an album cover,
and it is the only place where any sort of really direct parallel exists. the
music and the writing are so vastly different in so many ways . . . . .

brian dillard