An Idol – Amanda Palmer

I don’t remember now when I became a fan of The Dresden Dolls. Years ago, a friend made me a mix CD that had Coin Operated Boy on it, then a few months later whilst waiting for a train with Kylie (We were heading into the city to either see David Bowie or The Horrorpops, I can’t remember now), I heard her singing it. I didn’t own any Dresden Dolls CD’s until I met Adam, who when I mentioned I liked them, went & bought me ‘A is for Accident’ & ‘The Dresden Dolls’. This pretty much started my one sided love affair with Amanda Palmer.

I’ve often been told I have ‘weird’ taste in music. Maybe to some people I do, but in general I just like music. Pop, rock, country. The majority of my life I worshipped at the Church of David Bowie. In this religion, David Bowie is God, and I think Amanda Palmer may just be my Jesus (Brings into question, who killed Amanda Palmer?). One of the things that I love about AFP is her covers, I’m a cover whore & the fact she’s done covers of some of my other favourite artists (Nick Cave & Prince to name 2) makes me delightfully giddy.

I just recently bought tickets to see her Adelaide fringe concert, as well as to see her perform as one half of conjoined twins Evelyn Evelyn in March. This will be the 3rd & 4th time I’ve had the chance to see her perform live. Last time she took my Sydney Opera House virginity. Oh yes, Amanda loves Australia, a thing of which I am incredibly thankful for. She tours here often & she doesn’t forget to come to Adelaide like a lot of artists!

This article HERE at Spin by Mr Amanda PalmerNeil Gaiman explains the chemistry of The Dresden Dolls in ways & words that I could never express. I’ve never had the chance to see The Dresden Dolls perform live, but just watching the concert DVD’s is awe inspiring.

Amanda Palmers newest recording ‘Amanda Palmer goes Down Under’ is a collection of all things Australian & Australian inspired. I kind of love Vegemite (The Black Death) with it’s lyrics “Vegemite, it tastes like sadness. It tastes like batteries. It tastes like acid. I cannot hold a man so close who spreads this cancer on his toast. It’s the vegemite my darling, or it’s me”. Though, I really do love my vegemite! Now don’t think that all her music is fun & amusing, a lot of her music is quite emotional and somewhat dark.

 Her blog is a great read. I have to share an extract from a recent post of hers titled 12 brief notes on Australian Customs. It made me laugh, it’s all so true!

1. they love to shorten shit. “arvo” means afternoon. “convo” means conversation. “brekkie” means breakfast. therefore: “let’s have a late brekkie or a convo this arvo” is an actual email you can get from a journalist. 

2. “bogans” are a cross between british chavs and american hillybilly jocks/rednecks. an extremely intoxicated bogan approached me in a bar last night and said “AT LEAZ I DUN PAINT MY EYEBROWS ON” to which i replied, somewhat mournfully, that my eyebrows were not painted on, they like this when i was born. then he got really shocked, quiet and ashamed. after he was ejected from the bar by the bouncer for being too drunk and bogan. i told his girlfreind to make sure to tell him – when he was sober – that i’d been lying; unlike lady gaga, i was not born this way, they are painted. i hope she sends the memo.

3. australians have been shyly coming out of the woodwork one by one to tell me that they, too, hate vegemite. i’ve given them A VOICE. I SERVE A PURPOSE.

4. do not drink VB. it is their equivalent of horse piss. in budweiser.

5. when ordering a coffee, order a “STRONG FLAT WHITE”. that is a café au lait with actual flavor to you and me, russ. a flat white is just an espresso with lots and lots of milk in it.

6. when referring to touring, “regional” does not mean “regional”. “regional” means “international”. this is confusing.

7. “prawns”. not “shrimp”, ever.

8. “glassing” is what bogans do to each other for sport. it involves breaking a beer bottle (preferably VB) and ripping open someone’s face with it. bless.

9. everybody Actually Loves triple j, the nationally syndicated alt-radio station. we do not have this in america – the very concept of one-nation-united-under-a-single-alt-channel died with MTV.

10. everybody pretends to hate the new zealanders, but actually don’t really care.

11. they really are obsessed with BBQ. everybody does it. all the time.

12. under no circumstances say “fanny pack”. really. they’ll just double over with laughter. it literally translates to “vagina bag”. their alternative, “bum bag”, sounds fucking ludicrous to me, but there you go.

You can purchase Amanda’s music HERE digitally.  You can also get AFP, The Dresden Dolls & Eveyln Evelyn merch & some amazing bundles HERE.

 Oh, if you have a few spare minutes, check out the video for ‘Map of Tasmania’. It’s awesome, tongue-in-cheek, and yes, that is what some of us Australians call our pubic hair region!