I have backed this project because all 3 artists that are working on it are extremely talented in their art. I highly recommend you back it also, every little bit counts!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
One day I'll be exactly the person that I want to be
In my mind
In a future five years from now
I'm 120 pounds
And I never get hungover
Because I will be the picture of discipline
Never minding what state I'm in
And I will be someone I admire
And it's funny how I imagined that I would be that person now
But it does not seem to have happened
Maybe I've just forgotten how to see
That I'm not exactly the person that I thought I'd be
And in my mind
In the faraway here and now
I've become in control somehow
And I never lose my wallet
Because I will be the picture of discipline
Never fucking up anything
And I'll be a good defensive driver
And it's funny how I imagined that I would be that person now
But it does not seem to have happened
Maybe I've just forgotten how to see
That I'll never be the person that I thought I'd be
And in my mind
When I'm old, I am beautiful
Planting tulips and vegetables
Which I will mindfully watch over
Not like me, now
I'm so busy with everything
That I don't look at anything
But I'm sure I'll look when I am older
And it's funny how I imagine that I could be that person now
But that's not what I want, if that's what I wanted then I'd be giving up somehow
How strange to see that I don't want to be the person that I want to be
And in my mind
I imagine so many things
Things that aren't really happening
And when they put me in the ground, I'll start pounding the lid
Saying "I haven't finished yet –
I still have a tattoo to get
That says 'I'm living in the moment'."
And it's funny how I imagined that I could win this winless fight
But maybe it isn't all that funny that I've been fighting all my life
But maybe I have to think it's funny if I wanna live before I die
And maybe it's funniest of all to think I'll die before I actually see
That I am exactly the person that I want to be
Fuck yes
I am exactly the person that I want to be
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Impossible Girl is coming to Sydney!
I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog but I thought I'd post this anyway...
ALL AGES!
KimBoekbinder - The Impossible Girl
with
Brendan Maclean
Helen Perris
"Discovering The Impossible Girl was thrilling. Kim creates a blend of pop, punk, folk and an urban sensibility that is fused with an authentic sweetness. Her writing and melodic sense are excitingly experimental, but she grounds it in real pop and folk tradition with a wonderful, confident voice." - Rosanne Cash, musician
"I love Kim Boekbinder's songs: they are smart, funny, moving ditties sung by a mistress of her craft. She once tried to teach me ukulele while sitting on my lap and I couldn't concentrate on the ukulele at all." - Neil Gaiman, author
"Kim Boekbinder is a rare breed of uncaged bird that can charm the pants off pretty much any audience she encounters. she's brave, beautiful, the real deal." - Amanda Palmer
Kim Boekbinder is "The Impossible Girl." From The Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Kim has traveled around the world stealing hearts and winning over international audiences with her solo performance. Her songs range from murderous waltzes to epic pop ballads, from country sing-a-longs to sonic sculptures. Kim creates her sound with a hollow body electric guitar, a voice of stunning clarity, a looping pedal, and a bag full of mystery.
After four years of touring with her popular band, Vermillion Lies, Kim Boekbinder has set out on her own. Her amazing debut solo album, "The Impossible Girl," (December 2010) has garnered the attention of artistic luminaries such as Neil Gaiman, Rosanne Cash, Molly Crabapple and her album's producer - the legendary, Sean Slade (Radiohead, The Dresden Dolls.)
Forget where you are, let your heart dance, and fall in love with the world Kim invites you into by listening at:
Download Kim's album, The Impossible Girl: http://www.theimpossiblegirl.com/
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Brendan Maclean is an exuberant singer songwriter from Sydney. With his keyboard and trusty ukulele, named Murphy Brown, Brendan performs dramatic, melodic folk-pop tunes, Brendan spent the last year touring with Custom Kings, Eagle and The Worm, The Whitlam’s and a festivals alongside Sarah Blasko and You Am I. Known for his exuberant performances and skills at the piano his music has been likened to Silverchair, Panic! At The Disco and Mika.
*
Growing up in Regional Qld meant that the only radio station in Helen's formative years was AM. Fed a diet of Fleetwood Mac, Leo Sayer, ABBA and Elvis Presley alongside her classical piano and violin training and early induction into the world of musical theatre led to Helen's musical style being destined to have a timeless feel with a storyteller's bent. Her melodic piano pop is also influenced by Tori Amos, Katie Noonan and Sarah Slean. She has been performing for over 25 years in orchestras, chamber groups, rock bands, concerts, eisteddfods, competitions, revues, variety shows, plays, musicals, commercials, TV shows and films.
RSVP on Facebook here
Monday, March 14, 2011
Jason Webley Sydney Show!
PUNK ACCORDIONIST RETURNS TO OZ!
March 18 - Sydney, AUSTRALIA
JASON WEBLEY headline show (with Juke Baritone)
Camelot Lounge (19 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville)
9 pm - All Ages - $25/$20 conc (Kids are $15)
Jason Webley, the "punk accordion" king of Seattle, is returning to Australia for his first extensive solo tour this March. Webley was last in Australia over four years ago when he was supporting the Dresden Dolls on their 2006 tour.
Described by the Seattle Times as "one of Seattle's most talented musicians," he is known for his gravelly voice and a battered porkpie hat that dances around his head as he stomps and pumps at the bellows of his instrument. His relentless touring schedule and legendary live performances have built him a loyal cult of followers across North America and Europe.
More information here:
http://www.jasonwebley.com/
RSVP HERE: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197520256938351
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Amanda Fucking Palmer Goes Down Under - Part Three
Skip all the boring waiting at airports and all that jazz to Sunday 6th March and the Melbourne BBQ in St Kilda. Ian arrived at my house at about 6:15am and on very little sleep once again we drove to the airport. Our flight wasn’t on the screen when we got there so I started panicking that it had been cancelled and we’d not been told, we were flying with Tiger so it wouldn't surprise me. Eventually it did come up on the screen and after a minor delay we were on our way.We made good time and were in Melbourne by about 10:30am. We got into the city, ate sushi and then walked to the tram stop where we bumped into the one and only sparkle queen herself Kim Boekbinder! We hadn’t bought any alcohol yet so Ian and I quickly dashed off in search of a bottle shop. Much deliberating went down about what I should buy due to lack of money but expensive tastes but eventually I settled on Pear Cider. We thought by then Kim would have been on her way to the BBQ but to our pleasant surprise when we got back to the tram stop she was only just getting on and she had the delightful Saint Clare with her.
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| William Cooper |
We didn’t sit with Kim and Clare on the tram but once we got off to walk to the house we chatted about gigs, Mikelangelo, Saint Clare and the Tin Star are going to be in Sydney end of March beginning of April so everyone should come. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172122492835930 And Kim is also hoping to come to Sydney at the end of April so fingers crossed for that!!!
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| Kim Boekbinder |
When we arrived a lot of people were already there. Guy gave us the shirts we got as part of the fee we paid to go. The shirt is awesome and was designed by Marianne. Unfortunately mine is incredibly short so I doubt it'll be worn.
We met up with Alecia and Phil and I got tackled with hugs by Marianne. I talked to Lisa, who I met for the first time with Guy, Marianne, Candice and Crystal in Hobart at the Brisbane Hotel AFP gig in 2009. If only Bec and Crystal were there it would have been a reunion!
It was quite a hot day which I was loving! No one else seemed to be though. Alecia went and got a big picnic blanket out of her car and we found a spot on the grass in front of the make-shift stage where we continued to catch up.
I said hello to William Cooper who I met on twitter and then in person for the first time briefly in Brisbane after AFP's gig, as well as little Lisa who up until that point I’d only spoken to via twitter. See what I mean about community!!!
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| The Jane Austen Argument with William Cooper |
Before long the music kicked off and first up was Daniel Reeves. I missed some of his set as I was inside but what I saw he was pretty good.
Next up The Impossible Girl - Kim Boekbinder! She played “The Organ Donor’s March” which I did the inner happy dance to upon hearing; as well as my other favourite “Sex, Drugs and Nuclear Physics”, “Love is an Organ Grinder’s Monkey” and Ian’s daughter’s favourite “Gypsy”. It was a short but very enjoyable set.
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| The Jane Austen Argument with Amanda Palmer & William Cooper |
I think Amanda may have arrived somewhere during Kim’s set but next up was The Jane Austen Argument. During their set Jen played the first ever happy song she has ever written and it was beautiful. It made me smile on the inside and out! The rest of the songs were also amazing as always. Amanda got up and played with them during Bad Wine and Lemon Cake as well as William Cooper who plays accordion. He is very talented and has just moved to Melbourne, I hope he gets to play with them more often, or finds another band that he’ll get to perform and even write with.
Tom and Jen then debuted a song they wrote with Neil Gaiman for Amanda. It was incredibly sweet and once they’ve practiced it and played it live a few times I think it’s going to be a crowd favourite!
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| General Assembly |
After The Jane Austen Argument people just hung out for a bit. Amanda made her way around the different groups of people, and then ice-cream and sorbet was handed out to everyone. Amanda came and sat down on our blanket to eat hers… She opted to take the hard way as she seems to do with many things in her life, and ate it without a spoon… I'll let you create your own visuals for that.
The sorbet was delicious. I was not able to determine if it was vegan or not, sorbet generally is, but some people put egg in it so I am hoping it was vegan. I figure what I don’t know can’t hurt me though!
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| Saint Clare & Mikelangelo |
Tom and Jen had to leave not long after as they needed to get a flight back to Adelaide for their Fringe show that night. That’s dedication, flying in for a gig and out again within a matter of hours for another!
Another band, The General Assembly played. They were pretty good. A bit Boy and Bearish.
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| Adelaide boys singing Madonna |
Mikelangelo and Saint Clare then took to the stage. I won’t go on about it because I’ve already written about them multiple times in this epic 3 part blog, but they are incredible performers and I can’t wait to see them again here in Sydney in April.
There was then another bit of a break where people just mingled. After a while two of the Candice’s friends from Adelaide got up to play her and her housemates a song on Uke. A sort of farewell as one of them is moving to London soon. It was quite hilarious. They sung Madonna. Mikelangelo joined in as well on accordion!
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| Mikelangelo + Adelaide dude |
Then Eric played a song on Uke! I can’t remember who it was by but he did a great job considering he is not a musician and only started playing very recently.
Once he finished Amanda started to perform. She played Uke first from the couch as the keyboard/PA wasn’t working. She did a couple of covers, and I think she may have played a couple of her own songs but everything is starting to blur now. Mikelangelo then accompanied her on guitar as she sung The Ship Song. It was amazing. Spine tingling; goosebump causing amazing. My brain has exploded so many times with amazement over the last couple of months. I am surprised I am still able to string a sentence together!
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| Eric Uke-ing out |
Amanda then read to us from Paul Kelly’s book “How To Make Gravy”. She read a story he wrote referencing the Speigeltent Amanda had just performed in herself at the Adelaide Fringe. He’d written about his worst and best gigs and it was great to see Amanda read it and completely relate to it herself. She then told us a story about what she considered to be the worst gig she ever played as part of the Dresden Dolls.
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| The Ship Song |
She read another story that required a Scottish accent, and she did it perfectly! It felt like I was back in Scotland talking to my Scottish family, although it was much warmer than the last time I was there!
Then we ate. I ate the vegan curry. It was really tasty! I was a bit sunburnt by that stage despite applying sunscreen! Thankfully the sun had begun to go down. Amanda came and sat with us for a bit and told us about the two talks she was going to be doing at the high school and University over the next couple of days. Then there was a brief conversation on high school uniforms and how strict some schools are. From that conversation I got the impression that a lot of schools in Melbourne don’t have uniforms!!! I was not aware of this. Amanda also told us that before school started back after the holidays, she’d sometimes plan her outfit for weeks! I am glad we had uniforms. They were ugly as fuck, I had to wear a pale pink shirt until I was in year 10 and in year 11 and 12 it wasn’t much better being a pale blue shirt, but it meant not having to give it a second thought when I got up in the morning!
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| Amanda serenading Saint Clare and Mikelangelo |
Anyway… once everyone seemed to have finished eating Amanda got up to play some more songs, this time on Keyboard which was now working again. Amanda and Eric played a song for Marianne. Eric changed the words to Boston to be about taking photos! It was hilarious and incredibly sweet of them. She then asked for requests and there were a lot of songs requested that I was really looking forward to hearing! Unfortunately there are not enough hours in the day, or night.
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| Reading from Paul Kelly's book "How To Make Gravy" |
The rest of the night was pretty much Amanda attempting to play a song and then the same drunk guy (one of those who got up earlier to play a song on uke) would start talking to her, trying to get her to do another cover. That got very old very fast considering we were all there to see Amanda play Amanda, or Dresden Dolls songs! She did manage to get a few more in though which was great including Such Great Heights with Kim!
It had gotten dark by this stage so Amanda suggested we take it inside. Alas! She had not performed “Missed Me” yet so I made sure to yell that out and she did and wow! Thank baby heyzuz I am a persistent fucker. It was unreal! Mikelangelo and William played accordion as Amanda walked around the backyard “getting intimate” with all the guests… A furry hat was thrown across the backyard. Amanda balanced on the backrest of a couch, she got all hands-ey with Saint Clare and Eric got all hands-ey with Amanda, in that moment I also doubted that he was gay. The song ended with a pash for one lucky guest.
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| Amanda Fucking Palmer |
Following that photo session we all went out the front where more photos were taken. This time nakedness was a definite theme. 2 buys got their junk out, and well, Amanda got her tits out, but who hasn’t seen Amanda’s tits! I found out later that one of the penis's were actually freshly circumcised!!!
At about 9pm sadly it was then time for Amanda to leave. Eric and Amanda had been at Mardi Gras the previous night so they'd barely slept, actually I don't think Eric had slept at all! I said goodbye to, thanked and hugged Eric who went back inside for a massage, and then did the same with Amanda who got into a taxi and off she went.
I totally forgot to even get a photo with her! Oh well, I have a few from previous years I just didn’t really get any with her this tour other than at my house and one at Byron, which I don’t even have as someone else took it with their camera.We said our goodbyes to everyone else and then Alecia and Phil generously drove Ian and I back to our hotel. Thanks again guys!!!
Ian and I chatted and got up to date on twitter until Guy came back to the hotel and we talked about the day. Then we all went to bed. I didn’t really sleep and had to be up at about 5-5:30am but it was worth it.
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Thank you to my family for being very generous and helping me pay for a lot of it. It’s so lucky that Christmas was just before Amanda came to Australia because I asked for money to put towards it all. Thank you also for driving me to and picking me up from airports and helping out with the BBQ - and for putting up with me whenever I talked about it all!
Thank you to Crystal for being a part of most of it. I missed you incredibly at the times you weren’t there because you are my AFP ally and my best friend but I am really glad you were with me at the times you were.
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| Amanda getting handsey with Saint Clare |
Thank you to Alecia for coming to Adelaide Fringe with me! You made it extra fun!
Thank you to Mel and all the other people I met on this tour, or previous tours, for hanging out with me as well. You’re all wonderful! And to Ian for driving me back from Pretty Peepers!
Thank you to Marianne for being amazing and lovely and taking beautiful photos that will keep these memories alive for years to come.
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| Missed Me |
Thank you to Neil Gaiman for your beautiful words… Your stories kept me going as I travelled up and down the east coast of Australia.
Thank you to Tom Dickins and Jen Kingwell, Kim Boekbinder, Jason Webley, Mikelangelo and Saint Clare for not only making beautiful music that touches me and makes me smile, and laugh and feel, that breaks and mends my heart, that annihilates my brain; but for being so human when off stage. For talking to your fans and being so unpretentious, and giving people like Marianne the chance to take your photo, and Crystal the chance to do your make-up! Kim - an extra thank you for coming to my BBQ and for being so lovely and kind!!!
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| Amanda, Eric, Kim + Clare with the housemates + friends of the hosts |
Finally thank you Amanda Fucking Palmer from the very bottom of my heart, fuck it, thank you from every part of my being. She is an incredible person who does incredible things. Her existence has helped so many people including myself, in many different ways. I wish there were more people on the planet as creative and full of love, tolerance and beauty as she is. She has given me confidence I never had, and helped me accept and feel proud of myself and for that I’ll be forever grateful. Not only that, but I had such a great time travelling around going to those gigs and meeting such amazing people along the way, I truly had the greatest time in my life. 2011 has kicked off to a brilliant start. I probably won’t be able to afford to do anything for the rest of the year and I will probably still be catching up on sleep for the next few weeks but it was all more than worth it!!!!
Oh and thank you to you if you actually read this far!
For all of the photos I've posted in these blogs (other than the two that are Marianne's) go to my Flickr Page where you'll find hundreds more. Eventually I'll upload all the photos I've taken at various gigs over the last few years so if you are a Flickr member add me!
For all of the photos I've posted in these blogs (other than the two that are Marianne's) go to my Flickr Page where you'll find hundreds more. Eventually I'll upload all the photos I've taken at various gigs over the last few years so if you are a Flickr member add me!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Amanda Fucking Palmer Goes Down Under - Part Two
Life returned to normal for me again for a while after Byron and Brisbane, well that’s a lie because my Aunt’s wedding occurred in that time, but the day after the wedding, on the 27th February, it was time to hit the Pretty Peepers Cabaret Show at the Imperial Hotel where Amanda Palmer was DJing.
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| Ian gave Eric a tshirt at Pretty Peepers |
The night was ummm interesting to say the least. From a Burlesque clown, to drag shows and two words BEEF CURTAINS. I won’t actually explain the beef curtains reference. You had to be there. Amanda also played two songs on her Uke. Her new $600 Uke that proceeded to break just before she was about the start the second song!
She played Gaga, Palmer, Madonna which went down a treat with the audience. I think that was the first audience I have been a part of that wasn’t made up of all die-hard Amanda Palmer fans so it was kind of cool to see their reactions! A few more artists performed and then she closed the evening with Creep which as always turned into a massive sing-a-long.
After the show Ian (who I met at my BBQ) and I went and chatted to Eric (tour manager Extraordinaire) for a bit. Eric has become my new favourite person. He is so lovely and such a happy person it makes me happy to be around him. Not to mention the fact that he always seems to make time for people when in reality he probably had a shit load of stuff to be doing rather than chatting to us.
After a while we were told the venue was closing so we found Amanda who I believe was busy making fans out of everyone in the bar and said goodbye and off we went. I didn't actually include Pretty Peepers as a gig or Ninja gig in the tally of shows I saw this year...
A couple of days later, on the 2nd March I took off to Adelaide for the Fringe Festival.
Alecia, a Melbournite who I met for the first time at my BBQ, and I had impulsively decided to go and got accommodation together and tickets to the same shows. When I first got there Alecia wasn’t due to arrive for a few hours so I met up with Mel Hughes,who I met at last year’s festival, (she is also a poet and had shows in the Fringe) for a drink and a lovely vegan lunch.
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| Evelyn Evelyn |
Once Alecia arrived we headed to the Garden Of Unearthly Delights to see Evelyn Evelyn. While waiting in line Eric asked everyone in the queue if they had any questions about the universe for Evelyn Evelyn and then Steven Mitchell Wright asked for any requests as the twins are able to perform any song they've heard once, I asked for Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds...
I don’t really know what I could say about this show to truly do it justice.
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| Evleyn Evelyn & Stage Boy Eric |
Evelyn Evelyn, or Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley are amazingly talented. For two people who exude so much confidence on stage and command of the audience at their own shows, they were extremely convincing as a set of awkward and incredibly shy conjoined twin sisters.
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| Evelyn & Evelyn shed a tear over Bimba & Kimba |
Their Q&A session had me laughing so hard I think I got a better ab workout than doing 100 sit ups in a row. The requests thing wasn't actually real unless someone asked them to play chopsticks ... or Gaga ... but it got the audience laughing!
The musical performances were all brilliant, as well as the puppet show and well everything really. Eric as “stage boy” and Steven Mitchell Wright as the MC/Narrator also killed it.
I can’t stress enough just how convincing Amanda and Jason are as Evelyn Evelyn. They took on their roles perfectly. So much so it would be easy to forget that Evelyn and Evelyn aren’t actually real.
There is nothing more you could really want from a show; it was definitely the highlight of my Fringe experience.
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| the twins rock out |
Once Evelyn Evelyn finished I MET JASON WEBLEY! He is such an amazing performer and off stage he is so humble. I got a quick photo with him and some fliers to hand out to promote his upcoming Adelaide shows. He also signed my Evelyn Evelyn Uke!
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| Love Will Tear Us Apart |
Alecia and I then went back to our room to chill for a bit until we went to see The Spaces Between by The Jane Austen Argument. Despite a minor hiccup which led to Alecia and I turning up late and totally disturbing the show in the very beginning, the show was very impressive!
Last year The Jane Austen Argument totally blew me away with their show “Where Was I”. This year’s show “The Spaces Between” is even better. They have grown as artists and developed an amazing relationship as a duo and it really shows. Both Tom and Jen are amazing at what they do and combined they totally explode brains!
The Spaces Between” has it all; from humour to heartbreak! It is a journey, and an experience to watch.
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| Ninja Gigging in The Garden Of Unearthly Delights |
The Spaces Between is a must see and I think they deserve to win Best Cabaret Adelaide Fringe for the second year in a row!
Once the show finished we made a mad dash back the The Garden Of Unearthly Delights for Amanda and Jason’s Ninja gig. We all headed to the giant wooden box and Jason kicked things off. When it was Amanda’s turn of course she wasn’t content just standing there playing… No, she needed to be on top of the smaller wooden box, or the box office as it was. When Jason decided to jump up there with her and it wobbled she decided the small box wasn’t safe enough and got on the huge box because that makes total sense.
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| Amanda mounts a box |
Anyway the gig was a lot of fun. There were sing-a-longs and violin VS trombone (I think it was trombone or some deep sounding instrument) where Jason had half the audience make the violin sound and the other the trombone sound and we had to compete for who was better. I was a violin and I think we failed. Jason is such an amazing performer. He often appears to be in his own little world. It’s a world I think I live in whenever I am around live music that I love. I can’t wait to see him again playing at Camelot in Sydney on March 18th. http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=8664
The ninja gig ended with the drinking song. I am not sure if Amanda actually did that thing where you point up into the sky, look at the end of your finger and spin around because, well she was on a gigantic box and I couldn’t see her, but I am pretty sure Jason did it from his smaller but still alarmingly tall box. I am surprised Eric hasn’t had a heart attack; or a nervous breakdown yet with the shit Amanda gets into on tour… potential injury or death causing shit!
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| ye all hail us for i am the queen of box and i am the king of wood |
After the ninja gig, Amanda and Jason signed stuff and took photos with people. Again I didn’t go up to Amanda because I knew there’d be another opportunity to do so that other people wouldn’t get. I have made that conscious decision a lot over this tour actually. I have felt awkward going up to her because I figure she played at my fucking house and I was able to have a 5 minute conversation with her uninterrupted (other than by my brother but that’s ok). Whenever I have had the opportunity to talk to her since, I have so many things I want to say but all that comes out of my mouth is thank you, or that was great because of the swarms of people all waiting to get their piece of Amanda so I just figure I am happy that I have had the opportunity to see her live so many times, I don’t NEED to talk to her every time. I had however printed out the previous blog I posted, you know the one where I reveal wayyyy to much about myself, to give to her so I gave it to Eric and then Alecia and I headed back to our hotel room.
The following day, March 3rd, Alecia went wedding dress shopping and I looked around Adelaide a bit. I found Vegan cheesecake! It was delicious. So delicious I can’t believe it was Vegan. If it wasn’t the people who sold it to me are going to hell!
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| Before the rude teacher stole the audience |
Alecia and I then met up at the Adelaide Fringe Caravan in Rundle Mall to watch The Jane Austen Argument play a couple of songs from their “The Spaces Between” show as a preview for potential audiences.
A big group of young school children led by their teacher turned up and immediately I started wondering how long they’d stick around for seeing as though The Spaces Between, and Tom and Jen aren’t exactly G, or even a PG rating!
They started playing the hipster song, not sure of its actual name, and the moment Tom said gender queer sure enough the arsehole teacher had the kids all get up, mid song, and leave. The kids wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on anyway so I just thought she was incredibly rude.
The Bleep Song was next up, that would have gone down even better with the teacher, and then unfortunately it was over. Alecia and I watched the next act, a comedian and then headed back to our hotel room to get ready for the night ahead. Well in actual fact we chilled and watched videos of Amanda Palmer at my house on her lap top.
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| Amanda Palmer performing in the Speigeltent |
Skip a couple of hours later and we were back in The Garden of Unearthly Delights having a look around as there were still a few hours until the gig. We ate fairy floss!!! The child inside me skipped! I almost accidently fairy-flossed Wil Anderson in the face when he walked past me on his way to his own show! We also looked around the market stalls and found a particularly creepy stall selling particularly creepy dolls, and then drank cocktails in a double decker bus.
About 2 hours before the gig was due to start we decided to line up. Unfortunately that night revealed to me once again that not all Amanda Palmer fans are as lovely as I had previously thought. For some strange reason the Adelaide Fringe people had us line up on the opposite side of the path from the venue. People were still able to go to the bar outside the venue though and stand around. So we watched people take one look at the line we’d be been standing in and decide they weren’t going to bother with that and stand at the bar instead. We even had one particularly bogan woman come up and ask to stand with us… It’s called line etiquette!!!
Anyway once the doors opened, all the people at the bar swarmed the doors before all of us who’d been lining up for hours had a chance to even get there. As a result, Alecia and I ended up quite a distance from the stage. Alecia managed to talk her way into getting two seats one row in front of us but it didn’t really make much difference. What confuses me more is the same line-up situation occurred the night before at Evelyn Evelyn & that problem didn’t happen but I heard it happened at Amanda’s solo show the previous night! |
| The Jane Austen Argument Tom Dickins & Jen Kingwell |
Despite that initial disappointment, the show was incredible. I can’t imagine a better show to have ended the “official” tour. Amanda treated the whole thing fairly relaxed taking requests from the audience and playing a few key tracks from her latest Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under album. I requested Truce but being that it’s 11 minutes long she was right to decline as it is was only a 60 minutes set. That 60 minutes flew by as well – you know the whole time flies when you’re having fun, well I was in nirvana!
After the gig Amanda signed and took photos with people but had organised with a local venue, Tuxedo Cat, to play a ninja gig. So Alecia and I skipped the signing again and headed straight to the venue to catch The Jane Austen Argument who were supporting! They played 2 songs before Amanda turned up, and those two songs were fabulous. If you’ve not heard them before you really must. http://thejaneaustenargument.net/
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| Amanda & Tom |
Amanda played a some of her own songs, a few covers and then along with The Jane Austen Argument played Bad Wine and Lemon cake and covered Regina Spektor’s The Flowers, which Amanda sung from on top of the bar. Props go to Jen for managing to play it on THAT keyboard.
Once the music was over Amanda came and sat down in front of Alecia and I. Before she was even able to open her mouth to say anything the people sitting next to us got up and pretty much stood in front of us to talk to her. I can’t handle those sorts of situations where crowds of people swarm around you, I had their arse’s in my face as Alecia and I were sitting on the floor! That is one thing I am incredibly mindful of when it comes to approaching Amanda, if she is with someone else leave them alone until they are finished!
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| Amanda performing The Flowers from on top of the bar |
Anyway Alecia and I got up to move because more and more people kept coming to talk to Amanda and they were pretty much standing on top of us but Amanda motioned for me to go to her and she told me she read the blog… and that she was proud of me!!! It was THE moment of my life! So I hugged and thanked her. I am going to go off on a tangent here so consider yourself warned…
I am so thankful to have discovered The Dresden Dolls, and therefore Amanda Fucking Palmer. I have never felt so ok, or like I belonged until I found that community. It doesn’t matter that I’m not perfect when I am listening to the music, or hanging out with other fans. I have started to feel proud to be who I am regardless of my faults and having Amanda say she was proud of me, hell having her even take the time to read that epically long blog, I can’t even begin to describe how that made me feel. My outlook on life has changed a great deal these last couple of months. I can’t say everything is "rainbows and unicorns" and my outlook is 100% positive because I’d be lying, but there are now moments and hours, even days in which I love life and feel hopeful about the future. I REALLY REALLY hope I am able to maintain that.
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| Amanda Palmer & The Jane Austen Argument |
I am still unsure as to whether I should have written THAT blog, and even more so whether I should have given it to Amanda, because I am an incredibly private person. I have considered deleting it because there are actually quite a few people, actually most people I know don’t know a lot of the things I wrote about in that blog, other than that disorder I wrote about that once severely affected me physically. The people I have met in the last few years wouldn’t even know about that, but like I said, being a part of the Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer community has made me realise that it’s ok to be a little fucked up. EVERYONE is. I should just embrace it and know that not everyone out there will judge me for it. They’ll stand by me as a comrade and say fuck you to those who do judge!
Ok enough about that, back to the tour. After thanking and hugging Amanda, Alecia and I went outside where we bumped into Eric and I introduced him to Candice who I noticed was sitting nearby. She lives at the house the Melbourne BBQ was going to be at so we chatted about it for a bit until about 3am when Alecia and I decided to leave as we had to be in a taxi at 5:15am to go back to the airport....
Part three will be up very soon!
Amanda Fucking Palmer Goes Down Under - Part One
Those that know me well know that the first few months of each year is an exciting time for me. Why? No, not just because I HATE the cold and those beginning months of the year are the warmest, but because Amanda Fucking Palmer graces our land down under. (Hmmm that didn't sound dirty when I first wrote it...)
This year however I have experienced a ridiculous amount of awesome. I went to 5 official Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under shows, 1 official Evelyn Evelyn show for the Adelaide Fringe, 3 Ninja Gigs and 2 BBQs, one being at my house that I posted my previous 2 blogs about. I probably would have gone to more had my Aunt not decided to finally get hitched to her now husband after being together for 18 years.
I have travelled close to 7500kms since the 26th of January; by car, by plane, by train, by tram, and by foot.
It was by far the greatest experience of my life. Not just because of Amanda Palmer but because of the absolutely amazing people I have met along the way and have forged friendships with, or strengthened already existing friendships I had with those I have met on previous AFP adventures. I feel like I actually belong when I am with them. They don't roll their eyes when I start talking about music, and let’s face it, that's pretty much ALL I talk about, instead they join in!
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| Amanda Palmer |
I'll start with where it all began. The Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under Australia Day Spectacular, January 26th.
The show featured The Jane Austen Argument, Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen, Neil Gaiman, a very brief video appearance by Meow Meow and Amanda Fucking Palmer herself.
The show featured The Jane Austen Argument, Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen, Neil Gaiman, a very brief video appearance by Meow Meow and Amanda Fucking Palmer herself.
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| Neil Gaiman |
The show was a beautiful mess. Yes shit went wrong, some songs were unfortunately missed but fuck it was an amazing show. My abdominal muscles got a great work out from laughter. My heart was broken and stitched back together again by the beautiful music, and words, we were blessed with hearing that evening.
Highlights from the night include Map Of Tasmania - it was full on sparkle fest, Holly Austin beatboxing and my first glimpse of Kim Boekbinder in the flesh! Dr Oz, In My Mind, Missed Me which involved an extremely intimate level of audience participation, Bad Wine and Lemon Cake - It was so amazing to see Tom and Jen ON STAGE AT THE OPERA HOUSE!!! and The Drover's Boy not to mention Neil fucking Gaiman reading from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer book, his poem about AFP, and the story about Mega fauna.
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| BBQ Group Shot |
Following the Opera House was the BBQ at my place on 28th January. I won't go into much detail with it now as I have already written two blogs focused on it, but it was amazing enough to warrant two blogs! The night was basically a bunch of strangers becoming friends. We ate and drank and chatted. Amanda and Kim both played beautiful music, we hugged and smiled and revealed our deepest fears. I think I made some friends that night that I'll know for the rest of my time on this planet.
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| Saint Clare |
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| Amanda Palmer & Kim Boekbinder |
Next up Mikelango, one Black Sea Gentleman and the super sexy St Clare. Mikelangelo is probably the most charismatic performer I've ever seen. He has such a command of the stage. St Clare has an amazing sultry voice and the moves to go along with it. Despite the sound guy either being drunk or deaf and the sound therefore not being at its best, their performance more than made up for it.
Then Amanda Palmer took to the stage... Well she made her way through the crowd to the stage.
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| Sparkle fest during Map Of Tasmania |
At the end of the show, Tom Dickins pulled me aside and played Green Wings for me on his Ukulele. I am always requesting that he play it, even though he had gotten sick of it. Amazing! I fucking LOVE that song & I felt so special that he took the time to do that for me.
After Newcastle my life resumed as normal for just over a week until Crystal and I fired up the Prius and made the 12 hour drive to Byron Bay on the 9th February. We arrived at about 6pm and checked into our motel, ate and then with grapes in hand headed to a Ninja gig on the beach with Amanda and Eric. Crystal and I were the first to successfully locate Amanda and Eric. By this stage it was almost completely pitch black and Amanda had twittered very nonspecific location tweets so they really could have been anywhere within a 2 km radius, the only way we were able to find them in the end was by following the sound of Amanda’s trusty Ukulele.
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| Amanda made a heart on the beach |
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| Amanda Busking |
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| Marianne, photo by Marianne Make up by Crystal |
Crystal worked her make-upey magic on her - Marianne can frequently be spotted wearing a moustache but Crystal's work was extra special for the Byron gig that night.
Then it was gig time so we headed off the The Great Northern (yes she played in two venues called The Great Northern while in Australia and yes I know the twin peaks reference)! Once again we were treated with the amazing Kim Boekbinder opening the show. I can't get enough of the lady's music! Crystal, Marianne, and I danced along up the front... well Marianne danced when she wasn't taking photos. Sex, Drugs and Nuclear Physic's was my favourite track of hers that night.
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| The Impossible Girl Kim Boekbinder |
Then Amanda hit the stage... well once again made her way through the audience to the stage... This was the first gig I ever heard Astronaut live WITH drums. AURAL BRAIN EXPLOSION! The addition of drums to a few of the songs pretty much made my brain explode constantly throughout the night but I can’t even put into words what experiencing Astronaut with drums for the first time was like. I think it is my favourite song of all time. When Amanda first released the WKAP version before the rest of the album came out, I’d listen to it on repeat every day and I still can’t function if the song is playing... don’t even bother trying to have a conversation with me if it’s on!
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| The Drover's Boy |
I think seeing Amanda Palmer in Byron bay has become my most favourite thing to do now!
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| revealing THE famous underwear! |
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| Tom and Ange photo shoot photo by Marianne |
She then shot Saint Clare and Mikelangelo. All of the photos can be found at the address I mentioned previously but I've added one here as well.
Tom, Mikelangelo and Saint Clare are such beautiful people, inside and out. They all made us feel welcome despite the fact we were in their space and taking up the short time they had to relax before the show. They’re so down to earth and human. I’ve been around many arrogant and pretentious artists in my life; you’d not find any of that with them. We just chatted about music and love, it was a wonderful afternoon!
Once the photo shoots were wrapped up and the artists went off to rehearse and sound check, Marianne, Crystal and I went to line up for the gig.
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| Tom Dickins |
I don’t really know what to write about the Brisbane gig. All of the artists put their all in. Tom was amazing despite being solo for the night, Mikelangelo, Saint Clare and the Tin Star owned the stage, and Amanda, well what can I say, she is a trooper - there were many technical difficulties which were distracting and even that wasn’t a problem. It was the audience.
The reason I held that BBQ and invited a bunch of strangers into my house is because I’ve only ever had the most wonderful experiences with Amanda Palmer fans. I’ve made many friends all around Australia and even the world and they are so lovely but the crowd at that Brisbane show, they just seemed feral. From talking and making noise through The Drover’s Boy, which is a song that demands respect, to the psycho fan just not shutting up and threatening to really ruin the show.
I know many artists who wouldn’t have been able to recover from the distraction of technical difficulties, especially seeing as though Amanda was having the show filmed, and even more so I know many artists who would leave the stage and not return if they were being hassled, as Amanda was, by the psycho fan girl, but Amanda took it in her stride and recovered, and the quality of the artist’s performances was never affected. That is why following them around the country is an easy decision to make.
I have a very difficult time being around people who don’t seem to respect one another, especially when it is the audience appearing not to respect the performers. I just can’t understand why people pay money just to get drunk and risk not even remembering a show afterwards, and then in turn negatively impacting upon others people’s experience. Anyway there is no reason to dwell because musically and performance wise the show was killer, but Brisbane audience get it together!
As I said Amanda Palmer is a trooper and the show must go on and it did and it was incredible. Mikelangelo even came down off stage and stood with Marianne, Crystal and I until he had to go take care of the psycho fan girl problem. Also at the end of the night he got me up on stage to dance to Leeds United!!! At first I was too chicken but then I thought fuck it and got up there and did quite the happy dance! It was exhilarating! A few people jumped up including Crystal but u nfortunately about ¾ of the way through the show Marianne had started feeling sick and had to leave early which was really sad because it would have been brilliant to have her up there with us dancing and taking photos. I've yet to see any photos of Leeds United actually.
I have a very difficult time being around people who don’t seem to respect one another, especially when it is the audience appearing not to respect the performers. I just can’t understand why people pay money just to get drunk and risk not even remembering a show afterwards, and then in turn negatively impacting upon others people’s experience. Anyway there is no reason to dwell because musically and performance wise the show was killer, but Brisbane audience get it together!
As I said Amanda Palmer is a trooper and the show must go on and it did and it was incredible. Mikelangelo even came down off stage and stood with Marianne, Crystal and I until he had to go take care of the psycho fan girl problem. Also at the end of the night he got me up on stage to dance to Leeds United!!! At first I was too chicken but then I thought fuck it and got up there and did quite the happy dance! It was exhilarating! A  |
| Formidable Marinade |
I got home at 1:15pm. We left Brisbane at about 12:15am (Brisbane time)…. It took a couple of days to really recover from that drive but it was definitely worth it.
.... I'll post part two tomorrow!
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