What crowdsourced musicians give Amanda Palmer - in addition to free labor.
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[See Comments for Update] Steve Albini and the critics of Amanda Palmer's plan to crowdsource the horns and strings that will join her in each city on her "Theatre is Evil" tour miss the point. Sure, she can pay them more than beer, merch and free plugs, but her method of payment almost guarantees that she'll get people who want to be there - people who are fans or people who share her sense of theater. In short, she puts the audience onstage, though it was always onstage in her.
Palmer's made a living by breaking down the distance between her and her audience, whether economically by appealing to them to fund her music, or literally by appearing naked before them. Last night at Tipitina's, she literally put herself in her audience's hands by crowdsurfing in a gray dress with a long train that fanned out over the crowd who'd passed her on. More than once, she stood center stage and opened her arms wide, vulnerable to the crowd (though the "here I am" gesture usually seemed more defiant.)
The audience responded to the show with the same sort of passion that led to her raising more than a million dollars through Kickstarter to finance Theatre is Evil. When her bass player in the first of three show-related opening acts asked the crowd to sing a part, not only did it do so but it did it for the duration of the song. That sort of love carried over throughout the set, and when Boston saxophone duo Ronald Reagan led a short set of '80s hits - "Take on Me," "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Don't Stop Believin'" - the audience sang along with open-throated passion. If Amanda Palmer loved something or someone, the audience loved it/them too.
I don't find Palmer's dark carnival and new wave particularly sexy, but many did. There were straight and gay couples getting physical at her show, which is clearly a tribute to atmosphere she creates. For that and a host of other reasons, I kept trying to think of meaningful ways in which she's different from Lady Gaga other than musical styles and the sizes of their followings. Empowerment is a subtext for both of them and they handle it with an equal lack of humor and humility.
Amanda Palmer at Tipitina's with St. Cecilia's Asylum Chorus. By Erika Goldring.Palmer gave good value last night, playing for more than two hours. Since I don't have a yearning, misunderstood steampunk inside me, that was more than I needed. On the merits alone, I was with Palmer for 45 minutes to an hour before it seemed like I'd heard what she had to offer. Then and throughout the night, she made her limited voice work for her, and her songs - particularly those from the new album -are good, guitar-oriented '80s new wave rock. The crowd-surfing moment seemed like the end of the show, and after that it started repeating itself, including the return of Ronald Reagan to play "Careless Whispers."
The show's lone misstep came when Palmer strained to make the connection with her audience by reading cards identifying bad things that had happened to audience members. I suspect the fragile, broken voice she adopted for the bit was to be heard as tender and sympathetic, but nothing in her stage persona said Palmer does tender. Instead, the moment came off as deeply faux - an attempt to wring precious drama out of the passably dramatic.
As for the ad hoc musicians, they appeared to have a great time. Sam Craft plugged Alexis and the Samurai and Alexis Marceaux's appearance on The Voice (guess I have to watch now), and Ashley Shabankareh and Hannah Krieger-Benson hyped an upcoming Local Skank show at the AllWays Lounge. The tuba player was Matt Owen, who has followed the tour from city to city to be her tuba player and to plug his act, Matt Owen and the Eclectic Tuba. Palmer brought up members of the St. Cecilia's Asylum Chorus to sing about taking care of your pubic hair in "Map of Tasmania."
The irony is that the good-natured performances by the local guests underscored the problematic truth that Palmer faces just as Lady Gaga does. Her humorlessness says that more than just the barricade at the lip of the stage separates her from her people. She can work to diminish the gap between her and them, but she not make it go away. And really, she wouldn't want to.
Your Spilt Milk
No Alex, you miss the point.....you're excuses for her behavior and actions don't change the fact that she stated plainly that she "Couldn't afford" the backing musicians, as if she's breaking even or losing money by touring, which I doubt is true. She wants to eat her cake and have it too, and in an era where musicians are being more and more marginalized, especially financially, to have one of their own take advantage of them for her own financial and professional gain is a bit despicable....
No sooner than I hit "Publish" than I also saw this post at Digital Music News: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120917palmer
I stand by my take on her and the relationship between Palmer, her audience and her art. At the same time, defending her decision by saying she couldn't afford to pay people compromises her terribly. I doubt that she's not paying people because she can't, but she said it and has to live with it.
I've gotta say I'm a bit disappointed...You of all people, living in a musician rich community, should understand the economic plight of musicians. Although the linked site(s) go a bit into it, one wonders who actually made the "Couldn't Afford" call? Was it a her? A business manager? An accountant? Did she decide to not pay the musicians because she'd make 8% less profit on her tour, or was she told by management? It's almost like writers and critics are apologists for her by their meager inquiries.....
I'm sure she could still get the same "people" who wants to be there and slip them all $100 after the gig.....maybe she'd have to stay at the EconoLodge instead of The Ritz, but both are a small price to pay.....
The comments, especially the first one, are pretty good......
http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20120914/
She raised a million dollars on kickstarter? If this is true, why isn't she paying musicians to perform with her? Wasn't there an admission charge as well last night? No one doubts her passion for the music, but the back story undermines her integrity.
Colby and Owen - I'm not going to go too far with this because poor-mouthing after raising a million at Kickstarter. I don't take anyone who stirs controversy for a living at face value, so I'm not going to pretend to know what she really thinks.
I went the direction I did because there was also something very interesting last night about the intensity of her following and the performance of the New Orleans musicians, who were far more playful than she was. In those interactions, I thought there was something larger worth chewing on that gets lost when the conversation starts with "if you can pay, pay."
... and like it or not, there may be people who were at the show for her who now know that people from The Local Skank, Alexis and the Samurai and St. Cecilia's Asylum Chorus played with Amanda Palmer and check them out. I could see musicians legitimately wanting that exposure as much if not more than a payday. They shouldn't have to pick one or the other, admittedly - a nice person would have done both. But Palmer's a provocateur by trade, and that affects how we think of her (when/if we think of her at all - something I hadn't done for more than a year).
Amanda Palmer is a lying Scientologist. There was no million dollars. Palmer is a scammer who is now a member of the Scientology ruling family, The Gaiman's. Why would anyone believe a thing this ex hooker dominatrix says?
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