Not Anonymous

I do not follow music news that closely, or often. Usually, I'm surprised when an album by and artist I like has come out.
It feels as though the world is being nice to me.

In addition, I'm a fan of the music. The public persona of artists that I like, don't interest me that much. If I hear about them, as the people they are, it's usually in some award capacity, some new relationship or if they've done something extraordinary.

(That's the reason I couldn't ignore Lady Gaga, she was just creating huge amounts of discussion and her music was fun. So now I like her. Yes, I know there are issues with her persona, presentation and performance...).

This entry is about Amanda Palmer. Who is one of those artists I would listen to anything she put out. I've been a fan of her (and Brian Viglione) for years. The day I heard "Girl Anachronism" I knew The Dresden Dolls were a duo for me.
Their musical style appeals to me, I like piano-rock and thrashing drums, their aesthetic turned me on a little (Yes, I have a crush on the Emcee from "Cabaret") and their exploration of the uncanny through their music, imagery and recall of the 1920's in Europe made for a winning combination.

When Amanda Palmer went solo I was a bit weary, unsure if she would manage to have the same energy without bouncing it off another person.

I love "Who killed Amanda Palmer?" - the kooky reference to that uncanny and weird of all teevee shows ever aired (Twin Peaks, in case you missed the reference) must have appealed to even more fans who had heard of The Dresden Dolls.
Her photography books accompanied by Neil Gaiman's gorgeous craft of horror, macabre and morbid was absolutely fantastic.
I think Amanda Palmer made a wonderful critique on the visuals of violence against women, the photographs made me twitchy, because she was very attractive in them...
She was also dead.
What does that mean, that I found her arousing as a dead body? It made me ponder.

I'm also second guessing myself and my reactions due to her latest project; a co-operation with fellow artist Jason Webely, in which she and Webley are producing an album which tells the tale of musically inclined conjoined twins known as Evelyn Evelyn.
I've not heard any of the music yet, so I shan't comment on the artistic merit of the music.
I will, however, voice my disappointment in the way Palmer and Webley decided to tackle this piece of performance art.

I had first heard of the Evelyn Evelyn project via the (truly amazing) site FWD - Disabled Feminists, in which Annaham wrote a critique, voicing concerns regarding the ableism¹ in this project. ( Cut for length )

I'm really sad about this. I ♥ Amanda Fucking Palmer a lot. I'm listening to her album as I write this.
I'm truly and honestly torn about this.
I really, really hope they manage to fix this debacle up, by not dismissing their disabled critics, that fans be aware of the issues arising from this project and that I can go back to admiring her without her entitlement and prejudice colouring her music and art for me.

I doubt that is going to happen though.

This is my *sad face*

Footnotes
1) For whom this is a new term (it is for me still, I'm very much out of my depth when it comes to speaking about accessibility and disability), it is a term used to describe the discrimination and prejudice towards disabled people in society - we're all (or should be) familiar in how inaccessible certain places are for wheelchairs, how there are usually no visual aids for people who are hearing impaired, etc. etc. I really recommend FWD - Disabled Feminists in order to gain awareness and learn more about how the world favours able-bodies people. ↵

2) It's not directly stated, but it's quite easy to infer that the twins, Evelyn Evelyn, are Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley in costume. The whole project is a conceptual performance art thing. Very likely, due to a desire for veracity, Palmer and Webley are simply "producers" and not "performers". The twins are independent personas people attached (seriously no pun intended) to the project in order to promote the album and show. ↵