How to organise a BBQ/Backyard gig featuring Amanda Fucking Palmer in 3 days

Firstly, make sure you have somewhere to hold the event!!!

Secondly unless you have $5000US to spare, or you have a load of friends who also like Amanda and are willing to contribute, you are going to need a crowd to help fund it. Hit up twitter. Amanda Palmer has quite the significant following on twitter. Try and get her (www.twitter.com/amandapalmer) to RT your call for people’s interests. She did it for me and in all honesty the people who replied that first night were very important in getting the ball rolling.

You should also try her message boards www.theshadowbox.net and writing on her wall on facebook. She has 2, a personal page http://www.facebook.com/AmandaMFPalmer and an artist page http://www.facebook.com/amandapalmer

When you start getting the numbers contact her people and tell them you are interested in holding the event. I had a few questions that needed answering before I went ahead with this, you might not.

You need to pay before the event will go ahead naturally. I suggest you organise the money AS SOON AS you get people confirming. Either ask people to give you cash and deposit it into your account yourself, or ask them transfer it into your account and then when you have it all, wire the money to Amanda’s people. This requires a lot of trust from people you don’t know but honestly if they can’t trust you with their money, then maybe you shouldn’t trust them in your house….

DO NOT USE PAYPAL. They screwed me over with false exchange rates, added an additional $50US fee and then took another $200-$300 that I am in the process of trying to find out why. Wiring the money would be best so make sure you’ve got the money about a week before the event is meant to take place as it takes time. Western Union is a possibility, otherwise this is something you should ask when you contact Amanda’s people.

In terms of money, I had lesser guests who paid more than the $100 Amanda suggested on www.postwartrade.com to keep it slightly more intimate and to cover food. This is something you need to work out with your guests. If they don’t want to pay extra then make sure you organise everyone to bring a plate each and designate who brings what like you would any BBQ otherwise you might end up with 5 fruits salads and 10 tubs of hommus. If you decide to provide the food, you really should ask if anyone has any dietary requirements. I am vegan so I had vegans/vegetarians covered, but I also provided some chicken. I also had one person with a gluten intolerance. This would have been a lot harder if she had coeliac disease rather than just an intolerance but you need to make sure that no one has allergies or special dietary needs if you are hosting the BBQ. You should also consider juice or soft drink for non-drinkers.

Next is alcohol. If there are going to be underage people there this is something you need to consider. I had underage people at mine and I had planned on strict ID checks and was going to make them wear something so we would know at all times that they were underage. I didn’t end up doing that because I was incredibly overwhelmed in the beginning, but to be honest, I think they were all too busy enjoying themselves than to be bothered trying to sneak booze. I told everyone to BYO if they were of age but we ended up providing some beer and Amanda, Eric (her tour manager) and Kim bought some as well.

You will need to source a piano/keyboard for Amanda if she wants to play one. It will need to have 88 weighted keys and be professional. Kurtzweil is her chosen brand but she played a Yamaha at my event. Just run this by Eric first.

Depending where you are, you should also organise a ride to and from your place for Amanda, Eric and possibly Kim or whoever else Amanda decides to bring!

I live about 40-60 minutes from the city (Sydney) so I organised pick-ups/drop offs at the closest train station to my house to accommodate all those who needed to catch public transport and some of the drivers also volunteered as well. Obviously this isn’t something you need to do, I just figured that my guests spent the money so I should try to make it as easy as possible for them.

Once everyone has arrived and started mingling, we all went around the room and said our name, what we do and Amanda suggested revealing our deepest fears. This was a great way to get to know each other and although it did get a bit depressing with the fears part, some people were also funny. I suggest you do try to organise some way for everyone to be able to introduce themselves.

Other than that just make sure the food is there, and there is somewhere for Amanda to perform. We all sat down to eat at the same time but depending on what you’re serving you don’t even really need to do that, just make the food accessible for people to eat as they please. Amanda will decide when she wants to perform so just let the night unravel as it is meant to unravel. I had planned a couple of things for the night but I was so overwhelmed on the night I didn’t do any of it, and I’m glad now because the night progressed perfectly. Naturally Amanda will do a signing after and take photos so leave time for that as well.

This whole experience was pretty stressful to organise as I had such a short amount of time to do it, and one of the days I was at the big day out with very little phone reception but it totally paid off in the end. It was one of the greatest and rewarding nights of my life and I highly recommend that people give it a go in each city, although by the time I get this up a lot of dates will have passed.

I have a few people I need to thank for their help…

My mum for doing all the cooking and some of the shopping and along with my Dad letting me host the event at their house. Also my Dad for providing lifts & filming a lot of the night.

Crystal for her support and for picking Amanda, Eric and Kim up from the city.

My brother Todd for taking photos.

My friend Paul for coming and paying even though he doesn’t really “get” Amanda Fucking Palmer.

Ian for picking people up from the station, and dropping Amanda, Eric, and Kim back off in the city.

Amanda signing Helen's keyboard

Emma for bringing the extra food.

Helen for providing the piano. >>

Nyssa for picking people up from the station and dropping people off.

Marianne and Angus for helping me set up before everyone arrived, as well as for the beautiful photos, not to mention the fact they flew down from Brisbane.

Alecia and Phil for coming despite the fuck ups with flights that lost them a significant amount of money leading up to the event.

Matt for the videos.

To whoever it was who started a "Karina's Tips" cup!

group shot

All of the lovely guests who came and twisted peoples arms to come! You all made this happen!!!

My friend Crystal and Eric

Eric and Arielle for helping organise everything.

Kim Boekbinder

Kim for coming and performing so beautifully. I never dreamt in a million years that Kim Boekbinder would ever be IN MY BACKYARD. This was an even bigger spin out than Amanda Palmer as Amanda frequently stays at fans houses!

Amanda wearing Kit's hat 

  
Lastly Amanda for even offering this experience and then making it happen. Her performance was awesome as always and the whole night was just amazing. She made everyone feel special that night and I hope she had as great a time as everyone else who attended.

Playing Icarus

HANDS!