what i want for my birthday. really.
hola comrades!
i’d like to thank you all for your many birthday wishes…they’ve come flooding in via twitter, myspace, theshadowbox.net and email…the love has been profuse, profane and profound and, just…thank you.
thank you and i love you. i’m so happy.
i’ve spent all week composing an epic open letter to robert smith. he turned 50 on tuesday. i was hoping to get it posted up for his birthday. i failed. it was just too much, too long.
i think it might turn into a novel. which he’ll never read. i digress.
it’s april 30th and i’m 33. this is what i’ve always referred to as JESUS YEAR.
yes, the year christ bit the bullet.
it’s easy to get pissed at him. he accomplished so much in so little time. betch.
i am also angry, in a similar way, at the beatles. “please, please me” came out in 1963, “abbey road” in 1969 (“let it be” doesn’t count) and in between they put out god knows how many songs into the universe and changed who fucking knows how much about the world and the people in it and what they were doing and thinking.
when they disbanded, john lennon was TWENTY-NINE (and was the OLDEST FUCKING BEATLE). betch.
this shit is just ridiculous. let’s not get into it. i’ve accomplished plenty, and i’m proud of what i’ve done, and i have no regrets, and everything is just fucking awesome.
period.
let’s leave it at that.
NOW.
lots of you have asked me WHAT I WANT for my birthday.
i am going to actually ask, for the first time in my life, for a gift. from you. my people.
here is what i’d like for my birthday:
please take this moment in time and think about one person, any person, who you think might like my music and my art. someone who doesn’t know it.
someone who does not have amanda fucking palmer in their life and might like her there.
this does not have to be a peer. it could be a child, a mother, an ex, an uncle, an befriended enemy, a co-worker, a long-lost friend, a teacher, a whatever. ANYONE.
picture them in your mind. picture if their life might possibly be made better if you brought some afp into it.
NOW:
please send/get to them them either of the following (in any format your lifestyle or computer literacy allows for. and explain why you are sending this. explain why you like this artist. explain that it’s her birthday and she’s asked you, as a favor to her, to do this.
the worst they will do is delete your email, tell you to fuck off, or disown you)
either
1-a copy of WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER. if you don’t think they have the attention span for the whole album, send them a track.
or
2-a youtube clip of one of your favorite AFP videos.
here are some options:
leeds united:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlJ9z_LowBI&fmt=18
the shocking oasis video, (banned in the uk!!! use this fact to impress your younger siblings) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C17yfGyJjM&fmt=18
the who killed amanda palmer video series by michael pope:
astronaut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O6GqCwjh-k&fmt=18
ampersand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh46Rsgtl2s&fmt=18
runs in the family:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_JFjY5Y0Os&fmt=18
the point of it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AResxnZrY5k&fmt=18
strength through music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-WXhw1KLwk&fmt=18
guitar hero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJVWSu5Nfi8&fmt=18
and
if they’re a hard sell, try……
me playing creep in the audience at the middle east (always a good way to convince people i’m not too evil):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek5ZNgw8Vdk&fmt=18
and if ALL ELSE FAILS…..
send THIS
(and if YOU haven’t seen it….just….go watch it. it’s amazing. i had a blog to write about it, but i fucked off. i will later. promise.)
it’s me, in harvard sqaure last summer, lip-synching “everybody’s gotta live.”
even your great-grandmother will like it. i swear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glq_vb0A-yg&fmt=18
please let me know how it goes. twitter, comment, email, whatevs.
i want to know how this experiment works.
whether you fully understand it or not, i rely on you to make my life work.
this is part of how we do it.
i am so glad you’re here. i am so glad i’m here. i am so glad we’re here.
i can’t think of a better gift.
love,
Amanda Fucking Palmer
Lexington, MA
11:59, April 30, 2009.
Cross-posted here on MySpace
