Mystic Pieces

As strange as what comes of out Amos' mouth may sometimes sound, her moments of clarity are dead on. In a goofy way, it's her bizarre juggling of two worlds--an inner one that produces her belief that her creative force "exists outside of me and it comes to visit me" and an outer one that's genuinely nice and talks freely about earthy things like laxatives and musical theater--that makes her confessions so familiar.

"Well, I always hope that people take my music away and see their own friends and their own faces and their own characters, that it doesn't become about my life anymore," she says, offering a practical definition for "good" art. "At the end of the day, I really hope people start to see themselves in it."

Tori Amos is scheduled to perform on Sunday, September 27, at America West Arena, with the Devlins. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.