so, ben folds sent me an email in which he suggested i sue him for ripping off the dresden dolls.
please weigh in.
a version of his album recently leaked on the internet, including the track "brainwascht"
which, according to mr. folds, was lifted rawther directly from "backstabber".
you'll have to go listen for yourself: http://www.box.net/shared/q1fl8nftbk
(for those of you who want to hear the whole "leak", grab it here or here while supplies last* - please share amongst yourselves if these links dry up, though)
all in favor for suing ben folds, raise your hands!
think of the fucking PR! perfect timing! seriously.
and i'm in the UK. they live for that shit. i'll be in the tabloids at last.
after that, i'm bringing charges against pete doherty for fucking my wife.
and after that, paternity charges against beth ditto. yeah.
it's gonna be an excellent year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
in other news, ben folds also just released an amazing fucking video for the song you've all been asking about
("cologne"....the very one i've been opening the show with).
he had invited me to be part of the "piano orchestra" a few months ago but i couldn't make it....and i'm wicked kicking myself.
god dammit, i wish i'd been there. best. video. ever. the whole thing is filmed at ben's in nashville...
the same studio where i made the record....and slept, and wrote, and mixed, and did Noga every day.
in fact, if you look at the top of the stairs (where the naked guy with the tamborine is standing - yum) that's where my bed was :)
love from londontown
afp
p.s. PRAWNs
p.p.s. for those of you asking EXACTLY where we're going to be playing footsie tomorrow...sorry, "footie"....we'll be in the main triangle green of sheperd's bush.
take tube to central holland park and walk or take hammersmith to sheperd's bush. i assure you....you won't be able to miss us. we'll be the ones playing soccer, looking like idiots. BRING CAMERAS, by the way. if enough of us take video, we can pool it and make a movie about "being free".
google maps that shit
(* the real-deal ben folds album is due out september 30th and you can order it in all sorts of varieties, apparently...)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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51 comments:
Yep- sue him! Its yours. P.S. Backstabber is my fave!
^^ You're rather awesome... I wish I could come along to play football!
I have a question: how long do your solo-shows usually last? I need to know if I need to find shelter for the night or if I will be able to take the last train home.
You know, I think Backstabber is such a better song that you don't need to worry about it. Wait, he suggested it? crazy.
However, it is too bad that you missed out on that video!
Have fun with football- I grew up in Europe, and it's totally a different game than soccer, mostly due to its intensity. have fun and try not to get a boot in your kneecap.
Damn, I can't get down to London today. Wish I could be there.
Hope you have fun playing footsie - sorry, footie in the rain.
Love
Sara (Jessie Belle)
PS Can't wait for October! I have my ticket!
so jealous! I work in Hammersmith but I'm stuck in the office til 6 :-(
I have the dreaded plague though after two weeks in Edinburgh (why weren't you there! stamp stamp pout pout!) so I'll spare you my germs!
Shepherd's Bush is a bit of a dive but there's some nice cafe type places there - it's where most of the Kiwi/Aussies seem to settle so there's a lot of cheap places there to eat.
Thought you'd appreciate this - he's pretty much the perfect man - pink hair, My Little Pony freak and funny as hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T-8n0lFzBQ
I kept seeing him round Edinburgh - I'm sure he thought i was following him!
Have fun this afternoon - mind the doggy doos and tramps!
I can definitely make it today. I Was starting to worry since you hadn't put up the exact location but that's sorted now. I'll be seeing you and everyone else later!
Come to Manchester on one of your days off. We'll take you around the gay village and buy you Chinese food from Chinatown. And you can see Gunther Von Hagens' Bodyworks show. And then we'll jump in a river. Or something.
"Cologne" is amazing but "Brainwascht"...well... you cannot really compare: sorry, "Backstabber" is SO much better.
Have fun today (do you know where you are going later? Just for the poor people working that cannot make it for the football)
I'm in full agreement with Mark: come to Manchester for a day or two. Lily the Pink and I will come along too, with the kids.
You could hang out with the emo kids at Urbis or take a nice veggie meal at the famous retro Café Pop.
Hope you enjoy your footie game!
Love,
Seán
Have fun playing football :).
Unfortunately I read this as we speak, with just twenty minutes left until three. And that is a really small amount of time if you want to get from the north of Holland to London.
Normally I check your blog way too many times, now I didn't and I missed vital information. :(
Is that his weird way of doing a cover?
All I know is that song "Bitch Went Nuts" has to be the best song I have ever heard. Stephen Colbert should be in the video.
OH MY GOD I LOVE BITCH WENT NUTS!
Holy crap! How amazing; seen that scene played out a million times here in DC.
You guys are the best, you and Ben.
When you return to the states, bring that little football of yours to Plymouth, and you and I will attempt to play.
Yo! Homeslice, come to Toronto and play hockey, hehehehe. I'll cheer for you.
God you are so cute.
Backstabber is a much better song. One of my favorite vids also. Then again I say that about just all of your videos.
I say sue him, not to be a bitch or anything. but anything written about ya is always a good thing. :)
I like Cologne, I like other songs from him, but Brainwascht? No, that's bad. You can copy Backstabber, but it'll never be a great song. Backstabber is awesome, everybody should keep their hands of it. Dolls property only ;)
"Cologne" made me think of a song I heard as soundtrack to the film "Priscilla - Queen of the desert"
The song should be "Never been to me" by Charlene.
Don't sue him. Instead, accost him in public so severely that he sues you for harassment. Then countersue him about the yoinking of 'backstabber'
Then hold an exclusive interview where you offer to bury the hatchet. That very night you can leave the flaming bag of dog do-do on his doorstep.
why does he want to be sued o.0
publiciity??
wierd.
I'd say no, but its up to you.
OMG, I totally agree with Anthony. And make sure to seem drunk a la Amy Winehouse. That would send the tabloids into a total frenzy.
If you don't like that idea, then I think you should definitely sue him!
in case you're coming, we're all upstairs in the walkabout.
Sorry I missed you- I didn't get out of class until 1800 and didn't get over to Shepherd's Bush Green until nigh 1900. Bummer. See you @ KOKO's!
sue and after lengthy negotiations, settle out of court!
judges hate this kind of thing in the courtroom.
enjoy -len
Today was a lot of fun. Thank you again!
Sue. Then have him counter-sue. Then sue his lawyer. Then his lawyer can sue YOUR lawyer. It'll be like a cyclone of bad press that will surely catapult you to household-name status.
Either that or get a beehive and start snorting everything you see.
I'm shite at football, but good at hanging about in a famous team's shirt, way too small for me, telling everyone how shite they are too, while they call me a fat bastard. Look forward to pics or videos - I'm good at watching and all.
Bye to all of the noise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2h9PrIUxs
What's Noga?
All this talk of lawsuits for publicity purposes . . . who needs that? Just release a sex tape!
No, really. :-)
Amanda!
You have to post pictures of the soccer game for us! Can't wait to see the sneakers!
BTW I'm crossing my fingers that you have in your possesion the new Conor Oberst record? I mean if you do, why even listen to anything else for the next few weeks, or even till the end of the year? It's simply brilliant.
*hand raised*
-raises hand- Sue him. o_o Very Backstabber, indeed. Hip-hip-hooray for tabloids, too.
Have fun playing the blood sport and being free.
Hand raised! The PR will be fun, and 'brainwascht' sounds terrible. Use anthony's idea, and then settle it quietly to make you both look good. Huzzah!
everyone knows this is a joke version of Ben's album by now don't they?
He did it as a laugh - kudos to him as this take on 'Bitch Went Nuts' is awesome.
Oh, amanda, for your aural needs I think you need to join me in my 'Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers Appreciation' month.
He's super-happy-fun-time-all-the-time but 'New England' may make you very homesick however.
That and 'The Great Kat' - she's this classically trained violinist who did very extreme thrash/hardcore versions of Beethoven etc - seriously cool lady and good cathartic music.
You can never go wrong with a bit of Billy Bragg either - 'The Man in the Iron Mask' is a masterpiece
Carly made a Facebook group for APFC: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37082512592. You should join - there are lots of photos up! :)
You guys should just have an ultimate super-soaker battle. Or a pillow-fight throwdown. Or laser-tag. People sue too much these days. It'd be cheaper!
I'd probably hit it with Catwoman Jr. as opposed to half-naked tambourine dude (he's wearing pants, homie. Wishful thinking, I guess?), but that song's enough to make me want to check out Ben's real ferreal record. He seems like a bad motherfucker. I need to check out more.
Pete Doherty, though? C'mon. He's the actually-British Conor Oberst, except he manages to treat his fans decently. I'll give him that. And it's pretty awesome he used to be a gravedigger. Anyway.
Glad to see your football match went well. :)
Even if I couldn't get pissed and riot in the stands and all that good stuff.
...
However, writing to you now is the proud co-owner of a three-story townhouse in a wonderful, very quaint area close to downtown Santa Cruz/the Boardwalk/the beach. Fuck yeah, accomplishment! My roomie's got a deck with an amazing view. We managed to..get lucky.
...
The move will be welcome, because there are no other DD/AFP fans around here, really.
This is what happened when we went to get our campground. We pull up in my car, and I trip over my words (as I never fail to do, most of the time).
Me: Hey, do you have any camp grounds..sites..available?
[The Park Ranger looks at me funny. Then he looks in the back of my car, and looks at me again. I think he must think I'm on many, many different drugs.]
Park Ranger: Are you a Dresden Dolls fan?
Me: What?? Yes!
He noticed this flier I made for my radio program, that I stuck on my back window. And he went to both of the most recent shows. FRIENDS. YAY.
I like ben folds' derivation. Leaking a fake album reminds me vaguely of the Sisters of Mercy/SSV project. But not.
Now, clearly, one of three things must happen.
1. Your lovely assistant needs to leak the rumour that he is being sued to the tabloids.
2. Song wars! (pretend) he's thrown his hat down. Rise to the challenge! You need to use your formidable artistic talents to write a song referencing his work. Bonus points if you can work something in from each song on his new album. Or something.
3. Politely insist that ben folds opens his next tour with one of your songs by way of 'apology'.
funny funny. that ben folds.
free music is something i dig.
amanda-
i go to Simon's Rock College and apparently we've been trying to get you to play here sometime around halloween, but we haven't heard back
we really love you here, trust me. i know you'll just be getting back from tour and you're a busy gal and all but please please please think about it.
we're all a bit fucked up here. maybe that's what's scaring you. oh amanda, we're smart too, we promise.
i've got a bunch of people sitting around me because it's a saturday night and we have nothing to do. but if you came and played for us on a night like this, we wouldn't be so bored, you know.
i love the new album, by the way. in fact, we're playing it right now. i promise i'll buy it, but honestly, it's the best thing you've done.
i was a bit wary because it was so damn good with the pops.
yes i saw you with the boston pops and everyone around me just got really jealous.
anyway,
we love you, and you should come. maybe not for halloween. any time.
you don't even have to play.
just come to hang out.
we won't complain.
adoration,
austin
and friends
well, if he's asking for it, you might as well indulge him. But like k. said, Backstabber kicks SOOO much more ass...just do it for fun but draw the whole thing out give those skanky tabloids a run for their money...who knows? they may start offing eachother and YAY! no more tabloids!
Have fun in the UK, I've never been and want to go but I'm stuck north of Toronto, kinda...
~Linn
P.S. - we you love you too, eh? Come visit some time :P
Hey Amanda, me have questionage:
How will the WKAP book be available? Will we find it packaged alone in book stores, record stores, etc.?
Pissing his pants with anticipation,
Petsky
got the digital download of WKAP after pre-ordering. in a word- INCREDIBLE.
my dear, you have so completely exceeded any expectations with this album. you should be immensely proud of it. i will be listening to it non-stop for the foreseeable future, and after that with regularity for the rest of ever and ever.
I too got my official WKAP download last night and await the physical manifestations of my order with an accelerated heartbeat and a frisson of impatience. What a delicious piece of work!
I would encourage anyone reading this to actually buy some WKAP products if possible. From here
Remember she earns nothing if you download it quasi-legally from the internet.
Do it now before you forget.
It really does sound like a more mainstream version of Backstabber. Not bad at all. Your voice is a thousand times sexier though. (not to mention your video..)
hey amanda! how about producing your very own version of Cluedo in conjunction with your WKAP release?
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
was it brian in the studio with drumsticks?
was it pope in your room with the video equipment?
was it neil gaiman on the rooftop with his mighty trusty pencils?
was it your lucky winning fan in his/her living room with one too many requests for 'coin operated boy'?
it could come with amazing little figurines of you in various deathly poses ;)
oh amanda, you have exceeded all expectations!
my heart is about to burst and break apart...
i've wept to strength through music and have to drive, smiled to oasis and danced around my apartment like a madwoman to leeds united and guitar hero...not to mention another year...most beautiful end to an album ever!
thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! you and your music and your art mean so much more than you could ever realise!
mandy...
i need to speak with you. it's been over a month since we've talked. i know you think i told everyone you were a crack whore, but i swear i didn't come out like that! my words got twisted! why would i ever tell ANYONE about your shitty situation? i thought we were best friends for FOREVER. the second "f" in BFF is not a label, it's PROMISE. but you gotta believe me when i tell you i didn't start the rumor about your harrowing crack and sex addictions. i heard it from jenny who heard it from joey who said he saw you smoke a bowl. i know i should have come to you first, but of course i let the ugly world of gossip get to me. please text me as soon as you get this. it's almost october, and those tickets for Blur are nonrefundable!!!
xo,
melissa
Amanda, thanks a LOT for another AMAZING CD!!!! You rock!!!
in this glorius world of mass communication, this may seem to be misplaced. If it seems like I'm bloging on to your blog, please forgive me. I just hoped you would see this someday...I may be totally mistaken.
A possible interpretation of the Dresden Dolls’ The Mouse and the Model
By Robert Welburn Standlee
Sometimes things strike me so strongly that I can’t help write about them even if my common sense says, “you really don’t want to say that. what the hell are people gonna think?” Well, having paid lip service to that thought it never stopped me writing songs about grrls who would pose for playboy if the money was right or the idea that they’d do that instead of accepting Almighty Salvation from an Anemic Jesus who needs a Transfusion. Nor has it stopped me from reading and writing about Marxist and Socialist Philosophy which seems to point to the fact that Freedom in any form really begins with a DOLLAR SIGN…I could go on about my apparent lack of common sense but I think you get the idea and now I will feel free to further incriminate myself on the above titled subject which if you’ve been following my myspace it all is so obvious already.
I’m not going to jump right into this song and start telling you what I think it is about. Instead I want to make an observation of the trend in our western society towards Gender Bendedness. Looking back I suppose the most obvious place to look was David Bowie or Marc Bolan going all the way back to 1972. It was also at this time that a great number of Gay men came out of the closet publicly to make themselves an active political force.
But in Pop Music Elton John, Queen, Bowie, these were just a few to mark the beginning of at least a “lifestyle” that seems to keep evolving each decade and growing stronger. By the time of the British Invasion of the Eighties make up had become a unisexual commodity. It was “trendy” to say you were bisexual whether you were or not (but not really so much in TEXAS). By the Nineties words like Androgyny were replacing words like Queer or Homo….You’re preferences were usual represented by the clothes you wore (Don’t you look at all my Leather Vests and Motorcycle boots like that). Finally, we arrive at the 21st Century and the younger generation’s heroes are Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Thom Waits, Radiohead, The Cure. The terms Punk, Goth, Emo, are all fused together in the clothes they wear and what appears to be the thing they care about most: Live Fast, Die Young, And leave a Good Looking Corpse.” That was what my friends (who are now forty) used to say. America has arrived at a fully Sexually Liberated Generation and it won’t be long until they enter politics. In such away that the face of America will go from that of the Marlboro Man to Marilyn Manson. Hey, they both wear Cowboy hats.
Enter Amanda Palmer and her buddy Brian Viglione, aka The Dresden Dolls. Singer/Songwriter Palmer delivers disturbing, emotional, perhaps scolding, images of the reality of this Sexual Revolution which I think is great Content. I wish I had thought about it. Professed as Bisexual herself she does not necessarily sing songs that revel in the lifestyle. No, actually if anything her songs cut you down (no pun intended) at a very basic level where you wonder “Because I have decided I am this way, does that mean I must make certain decisions”
Her music is about finding love in all of this Transgendered confusion and she sings ominous warnings of making drastic changes.
So that brings me to the point where I tear apart this song and put it under my magnificent magnifying mind and I’m even fantasizing that Ms. Palmer will someday read this and say, “Gosh, That’s was an amazing dissection of my song! Great Job! You hit the nail on the head! Let me buy you a Red Bull.” I will start by joyfully writing down the lyrics for your enjoyment and realize that I think this song is BRILLIANT…I could have never written this song. if I had tried my song would be nothing like it and possibly just to stupid and embarrassing to listen to.
Nothing is certain at this time of day.
you could reverberate or you could decay.
the mouse and the model are laughing at us.
we’ll risk it were desperate for someone to trust
let’s start a new heart
the new charts are in
we’ll take them we’ll break them
we’ll make them give in
by counting your blessing you end up in debt
it starts with your family and ends in your bed
you Jekyll and Hyde it when you could have let
your guard down you dress up you must be upset
Let’s start a new heart
the new charts are in
we’ll take them we’ll break them
we’ll make them give in
It’s dark over here on the flipside of reason
the teaser could be something easy like
they did it in a book
you’re a crook
you’re a fake
you’re committed
if you did it say you did it if you didn’t suck it up and say you did
oh oh…..oh…..oh…oh.. (my favorite part)
let’s start a new heart
the new charts are in
we’ll tax them, relax them, and make them forfeit
the vote by a landslide
for Jekyll and Hyde
Mackenzie, Macavity
Bonnie and Clyde
oh..oh…..oh……oh…..oh….
Let’s be blunt. This song is about cross dressing. I’m not sure if it could be about a grrl. I’m not a grrl I don’t know anything about how grrls cross dress. This song has to be about a guy cross dressing. I want to look for proof of this in the lyrics but I think instead I will look at the abstract images the lyrics create. a listless afternoon. surfing for grrls on the internet (which I never had). Laughter. Because you know you are a sham. You go off to your college and dress as Johnny Rotten all week only to come home and play Aladdin Sane while wearing women’s clothes. Desperation? You’ve been keeping all this SECRET. No one can find out. And yet at the same time you don’t want to be alone. You are completely and utterly confused.
You are dying to let everyone know and accept you for this behavior.
You run out of fuel. you are ashamed of yourself. the shame just makes it worse. you do it all the same. You ARE Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And somehow you must enjoy it for you just keep suffering.
You are a FAKE alright….as a friend put it to tell anyone about doing these things when I was a kid would amount to being label a “MONSTER FAGGOT SEX NIGGER”. And you can’t admit that you do it.
“if you did it say you did it if you didn’t suck it up and say you did” But the thought IS the crime. It doesn’t matter if you’ve STARTED to do it or not….If you think about it you might as well do it. You’re just as guilty for having wanted to. This isn’t MURDER were talking about. The guilt and shame involved are still awful.
Now before I go any further I have to ask this question. WHY? What makes this situation so painful? It’s that old 1950’s Christian American Upbringing beating us the fuck up with Thou Shalts concerning SEX. Let’s look at the lines to one of MY songs:
men don’t wear lipstick and men don’t wear taint. men don’t talk about their feelings or step out of place.
men don’t cry when their hurting or bother to feel. too quick to judge others and grind them under a heel.
with words of contempt or injustice or shame how dare you show Courage or admit your mistakes
and the Marlboro Man takes a drag off of his hand. but the cigarettes not smoking and the thing that he is choking on is the fact that he is burning up inside.
Where I’m from people look at you real funny if you’re a guy and your wearing lippy in public. It’s just not done here. There just isn’t a large portion of society in Texas that would relate to Dr. Frankenfurter. There’s nothing that can bring out MY homophobia more than a full grown man in drag. But Rocky Horror is not really about any of that being “O.K.” The whole point of Rocky Horror was that to give into your basest fantasies is a recipe for self-destruction. I am reminded of the character Brad. Once again, a product of 1950’s Christian American Upbringing. In the movie he “can’t handle” his own sexuality because morally he has been taught that it is wrong. But it is more than that. Brad has never had the freedom to explore sex at all. Society has made Sex a taboo for him never to be investigated except for what society will allow him to do. Which is to marry Janet.
We all know how Rocky Horror ends. The Good Doctor is executed for giving himself over to “absolute Pleasure”. I believe this is a theme in Ms. Palmer’s work. (thought I had forgotten about her didn’t you?) That even if you’re different and you feel free to do certain things sexually, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. And in her own way she is saying that although we may not have sins like the Marlboro Man, Marilyn Manson’s sins might not be any better. Society is always going to have a boundary for Sexual Conduct whether you are Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered or even VANILLA. As a Christian friend told me, Satan only wants you to do what comes naturally to you. I think Ms. Palmer might agree that her music is really saying “be true to yourself.”
Now, getting back to demolishing this song. My favorite part. the CLIMAX. Perhaps this is the fantasy of the cross dresser. He has recreated himself into his own femme fatale and taken his family with him. Everyone is overjoyed. He gets all the support in the world. He is Dr. Jekyll because he created Mr. Hyde. He is Mackenzie trying to catch Macavity, the Napoleon of Crime. The mystery cat who is never there at the scene of foul play. He is the cat that never gets caught. He is at once Clyde the notorious testosterone driven Bank Robber and his own lover Bonnie.
I found something you might enjoy. GrooveLily, the best way to explain them is as a trio of musicians that have written a mini-musical via songs released in incriments. It's HILARIOUS!! But you have to listen from the first episode which is posted at the bottom of the page. http://www.groovelily.com/
If I had any accumen or talent or time or gumption or soul, I think I'd make a mashup of the two songs. Then the lovely Amanda and Ben could sue me. Since Amanda would also be suing Ben, it would be quite the legal triangle. Perfect for tabloid fodder.
If I had any accumen or talent or time or gumption or soul, I think I'd make a mashup of the two songs. Then the lovely Amanda and Ben could sue me. Since Amanda would also be suing Ben, it would be quite the legal triangle. Perfect for tabloid fodder.
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