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Setlist
Book Tour
11/19/14 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
11/21/14 Berkeley, CA Freight & Salvage 11/22/14 Los Angeles, CA First Unitarian Church 11/25/14 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace Read More
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Amanda Palmer is currently on a sold out book tour for her book The Art of Giving, stopping by the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, last night November 16th.
In typical Palmer fashion, she came on stage in a crowd-sourced kimono, with her book in hand, and giving away fruits... declaring, "I wrote a book!" She was really proud of the work, especially after spending six months in "the great book hunkering down" to produce 5,000 words a day until the book was finished.
This was an intimate book reading for The Art of Giving, but of course, Palmer had scheduled to play some of her songs, starting with the ukulele "In My Mind".
The two pre-selecting reading excerpts about her time spent as a street performer (which she dubbed as "the eight foot bride") and about her musician friend Sam Buckingham and Patreon. Both shared themes about giving and taking and asking. For the third reading, she had an audience member flip to a passage at random and she would read about it - which was about performance on the stage.
After "Runs in the Family" song was played on the piano with her back to the audience, she read the most personal chapter from her book - about her husband Neil Gaiman and their first wedding anniversary... this was followed by "The Bed Song", played completely in the dark, with the audience's eyes closed, per her request. When Palmer asked if that was okay, someone shouted back, "YES! People are sobbing!"
Dessa was the first of the two guests, she came on stage and read a story she wrote about her recent professional conference in Las Vegas. She had recently broken up with someone and was falling for a foreigner at the convention. There's this whole thing about the addiction to losing, which will come around later as a punchline. It was good, it wasn't something I expected from Dessa.
Then there was this interview section, where Dessa asked Palmer about things from her book. The same with Kevin Kling, who admitted right away to loving what Palmer did with the book. This whole part felt a little narcissistic, but as Palmer had already addressed, she knows it... and she doesn't care.
There was one fan who was a little out of control at last night's show. She started talking out loud (really loud) answering the stage, as if they were having a one-on-one conversation. It got really awkward, and everyone around her started 'shushing' her to no effect. The Cedar staff eventually had to escort her out .... but somehow she got back in later in the show.
The sold out seated show was full of Amanda Palmer's diehard fans, and it became really evident when she started her "Ukulele Athem" song, sung off mic. Practically everyone was singing/finishing the lyrics.
This was followed by Steve from the Center for Victims of Torture and then some Q&A, limited to just two questions, as they were running out of time. The first question, I thought was really good, and it was about the volunteer musicians on Palmer's 2012 tour, which she got a lot of negative press about not paying her performers (especially after she got $1 million in Kickstarter funds). In the end, Palmer points out that other bands, notably Polyphonic Spree had people/fans paying them money to share the stage with the band.
After the show, there was a rather long and lengthy line to get The Art of Giving signed. I've stood in line for Amanda Palmer signing before, and I can tell you that she will not leave until every fan had their item(s) signed.
Amanda Palmer's The Art of Giving is out now. She urged her fan to buy the book by today (Nov 16) so that it will count toward the book charts. She will continue her book tour to Portland, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and ending in Toronto.
In typical Palmer fashion, she came on stage in a crowd-sourced kimono, with her book in hand, and giving away fruits... declaring, "I wrote a book!" She was really proud of the work, especially after spending six months in "the great book hunkering down" to produce 5,000 words a day until the book was finished.
This was an intimate book reading for The Art of Giving, but of course, Palmer had scheduled to play some of her songs, starting with the ukulele "In My Mind".
The two pre-selecting reading excerpts about her time spent as a street performer (which she dubbed as "the eight foot bride") and about her musician friend Sam Buckingham and Patreon. Both shared themes about giving and taking and asking. For the third reading, she had an audience member flip to a passage at random and she would read about it - which was about performance on the stage.
After "Runs in the Family" song was played on the piano with her back to the audience, she read the most personal chapter from her book - about her husband Neil Gaiman and their first wedding anniversary... this was followed by "The Bed Song", played completely in the dark, with the audience's eyes closed, per her request. When Palmer asked if that was okay, someone shouted back, "YES! People are sobbing!"
Dessa was the first of the two guests, she came on stage and read a story she wrote about her recent professional conference in Las Vegas. She had recently broken up with someone and was falling for a foreigner at the convention. There's this whole thing about the addiction to losing, which will come around later as a punchline. It was good, it wasn't something I expected from Dessa.
Then there was this interview section, where Dessa asked Palmer about things from her book. The same with Kevin Kling, who admitted right away to loving what Palmer did with the book. This whole part felt a little narcissistic, but as Palmer had already addressed, she knows it... and she doesn't care.
There was one fan who was a little out of control at last night's show. She started talking out loud (really loud) answering the stage, as if they were having a one-on-one conversation. It got really awkward, and everyone around her started 'shushing' her to no effect. The Cedar staff eventually had to escort her out .... but somehow she got back in later in the show.
The sold out seated show was full of Amanda Palmer's diehard fans, and it became really evident when she started her "Ukulele Athem" song, sung off mic. Practically everyone was singing/finishing the lyrics.
This was followed by Steve from the Center for Victims of Torture and then some Q&A, limited to just two questions, as they were running out of time. The first question, I thought was really good, and it was about the volunteer musicians on Palmer's 2012 tour, which she got a lot of negative press about not paying her performers (especially after she got $1 million in Kickstarter funds). In the end, Palmer points out that other bands, notably Polyphonic Spree had people/fans paying them money to share the stage with the band.
After the show, there was a rather long and lengthy line to get The Art of Giving signed. I've stood in line for Amanda Palmer signing before, and I can tell you that she will not leave until every fan had their item(s) signed.
Amanda Palmer's The Art of Giving is out now. She urged her fan to buy the book by today (Nov 16) so that it will count toward the book charts. She will continue her book tour to Portland, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and ending in Toronto.
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Kevin Kling, Dessa, and Amanda Palmer at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (16 Nov 2014) |
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