Amanda Palmer – Death Thing
Amanda Palmer has just released “Death Thing,” a crowd-sourced music video in which she and collaborator/dancer Coco Karol ritualistically set fire to hundreds of sentimental objects – wedding gowns and rings, dog tags, diplomas, children’s shoes, birth certificates, family photos and old love letters – all hand-mailed to her from all parts of the globe by members of her 25,000-member Patreon.
“This video was a collective act of exorcism on the part of my patrons, using me as the match,” says Palmer. “People have been waiting patiently to see these objects burned since they mailed them to me in hundreds of haunted boxes, envelopes and packages. It’s the largest-scale community-driven project I’ve ever created, and it feels so good to finally be getting back to work and putting art into the world again.
“Everyone I know has walked through their circles of hell over the last five years – loss, grief, Covid, divorces, miscarriages – and this video felt like a way to collaboratively let go of an agonizing past and to take a (literal) naked step forward into the future.
“I felt a real sense of pride and solemn responsibility throwing people’s childhoods, engagement rings, PhD theses, and adoption papers into that fire.
“Some of the items brought me to tears, especially the things belonging to children: the toys, the little shoes.
“It’s the first music video I’ve ever made with no wardrobe department, absolutely no make-up department, just my nude face, clothes from my own daily closet; I wanted it to feel as unadorned and as human as possible. Being able to share the ritual with Coco was also important: women tend to walk through these fires together, and I wanted to show two women helping one another through – and out of – hell.
“This bonfire wasn’t something we could fake or replicate; we had to burn the objects for a single take, or it would have felt fraudulent. The local fire department was really nice about it; they had our backs up there on that hill.”
Palmer has also announced three late-breaking solo piano shows in unique venues in Europe this summer. Her band – the drums/piano punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls – is set for a European comeback in early September, when they tour major venues to celebrate their forthcoming album Yes, Virginia…(Tailor’s Version), having recently regained the rights to re-record their own material.
This is the Dolls’ first return to touring Europe in 20 years.
Her upcoming solo piano shows in Italy, Sweden, and Germany will include storytelling and a variety of old and new material.
“I am beyond thrilled to be returning to some cities I haven’t said hello to in decades,” Palmer says. “Playing songs on the piano – alone, with no band – has changed shape for me; I used to have a tour-bus and couch-surfing lifestyle before I had a child.
“Now I find myself playing piano to groups of people in order to make sense of my own emotional world, which has been dramatically changed by motherhood. I’m a lucky artist; I make my living through crowdfunding, and patronage still covers my basic bills. The public internet has sort of fallen apart, so I use it as a tool to get the word out, and use my patreon to connect more personally with my global audience of listeners. But shows are better than anything; I could make a living through a screen, but I don’t want to. I tour to be with real, living, breathing people; to deliver and fetch and share our visceral and personal stories and the news of the day. You just can’t do that as effectively in the digital arena…as hard as I’ve tried, the music doesn’t cut the same way via iPhone. There’s nothing like sitting at a piano and making a bunch of strangers feel their lives, with no screen to escape into. My songs are written to rip people open, and to do that, I have to rip myself open in the process. But I don’t mind; I’ve gotten really good at stitching myself back up every night.”
Solo Piano:
Wed, July 29 – Padua, Italy – Anfitheatro del Venda
Thu, Aug 6 – Stockholm, Sweden – Slaktkyrkan
Sat, Aug 8 – Hamburg, Germany
With The Dresden Dolls:
Tues, Sept 1 – Vienna, AT – Arena Open Air
Wed, Sept 2 – Warsaw, PL – Progresja
Fri, Sept 4 – Prague, CZ – Archa Theatre – SOLD OUT
Sat, Sept 5 – Berlin, DE – Huxleys – SOLD OUT
Mon, Sept 7 – Utrecht, NL – TivoliVredenburg
Tues, Sept 8 – Paris, FR – Elysée Montmartre
Thu, Sept 10 – Manchester, UK – Albert Hall
Fri, Sept 11 – London, UK – British Airways ARC
Sat, Oct 3 – Los Angeles, CA – The United Theater Broadway
Tues, Oct 6 – Sacramento, CA – Channel 24
Wed, Oct 7 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
Fri, Oct 9 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Sat, Oct 10 – Seattle, WA – 5th Avenue Theatre
Tues, Oct 27 – St Paul, MN – The Palace Theatre
Thu, Oct 29 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed
Fri, Oct 30 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
Sat, Oct 31 – Montréal, QC – Théâtre Beanfield
Fri, Dec 4 – Boston, MA – The Colonial Theatre
Sat, Dec 5 – Boston, MA – The Colonial Theatre
Wed, Dec 9 – New York, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
#amandapalmer