Yearly Archives: 2013

The general public release of An Evening With Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer will be available on NOVEMBER 19. the 3-DISC ALBUM contains re-packaging with a different take on the artwork. the CD and a limited amount of vinyl will go into stores around the world, but (as usual) we love it when you get your stuff directly from us.

PRE-ORDER bundles include new items such as a limited edition vinyl LP, tea towels, mugs, journals, and by popular demand – the fuzzy velvet poster.

more product details and order info here: amandapalmer.net

over on my tumblr, deriphery asked: When you write a song, do you know you are writing a song? Or does it start out like a poem or just a string of thoughts? If so, at what point do you realize that it is a song?
(and yes, you can ask amanda o’er there)

i start songs in a few different ways.

sometimes it starts like a poem, a phrase in my head or a wordplay that feels like a tip-of-the-iceberg clue to a deeper train of thought. the other night i was emailing somebody and i wrote a combination of words that sounded perfect in my mouth and bounced around real nice. sometimes that happens and my brain just thinks “nice words!” but sometimes a melody hops on and attaches to the words, like a parasite. that’s usually when i feel irritated about having to be disciplined and grab the voice recorder on my iphone or email the starting lyrics to myself so I don’t forget them. if i’m being good, i’ll go straight to an instrument (piano or ukulele, whatever’s on hand) and see what happens with the the little word/music creature hopping around in my head. and if i’m being REALLY REALLY good i’ll hack away at it using nonsense filler lyrics until there’s a shape, a loose draft of a song with sections, but more important, a feeling. if i get a song 60% done or so in one sitting i know it’s got a decent chance of surviving. even then, I’d say 9 out of 10 songs that I start don’t get finished. unused to really stress about that and finally let myself off the hook.

so that’s the most common way. “coin-operated boy”, “lost”, “mrs.o”…most of my songs were written this way.

another thing that happens is that i pick up an instrument and noodle around and find a really nice chord progression, or i’m walking down the street and a melody pops into my head, and i stash it in my memory bank. and it stays there until some poetic words come along and cozy up to them. this is less common and the results are often weird and the lyrics more vague and esoteric. “gravity”, “necessary evil” (which is one of those songs that i hacked away at and changed lyrics on several times over the course of a few years, even re-writing verses in the studio while i was tracking it), and “bottomfeeder” were written this way.

the last way i start a song (and there are very few like this) is that i get a conceptual idea in my head without specific lyrics and i sit down at the instrument, turn the feeling/ idea around in my head and just fuck around until something clicks. these are like “purpose-built” songs. “sing” is one of those (i wanted a song about the topic but didn’t know exactly how to say it), “dear old house” (which is finally about to get officially released on the “evening with” album with neil – was written the night i got the email from my mother, was written as a goodbye letter that i knew i had to write right then or the emotions would never be as strong), and “the bed song” (which was an anecdote told to me by neil and i thought “holy shit that’s the saddest thing i’ve ever heard…i’m using that in a song”) were all written that way.

i do pretty try hard not to think about HOW in do things while i’m doing them, it kind of destroys the mystery and magic (where ARE these words coming from? i have no idea sometimes) and the best advice i can give a songwriter is to let yourself write bad lyrics and use simple chords while you’re in the fever of writing…nobody has to hear this shit, and you can go back and prune. it’s like sculpting…you get the thing into the basic shape and then hammer away at the finer details.

i’ll often get stuck on a single lyric or line and know that there’s a better/deeper/less clichéd way of saying it and literally take the lyric for a walk around the block, chewing on what works and doesn’t work. sometimes i come up dry. and sometimes i’ll wake up in the morning and it’ll be waiting for me, all nicely laid out and probably subconsciously constructed into dreams.

i keep a pen and paper by the bed.

one thing that’s so inspiring about listening to other songwriters is that you can expand your palette just be being reminded where the edges don’t stop. you can say ANYTHING. you can write ANYTHING. there are no rules, no systems, no boundaries you have to draw within. i remember hearing all these artists at one time or another:
• robyn hitchcock
• liz phair
• guided by voices
• edward ka-spel
• nick drake
• lou reed/velvet underground
• elliott smith
• regina spektor
• peter jefferies
• john cage
• lamont young
• david tibet/current 93
• belle and sebastian
• neutral milk hotel
(and the list goes on…)

and thinking “holy shit – i didn’t know you could DO THAT”.

and every time another songwriter knocks down a wall for you, your playing field just gets bigger.

it’s also good to remember that even your FINISHED songs don’t have to be good. i wrote dozens and dozens of songs in my teens and twenties, that i finished, that just aren’t that good and that probably nobody will ever hear. i consider them all broken eggs that had to go into the omelette of the songwriter i became. letting yourself be imperfect and writing shit you know is shit is a good way to practice getting good. but our inner critics are so busy yelling “THIS IS SHIT! THIS IS SHIT!” that we have to simultaneously exercise the muscle of ignoring that critic and learn to tell back “I KNOW SHUT THE FUCK UP i’m DOING IT ANYWAY.”

while i’m rambling, a note about keys and stuff: i change the keys of the songs i write about half the time. the key that the song is written in – or arrives in inside my head – is often no match for my vocal range. or the song just doesn’t sound good sung that low, or that high. i often write songs i can barely sing and sing them anyway (there a countless examples of this, especially from the new record). i’m not afraid to sound rough, i’d rather deliver the song myself and sound rough than sell the song to someone who can deliver it with a clean vocal. i am greedy that way…and i lose my voice approximately once per tour because of this stupid decision. (see the recent footage of “st kilda to fitzroy” from the last night of the australian tour…i’m BARELY hanging on there and my voice is pitchy as hell and cracking all over the place. but i still think it works because i’m me.)

it’s nice to be asked and to think about my process and write about it here on the blog. often a journalist who has a ten minute interview with me will ask me “so how do you write songs?” and there’s just no short answer. journalists can suck that way. one recently asked me “so how do you love your fans so much, how does that work?” and i said there was no short or easy answer for that and he looked skeptical. so i asked him “are you married?” and he said yes and i said “do you love your wife?” and he said “yeah, a lot” and i asked “so how do you love your wife so much? how does that work?”

he got it.

Amanda Palmer will be performing at EM the Venue in benefit for Girls Rock Dallas on Thursday, October 3. this will be an intimate show and tickets are limited.

more info and tickets here: http://bit.ly/AFPDallasTix

After quickly selling out their November 23 show, Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer have added a 2nd show on Friday, November 22nd 2013 at the Town Hall in New York City!

More info and tickets here: http://bit.ly/2ndshowNeilAFP

so, the other day in sydney, i was on my morning jog, and my random get-lost-and-retrace-your-jogging-steps led me by this amazing-looking little yoga studio. it wasn’t even on a real road, it was off a path in the botantic gardens i made a mental note to google it when i got home and the next day, i timed my jog to stop by an hour-long class at 12:30.

i was the only person to attend the class. which was nuts.

the teacher, honza, was an incredible czech guy who led me through a fantastic hour of practice with beautiful songs shuffling around on his iPod…one, towards the end of the practice, was so beautiful i had to interrupt us and ask what it was (it was “yellow light” by of monsters and men).

one entire side of the room is full glass and overlooks the dock action. it was mistily raining, and to look up from every pose and see the storm moving across the water, the birds landing on the ledge and shaking themselves dry, the sky an ever-changing painting…it gifted me one of the best yoga practices i’d ever had, and honza was an inspiring teacher. i couldn’t believe the place wasn’t packed.

it turns out he and his partner have JUST taken over management of this incredible space, which is owned by the local council and is zoned for yoga and pilates, a mere WEEK AGO. they’re trying to drum up business, so i offered to reach out to the sydney fanbase to let them know about it. he took a couple of shots of me at the end of the practice….

god the light was beautiful.

he generously offered that if anybody wants to come by and drop my name, he’ll offer you two weeks of classes for free. (that’s amazing).

so go…and when you achieve toned enlightenment, thank me, betches.

the studio is called YOGA BEYOND:
1C Mrs Macquaries Road
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
google maps that shit
+61 439 691 591
their facebook

it is a little weird to find so leave yourself time. and if you’re anal like me, call ahead of time and make sure the class you’re planning on hitting is happening.

if you’re local and know the botanic gardens, it’s on the east side, in the same complex as those beautiful outdoor swimming pools/cafe.

here’s the studio WITH PEOPLE IN IT!

namaste motherfuckers

(and if you’re in sydney, share this offer with your yogic/yoga-curious friends)

i was gifted hand-crocheted neil gaiman and amanda palmer puppet likenesses in perth by a gal named krystel rose hewett (@zendarenn on twitter).

the detail, from neil’s black removable jacket to my kimono and obi, is quite stunning.

notable: full pubic hair and boobs on the amanda palmer, yet neil’s black clothes are absolutely irremovable.
so many levels.

neil is in london. i haven’t seen him for over a month.
so today in sydney, i decided to make use of the crocheted puppets and blog a picturebook commemorating our relationship.

---

THIS IS NEIL AND AMANDA:

AMANDA IS MORE OR LESS NAKED AND NEIL’S CLOTHES DON’T COME OFF BUT NEIL’S FINE WITH THAT.

AMANDA LOVES COFFEE AND NEIL LOVES TEA.

IT’S OK. THEY LIVE WITH THEIR DIFFERENCES.

I WISH I COULD PLAY MUSIC FOR YOU BUT I CANNOT THIS INSTRUMENT IS TOO LARGE.

IT’S OKAY, AMANDA. NOT EVERYTHING WORKS OUT THE WAY YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD.

 

HOW ABOUT I READ YOU A BOOK.

REALLY? YOU’RE GREAT.

THERE MUST BE MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS NEIL.

I’M READY TO GO TO BED NEIL ARE YOU READY? I’M READY. 
YOU SAID YOU WERE JUST GOING TO WRITE FOR LIKE AN HOUR.

I’LL JUST CHECK MY TWITTER FEED ONE MORE TIME AND WAIT FOR YOU TO BE DONE.

ANYTIME YOU’RE READY. NEIL? ARE YOU ACTUALLY AWAKE? OR ARE YOU SNORING AGAINST YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

SOMETIMES IT’S FUN TO TAKE A BATH.

NEIL YOU’D ENJOY THIS BATH SO MUCH MORE WITHOUT YOUR CLOTHES ON.
SOMETIMES WHEN NEIL IS SAD AND TIRED, HE LIES IN AMANDA’S LAP.

SOMETIMES WHEN AMANDA IS SAD AND TIRED, NEIL RUBS HER NECK.

NO AMANDA DON’T DO IT! YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR.

SOMETIMES AMANDA JUST WANTS TO HUG HER PILLOWS AND IGNORE THE WORLD AND NEIL TAKES IT AS A PERSONAL REJECTION. HE IS SO JEALOUS OF THE PILLOWS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE INANIMATE.

BUT THEN OTHER TIMES THERE IS LOTS OF SEX, AND EVERYBODY’S HAPPY.

HEY WE HAD PUPPET SEX!!!!!!!!!!

SEE? I CAN LOVE YOU AND ALSO THE PILLOWS.

 

LET’S SPOON. GOODNIGHT. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

I LOVE YOU TOO.

GOODNIGHT.

GOODNIGHT.

HEY.

WHAT?

BEING PUPPETS IS THE NAZ.

YEAH.

YEAH.

---

love,
afp

p.s. killed brisbane. killed sydney. about to go kill melbourne (sold out, but tickets are appearing every so often on twitter) and adelaide (not sold out, get tickets). tired as fuck.

hola, dear comrades.

writing to you from an in-between space in brisbane, australia.
i’m having the usual difficulty keeping up the pace of reportage on my own existence, which seems to get more beautiful and surreal by the moment.
i’ve delivered 3 house parties in the last three days and my heart is exploding with love and stories…but i don’t have time to put it all into words…it’s like….

i dunno. here’s the thing, before i get to announcing some new shows and all that.

there’s been such an insane influx of IMAGES and MOMENTS floating through my life, many being captured on camera, that i feel like i’m drowning in a sea of digital representation….it’s actually plugging up the drain. i’ve tried to attack this problem from a million different angles over the years, and it seems like an unsolvable problem. the more i do, the less i blog.

does anyone else have this problem? it’s a very particular kind of modern constipation.

i’ve heard there’s a new modern epidemic, often to be found in major metropolises or huge music festivals, called FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
i don’t feel like i’m missing out. but i do feel a crazy imbalance when amazing things happen and i don’t tell you. am i sick?

there seems to be one possible solution: hire my own personal manic-depressive photo-journalist sidekick to accompany as i enact out this bizarre existence.
my brain cannot do these two things at once. so? outsource. and if it goes well, maybe we can start a franchise. your own personal hunter s thompson.
he needs his own convertible (and drug stash) as he speeds ahead of my ride to the house party…chomping on a joint, popping strips of acid, saying
“AMANDA, WE ARE PARTNERS IN THE CRIME OF CAPTURING THE ILLUSION OF THIS FATED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND THESE SOON-TO-BE CORPSES”.
preferably – bien sur – he’d wear sunglasses at all times.

meanwhile, now, here:
i’m going to try to paint with words. that is what i have time to do right now, as there’s soundcheck in 45 minutes and this is my time off today.
i have to learn to write anyfuckingway.

here are the words.

the book is coming together in my head, and i’ve been digesting everything that you guys have been throwing my way. i feel it coming together, some placenta forming, dots connecting.
i want to write the next installment of the book-blog (pt.1 here/pt.2 here), but i’ve been waiting until a moment where i actually have the energy to read the comments as they come back at me in realtime. so stay tuned.

i’ve been in australia for a while with almost no time off, but i did manage to get to the fucking beach yesterday…in honor of jherek’s birthday. here’s the band at byron bay…

the house parties have been too epic and i feel need their own well-edited e-book, and i feel too badly blogging the australian house parties while i’m still behind and haven’t blogged the last batch of north american shindigs. am i sounding like a broken record? i feel like one. one nice band-aid is that the tumblr feed has been a haven for my overscheduled-self colliding with my over-sharing self: lots of people have been writing their own accounts of the house parties and i’ve been reblogging them. tumblr has become a nice, homey, place to be. it’s funny: all these platforms (twitter, tumblr, instagram) truly have their own character.

twitter is the crowded pub downstairs from your apartment.
tumblr is the bookshop cafe across the street.
instagram is the used clothing store that sells illicit cherry-flavored vodka from behind the counter.

but i’m keeping up with certain friends and people’s lives through all these platforms….it’s amazing.
i randomly decided to follow damian from OKGO on instagram…and i only follow a handful of people.
i now know everywhere he’s been in the last year.
i know more about his life than i do about most of my friends back home.
it’s weird.
he takes amazing photos, damian. he’s all symmetrical.

back to the point: i’ll blog the house parties not in real time, but in slo-mo. if you’ve BEEN at any of them, help a brother out and send good photos to me & hayley at photos@amandapalmer.net.
that’s where we put the booty and sort through it. then usually sean picks the winners and hits them over to my desk, and i blog when i have time.
meanwhile, here are some announcements of upcoming shiznit, and a call for help….

………………………………………

first off, tel aviv:
i am going to make my first trip to israel, with neil, to play two shows…one house party that was purchased on kickstarter (one of the last of 35, they’re winding up and have all been incredible) and one official show in tel aviv at club barby (more info below).
when i first found out that i was going to need to travel to tel aviv for the house party, i asked neil if he wanted to go with me. he’s been there and has his own connection with the joint; given his family’s jewish heritage, some of his family wound up there after the holocaust. i considered doing a regular show and put the word out on twitter, looking for advice. i was already aware of the cultural boycott (you should be too, read up here…my good friend and activist shawn setaro – erstwhile bassist with the dresden dolls – had been keeping me updated for a while and was the first one to make me aware of the boycott back in the day). when i got a few tweets back from people who thought it would be a mistake, i decided to think about it more, dig deeper. i didn’t book anything and i went off on european/UK tour #1 in july and august. i ran into edward ka-spel, my hero from the legendary pink dots, who’s about to tour in israel, and i got the whole low-down on what it’s like to play there from him. i kept thinking.
and then something happened to tip my opinion. there’s an israeli organization called Breaking the Silence. they’re are an organization of former israeli combat soldiers who served in the occupied palestinian territories and have, in their own words: “taken it upon ourselves to expose the harsh reality of Israel’s military rule and occupation as we implemented it on the ground.” this is their website: breakingthesilence.org.il
they reached out to see if we would look into what they were doing, and offered to show us around to see for ourselves what was happening. so we’re going to get together with them when we visit israel, to see the areas they’re talking about. but mostly i just want to play music.

someone over there already made an incredible poster:

here is the link for tickets: bit.ly/IsraelAFP
if you want to discuss this with me and with everyone else, please do in the blog comments. please be kind to each other.
also, i’d love suggestions for good articles and/or a book or two to read while i’m preparing for this trip. (some people already posted some great suggestions on twitter, thank you.)

………………………………………

an evening (or two) with neil and amanda in NYC:

if you missed the memo on twitter and tumblr, neil and i are planning to finally publicly release the live record we kickstarter’ed oh-so-long-ago.
we’re going to make new (less over-the-top, but still real nice) packaging for the three discs and also finally make some vinyl.
here’s the artwork, still based on the beautiful cut-out that cynthia von buhler did:

we’ll have info on the actual pre-order for the album itself SOON SOON SOON but meanwhile we’ve decided to book a little record release action in NYC.
we’ll play stuff from the album and probably do some new things and mostly just throw down on stage in our usual improvy way, and hopefully invite some special NYC-area guests to come hang.
there are JUST A FEW tickets left for the show in NYC, HERE. there’s a rumor that a second night will be added, but it’s not confirmed. stay tuned.

………………………………………

we’re also going to be together for a VERY special show in boston, with a lot of our friends.

A Tribute to Becca Rosenthal: A Night of Music, Art and Remembering
will be happening Monday October 7th at 7pm
at the beautiful Somerville Theater.

here is the gorgeous poster (created by cassandra long):

as most of you know, we lost our friend becca last year for reasons unknown. i wrote a long blog about her HERE). she was a big part of our lives and the dresden dolls’ community.

her parents reached out to me and neil to see if we would help signal boost the scholarship fund they’re trying to start over at smith college, becca’s alma mater. they need to raise a lot of money in a small amount of time to get it legitimately rolling. we decided it would be a good idea to get all becca’s boston-area posse together to throw an event in her honor.

the night will be presented by me, brian viglione (of the dresden dolls and the violent femmes :), mr neil gaiman, and tons of art/filmmaker/performer friends of becca’s, including michael pope, cormac bride, emilyn brodsky, siena oristaglio, and cassandra long…the list goes on. the whole night will be a celebration of becca’s life and the art and music she loved. we will play songs, show clips, share stories, and remember her together. if you didn’t know her, you should still come. you’ll get to know her. and she was awesome. you’d have wanted to know her.

seats are $25, with a limited number of Gold Circle seats for $100. Gold Circle seats include an after-show meet and greet, plus cassandra long’s original, limited edition art poster (still in the making) signed by the performers. tickets are available HERE. btw, the venue holds about 900. please buy in advance.

ALL proceeds are to benefit The Rebecca Samay Rosenthal ‘07 Memorial Fellowship Fund at Smith College.

and if you can’t be there for the show (or you don’t like events), but you’d like to contribute directly to fund, you can make a direct donation: bit.ly/BeccasFund

[Annual income from this fund shall be used to provide internships for students enrolled in library special collections concentrations (including but not exclusive to the Archives and Book Studies concentrations) and/or to provide general internship and research funds for student work in special collections.]

………………………………………

LASTLY…the VERY LAST LEG OF TOUR for THEATRE IS EVIL is going to be in europe.
the shows for HAMBURG, COPENHAGEN, COLOGNE, BRUSSELS, BERLIN, WARSAW, KRAKOW, MILAN, BUDAPEST, MUNICH, and VIENNA are all on sale here, some shows are nearing sold out, BUY AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!

tickets and additional info are all at bit.ly/SeeAFP

our new friends from PERHAPS CONTRAPTION are going to try to join us as buskers and on-stage mischief-makers in as many cities as possible…
but they need your help if they’re going to make it very far outside the UK.

if you saw these guys in london, you can understand why we want to encourage them my any means possible to come and play with us….they’re incredible and crazy and loud and smart and wonderful (and pretty good-looking).

if you CAN help them out, DO!!!

here’s what they NEED, in their own words:
Perhaps Contraption are a 9 piece art pop marching band thing from London seeking extra shows (living rooms, warehouses, clubs, bathrooms, parks, ANYTHING) and places to rest their weary heads during a jaunt around Germany and Belgium with AFP.

They can provide sweet sweet morning song and/or evening party oompah in exchange for attentive audiences and shelter!

The wish list includes:

Oct 28th: A show / crash pad en route to Hamburg from London (this could be a stop in Belgium, Holland or Germany!)
Oct 29th: A place to stay in Hamburg after the AFP show.
Oct 30th: A play to stay / perform in Germany (preferably in the general direction of Cologne from Hamburg!)
Oct 31st: A place to stay / perform in Germany (preferably in the general direction of Cologne from Hamburg!)
Nov 1st: A place to crash in Cologne after the AFP show.
Nov 2nd: A place to crash in Brussels after the AFP show.
Nov 3rd: A place to perform / crash in Berlin
Nov 4th: A place to crash in Berlin after the AFP show.
Nov 5th: Head home to London with big smiles aplenty.

if you can help them in any way, email christo!
(he’s the one holding the FLUTE, front and center): squier@perhapscontraption.co.uk

……………………

and that’s all for the moment.

if you want to follow the day to day magic, before it goes into the blog-processor, follow the twitter.

and if you happen to know my hunter s. thompson, hit me in the comments.

i love you all a lot.

xxx
afp

Amanda Palmer has already touched ground in Australia, and here’s your last chance to win tickets. Enter to win a ticket to the show closest to you using the widget below by tweeting about the show. Please ONLY enter the contest if you are able to make the concert. Winners will be notified via email. If you’re not feeling lucky, general admission tickets are still on sale here.

SYDNEY: SYDNEY:

MELBOURNE: MELBOURNE:

ADELAIDE: ADELAIDE:

Please note that for your entry to be eligible to win, you must enter your full name and click the widget button that says “+1 Do It!” – click the button that says “Tweet” – and follow the directions for entering your tweet’s URL. You can tweet once a day until the show, and the more you tweet the better your chances are to win. You MUST include your full name to enter and your name must match your photo ID to claim your tickets at venue will call. Contest prize is for concert tickets to the show only, all travel and accommodation arrangements are up to you. Good luck!

AFP will be performing a solo show in Tel Aviv, Isreal next month. The concert is being held on Wednesday, October 23 at the Barby and is an all ages affair.

Tickets are available starting Wednesday, September 11 at 8 AM. Be on the look out for a personal blog post regarding the show in the upcoming days.

More info and tickets here => http://bit.ly/IsraelAFP

Amanda Palmer will be speaking in Brisbane at BIGSOUND 2013 on Thursday, September 12 @ 10 AM.  Enter for your chance to win a ticket by tweeting about the event using the widget below. Please ONLY enter the contest if you are able to make the conference. 5 lucky winners will be notified via email. If you’re not feeling lucky, general admission tickets are still on sale here.

BIGSOUND 2013 Giveaway

PLEASE NOTE: For your entry to be eligible to win, you must enter your full name & click the widget button that says “+1 Do It!” – click the button that says “Tweet” – and follow the directions for entering your tweet’s URL. You can tweet once a day until Monday, Sept 9. The more you tweet the better your chances are to win. You MUST include your full name to enter. A photo ID will be require in order to claim your ticket. Contest prize is for BIGSOUND 2013 only. All travel and accommodation arrangements are up to you. Good luck!