Amanda Palmer is quite amazing. At the very least she’s interesting. Bear with me here…
I first heard of her maybe ten years ago when she was despised and hated on Twitter and FB because she seemed to be asking for musicians to play with her for the glory of just that – playing with her, a Famous Person, but she wouldn’t pay them a guaranteed fee.
As a musician I was not impressed and joined the chorus of indignant musos who expressed the opinion that someone in her position should cough up the $$ to pay her sidemen/sidewomen.
Since then…skip a few years…here’s what I think…
First of all she got stranded in New Zealand in March 2020 halfway through a planned world tour. She’s still there.
Secondly, the place she was stranded in, Havelock North, is close to where a good friend of mine lives, and he’s connected with her. And connection is her whole thing.
On my friend’s recommendation I read her book “The Art Of Asking”. It’s an extraordinary account of her life as a performer, from starting out as one of those performance art statues you see in public places, to being one half of the Dresden Dolls, to being the person she is today with a million Twitter followers and 15,00- Patreon supporters. “The Art Of Asking” is about just that – how she has developed a close relationship with her fans and followers, and funds her albums and tours with their support. It’s impressive.
And reading about her history with her fan-base, the whole thing about getting musicians to volunteer to play with her takes on another POV. Read the book. I got it out of my local library.
Also – she married the author Neil Gaiman, they had a kid, separated, and now they seem to be together again (in NZ)
And – I have to say, I don’t really like her work, but she’s bloody good at what she does.
Other thoughts? She’s not very AW I have to say…
Check out her TED talk in the link
Having said I don’t really like her, I do think this is brilliant. It’s a much better version (IMHO) than the “official version” on her “There Will Be No Intermission” album
In the OP it should say 15,000 Patreon supporters
I know what you mean about not really knowing what to make of Amanda Palmer
I saw her at Roskilde many years ago with Dresden Dolls. Very enjoyable.
And since then I’ve seen various entertaining clips on YT.
I am an enormous Neil Gaiman fan. He got into very hot water back in May when he wanted some time to himself…. Talk about an idiotic course of action.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/19/neil-gaiman-apologises-skye-breaking-lockdown-rules-new-zealand
I’ve seen some “very entertaining ” clips of Amanda Palmer too.
New Zealand’s quite a warm country, it appears.
What is it with you, Moose, I google and get Amanda playing her banjo. You google and get….well best not to ask.
I have to give it to her.
She is an excellent, very likable communicator..
That’s quite a touching clip. Through community Facebook posts I have seen people in situations like Amanda’s where people have ended up here – and if it’s known that someone is in trouble there is always a strong response from complete strangers offering food, or the loan of a car, or even a place to stay for a while: A few years ago some volunteers set up a community pantry where surplus food is available for free for anyone – the deal is that you put something in there yourself when you can. The local supermarket regularly stocks it up with basics and will even use it as a promotional tool with free samples. In theory you could live off the food that appears in there.
Amanda and you really do make New Zealand sound rather wonderful. Community spirit is alive and well.
Very heartening how “small” countries like NZ or Finland can be such a global inspiration.
From the Wiki entry about her, I glean that she once worked as a stripper and that she is bisexual Dull, she isn’t!
Are you listening @fentonsteve? There’s a lesson to be learnt here.
Don’t encourage him – it’s parky out.
I auditioned for the local bisexual stripper choir. I’m in, but I think I’ll be in the chorus line – they said I only have a small part.
You misunderstood what they wanted, turning up with a wire brush and Nitromors.
Well, I’m very familiar with Amanda Palmer’s music and world view. I have seem her live too. I would recommend her Black Star (yes that one) EP as a good starting point. I have also read her book and seen her largely spoken word No Intermissions show in Manchester. There’s the rub: she has a huge ego and isn’t much of a listener to other points of view. She can talk about herself interminably. I didn’t much care for her assumption that all her fans share all her opinions. She talks frankly about difficult issues like rape and abortion. I have no problem with that but the audience participation demanded on these matters was very, well, odd I thought.
I am also a fan of Neil Gaiman. They are a very, very odd couple.
I love New Zealand though. Best place on Earth in my opinion. I wish I was there now
Whenever I see the name Amanda Palmer I immediately think of Michael Caine.
“…because she seemed to be asking for musicians to play with her for the glory of just that”
IIRC the dismay was expressed because she had just a month or two before raised over a million on Kickstarter (or similar program).
I can take or leave her, but am impressed that she is able to make a decent living and work independently of record company support/contract.
I remember seeing Neil Finn at the Palace Theatre about 20 years ago. He’d asked, a few weeks before, on his Yahoo Groups page for musical fans to learn a song in advance.
He played solo with an acoustic guitar, but had electric guitar, drums, bass and keys set up on stage. He then invited members of the audience up between songs. “Does anyone know the bass part for Weather With You?”.
It was really rather good.