The one who wrote Coraline, and co-wrote the book of Good Omens and made the TV show, also the Sandman comics writer and co-creator who made the Sandman TV show. Quite nice really.
During the Evelyn Evelyn tour arguments over the temperature in the tour bus divided the crew into Team Cold and Team Hot. Amanda swears that she was not the only member of Team Cold, but I have been unable to verify that. Anyway, these Town Hall shows have clearly divided Neil and Amanda into Team Order and Team Chaos. In Friday night’s chaos Amanda flourished and Neil floundered. Tonight a much more orderly atmosphere prevailed, and Neil rose to the occasion and delivered a much more confident performance. Amanda, on the other had, seemed a bit flustered and unsettled and actually abandoned a couple songs midway through.
Tonight also marked the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, an event that was marked on stage by a stunning costume change by Neil, a reading from a Gaiman-penned Doctor Who story, and, most surprisingly, an appearance by a bona fide Doctor Who companion.
Overall a highly entertaining and frequently touching night.
Annotated Set List:
Makin’ Whoopie - Neil & Amanda (uke)
Witch Work - Neil (poem)
In Relig Oran - Neil (poem)
I Want You But I Don’t Need You (Momus cover) - Amanda (piano)
Judy Blume - Amanda (piano)
Psycho (Leon Payne cover) - Neil w/ Amanda on uke
Adventure Story - Neil (spoken)
Broken Heart Stew - Amanda (poem) w/ Neil on Brian Eno’s Bloom app
Map of Tasmania - Amanda (uke)
Ne Me Quitte Pas (Jaques Brel cover) - Meow Meow (@MeowTopia) w/ Lance Horne (@LanceHorne) on piano featuring approximately voluntary participation from members of the audience
Gaga Palmer Madonna Miley, A(n Updated) Polemic - Amanda (uke)
Jump (Peter Cook / Dudley Moore cover) - Neil w/ Amanda on piano; dedicated to the memory of Jeremy Geidt
- Intermission -
I Google You - Neil w/ Amanda on piano
Nothing O’Clock (An excerpt from a story of the Eleventh Doctor) - Neil (spoken) (read with accents and everything)
At this point Amanda asked Neil if he had a request. He requested “Look Mummy, No Hands,” a Dillie Keane cover that Amanda has played beautifully in the past. Apparently the piano part is a bit more complicated than Amanda’s typical “hit some keys and hope for the best” approach. She made several abortive attempts to play it, cursed Neil and the horse he rode in on, then punted.
Runs In the Family - Amanda (piano)
Dear Old House - Amanda (uke) (dedicated to the awesomeness that is Eric “@southships” Sussman)
Ask Neil & Amanda
None of my questions were selected tonight. I DEMAND A RECOUNT!
Say Hello (Allegra Rosenberg cover) - Amanda (uke) w/ Neil & Arthur Darvill (@RattyBurvil) - AKA RORY FUCKING WILLIAMS - holding cue cards with lyric reminders.
This awesome song by Allegra (@ginger_time) was inspired by “The Doctor’s Wife,” an episode of Doctor Who that was written by Neil.
The Problem with Saints - Neil w/ Amanda on piano
- Encore -
Ukulele Anthem - ABORT ABORT!
As Amanda walked onto the stage for the encore, uke in hand, Nikki and I looked at each other and said, “Gee! I wonder what she’s gonna play?” Sure enough the familiar opening chords of Ukulele Anthem rang out through the hall, but she didn’t make it through the first verse before she just … stopped. The crowd helpfully supplied the next line of the song (Amanda does occasionally blank on lyrics) but she said, “No it’s not that. I’m just not going to play that song. I was going to play a different song but there wasn’t enough time for the intro. But now I’m going to play it anyway.”
Bigger On The Inside - Amanda (uke)
(An apropos way to end the evening, considering the Doctor Who reference.)
Neil sports a dapper Doctor-esque coat in honor of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary:
Meow Meow with a human mic stand and … leg … massager?
Neil thinks, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ One suspects this is a common feeling for him since he met Amanda:
From left to right, Arthur Darvill starred as Rory Williams in an episode of Doctor Who that was written by Neil Gaiman and which inspired a fan to write a song that Amanda Palmer sang:
It’s true. I really didn’t enjoy the chaos and madness of the first show very much. Amanda didn’t enjoy the order and sanity of the second show as much as I did…
In seemingly perfect timing as details of Neil Gaiman‘s newest (and absolutely enchanting, antique-inspired) upcoming editions of “Stardust” are about to be released, so too has there been a kind of reincarnation of this coat worn by the grey ghost spirit of Prince Septimus in the 2007 Stardust feature film.
Neil had this coat treasured alongside some other Stardust wardrobe pieces in his personal collection, but rather than merely have them hanging around for posterity, he wanted them to be transformed into something that could be worn and actively enjoyed. It was a real honour that he entrusted me with this, and in reverence to the original pieces, I wanted to make changes that would be significant in improving their wearability and Neil-ness, whilst still respecting the creative workmanship & sentimental history of the originals.
Luckily, I was able to have Neil try the coat on in person when I was visiting him at his house a while back & the coat originally had rather spidery long + extremely narrow arms, so they needed to be both shortened in length & given a bit more room as well… You’ll notice they have a split seam so they would flare out over the hands. I looked at them, and began to think, “What if I were to cut off the bottoms of the sleeves and turn them on their end, so that the flare could work with the shape of the forearm?”…
I felt the coat would also be more wearable (especially for Neil, taking into consideration all of the travelling he does, and how this tends to require fitting things into luggage in rather cramped quarters) if it was given a somewhat shorter, more tapered overall length. This would also help to reduce some of the weight of an otherwise very heavy coat. Whilst I was at it, I wanted to see if some excess wrinkling/sagging that the leather had undergone from stretching out in places through the years could be worked out for a smoother effect.
A quick snapshot of the “before”:
I’d be needing some coordinating material to work the new sleeves from though… I wanted something non-leather, so after going through samples of what seemed like every shade of grey wool known to man in a weight that would hold up to the heft of the leather, but never finding quite the right one, another thought occurred to me.
Why yes, Septimus’ trousers did have a split seam, and why yes, that sueded velvet did have such a nice weight, and of course having originated from the same outfit, the shades would go…
Dare I sacrifice them??
Indeed, yes! A moment’s bravery and it is done… enter magical scissors that hath no fear:
Et voila ~ the trousers have transformed into a new pair of tailored sleeves! You’ll also notice what used to be the lower edge of the original sleeves is now the upper edge of an extended standing cuff. I slipstitched most of the cuffs original side vents closed as well to give them more structure for a standing style.
And here is the newly re-shaped hem ~ shorter in the front, dramatically tapering down to longer, pointed tails in the back:
What you can’t see is also the addition of several internal pockets as the original design had none. Ghosts have no need for pockets you see, but very-much-alive authors do indeed. No photos of those. I figure a man’s interior pockets are his own private affair. ;)
Detail of collar embroidery:
I’m so glad to have been able to take this coat out of the spirit realm and bring it back into a new life ~ here’s hoping it has many more adventures yet to come!
Listening to An Evening With Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer.
Had to track this down.
For those of you listening to AN EVENING WITH… there’s a track on the Neil Reads Stuff CD called The View From the Cheap Seats, which talks about this photograph…
our interview/session for soundcheck goes live TONIGHT at 9PM on WNYC in new york and WDET in detroit. you can listen on-demand now at http://bit.ly/NeilAmandaSoundcheck
I bought this absolute treat of a performance yesterday, and I can’t remember the last time I sat in bed grinning and tearing up in equal parts, overjoyed that the world has such wonderful things in it.
I don’t have a lot of “idols,” so to speak, but these two - I can’t help it. Having fans changes the experience of being a fan, a little, because you don’t want to be That Guy. Still, am a big fan of what they make, separately and together.
Three CDs worth of songs, stories (Neil reading “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” is just awesome), poems, and finally a decent recording of Amanda’s cover of “I Want You, But I Don’t Need You.” Do yourself a favour!
Neil Gaiman speaks on his experiences on tour and with organized sports, among other things, in part 2 of the “An Evening With” mini-doc here: http://bit.ly/EveningWithPart2
ANNOUNCING: the general public release of An Evening With Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer on NOVEMBER 19th. the 3-DISC ALBUM contains re-packaging with a different take on the artwork.
PRE-ORDER bundles include new items such as a limited edition vinyl LP, tea towels, mugs, journals, and by popular demand - the fuzzy velvet poster.
