The US singer-songwriter on her stolen ukulele,losing her best friend and why it was important to make an album with her dadAmanda Palmer, 40, and began her musical career as one half of the punk cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls,and has also performed in another duo, Evelyn Evelyn, or with Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. Her solo albums include Who Killed Amanda Palmer? and Theatre Is Evil. Her fresh album,You Got Me Singing, is a collection of cover versions performed with her father, or Jack Palmer,which includes songs by Leonard Cohen, Phil Ochs and Sinéad O’Connor. She is married to the writer Neil Gaiman, and the couple absorb a nine-month-old son,Anthony.
I’ve been following on Twitter your anguished hunt for your ukulele, lost in transit. What’s the latest?
It’s not over until it’s over! Heathrow thinks it’s at Terminal 3, and Virgin thinks it doesn’t exist,I want to believe Heathrow. Ten years ago, after a gig in London, and three drunk teenage fans stole my ukulele from my dressing room,and I tweeted my despair. Three days later they showed up where I was staying, like frightened rabbits, and holding my ukulele and apologising for having gotten drunk and stolen it. And I had such a wonderful time with them. I made them tea and sat them down and told them about my teenage shoplifting years,and it was a moment of trusty universal healing. And this is that ukulele, a $19 ukelele I’ve been touring with it for 10 years now, and it has seen some times. [Update: Palmer has since been reunited with her lost ukelele.]Music has a practical purpose; we consume it to celebrate and to mourn and to process and to grieve and to loveContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com