a taraxacum of hope in a sea of liquefaction

hola comrades….

finally landed here in melbourne last night after the 10 days in new zealand and it feels like a true homecoming….i slept 10 hours without stopping.
i’m back with toby the jock dog & the rest of the animal kingdom, and the wonderful nicholls/coney adopt-a-family….clare made an amazing homecoming dinner last night, jack and lucy came over, and luke and i are plotting a ninja gig / official talk at melbourne university since he’s the queer captain and can drag me in for show and tell; LOOK A REAL LIVE QUEER AMERICAN! (stay tuned for whens and wheres and hows, the saved date is march 8th. it’s also on the cards that i might give a speech to the assembly at the prestigious MacGregor’s girls’ school. AFP loves the childrens..!)

so

now

spontaneous ballet moves in the kitchen. i’m so happy to be around my melbourne family with some dogs and cats to pet and a bed i know to cuddle into.

there was an honest-to-god cat backstage, by the way, at the show in auckland.

the show was sublime….we made our flight just in time to arrive at doors and threw shit on stage and just made shit up. i threw confetti on everyone and jason & i dealt with a broken keyboard by pulling everyone onstage for a billy joel sing-along. it was…perfect.

some photos (via flickr):

and here’s a great one from the crowd at the wellington ninja gig:

and me & jason being freaky at the same ninja gig:

anyway, back to the cat.
eric and i decided it might be a good idea to put “cat to pet” on the tour rider, so that every venue has to provide one.

then eric and i discussed the kinds of phone calls he would get from the venues a few weeks before the show…

venue: “do you really need this cat on the rider, or is it just a joke? it looks like a joke.”

eric: “no, we have to have the cat. she won’t go onstage without petting a cat, it’s a weird superstition she has.”

venue: “um, ok. does the cat have to be backstage the whole time? my wife could bring our cat from home if she needs to pet it right before….she could just swing by in her car….”

eric: “no, that’s not really ok. the cat has to be backstage from the time we load in gear and start sound-checking. just bring the cat backstage and stash it somewhere along with the chips and salsa the other load-in food. don’t forget some cat snacks and some cat toys”.

venue: “…..”

or…not.

…………………..

following the blog comments from my last post has been … jesus, no words. inspiring sounds way too corny.
the fact that you guys are simply brave enough to step up and reach your arms out to each other and make things good and right is why i think i got into this job in the first place.

if you weren’t following the comments, a handful of people posted comments about their earthquake experiences including a girl named laura, who’s 17 and lost both parents and her siblings. people were trying to really to bring her to the private melbourne BBQ i’m doing next week but she’s – very wisely i think – opting to stay put and be with her community.

i’ve been emailing with her and sending her love and all the comments on the blog that people left her have given her a source of love and comfort she may not have expected.
so…thank you.
and you guys in new zealand….thank you all for sharing your selves and your homes and your direct offers – this is the way to do it people and you’re all so awesome and a wonderful meta-family. stay strong, and keep being as awesome as you are, you’re a shining light to me and everyone else who’s reading here and in awe of your generosity.

the front page of the newspaper yesterday…

and here are some photos that hera took (follow her on twitter at @herasings). lots of you have seen her open up for me on the last two tours, and jason was staying at her house with her & her husband when the quake hit.

the funeral home next door. they hadn’t known it was a funeral home until…..they saw the coffins:

hera’s garden/backyard with crazy liqufaction:

hope:

the street, not far from her house….

the cupcake parlour:

me, jason and eric passed a donation bucket at the auckland show and gathered over $1050 in bills and small change, which eric took the post office the next morning, converted into bills, and sent straight to the NZ red cross.

if YOU want to help, you can send money to them, too:

and by the way, in the disaster dept, i forgot to mention that we also gathered over $1000 at the BRISBANE show for a flood relief group helping local artists called The Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund. more info here here: abfqld.com.au

the floods come, the earthquakes hit.
thank you everyone in brisbane, for helping out your artists.
thank you new zealand, for helping out your christchurch.
and thank you to everyone who will donate tonight and tomorrow in melbourne, because i know you will, and generously.

you guys are all just so awesome.

and to rock bands and artists out there (esp those in new zealand right now), a word of advice:
USE YOUR SHOWS & EVENTS TO PASS THE HAT and spread the money to where it needs to go.
don’t be afraid: it really works, as evidenced by these past few shows.
having a lot of cool, generous people in one place and getting them all to donate a couple of dollars is an excellent way to help your local disaster.
try it. you are the media.

………

speaking of that, here’s something awesome to watch.
it seems like ancient historic footage at this point, since it was filmed over a week ago (gasp),
but this is me and peter sunde, one of the founders of the swedish torrenting site The Pirate Bay, being interviewed on national new zealand TV in wellington (at WEBSTOCK) a few days before the quake hit. peter & i got on like a house on fire, and spent a lot of time hanging out at webstock. he’s a definite ally, comrades, and i’m probably going to have my passport flagged and my name put on file at the house unamerican activities for stating that openly on the internet, seeing as he’s banned from the country.

but watch: it’s a really well-done piece, cheers to the Media 7 people for taking a great, fresh approach to TV, and not being boring and dry.

…..off to the EVELYN EVELYN AT THE EVELYN HOTEL gig in melbourne, wish the twins luck.
tomorrow, our giant show at the melbourne forum…
me, and jason, and kim boekbinder, and tom and jen from the jane austen argument, and st clare and the tin star and mikelangelo….phew…all the friends collide in one pile of Rock Love.

i haven’t looked forward to a gig so much in a long time.
see you all there.

and more soon. i know i’m backed up. too much shit keeps happening. i was just skyping with holly gaiman who was like “WEDDING BLOG, AMANDA”. i know. i know.

love,
AFP.