running, running, running around and don't even know what i've been doing except that i've been doing a lot.
the solo record got re-mastered and it's.....mind-blowing. it's so good. it's sooooooo gooooooooooooooooooooooood.
so i feel safe in a deep way. because as long as the record is amazing then i can fuck everything else up and it's technically ok.
it will be released september 16th. that is now like christmas day for me. it is four months away. that seems long.
next week pope, kyle cassidy and i shoot film and video for the solo project for three days straight and then there's barely a breath and the dolls hit the west coast.
i play solo tomorrow and the next day with death cab for cutie (looks like brian might show up for the boston show) and then we'll play this last-minute benefit for my old french teacher's exchange program on sunday (details on the calendar).
my voice is kind of ready, but not really. it'll be interesting.
................
i spent a lot of time in new york. i love it there.
.................
my apartment is now messy as fuck again. o well.
...................
i went to cape cod with my family and watched the herring spawn.
they do this thing where they swim upstream & they're so exhausted by the time they get to the top of wherever they're getting to, they just barely have enough energy to pro-create and then they die. it's very romantic. jason webley had been telling me that he goes to see the salmon spawn near seattle every year.
so i was on the cape, watching the herring spawn, and my step-father mentioned how they're sort of like marathon runners, being all crazy and doing this terrible thing to their body for the sake of some weird higher purpose. and my sister shared the story about the original marathon runner, who ran 26 miles in wartime to get some crazy message to rome or something then dropped down dead.
and then two days later i was at home in boston and needed to go to the sprint store to get my phone replaced. i had forgotten it was boston marathon day. so i walked to the store but all the roads were blocked off and it was this mad undertaking of maze-iness to get to the store and i walked about 27 blocks in a spiral to get about 5 physical blocks away, including jumping some fences and getting crushed by throngs of marathon fans and families. people were just finishing the course a few yards from where the store was. and they were flopping like dead herring on the ground and the BEST part was that they were wearing these fucking crazy NASA-looking silver sheets that keep them warm. so they REALLY really looked like spawning herring and i really enjoyed myself.
FISH:
PEOPLE:
and i had to add this, because when i was googling images of spawning fish it popped up.
and how could i not, come on:
FISHPEOPLE:
jason and i were writing back and forth, i was interviewing him over email for the press release of his new record (which features a picture of spawning salmon on the inside).....i asked: whats with the fish?
here's his answer.
but here:
"AP: What's with the fish?
JW: Have you ever seen salmon spawn? It is really intense, and kind of ugly. All of these fish, their bodies already falling apart, beginning to decompose even before they die, pushing and fighting their way upstream. There's something so poetic about how these creatures that are born in little streams, go out and live in the oceans for years and then when they are old and falling apart they return or try to return to these places where they were born.
I remember the first time I saw them. I was walking in the woods and I crossed this little footbridge, and looked down and saw them. Dying fish flailing around among dead fish. It was really shocking to me, and somehow deeply sad. I remember looking down at them, trapped in this visceral struggle, and just thinking "fuck." And wondering who was on the bridge about me looking down at me and thinking the same thing.
Metaphors like this can often feel cheesy or clumsy, but I really is something huge here. In my mind I feel like the salmon help me understand somehow all of our involvement in the middle east. Baghdad and Jerusalem aren't just random cities in the desert. They are the places where our Western cultures evolved from. All three of the major Western religions, modern concepts of agriculture and just the basic idea of what a city is, all of these things come from the Fertile Crescent. We learn about it in school, but we don't really connect the idea with modern geography. Baghdad is right there between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Western Culture is totally going back to its mother, and it is going back there violently. I don't think it is right, but I do think there is a terrifying poetry to it.
I think similarly in my own life, probably in everyone's, there is some kind of constant pull back to our roots. In ways we don't really understand. Like the salmon - I don't think they consciously know that they are going back to where they were born or that their struggle is noble and is perpetuating their species. I think they just know that they are doing this thing, and it is hard as hell and really sucks. They don't see the bigger picture, and I don't think we do either.
So anyway, yeah... that's why there are fish.
...................................................
there was a moment when i was watching all those herring and i really felt the futility of my own hard work.
a great big WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY are you working your ass off and making so many things to do only to collapse down down a few decades from now, you mindless herring-girl? i will let you know if i come up with a suitable answer. mostly because, i think, like our herring friends, i don't know any other way of life. i am programmed this way. work. do. work. run. ja ja ja ja. stop? die.
i think this is why i dig yoga and meditation so much. if i didn't carve that time out, i would never rest my brain. i would implode. balance be key.
this is the record by the way. jason webley is amazing.
you can get it here:
www.jasonwebley.com
i posted the rest of my interview with him up on the forum:
www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=3915.0
................................................................................................
i went to a lecture given by richard heinberg about peak oil.
it is real.
it is scary.
i am thinking about it a lot. life is going to change. and soon.
shit is running out. people are starting to starve,
if you feel like realizing how fucking insane the world is about to become:
www.postcarbon.org
i think i will be talking about this more soon. it's bugging me out.
.................................................................................................
i went to my alma mater lexington high school tonight and helped with the make-up for the spring play, which was a weird version of faust. i loved that.
god the kids were so fucking talented. i wanted to eat them like fish. or die with them. or something. it was just inspiring.
.................................
i was in harvard square the other day and had an Ego Roller-coaster Ride.
i went to the post office with a friend and the pretty lady posting my 12 packages was like "anything liquid fragile or perishable" and i was like "no"
and then she asked "hmmmm. does this package happen to contain a copy of No, Virginia?" and my jaw dropped. she was older than me and didn't look your your average dolls fan and i was so happy,
and i looked so damn cool in front of my friend. oh oh yes. they know me AT THE POST OFFICE. i am famous. yay. then a few hours later we went to cafe pamplona and were sitting there enjoying our coffees and musing and a pretty girl came up to us and was shy and adorable and told me she was a fan and we rapped for a bit and i was like: my ego is SO fed today. i am so known. damn, i feel fancy.
so then i went to the counter to ask for our check and there were these two older ladies sitting at a table, probably in their fifties and one was looking over at me and whispering to her lady friend and i was like: this can't be.
and they tittered a bit and i got my check and the lady who had been looking at me said: "i'm sorry, you're going to kill me for asking this...."
and i was like "no, no, go ahead!" and in my mind i was like: I AM SO AWESOME. i have achieved ultimate fanciness. i am loved and known by OLD WOMEN! my life is so complete today.
and she looked at her friend and did that giggly nervous smile you do and gave me the biggest grin and said
"...you're pregnant, aren't you?"
that evened things out quite nicely.
for the record: i'm not pregnant. i just have a belly at all times. can't do nothing about it. even when the rest of me is rock hard, The Belly (i sometimes call it The Orb) is in full force.
people think i'm pregnant every once in a while. I find it charming. i once ruined some guys life....this was in the UK and he was a super-fan and his band was opening up for us. at the end of the night he congratulated me on being pregnant and I laughed and was like.....dude, i'm not pregnant. i'm just belly. or beer. or whatevers in there. but it's not baby.
anyway, this threw him into such a panic that i got 3-page apologetic emails for a year. it was heartbreaking.
also for the record: i'm so glad i'm not pregnant.
and while we're on this topic, i was reminded of this AWESOME short youtube clip called "amanda palmer & the belly" that surfaced from edinburgh last summer:
long live the belly
x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
a
p.s.
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Posts
64 comments:
Awesome stuff.
I know all about The Belly. Not yours, but you know.
Can't wait for No, Virginia.
<3.
Oh Amanda, are you coming back to the festvial this year? Central scotland is alot more boring without you.
Oh, Amanda. I, too, am bequeathed genetically with a stomach that will always have protrusion, even when the rest of me is in toss-you-around-the-ring shape.
I used to be so self concious of it. My family always told me, "You wouldn't be fat if you didn't have that stomach", but in my ripe old age (all 21 years) I'm actually kind of fond of it.
Anywho, if I were EVER anywhere near Boston, I would be a comer-upper at Cafe Pamplona or the post office or elsewhere to tell you what an impact you've had on me, so know that if you're ever tooling around Jacksonville, the chances of this increase. The chances also increase that someone will be offended by SOMETHING you do and have you boycotted from the city as we have like twenty other artists, but still.
Also, I hate the month of September, but now I have the 16th to look forward too. Boss.
Love always,
Brianne
-Thanks for the Jason Webley bit of poetic prose on the salmon. I wonder if "We've All Begun To Die" has anything to do with keeping that image in his head for so long.
I know what you mean.
about the resources and about the bellies.
Jason is deep, man. Deep like the ocean.
it's sort of incredible how many people are ignoring (you can't claim ignorance with the media being the way it is anymore, so, ignoring) the fact that everything is on the verge of collapse. it terrifies me.
i want things to change.
i want to be able to feel really hopeful about all of this.
i want a revolution.
(i have been in france for too long)
...
as for the belly, i have my own...i am still coming to terms with it... but for a while i worked at a daycare, and on the way to rehearsal for...something, a friend and i stopped by the opening of an expo for one of the kid's moms at the local organic market. All of the wee ones and their parents were there and this tiny-tot of a girl came up to my friend and asked her if she was having a baby. She just started crying, and it was up to me to apologize for this now baffled child, who did not belong to me.
i think that more people need to look really long and hard at all forms of art up through the 1920's... it might do everyone a little good
much love
That was an adorably sweet video.
It made me smile.
And I have been getting more and more paranoid about the nature of our Earth's resources... it's been freaking me out a bit lately.
Also, I got my first tattoo a couple weeks ago of your guys' symbol. I was very excited.
What an adorable video! I also have "the belly." Three of my siblings are thin, one has "the belly" like I do. One of the thin ones, my oldest brother, used to come up behind me and squeeze my belly and say "little bunny getting fat on bread and honey!"
For those of you who don't know, that's a paraphrase from the Hobbit. For those of you who do know, you're almost as nerdy as me. :)
My dad still calls me chubby but I've learned to just deal. I would rather have the belly than give up my really nice butt for one of those skinny little ones.
I gotza belly too! :D
But I'm too young to even think about being pregnant, nevermind being to young or too old. No human will ever come out of my vagina. :D
I live very close to the Cape but have never been. ha.
I can't wait for May 20th[No, V...] ANNNND the 16th of September [solo] annnnnd the 20th of June[pops]. All three of them are my Christmas'. Cept maybe June 20th because that's four days from my birthday, so it's like my birthday only sooner.
I was sooo close to being able to go to the Death Cab show buttttt nooooooo. >:|
it's okay, you better lemme hug ya on June 20th to make up for it!
You are famous, you truly are.
*puts on Classics hat*
The story of Marathon goes like this:
On the Greek costline there was a town/city called Marathon. It was 26 miles from Athens. When the Persians were invading Greece, they landed at Marathon (it being a nice exposed coastal town). However, the Persians were defeated at Marathon and a messenger named Pheidippides ran all the way back to Athens, burst into the Senate and exclaimed "We have won." At this point he fell over and died.
(Hey, I have a degree in Classics from Smith. I have to use it somehow.)
re: the belly
my ex used to call mine 'the tub'.
...
did i mention he's my ex?
...Your re-alignment of Belly girl's perception is beautiful.
Please continue.
Is it just me or do the fish people somehow look more like weird giant cocks ?
uhm
The video is lovely. Love the belly !
I love this image of the fishes. Coming back to our roots ? Being a pessimist with a 4/5th of a masters degree in Political sciences with a sense of drama, I sometimes wonder if, when I'm old and used (if i ever get to that age), I will be able to find the same. The birds, the spring afternoons on the grass looking at the shape of the clouds, going in the country and picking up wild flowers... I'm worried too, Amanda. I want to die in the embrace of my childhood roots.
Are you coming by France any time soon ? I just can't wait... Don't miss out on us, I've already converted some new fans ^^
Awesome to know everything in your world is going OK, apart from old women!!
But, let's face it, getting recognised in the post office is quite an achievement, no?
Can't wait for No, Virginia.
And I had to love the pics, Fish, Men, Fishmen :]
I'm also a herring-girl.
Right now i'm working my arsh off, to get ready for the exam. I’ve got a lot of plans for my life: travelling, studying Art Photography in Prauge and/or San Francisco, build my own house by the ocean, having chickens in my backyard, get my own and fully supreme herb-garden, getting in your pants..! All this stuff I’m gonna work so fucking hard on! Really! But I’m having a hard time, actually seeing what all this work leads to. Death, as you mention? Hapinness? Freedom? Who knows, maybe I’ll die as a herring. I’d actually like to die like that. I’m sure they die happy.
Well, when I wrote this it sounded very true. I do not dare to read it through.
Good luck with life you adorable Amanda
Amanda, you're sexy.
and so is your belly :D
That shy, adorable girl should've been me.
But it's ok...because I'm Seeing you tonight in Providence!!
<3
I lolled out loud so loud about that old lady asking if you were pregnant that I woke my dog up.
Profound thanks from me for that, unfortunately not from Marley though.
I lolled out loud so loud about that old lady asking if you were pregnant that I woke my dog up.
Profound thanks from me for that, unfortunately not from Marley though.
I don't think you understand how if I (or anyone else who reads this) would have the best day, week, month, year, lifetime if I saw you randomly somewhere. I would be as inspired as you were when you saw the fish. Maybe even more.
Can't wait for "No, Virginia". <3
-Carly
Just came back from my (internet-free) trip to Hamburg.
Oh, something new from Amanda !
Love the fish-and-marathon idea.
Seems to be belly-time at the moment: every second woman in Hamburg was pregnant (as in going to have a baby pretty soon). Or so it seemed.
Me, I´m just having the belly.
Now I learned that I should love it.
Thank you, Amanda !
I'm in my cube at work right now and that video just brought me to tears.
thank you for existing.
I think a convex tummy on a girl is right and natural and very, very sexy!
Also, do you know when you and (not officially but maybe) Brian go on on Saturday?! I really, really need to know!
Nike shoes owes it's name to the Battle of Marathon.
"Nike" in ancient Greek means "victory" which is what the soldier said as he dropped dead. I think what Nike's trying to say is, "well, had mr. man been wearing theses trainers, things would have turned out a little differently (wink wink nudge nudge)"
anyway, can't wait for the solo record, I don't think I could've made it to september waiting without No, Virginia to tide me over
peace
There's a doco called A Crude Awakening if you wish to continue getting freaked out from the comfort of your own loungeroom.
my Orb is my ass, so i totally sympathize. although, no one can ever accidentally mistake me for a pregnant woman because of it.
for the record, i love your belly. especially in thin dresses that show it off. am i going too far? probably.
glad to hear you're having fun, and i can't wait for the solo album -- not to mention the boston pops show!
Amanda, do not worry about your voice. I think you are ready; and when you hear the crowd cheer for you, you will know right away that you are prepared. Don't be nervous, don't be shy. Just be you, and you'll be fine.
I think you & Brian are amazing performers, and are quite possibly the most inspiring musicians out there today. I would love to get an interview with you for my radio show in Salem. If it would be possible it'd really make my summer truly one of the best (up there with my Japan trip last year)!
about the working your ass off/big picture concept part thing- i finished camus' "the stranger" a little while ago and it blew my mind/changed the way that i think. im still in highschool, so yeah i dont have much life experience/knowledge of the world (i'd like to think that im pretty cultured for coming from a milk like boston suburb. my town is homogonized, pastuerized, and just about 100% white).
but in my pre-stranger days, i pretty much had a broomstick up my ass sideways, i was horribly uptight and stressed, and i didnt realize that a B- on a latin vocabulary quiz was going to have NO effect on me in ten years-or even a month.
i dont really know how i got this from the outsider (probably how the main character realizes how indifferent and unchanging the world is-and how self centered it would be to think that one person can forever be immortal[that seems a bit redundant but i still like the phrasing {and i love parentheses}]). but i've relaxed and have started to try figure out what events are small in regard to my future and events that are significant. if something doesnt last long, i generally dont freak out about it. but if i can make someone else happy for just a short time, i try to--that kinda contradicts my thinking that short-lived events are unimportant to me, but when it's someone else's brief moment of happiness theres a level of selflessness. i like that.
with the indifference of world/no one being truly immortal, that seems really apparent now with the zack effron's and the miley cyruses. little boys idolize baseball players and little girls idolize pretty, but acting-challenged, celebrities. no one cares about abraham lincoln or ben franklin-the political figures from early up through the civil war america are made into caricatures of "life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness." they have been turned into one demensional ideals of the greatness of america. in sixth grade (four years ago) i read a biography of lincoln, and the only thing i remember from it is this: he was about to get with a hooker. he was in the bed. she was getting into bed. he realized that he didnt have enough money. he jumped out of bed. got dressed. appologized. and left.
it was nice of him to not get with her without paying-but i was stunned by the fact that lincoln would be interested in a hooker. not an american president!
i admit, though, that i love the rediculous shows on VH1, i love tila tequilla and rock of love, i love americas next top model and project runway. these shows and the "c-list celebrities" produced by them wont last as long as great presidents, but they are more interesting to younger people. i'd rather read the biography of a stage actor or a musician than that of a president-that might just be me.
but i guess we are in a sort of "celebrity revolution"- its working in tandem with the technological revolution to slowly draw attention away from the achievements of the past, away from the pilgrims, from the founding fathers, from the civil war, from the world wars. the period after the world wars is patronized- everything is "retro" and its SUPER COOL for skanky little girls to wear tshirts for bands that they've never heard of.
but we go back to retro. the fish go back to the stream.
but someday, some catastrophic event will come and wipe the entire slate clean. shakespeare will be gone, lincoln will be gone. the beatles, albert camus, gilgamesh, the romans, the greeks, the egyptians--all gone.
im rambling.
with your love of yoga- i think everyone needs a release/rest time like that. for me its acting. i didnt act at all through the past summer, so by the beginning of this school year i was desperate to start again. its not so much the rush from performing as it is the release i get when something just clicks at a rehearsal. i cant really describe it, but something will happen-ill say a line, there will be a reply, and everything just makes sense. monologues are much more inward than dialogue-and i need both. i will get emotions from running a monologue that i cant feel in my homogenized/pastuerized life. i've felt deep sorrow, only to be completely fine two seconds after finishing the monologue.
with dialogue, its more a wonder of the communication between human beings. rehearsals will get you to a point where you arent even thinking about what you are saying/doing/acting-its just happening. and everyone onstage is living it and communicating. you can shout and scream and hate a person on stage, they will react beutifully, and the scene will be completely real. then you walk offstage and you know everything is completely fine. i think the only other place where ive seen one person insult another so openly with that person present is during presidential debates. obama and clinton can be sitting right next to eachother, completely dissing eachother, and they are fine with it. i love it.
if you read this entire thing, wow and thank you.
also- i didnt mean to sound so cynical/catcher in the rye-ish.
and im crazy pumped for no virginia, seeing you with the pops, and the solo record!
I know someone already commented this but you should see Crude Awakening and also another one that had me reeling was Who Killed the Electric Car? Ack! After I saw these movies I felt the urge to walk around waving my fist in the air like an angry old grandma. My boyfriend and I recently converted an old 1984 benz to run on veggie oil. It's rad. And smells of fries.
I love Orb! I call mine Orb too or sometimes Paunch. I also have been asked if I was pregnant which I always find so weird because why do strangers want to know that anyways? What are they gonna do, throw me a baby shower? Freaks.
I'll see you in LA in a few weeks, lady.
I seem to understand Jason's metaphor about all this mess better than watching, well, any media outlet. Kudos to him.
I feel like a bad person, though, because I really try to steer clear of politics. I KNOW. I'm supposed to be INVOLVED. I need to care or else shit will further get fucked up. Please, let me explain: I come from a very, very opinionated military family--like, past/present generations and such--and I'm in Northern California. I'm surrounded by hippies. So, I live with one side, and I'm constantly barraged by the other. I see the flaws in both but I can also find points that I can get behind and in short my head pretty much EXPLODES whenever I have to think of it all. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I want to be a more informed person when it comes to these things. I just don't enjoy my head exploding.
...
'I AM SO AWESOME. i have achieved ultimate fanciness. i am loved and known by OLD WOMEN!'
This makes me laugh almost too much. Almost.
Aren't pregnant women said to have a glow about them? Maybe that's how else the ladies were confused. What is it that the cool kids are saying, nowadays...'Turn off the lights, and I glow?' Something like that. Sounds a bit close to certain AFI lyrics to me, but it's all good.
I saw that Belly video a while back, and I thought it was wonderful. You undoubtedly made that girl's day/life?, as well as lord-knows-how-many other girls who aren't feeling too hot about their bodies. Thank goodness. Personally, I appreciate belly. Belly is a sign of good times. Belly is a sign of someone who enjoys a good beer. And a good meal. All things good. It took me a while to get on well with my belly, but we've come to a compromise. We're doing okay. :)
...
'the BEST part was that they were wearing these fucking crazy NASA-looking silver sheets that keep them warm.'
Those are capes like a motherfucker. CLOAKS!
I almost cried when I read about "the belly", I've been dealing with the same thing lately.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but I feel such a connection to you through your music, and to hear about the belly thing, seriously, almost makes me cry, lol.
I'm a check-out girl at a local department store, so I'm meeting dozens upon dozens of people everyday, and between my fellow co-workers and customers coming in, I must get the "Are you pregnant?!" comment a billion times a day. The first time I was asked, I just laughed, but being asked it all day long everyday is rather upsetting. I've been asked by everyone. There's a group of nuns who come in the store every once and a while, and they've even asked me. (How strange, I've never felt the urge to punch a nun straight in the face before.)
I usually don't comment, I just read, but I had to comment on this one. This post made my day, I'm not alone in this whole belly thing.
Can't wait for the new album!
I saw you in Providence last night and you sounded great!
Buddha would be pretty lame with 6-pack abs. Long live "muffin-top".
As for feeling like Sisyphus - pushing the proverbial rock up the hill - work has a wonderful way of making the world around us "make sense". It is a known quantity. Input basically equals output. The flip-side though, is, like any addiction or compulsion, it can become a sublimation of some unvoiced yearnings, or at very least a balm for dissappointment.
Clearly you are reaching for something as you trudge along - but probably something nebulous and intangible. Romance, perhaps? Come to think of it, the dynamics are oddly similar; there's the hope (of a blissful, near-transcendental outcome), fear (of it all being in vain or looking like an ass - like i probably do writing this drivel) but ultimately, at the end of the day we do it all anyway, in spite of fears and hopes or even the inevitable plateau of boredom that hits intermittently between peaks and valleys. Why? Because, secretly, we want something to come and surprise the hell out of us as we soldier on. Even if that surprise is where we may end up via the process of creative discovery...or, getting exactly what we want even though we think we won't because "the world doesn't work that way."
In other words, you do it because you want to rewrite the story you are so afraid is already written in rock, in your head. And you can't do that standing still.
I'm an old woman (well, kinda - if you consider mid 30's "old") - but a fan. I hope you keep spawning brainchildren for some time to come.
her video made me cry. what love!
jason is incredible. next time i see him i hope to not be broken limbed/freaking out. the fact that i've left the fish pond that is hampshire college will help with that!
Aw. That video is just lovely. Long live the belly, indeed!
Seriously, bellies are great.
And your story made me giggle, a lot. You're totally famous. EVEN OLD LADY FAMOUS! Well, not quite, but close...
I'm dying for the solo record, it'll be like Christmas when it comes out for me, too!
Long live Amanda Palmer!
here's a clip of jason talking a little about salmon. he's funny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KeNy0dol0XM
I have been studying AP biology all day and you just made it worth it. Procreation is as heartbreakingly awful and inevitable in the "lower" forms of life as it is in humans, isn't it? ....One of my sample essay questions was "what is the biological function of death?"
This blog made my head spin with random bits of seemingly-unconnected-but-truly-beautifully-inseparable concepts like, "fish, pregnancy, pregnant bellies, bellies, insecurity, fear os a pointless existence, working toward goals, armageddon, fish, global warming, fish, etc.". This is a mark of a good writer. You're the best!
hello miss amanda,
I came to see you last night at the pavillion and it was an awesome show. That was one of the best sets I've ever seen. You're shiny new voice sounds lovely, and so did the 'ol kurzweil. "The Belly" looked nice as well. (That's a common trait that we share) I was going to come and see you in lexington again tonight because I was in belmont today but I just realized that I didn't have enough money for a ticket. haha. being broke sucks. oh well, hopefully I'll see you soon. Can't wait for No, Virginia and WKAP!
thanks for being so freaking awesome all the time. keep it up.
love,
kelley kip
So I've been reading your blog for a while (but this happens to be my first comment)
and you inspired me to start a blog, ahah. =)
Of course mine won't ever be as amazing as yours.
Also, when I was reading about the Post Office Girl and the Cafe Girl I got rather jealous.
I wish I had been one of them.
If you ever happen to be in the Greater Toronto Area and I happen to see you my life would be complete, pretty much. =)
PS. So stoked for No, Virginia!
Eels are amazing in a similar (but kind of backwards) way- every single eel in Europe & America was born in the Sargasso Sea.
It totally blows my mind when I see a fat eel in a ditch in the fens, and think of it swimming halfway across the world as a tiny glass needle.
Apparently the current marathon distance is a bit further than the original run- an extra 385 yards was added in the 1908 Olympics, so that it would end right in front of the Royal Box, for the benefit of Queen Alexandra.
it's been a while since i've poked my head on here. i used to not only poke but check it almost every day, for an entire year.
then i grabbed life and it launched me into the busiest most active most alive person who gave so so much to so many people, and i crashed a week ago.
moral of the story: take time out for yourself, it is so crazily important!!! i am speaking to myself, and to you. :)
Cannot wait for No, Virginia and the much-anticipate solo album!!!
love love your way
Amanda,
The belly thing is so awesome! I left a comment on Youtube when that video got posted, you so rock! I've been cutting now for over eight years and I know that feeling of aching self-loathing that makes you do stupid self-destructive things in order to feel like you're killing the diseased and toxic part of yourself...perhaps that is a run on sentence, but you get my point. It's good to have someone let you know that you can love yourself even if you're not perfect. God knows certain people want to be perfect in their own way, and I'm one of them, but then you realize how stupid, worthless, ugly an dimperfect you really are and at times you just want to silence all that mess in your mind muddying up your thoughts...wow o.k sorry I am ranting and I think I better go before I get myself worked up and have razor in hand. Long live punk caberet and the beautiful Amamda Palmer!!!
Hi there,
Loving the new material and loving this blog. I'm very glad I found it. Best wishes to you and I hope you come check out my music blog sometime. Hope you in enjoy it!
Hopefully you guys will make it to Toronto this summer.
Jason www.GetYourOJ.com
I saw you in Boston, and I just want to tell you how incredible your performance was! I can't wait for the album in September.
xoxo
Amanda, did you see the Cure Monday night @ Aggannis? They were AMAZING!! They played for three hours. Robert sounded great. Have you ever met him? If so, what is he like?
Bah. Humbug. I just randomly got called bi-polar by some stupid fucktard man thing grr.
I hate men.
Right now.
We were talking about squid... how does that lead onto mental disorders? Especially since I haven't had an off day for weeks... it's been like... wow.
Except now.
Your blog makes me smile though. No, Virginia will make me smile more. Possibly.
Have I said I hate men? I do. Right now, I do.
^ That was the most random thing I have ever done.
Amanda, there is more to life than love, there are emotions and ideas they don't even have names for yet.
Our purpose in life is not merely to love like all those pretty fishes.
There is more.
you should move with me to west hollywood.
I am the Postal Worker in the blog...When I asked AP if she was shipping "No Virginia" ("before the release day of May 20") she was so humble and blushed like crazy...When she finally realized I was a fan (the biggest, even if I am "older than you") She was so kind as to offer to "draw me somthing...and made me what is now my bookmark...We are so lucky to have our favorite artist available...you are HOT...(I am jealous of the cute guy you were with...
Can't wait 5/20...
Amanda, you can do no wrong!
No, Virginia has been on repeat on my stereo for two days and I have not left the house.....
p.s loved you in the spiegeltent! when are you coming back to melbourne?
mmm
16th september
is my girlfriend and my anniversary :DD
great date.
<33
good entry :)
xxxxx
I love reading your blog: it's my own sort of meditation. Perhaps its your style, or voice, but there's something that I just love about it. I get stressed easily, and now that its almost the end of my 2nd semester in my junior year in highschool, I get REALLY stressed. So tonight, as I procrastinated typing up a Bibliography for a presentation about James Joyce, I said to myself, "I'll read the Dresden Dolls blog." Lo and behold, I feel so much more at piece with myself.
Tomorrow No, Virginia comes out and I couldn't be happier. Also, hearing that you did make up for your alma mater made me very, very happy; I'd love for some alum to come back to my drama club! I'm sure they loved it.
<3
this is an amazing post. just got no, virginia. i love it.
No, Virginia pre-order arrived Wednesday, along with "The Golden Compass" from Netflix. The movie was a disappointment.
No, Virginia is not. Have a fun tour AP. That post office story and comment are both very cute.
Amanda.
I just got my copy of No, Virginia in the mail (cursed international shipping...) and I could not be more ecstatic. It's glorious, and made all the better with the accompaniment of your autograph (and lovely Brian's, of course).
I can only hope that one day I can be half the musician/eloquent blogger that you are.
(and if it helps, for a Rockstar themed birthday coming up, I had to fight for the rights to dress up in the black and white striped tights. Too many people want to be like you, you know. It's fabulous.)
Once again an awesome blog worthy of memorization if I didn't have finals to cram for. On a more relevant note, I was at the SD show last night at the House of Blues and you and your openers were beyond amazing. Laughing Crying Screaming Beautiful goodness. And to Brian, Zanna says thanks for her note from a rock god
It's enough to know that there are others that see the slow, sideways halt that we're coming to as a nation.
Time is the enemy and friend to those who recognize it's flow. However, we have been collectively mindfucked. Complacency and drivel.
Being anachronistic is almost the psychological equivalent of preparing yourself for the revert.
One day, we'll all know how to do things the old-fashioned way.
About your belly: Not really a belly. I have a small frame and a bump that doesn't fit my body at ALL. You're a lovely lass.
About your new album: I will have it in my hands as soon as humanly possible on Sept. 16.
About your fame: The post office has been the seat of notoriety in the past. Let's all be thankful that there aren't coppers looking for you...
This is my first visit to your delightful blog, but far from my last. I've been a fan for quite a while, but now I feel like a REAL one.
Love you, Mandy!!!!
It makes me so happy to read about all these other girls and women that have the same sort of belly issue as you do, because I do too! And it's so lovely to see so many embracing it and embracing you for inspiring people to embrace it... thank you!
so, ya, i feel kinda odd. I actually don't have the belly. Navy will do that to you. but i used to have it and i loved that video it's awesome. just wanted to say I finally got No, Virginia and my life is now complete. Seriously.
It's a food baby. I have one of those too. It's really useful for keeping guys from hitting on you at bars or getting sympathy discounts at Barnies coffee shop.
And also generally people leave you alone, except for the nosy bastards that want to know if you are indeed procreating or not.
Baby's are apparently a new fashion must have.
Baby boom and economy dropping like salmon after they've spawned.
Crap.
Hi Amanda! And all of you gorgeous people stuck in the Internets!
I was wondering if you had any advice for street performers, any thing that you found remotely helpful. I'm not sure if there are any guidelines for this type of live theatre/art.
I have a drive I'm just not sure where I'm going...
-Cheers
Oh, and thanks for kicking so much ass!
I have The Belly too... hah.
Also, I got my signed copy of No, Virginia the other day, and haven't stopped listening to it. You really do beautify my world with your fabby music-making. Thank you for that. Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for being an idol (but not in the cliche way that only lasts a month). Please come to the UK, preferably Wales =]
Finally herrings. That's deep, man.
Much love <3
That thing about the fish reminds me of this, and I just love being able to talk about this book with anyone because it's so insane and awesome :D
Have you ever read Richard Bachman (Stephen King's pen name)'s "The Long Walk?"
It's about a dystopian society where young boys volunteer for a walking contest. The winner gets a large sum of money and their bigest wish granted.
They have to walk for 4 mph constantly- no bathroom, food, or sleep breaks and if they go below the speed limit 3 times ("warnings") they're shot. The Walk continues until only one of them is left.
I was sitting on a friend of a friend's porch drawing a picture on a really calm day one time and I had been working on a drawing for around 2 hours when the wind picked it up and blew it into the rain. I ran after it but it was already all wet, so I just sat there and watched the colors bleed into eachother. But instead of absoluetly ruining the picture, it made it so much better. It became raw, abstract, and beautiful. And that's exactly what your music is like, it's so real and so fucking beautiful.
is the belly on vimeo?
oops forgot to subscribe. sill y me.
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