THESHADOWBOX.NET

amanda palmer · NAMASTE MOTHERFUCKER

this was just sent out to our list of extra performers, feel free to use it to your own ends......

.............................................................

Hello everybody!

please forward this to any other performers working with you.

I am very excited to extend to you all an exhausted and very very grateful thank you for getting in touch with em with all of your amazing ideas and talents.

this is a wack experiment, and since we've been on tour and there's been no central plan, we're hoping it just works on plain energy and talent alone. hey, we've managed to get this far, yes?

So it sounds like you all have wonderful plans brewing, be they pre-show street theater, statues on pedestals, parades, human puppet-theaters and good old-fashioned strip-teases. FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!

Ticket sales are going REALLY REALLY well. We've already sold over 100 tickets in San Fran and expect a sell-out, and we've never played there!

some important shit:

Exactly how things work is really UP TO all of YOU. Emily will have you on the guest list if pre-arranged and those of you with clearance will have access to the backstage area (if there is one) and the bathrooms back there before the show.
anyone else is free to make use of the club as if it were your living room. treat it with a home-like respect, but get comfortable.
(It is interesting to note that in many of our interviews over in Europe, we ended trying to explain that there isn't really a "cabaret scene" in america, it just sort of exists where and how you make it. every one of these clubs will be transformed for the night to whatever extent we can transform it. we, the band, will be busy doing boring band shit, like sound-checking and selling CDs and warming up, but you guys are all free to make insane all night even if we look like we're about to collaspe.)

COSTUMES:
We're going to bring a very limited supply of feahter boas and make-up and other fun shit.
Some ideas for last minute statue/costume/props:
Broken/Stripped Umbrellas (they're just too beautiful for words), torn cloth, white cake make-up, rouge, silver body paint, old petticoats, liqiud latex, hats, hats, hats, torn vintage dresses, flags, old army gear, huge drawing pads, easels, hard candy, obsolete coin currency, big boxes full of little things from yard sales, buttons, strange bottles of unknown elixirs, music boxes, lunch boxes, portable pencil sharpeners.......

HUMAN STATUES:
any brave soul attempting this should make sure to bring a sturdy pedestal or stool to stand on. a milk-crate covered with a board and material works wonders. scope out a place and try to get into position about the time doors are opening/or when people are starting to file in. it's a wonderful welcome for people. if you have something to give out (flowers, love letters, bobby pins, origami) go for it.

LIGHTS:
if anybody has ANY LIGHTS, BRING THEM!!!!!! we can only bring what we can carry on the plane for part of the tour, so the whole west coast is sparse. If you have an installation (be it human or static, or......um, both), bring a CLIP LIGHT or FLOODLIGHTS or FLASHLIGHTS or XMAS LIGHTS to focus on your piece of art/human staue!!! lights CHANGE EVVVVVVVVVVERYTHING and are totally magic in a box.

STAGE ACTS:
If you are a STAGE/BURLESQUE ACT, hopefully you can be flexible but we'll proably get in touch with you about where in the line-up you'll be. Don't be afriad to apporach the house sound guy (or our sound guy, the FABULOUS JOEL SIMCHES) with a disc or approach the lighting guy with guidelines. Be kind and reasonable. The clubs will be doing alot of "what the fuck is this" but if we're all kind and humble they will be won over and hopefully get into the weird spirit of things.

GENERAL ETIQUETTE:
if we get any shit form the clubs about stuff we're doing (i.e. "you can't stand on that table", "hey, put your tits away", "you can't burn that flag in here, sir") then please co-operate. it's important for us to keep a good rapport with these clubs so our rep stays clean and so we can do bigger, better things like this next time we're in town.
fire codes often forbid the use of fabric etc. on the walls, run anything like that by emily first.

but now that i've said that, GO FUCKING NUTS!!! we can't wait to see all of you out there on the road.

a few last things.......

-tell your friends to buy advance tickets. some of these clubs are small and it will suck to see them get shut out if we do indeed have any sell-outs.

-if anyone gets video or photos, PLEASE share them with us. we'll happily pay for dubs and shipping. we'll hopefully compile some kind of DVD if we get enough usable footage. please give my address to any friends who are shooting. if anyone wants to record the shows, same deal, just share.

long live the punk cabaret

love
amanda
&
brian

p.s. we NEED people for Portland and San Diego.....get the word out if you know anyone!!!!!!

email emily: mlewhite82@hotmail.com with any questions/concerns/guestlist problems.

amanda palmer · NAMASTE MOTHERFUCKER

1) FLOWERS, real or fake, are the root of all goodness.
you'd be surprised how generous your local flower shop will be with their daily leftovers if you tell them it's for a good artistic cause.
or just lie and tell them you're a grade school teahcer and it's for your class of second gradres and a "special project".
bring bags upon bags and w'ell dump them onstage and out in the street leading into the club.
we're fond of lilies. but anything will do.

toyplasticcello · i like to riot in the streets of boston

I am so down, sign me up for anything! Very Happy

renegadeoptician · laser haiku surgery

I wish I was
Young and Pretty again
Bang Head

Too old and poor
To roadtrip
Crying or Very sad

Waiting patiently
Here in Cambridge
whistleface

glorybug

oh renegade,
i can't tour either!

stupid college...psh....

k

Pacofish · Real Men Wear Stilts

Since I can't travel far w/ no car, if you're in the DC, Bmore, Philly area, I spin fire...probably outside the club before hand. I don't know how cabaret it is, but it's definitely street performance, and I think it'd be rad. folks be driving by the club and see firespinning and human statues outside beforehand yell out their windows "hey what's going on here?!" and hear "The Dresden Dolls!" yelled back... ah what a realizable fantasy.

coin-operated girl · Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles

I'm gonna bring some flowers. I was thinking of painting my face white. Is that too much??

Pacofish · Real Men Wear Stilts

toyplasticcello · i like to riot in the streets of boston

I was thinking about dressing up like some crazy lady and handing out buttons to people. What do you guys think, yay or nay?!

Sunny_Kitty · Yes, my ass is fo' real

Kleo

I was going to crush the christ from the veins of everyone who tried to go in the front door but I was told my talents weren't needed.

coin-operated girl · Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles

PeopleMcNuggets

CheatedHeart

if a show ever comes near us, my friend and I were thinking of doing a good and evil type deal. she was going to wear a light dress and hand out bright flowers with happy lines of poetry tied to them. I was going to be in the opposite. (darker dress/flowers/sad poetry) or something like that. sound any good or should we work on it?