Meee and Amandaaa and Amandaaa and meee!

Hurrah, I can finally put up the photo that Q took of me on my birthday! (I'll put up the other one soon, too, with both of us and Amanda.) I can't believe how cool she was, hanging out with everyone and signing posters and t-shirts and having photos taken and things. She fucking rocks. And here I am, being very, very fucking excited. With Amanda Palmer. Squee!



My my, but this blog is turning into an Amanda squee-fest, isn't it? I'm going to have to post about the concert soon, but I suppose I can say a little something about it now.

Right, so the concert started with a violinist playing some very soft, very sweet notes. He had white powder on his face, and dark hollows smudged under his eyes, and as he played the Danger Ensemble carried Amanda out on their shoulders, through the walkway in the centre of the darkened tent all wrapped up in a black shroud. (Who Killed Amanda Palmer indeed...) They carefully placed her down in front of the keyboard on stage, and stood in front of her, obscuring her from the crowd as if in mourning, and then suddenly jerked back and Amanda threw off the shroud and started playing. Everyone cheered, and I of course almost died of squee. She played two songs I hadn't heard before (bad fan!) which I think were Astronaut and Assistant, according to the set-list I found. Anyway, the keyboard fucked up in minutes, so she jumped onto the lovely huge grand piano on the side of the stage. Did you hear us complaining about that? No, you really didn't. The sound coming out of that thing was thunderously beautiful, and her voice was warm and lush and rich. I hadn't heard the songs, as I said, but I luxuriated in her stage presence all the same.

She said hello after the second song, and told us that she'd been on the phone with Brian ("You probably don't know who that is." "Of course we do!" I said) and that he sent huge hugs to everyone. Which was of course, lovely. Asked us how we all were, told us how excited she was to be playing, stole some champagne from the people in the front row. How cheeky. The came Ampersand and Icarus, which again, I hadn't heard, but which were absolutely beautiful. I kept thinking to myself 'Skits is going to love the lyrics to this when she hears them.' One that stuck in my head was 'Watch the man without a face/disappear without a trace...' Kind of reminded me of Half Jack.

And then she played Coin Operated Boy. I heart that song. I thought everyone would have a massive sing-along, because that's got to be the Doll's most recognised single, right? Yeah well, not as many people sang as I thought. I love the crowd-sing, I wish it had happened. The song was complete with the 'fuck him in the arse' lyric, which made the whole tent snigger. Hilarious.

Anyway. She played a song that was inspired by the Columbine shootings, which she apparently didn't think was strong enough to go on the album, but Ben Folds talked her into it. I think that was Strength Through Music, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it was haunting, and lovely all the same. I'm glad it's going on the album, because I want to hear it again.

Oh, and then next was the Point of it All. This was a great song, although she'd stolen so much champagne that half-way through she fucked up the verse, laughed, and had to start again. God, that was funny. Here's a video, taken by someone who is not me. Hee hee hee...

Ah, and next was Runs in the Family. Pre-recorded song from the new album, one which Q calls 'very Ben-Foldsy' but which was awesome. She and the DE grabbed a bunch of people from the audience to pose for a family portrait, which concluded with Amanda chucking glitter everywhere to mimic a flash. Really very cool.

And then came Half Jack. It was amazing. The extended, rolling piano intro went for about four minutes, and all the while friends on either side of me were poking me and nodding and whispering 'Half Jack!' in excited little whispers, and Q got her mobile out so we could voice mail it for Skits. (And here we have a live version of that, which has Brian as well, but you get the idea.)It makes so much a difference to the song to have Amanda singing it live. Every note is strong and rich and she plays it with so much passion. Nothing could compare to that, I'm sorry, it was just the best thing. It just throbbed with... longing, almost? Or sadness? Either way, it was glorious.

And then she played Mrs O. Which I adore. And of course, everyone got into it, and it was amazing to see live, also. (And at one point she had to reach out and grab the mic with her teeth. Someone, somewhere has video evidence.)

Right, so as if that wasn't cool enough, she left the stage and then came back with her uke, and rocked out to Umbrella. See video below, obviously. I swear to god I laughed and clapped the entire time. It was just so funny, with the DE rocking out, and the champagne waterfall, and then her strumming through the crowd. Spectacular. And then she played Creep! Wandering around in her underwear, with just the uke, and the entire crowd sang along, and there was just the most amazing energy in the tent.

And then I got to meet her! OK, so I was probably slightly too drunk to do myself justice, and really just squeed and thanked her for playing Half Jack, and got rather a few hugs (and had her tell my my hair smelled pretty... Hurrah!) and made an idiot out of myself, but I really couldn't help it.

Thus concluded a perfect birthday evening. And I'll stop getting excited about Amanda now. Promise. (Squee!)

Ella Ella Ella... (& Christmas)

Well, I sure as hell can't stop listening to the Amanda Palmer version of Umbrella, but I've squeed about her in the last how many posts? Need to stop being so obsessed with that... (Baby it's raining, raining, ooh baby it's raining....)

But today is such a great day! And my Christmas is looking to be absolutely marvellous, so I thought I'd share a little bit of my overwhelming joy at things.

To start with, today, great. Just had brunch with Helen and Martin, which was excellent, as we talked about books and music and all things nerdy and wonderful. Man, I love my friends. *grin* And I'll be heading over to my cousin's place later today if they're home to drop off presents, but in the mean time, I've cranked the Dresden Dolls and am singing along with gusto. (Half Jack! Live!) Fucking adore this music. Best discovery of 2007, by far. And shame on me for not getting to it sooner. Anyway, I'll be doing as much work on the Maldives fic as I can today, as I'm going to have no time over the next few to get it done, and I promised it would be done by Christmas. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm writing some smut. Great fun...) Anyway, later it'll be going to James's house to watch Battlestar Galactica until the wee hours of the morning, and then we will go and pick Sean up from the airport! SEAN! I'm so, so fucking excited to see him again. I love that boy like a brother, and I haven't seen him in a year! Sean! Sean Sean Sean!

I'll be completely fucked for work in the morning, but I do not care. I just don't. It's going to be hell either way, and staying up until likely 6am squeeing with Sean and James is going to make me so very tired, but I do not care. And then Christmas! Oho, it's going to be the best day.

We have feasting planned, and I just got Dale Guitar Hero III, which is the most fun, ever. (And Knights of Cydonia is on it! Yay for Knights!) And I'll be getting my new birthday/Christmas iPod, which will be shiny and wonderful. And Helen might come up in the evening and join the fun (because she's spending the day hosting Christmas in the homeless shelter she works for. Is she not the best person, ever?) Oh, and then there's this. Transcribed from a phone call I had with my Mum last night.

Me: Is the bottle shop open Christmas Eve? I want to get Rick some beer, you know, something he hasn't tried before...
Mum: (asks Rick in the background) Is it open? Yes? Yes, and I was thinking we could get some spirits...
Me: (thinking of Baileys or something Mum friendly) Oh yes, that'd be great! We should get drunk. (Jokingly) We should get Grandma drunk!
Mum: Yeah, so do you want to get some tequila? Or vodka? Oh, no, tequila! You can come with me and show me which one to buy...
Me: !
Mum: ...the gold kind is good, isn't it?
Me: !! Yes! (laughs) Are we going to have tequila shots? Oh my god! That's the coolest thing ever! Dale's never had them, has he? Oh my god! I can't believe you're suggesting tequila shots for Christmas!
Mum: Yes! Won't that be fun!
Me: Wow! Tequila shots and Guitar Hero! This is going to be the best Christmas ever!

So, yes, it pretty much will be the best Christmas ever. I'm so excited, this is going to rule.

So, Merry Christmas, everyone! And if you're celebrating something else, then I hope that you have a brilliant time celebrating that! (Like Festivus... Hee hee hee, Feat of Strength!)

Squee!

Oh, I'm so giggly and full of squee right now. I got a call from Q who was at the Brisbane Amanda Palmer gig (as you can tell, she's my new favourite person in the world) and it was so awesome! I heard the extended piano intro of Half Jack, Umbrella with people screaming and laughing and singing along, and Creep! And she had to stop after the little uke intro because everyone was loving it and cheering so much! And then she played it and, oh, it was so good. Whee!

Yep. See me? Giant raging fangirl, right here. But she's just so good! And I heard her say that she wasn't playing tomorrow, so she could hang out and drink and party with everyone after the show. Now that, that is so very cool. She did sit at a little table for however long in Melbourne after the shows to talk to people and sign things (and kiss me! She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, it was the greatest thing ever!) so I really can't complain, but my god would it be fun to party with a Dresden Doll.

OK, enough squee.

Well, just a little bit more. I've already put this on the board, but here's her doing Umbrella (well, more taking the piss with the help of the Danger Ensemble) at the Spiegeltent on the night we were there! Oh, and when she walks into the crowd? She was about a foot away from Q. In her underwear.




And it's not all about Amanda! I'll see Sean in a couple of days! Sean! He's flying back and it's going to be so very fucking good to be able to party with him over this lovely festive season. Hurrah!

Struck

Wow. So I just got a massive punch to the head in the form of some poetry. It hasn't happened like this in a long long time, and I'm still a little muddled from it. When I saw what I saw, it made me frantic to get some of it down, but I didn't have a pen in my bag, so I started typing fragments into my mobile. I must have looked crazy on the train, with my eyes closed, trying to hold onto the mental image as long as I could. And it was almost like I could touch the scene with my hand.

Came home, wrote in a notepad for about twenty minutes. I have ink all over my knuckles from re-filling my fountain pen.

I have so much I need to write at the moment, from the Amanda Palmer concert to things for work (not to mention the Maldives fic, if you know what I'm talking about) but this... It was almost as if I was hit with an electric shock. I've got all of the notes I need now, I'm just trying to fit it all together.

There's something there, though.

I love it when this happens.

Birthday Bliss

In honour of my 23rd, I'm going to post something that is very special to me. This, my friends, was one of the greatest moments of my life. Go ahead, watch, and you shall see.

Muse, performing Bliss in Sydney.



If you listen at 0.36 you can actually hear Q and I screaming (nay, screeching) at the top of our lungs. We'd heard the opening notes, looked at each other (with faces like this: !!!!) and immediately let forth an almighty squee. Oh, and there we are again at about 3.03. And 3.27. And this video was taken from the stands.

Just watch those balloons tumbling over the roaring crowd...

There you have it. Utter Bliss.

9.50pm

It's 9.50, and I'm thinking about going to bed. That's got to be some kind of crazy record. Then again, I was up (and about, and cheerful) at 6.50 this morning. What the hell? Is someone like, messing with my time zone or something?

I spent most of today in the "Cage" at Head Office sifting around through boxes of Calvin Klein paraphernalia. It was much less fun than it sounds. But then I got to pack magazines! And embarrass myself by walking around the sleek office in my old clothes that I wore in case I got dusty! Er, yeah. Fun times were had by all.

I was so tired when I got home that I didn't even feel like rocking down to the Speigeltent just in case Amanda Palmer was hanging out there.

That makes me a sad panda.