Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer
And stand very, very still
It's not very practical
But it still pays the bills" as well as on the A is for Accident track "Glass Slipper":
"I give out flowersTo curious strangerswho throw dollars at my feet."
A group of white-painted living statues appears in the music video to the single "Sing" from the Dresden Dolls' album
Yes, Virginia....
Amanda Palmer married writer Neil Gaiman January 3, 2011 in a private ceremony. They were engaged in January, 2010.
The Dresden Dolls
,
New Zealand, September 2006]]
At a
Halloween party in 2000, Palmer met
drummer Brian Viglione and together they formed
The Dresden Dolls. In an effort to expand the performance experience and interactivity, Palmer began inviting
Lexington High School students to perform drama pieces at her live shows. The Dirty Business Brigade, a troupe of seasoned and new artists, performs at many gigs. The invited costumed characters mingle with the crowd before and during the show, and veteran groups sometimes join in with a choreographed stage act. Life-sized marionettes, coin-operated boys, living statues, and other undergroundlings greet fans while circus and burlesque draw the audience into the Dolls' music, creating a participatory atmosphere that allows the audience to experience numerous types of art simultaneously.
After developing a cult following, the band recorded their eponymous debut album, The Dresden Dolls in 2002 with producer Martin Bisi (of Indie, Brooklyn, New York fame). They produced the album before being picked up by Roadrunner Records.
In 2006, The Dresden Dolls Companion, In it she has written a history of the album The Dresden Dolls and of the duo, as well as a partial autobiography. The book also contains the lyrics, sheet music, and notes on each song in the album, all written by Palmer, as well as a DVD with a 20 minute interview of Amanda about making the book.
In June 2007, as part of the Dresden Dolls, she toured with the True Colors Tour 2007,
July 2008 saw the release of the second Dresden Dolls book, the Virginia Companion. that Roadrunner Records finally released her from their label. Her appreciation was punctuated with another new song: "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth So Help Your Black Ass" as a free download to celebrate her new freedom. She repeated the announcement during an appearance on the Australian music quiz show Spicks and Specks.
"Oasis" controversy
Palmer's song "Oasis", and its follow up video, sparked more controversy. The song's fictional story deals with an
Oasis fan and rape victim who has an abortion. Despite these tragic events, she states that "I've seen better days, but I don't care," and directly after, informs the listener what just happened involving her process of communicating to Oasis through
fan mail, first, "I just sent a letter in the mail," then, "Oasis got my letter in the mail," and finally, toward the end of the song, "I just got a letter in the mail". Palmer received an e-mail while she was in the United Kingdom from her label there explaining that "all" of the TV outlets in the country had refused to play the video due to its "making light of rape, religion, and abortion". Palmer, in response, wrote on her blog "i suggested that i might be allowed to play it if i just slowed it way down and played it in a minor key. think about it. if they heard the same lyrics against the backdrop of a very sad and liliting [sic] piano, maybe with some tear-jerking strings thrown in for good measure, would they take issue?"
"I Kissed a Girl" skit
In December 2008, Palmer performed an Anti
Proposition 8 agitprop skit at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles where a
Katy Perry look-alike came onstage and begin singing her controversial song, "
I Kissed a Girl", only to be interrupted, kissed, and fondled by Palmer and comedian
Margaret Cho. The skit ended with the two binding and gagging Perry, who is forced into a mock wedding with Palmer, followed by the raising of an anti
Proposition 8 banner. On Palmer's blog, she mentioned the discontent some homosexuals had with Perry over her perceived exploitation of their lifestyle with her song
I Kissed A Girl, and stated that the piece was meant as a protest against
Proposition 8.
Personal life
Palmer's residence in Boston, the
Cloud Club, was featured in a 2006 episode (archived on YouTube) of
Chronicle, the
Boston Channel's newsmagazine.
Amanda practices meditation and has written an article titled Melody vs. Meditation for the Buddhist publication Shambhala Sun, describing the struggle between being a songwriter and being able to clear one's mind in order to meditate.
She identifies as bisexual. "I'm bisexual, but it's not the sort of thing I spent a lot of time thinking about", Palmer said. "I've slept with girls; I've slept with guys, so I guess that's what they call it! I'm not anti trying to use language to simplify our lives." On her blog, Palmer has stated that she had an abortion at age 17. In the same blog post, she stated that she was date raped when she was 20 years old.
Palmer has also mentioned her pescetarianism in videos and blogs.
Palmer is married to writer Neil Gaiman. On January 1, 2010, she stated on her Twitter feed that she "might have told [Neil Gaiman] [she]'d marry him but also might have been drunk." On January 15, 2010, Gaiman and Palmer confirmed their engagement in an announcement made to their respective websites.
On November 16, 2010, Palmer and Gaiman married (in a non-legally binding ceremony) in New Orleans. On January 3, 2011, the couple announced, via Twitter, that they were now legally married.
Awards & honors
2010 - Artist of the Year -
Boston Music Awards
2010 - Cover of
Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead) named 13th of
Paste Magazine's 20 Best Cover Songs of 2010
2009 – #100 on After Ellen's Hot 100 of 2009.
2008 – #6 on the Best Solo artist list in
The Guardian's Readers' Poll of 2008.
2007 – #6 on Spinner.com's
Women Who Rock Right Now.
2006 – the
Boston Globe named her the most stylish woman in Boston.
2006 – listed in
Blender Magazine's hottest women of rock.
2005 – won Best Female Vocalist in the
WFNX/
Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll.
Discography
Solo artist
Demos
Songs from 1989–1995... (1996)
Summer 1998 Five Song Demo (1997)
Studio albums
Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008) #77 US
Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under (2011)
EPs
Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele (2010)
Singles
"Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth So Help Your Black Ass" (April 6, 2010)
"Idioteque" (June 10, 2010)
"Map of Tasmania" (December 2010)
DVDs
Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Music Videos (2009)
As part of The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls EP (2002)
A Is for Accident (2003)
The Dresden Dolls (2003)
The Dresden Dolls (reissue) (2004)
Yes, Virginia... (2006)
No, Virginia... (2008)
Collaborations
"Trudy" (with Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women on In Girl Trouble) (2003)
"Circus Freak Love Triangle" (with Hierosonic on Pornos and Razorblades) (2005)
"Warsaw Is Khelm" (with Golem on Fresh Off Boat) (2006)
"Life", "Eight Days of Hell" and "Witch's Web" (with ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead on So Divided) (2006)
"The Lovers" (with Meredith Yayanos on Brainwaves) (2006)
"Stuck With You" (with Voltaire on Ooky Spooky) (2007)
Elephant Elephant (with
Jason Webley as
Evelyn Evelyn) (2007)
"Everybody Hurts" (with Cormac Bride on Stereogum Presents... Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic For the People) (2007)
"Black Versus White" (with Apoptygma Berzerk on Rocket Science) (2009)
Murder By Death/Amanda Palmer Split 7" (2009)
"Living in Misery" (with Kill Hannah on Wake Up the Sleepers) (2009)
Evelyn Evelyn (with Jason Webley as Evelyn Evelyn) (2010)
"János vs Wonderland" (with Tristan Allen on Tristan Allen EP) (2010)
"The Little Prince" (with
Lance Horne on
First Things Last) (2011)
Cameo appearances
"Let Me Borrow That Top" (by Liam Kyle Sullivan aka. "Kelly") (2004) appearing briefly in the mall scene.
"With the Needle That Sings in Her Heart" (Lexington High School's 2009 Spring Production) appearing as "The Ringmaster"
Bibliography
Notes
External links
Amanda Palmer's official site
Live Webcast & Ustream archive
Who Killed Amanda Palmer"">"Who Killed Amanda Palmer" website (for the album, book, and music video series)
Amanda Palmer's autobiography on The Dresden Dolls' website
Interviews
Conversation with Amanda Palmer and Henry Rollins – July 7, 2007
Category:1976 births
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