So, Wednesday night, Amanda Palmer played a show in Philly at the TLA (Theatre of Living Arts for those of you who forgot or did not know). That night marked my third time at the TLA (first two times were to see Puffy), and I can honestly say, completely regardless of my status as a great fan of Amanda's, that that was the best show I've ever been to. The next time Amanda's in town, I'm seeing her. I don't care if I have class the next day. I'm going. Hell, I had class today and I went to her show last night anyway.

I'd known about it ever since the date was announced and I hatched a plan for how the hell I was gonna get from York to Philly and back in time for class the next day. My parents were a bit unsure if they wanted to do this, but because they're awesome and love me, they did. Well, more like my dad did. My mom wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the show so my dad just bought two tickets, and then my sister had to get a wisdom tooth removed, so my mom decided to just stay home. She missed out. She would've enjoyed it.

So my dad is incredibly awesome, driving back and forth between York and Philly all for this. And not just because my birthday's tomorrow. He'd do it even if it wasn't. It being my birthday tomorrow was something I used to help sell the Philly rush plan though when I first proposed it to my mom on Facebook. Anyway, so my dad's great. He picked me up right after class and we jetted back to Bryn Mawr and then to Philly around 7. We made wonderful time and while we waited for the show to start, I bought a shirt at the merch table (the title of this entry comes from the name of the shirt's design, btw).

Amanda's assistant Beth gave me a free AFP button because she thought my Coraline key (the one I bought on eBay last year) was awesome. So, we're standing in the back of the theatre, and the Nervous Cabaret come out, Amanda introduces them, and they start playing. This was my first time hearing them and I liked them a lot. They're very good, and during one of their songs, my dad taps me and asks, "Is that her back there?"

So I look where he's looking and sure enough, Amanda's over at the merch table talking to her peeps and a fan who was buying something. So we go over and Amanda's still talking to the girl, so I start signing The Nervous Cabaret's e-mail listing, and one of the other girls selling merch (I know her face, I just can't think of her name; when I do, I'll add it in), taps me on the shoulder and goes, "Turn around~!"

I finish signing and put the cap back on the Sharpie and turn around and my dad's finishing a short conversation with Amanda and then Amanda darts off to one of the exit doors close to the stage. So, blonde AFP crew chick (I hate not knowing her name because I've seen her in pics before and I feel like I should know it), who had her camera half out (I guess she was gonna take a pic or something) is like, "Aww!" cuz I just missed her and then she says, "Well, you'll be seeing her a lot. She'll be back," and I smiled and laughed, "Yeah, it's all right."

So we go back, keep listening to the Nervous Cabaret. They finish up, Amanda comes back out and asks people to tip them if they can, so my dad gives them like $5 or so and starts talking with (I think it was) the bassist for a bit. We learn where he's from, where the lead singer's from, stuff like that.

So things slow for a bit as they're all getting ready to come out, and when it's time, we hear a drum coming from outside the theatre and the Nervous Cabaret come out and walk from the door to the stage, playing a beat and I know the beat, I just can't think of the song it's from. So, while the Nervous Cabaret's coming out, Kyle Cassidy's taking pics of them. I thought I was in his way so I moved some, and then we hear cheers from up on the balcony. Amanda's entering. From up there.

She comes down the stairs, stops for a sec and bends in a ballet pose, then flits past us and through the crowd and gets on stage. She gets right into playing "Missed Me" (and when the piano started, I was like, "OH!" cuz I finally recognized the beat) and the crowd's cheering.

That right there, just the way she came out, that is one of the reasons this was such an great show.

I can't remember the exact order of all of the songs, and I don't know the title of one of them, but I'll try to recap the rest of the show as best I can. If anyone was there last night and can correct any mistakes I make, just tell me. So, after "Missed Me", she went right into "Astronaut". After that, I believe "Mrs. O" came next, but I think there was a pause between songs. "Mrs. O" can be viewed here though [link]

Then The Nervous Cabaret went off-stage and Amanda answered questions that'd been written at the merch table before the show. The first question was if she would, in the style of Charlize Theron, auction off a kiss. She said if it went over $100 and the winner was a girl, she'd make out with them and give her tongue. You can see some of the auction here: [link]
The kiss went for $300.

After the auction, Amanda said that she was now officially a prostitute, and then as she answered the other questions she pulled from the Ask Amanda bucket, she commented that they weren't of the deep personal sort and that they didn't compare to the kiss one. So she asked the audience to give her deeper questions. The one I remember the most out of those ones was the one about how her first sexual experience with a girl was, and Amanda said it was wonderful and sexy and then talked a bit about the girl and her bisexuality and how she feels that bi people don't want to be stuck on one spot of the spectrum.

So after questions, the songs continued. I think "Ampersand" was next, and the Nervous Cabaret came back out. And the other songs I remember her playing were (not necessarily in this order): "Trout Heart Replica", "House of the Rising Sun", "Runs in the Family", "Guitar Hero", "Mandy Goes to Med School", "Makin' Whoopee", "That's Not My Name", "Coin-Operated Boy", "Oasis".

"Trout Heart Replica" was actually a request from someone in the audience. Amanda had asked if she'd played a song (I can't remember the title) the last time she was at the TLA and the crowd said she had, so she asked what she should play and everyone started naming things. Then the one guy said, "Trout Heart Replica!" and asked her to tell the backstory of the song, so she did and then she played it.

During "Runs in the Family", she forgot how to start off one of the verses (the "Mary have mercy" verse) and went, "Oh fuck" when she couldn't get them, but after a few seconds more of playing, she was back on track. During "Mandy Goes to Med School", she introduced the Nervous Cabaret members and everyone got a solo, then went off into "Minnie the Moocher" during song's the bridge. And somewhere through the set, Amanda asked if someone could get her a beer from the bar. Two beers made it to the stage, so she gave the second to one of the Nervous Cabaret members.

After "Mandy Goes to Med School", they thanked everyone and went off stage to get ready for the encore. We're waiting for maybe 15 minutes and then we hear Amanda singing up on the balcony. She goes over to the railing and she's playing "Makin' Whoopee" on her ukelele. Once that's done, the Nervous Cabaret comes back out on stage, Amanda runs down the stairs with everyone cheering her on, and she got back on stage.

I can't remember if she played "That's Not My Name" at this point in the concert or before, but there's a video of it here [link] When they got into "Coin-Operated Boy" and Amanda started playing the song, she didn't start singing it at first when the time came. The audience sang instead, then realized what it was doing and laughed. Amanda started singing after that and the crowd sang along. You can see that here [link]

"Oasis" was the last song and they went into "Twist and Shout" during the bridge (you can see her playing it in [link]).

Right, so remember the kiss Amanda auctioned off? That happened after the show ended and Kyle Cassidy got a picture of it ([link]). Amanda came out from the back of the theatre with the girl and they made out. Amanda wrapped her leg around the girl and humped her a bit as they were still embracing, and then hugged her. My dad and one of Amanda's managers were commenting during it and when the humping bit happened, they were like, "Yeah, she's (the girl) done."

Yeah, my dad talks to bloody everyone. The manager guy came up to us during the show and asked how we liked it. We said it was great, etc, and my dad told him about how he'd picked me up from school, drove down here, had to drive me back, etc. Then they started talking about Philly and we found out that the manager is from our area. He grew up near where my cousins live and went to Radnor's schools and all of that, including Ithan, which was where I'd gone to elementary school too. The manager lives in NYC now though and was going back there tonight.

After the manager left us, my dad realized that he hadn't gotten his name. My dad had given him his name and told him that if he was ever around Bryn Mawr, he just ask people about the Man in the Hat and they'll know who he's talking about. Yeah. My dad knows everyone. He also chatted with another Nervous Cabaret member while I was in line for an autograph.

Autograph line, where to begin... Well, the show ended at like 11, and we finally got out of the TLA around 12:25. There were two lines: the book line, for people who'd bought the Who Killed Amanda Palmer book; and the regular line, for people who had other stuff for her to sign. The book people were allowed to go first, so the rest of us were waiting longer. I got up there in the end though, and my dad came over from where he'd gone to sit after he got impatient with standing in line (he went to go sit over by the bar, which was where Amanda and Kyle were signing and where he got snapped in one of Kyle's photos - [link]).

Amanda, like Beth, asked if I was wearing a Coraline key. I said yes and told her I followed her on Twitter. Then my dad came over talked to Amanda again while Kyle was signing my shirt (he signed the underside of it along the bottom seam and wrote, "I wish I had something to do with this shirt"). She thanked us for coming and asked if we'd enjoyed the concert. I was like, "Yes! This was the best show I've ever been to!" and my dad was like, "Yeah, she's turned me on to you."

Then my dad told her about how he had to drive 100 miles back and forth to get me and bring me back to school, how it was my birthday on Friday, how he'd done this because I wanted to come, etc. Amanda was like, "Wow, you are awesome," and high-fived him. Then she signed my shirt and we were off.

Oh, and the headache that's been plaguing me for over a week now? It was almost completely suppressed while I was at the show. It came back when we were driving home and I think the streetlights and carlights in Philly had to do with it. I've still got it now too, but whatever. I'm content. I saw Amanda Palmer, got a shirt signed by her and Kyle Cassidy, got a free button from Beth Hommel, met people, and finally got my signed copy of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer DVD.

The DVD had nothing to do with the concert. I ordered it earlier this year when Amanda and Beth sold them during a webcast, but the original shipment got lost overseas. They sent out new ones and mine got to my house earlier this month, so I picked it up when I was at home. Now it's sitting with the Bloody Pianist Girl t-shirt in a bag on my bed.

Okay, I think this entry's long enough, but since it's the now 20th of November in my part of the world, I must say that I've been outside of my mom's body for 20 years. Actually, it'll be 20 years around like 5 o'clock, but whatever.

I'm twenty now.

Fuck. I twenty now. Fuck! I am twenty-fucking-years-old. Holy fucking shit.

Sorry, I'm still not used to the idea that I've been alive for two decades. I'm not saying holy fucking shit out of, like, excitement at being twenty. I mean, I'm happy and all. I'm just still not over the shock of it yet. Twenty just feels like a huge number to me. I know it isn't, but it just feels like it right now. I'll get over it eventually, then probably flip out again when I turn thirty.

But yeah... One more year until I can go buy a bottle of wine in this country and enjoy it without the threat of arrest.

So, I'm gonna leave you with AFP again instead of me and I'll leave you with "Trout Heart Replica". The video isn't from the Philly show (not many vids from that show have popped up yet; I hope someone got at least "Mandy Goes to Med School" though, because that was just an incredible performance). The video's from Fort Lauderdale, but it's still great.

The backstory for the song, by the way, is that Amanda, Neil Gaiman, and two girls from Danger Ensemble went to a fish farm. They caught trout and they watched the butcher cut them and gut them and all that (Amanda explained at the show, "We were like, 'Well we're gonna eat them. We may as well see them get killed.'"), and the butcher takes out one of the trout's hearts and shows them it.

The heart's still beating and it keeps beating for a good while. The butcher's like, "Oh yeah, I do this all the time. The kids love it," and he leaves the heart on the table and keeps readying the rest of the fish. And Amanda and one of the girls from Danger Ensemble are staring at it in sort of horror, and Neil and Amanda make a bet that Amanda would write a song about it and Neil would write a poem. Neil's poem is called "Conjunctions" and I have not read it yet, but I will some day.

As for "Trout Heart Replica", I love the whole song, but my I think my favorite part of it is:

"And killing things is not so hard;
its hurting that's the hardest part.
And when the wizard gets to me,
I'm asking for a smaller heart.

And if he tells me 'no',
I'll hold my breath until I hit the floor.
Eventually, I know, I'm doomed to get what I am asking for.

And now my heart is exactly the size
of a six-sided die, cut in in half.
Made of ruby-red stained glass.
Can I knock you unconscious, as long as I promise
I'll love you and I'll make you laugh?"

Here's "Trout Heart Replica": [link]

ttfn

*~My Clubs~*