Gina's Big Night...and Her Other Big Night!!
This week, two nights in a row, I actually got to meet the Dresden Dolls AND Janet Klein!!! Not only saw them perform. Got to MEET THEM! This is like my Beatles, people. This is fucking HUGE!!
On Wednesday night, Alanna and I went to “Fuck the Back Row!”, a show touting vaudevillian acts, short films and a solo performance by Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. The films were alternately hilarious and darkly beautiful. The acts were a hybrid between the past and the present—which IS punk cabaret. One was a female fan dance number (she used real feather fans like burlesque dancers used to use, long ago), one was a singing of “Largo al factotum” (you know, the one that goes “Figaro, Figaro, Figaaaarroooo…”) from the opera, “The Barber of Seville” (by a Mozart be-wigged court fop-looking creature with tail feathers sticking out of his…well…tail), and one was a performance by a band called Uncertain (whom I loved!). The lead singer/piano player was dressed in a Gatsby tux and top hat, the drummer had on shirtsleeves, suspenders and a newsie hat, and the upright bass player had on a suit. They would alternate between early, ‘20’s jazz and punk riffs in the same song. There’s that juxtaposing of opposites that I love so much. And their lyrics were a crack-up! One song talked about meeting for a tryst in that great romantic spot: the bathroom. Funny, funny boys!
While we were watching the other acts, we could see into the dressing room through its glass doors, and we could also see Amanda getting ready—changing her shirt, fixing her makeup, pinning her hair up. Then Amanda came out onstage and said that Brian would be joining her in some of the set. Yeah! I had THOUGHT that I’d seen him in the audience, and then setting up a snare drum--you can’t miss those awesome cheekbones! They played a combination of songs from soundtracks (since they were in Filmland, a.k.a., L.A.) and some beautiful new songs that Amanda had written. They did a particularly KICKASS version of “Mother” by Pink Floyd, from “The Wall”. And this is how cool and professional Brian is: he dropped a stick, and he continued to play with one stick and his other hand! The show must go on!
Amanda had said in closing that they were going to hang out for a bit after the show. Alanna knew exactly what to do—thank god! I would have just LEFT after the show like a dumbass! She grabbed some flyers from a table and we headed to the dressing room area, where Amanda & Brian were signing autographs. Alanna asked Amanda to sign our flyers, and the poor girl was so dead on her feet; it was her SECOND show of the night, and it was 1 in the morning. We were in the same boat, as we’d been there since 8:30, and standing at our railing since 9:30 (no one was going to get OUR spot, see?). She happily signed but she didn’t say a lot. Her voice was shot from all of the singing. I said thank you, but nothing more because I could tell she had nothing left to give, and I didn’t want to ask any more from her. I also have been reading her blog and doubly knew how whipped she is from so much touring. Alanna asked if she could give her a hug for success and Amanda said yes, so they hugged for a few minutes…what a lovely moment! Two strangers, one giving sweet unselfish energy to another who needed it. I said take care, meaning take care of yourself, but I don’t know if she heard me. Then I asked Brian for his autograph, and as he signed, I said, “Thank you both for doing what you do and bringing your music to us.” He said (and I’m paraphrasing) thank you to me for saying that, because he knows how it is to say that to someone you admire, and you don’t want them have no reaction at all to your pouring a little bit of your heart out like that, and then he said thank you for liking the music and coming out and supporting them, and he hopes I’ll continue to come to shows in the future. And he shook my hand. That was really nice of him. I totally respect him for being so decent. It was totally decent of both of them to interact with the fans instead of walling themselves off like celebrities do. Afterwards, we bought some merch—we each got “Punk Cabaret Is Freedom” pins and I bought a CD by Uncertain. The whole rest of the night, we were FLYING. We listened to my Dresden Dolls CD all the way back to Alanna’s, and then on the way home, I sang my little heart out! What a fucking night!!
The next evening, I went solo to see Janet Klein again. I wore a dress I’d gotten at Ross, which technically was not vintage, but looked like it could have been from the ‘30’s, along with my cloche hat (so I was mixing decades…). I met a couple whom I had seen at the last show: Michael (a woman) and Paul. They had recognized me from last time, too. They were both dressed in period clothing, too—nice! The show itself was fantastic! They played about six of my favorite songs: “Baltimore”, “Concentratin’ On You”, “The Physician”, “Rebecca from Mecca”, “Yiddish Hula Boy” and “Sunflower Slow Drag”, a rag by Scott Joplin, which I have on my Scott Joplin CD. After the show, I bought another JK CD (my third), and ran into Claudia. She’d moved since we last talked, and she gave me her new phone number. I promised to call her, and I will, now that life has slowed down. She was wearing an awesome peach dress—very filmy and layered—and she gave me the name of another place to go vintage shopping. I also met one of the Parlor Boys—Tom Marion, who plays guitar, banjo and mandolin. He came over and began talking to me—turns out we’re both paisans. Then I saw that Janet was talking to Claudia, and I went over and introduced myself as the one who e-mailed her asking for vintage clothing sources. She was so nice! We both admired each other’s dresses—she had a great polka dot dress with puffy short sleeves and a fantastic lace collar. She has such a great vintage wardrobe that she’s been building for years, I’m sure! She said if I wasn’t doing anything the next night, to come out for the screening of “It” (with Clara Bow--which gave rise to the term "The IT Girl") at the Armand Hammer Museum—they would be playing a set before the movie. I had planned to go, but didn’t get to—I had to work later than usual that night. But I didn’t mind--I didn't have tickets, as it was a free event, so it was fine. JK & the Boys will be playing at a vaudeville event at the Alex Theater in September, and I plan to go that, so that’ll be my extracurricular Janet activity.
I still cannot believe that I met my ultimate musical favorites this week, back-to-back!! I am so utterly flabbergasted and delighted!! Somebody, pinch me, will ya?
On Wednesday night, Alanna and I went to “Fuck the Back Row!”, a show touting vaudevillian acts, short films and a solo performance by Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. The films were alternately hilarious and darkly beautiful. The acts were a hybrid between the past and the present—which IS punk cabaret. One was a female fan dance number (she used real feather fans like burlesque dancers used to use, long ago), one was a singing of “Largo al factotum” (you know, the one that goes “Figaro, Figaro, Figaaaarroooo…”) from the opera, “The Barber of Seville” (by a Mozart be-wigged court fop-looking creature with tail feathers sticking out of his…well…tail), and one was a performance by a band called Uncertain (whom I loved!). The lead singer/piano player was dressed in a Gatsby tux and top hat, the drummer had on shirtsleeves, suspenders and a newsie hat, and the upright bass player had on a suit. They would alternate between early, ‘20’s jazz and punk riffs in the same song. There’s that juxtaposing of opposites that I love so much. And their lyrics were a crack-up! One song talked about meeting for a tryst in that great romantic spot: the bathroom. Funny, funny boys!
While we were watching the other acts, we could see into the dressing room through its glass doors, and we could also see Amanda getting ready—changing her shirt, fixing her makeup, pinning her hair up. Then Amanda came out onstage and said that Brian would be joining her in some of the set. Yeah! I had THOUGHT that I’d seen him in the audience, and then setting up a snare drum--you can’t miss those awesome cheekbones! They played a combination of songs from soundtracks (since they were in Filmland, a.k.a., L.A.) and some beautiful new songs that Amanda had written. They did a particularly KICKASS version of “Mother” by Pink Floyd, from “The Wall”. And this is how cool and professional Brian is: he dropped a stick, and he continued to play with one stick and his other hand! The show must go on!
Amanda had said in closing that they were going to hang out for a bit after the show. Alanna knew exactly what to do—thank god! I would have just LEFT after the show like a dumbass! She grabbed some flyers from a table and we headed to the dressing room area, where Amanda & Brian were signing autographs. Alanna asked Amanda to sign our flyers, and the poor girl was so dead on her feet; it was her SECOND show of the night, and it was 1 in the morning. We were in the same boat, as we’d been there since 8:30, and standing at our railing since 9:30 (no one was going to get OUR spot, see?). She happily signed but she didn’t say a lot. Her voice was shot from all of the singing. I said thank you, but nothing more because I could tell she had nothing left to give, and I didn’t want to ask any more from her. I also have been reading her blog and doubly knew how whipped she is from so much touring. Alanna asked if she could give her a hug for success and Amanda said yes, so they hugged for a few minutes…what a lovely moment! Two strangers, one giving sweet unselfish energy to another who needed it. I said take care, meaning take care of yourself, but I don’t know if she heard me. Then I asked Brian for his autograph, and as he signed, I said, “Thank you both for doing what you do and bringing your music to us.” He said (and I’m paraphrasing) thank you to me for saying that, because he knows how it is to say that to someone you admire, and you don’t want them have no reaction at all to your pouring a little bit of your heart out like that, and then he said thank you for liking the music and coming out and supporting them, and he hopes I’ll continue to come to shows in the future. And he shook my hand. That was really nice of him. I totally respect him for being so decent. It was totally decent of both of them to interact with the fans instead of walling themselves off like celebrities do. Afterwards, we bought some merch—we each got “Punk Cabaret Is Freedom” pins and I bought a CD by Uncertain. The whole rest of the night, we were FLYING. We listened to my Dresden Dolls CD all the way back to Alanna’s, and then on the way home, I sang my little heart out! What a fucking night!!
The next evening, I went solo to see Janet Klein again. I wore a dress I’d gotten at Ross, which technically was not vintage, but looked like it could have been from the ‘30’s, along with my cloche hat (so I was mixing decades…). I met a couple whom I had seen at the last show: Michael (a woman) and Paul. They had recognized me from last time, too. They were both dressed in period clothing, too—nice! The show itself was fantastic! They played about six of my favorite songs: “Baltimore”, “Concentratin’ On You”, “The Physician”, “Rebecca from Mecca”, “Yiddish Hula Boy” and “Sunflower Slow Drag”, a rag by Scott Joplin, which I have on my Scott Joplin CD. After the show, I bought another JK CD (my third), and ran into Claudia. She’d moved since we last talked, and she gave me her new phone number. I promised to call her, and I will, now that life has slowed down. She was wearing an awesome peach dress—very filmy and layered—and she gave me the name of another place to go vintage shopping. I also met one of the Parlor Boys—Tom Marion, who plays guitar, banjo and mandolin. He came over and began talking to me—turns out we’re both paisans. Then I saw that Janet was talking to Claudia, and I went over and introduced myself as the one who e-mailed her asking for vintage clothing sources. She was so nice! We both admired each other’s dresses—she had a great polka dot dress with puffy short sleeves and a fantastic lace collar. She has such a great vintage wardrobe that she’s been building for years, I’m sure! She said if I wasn’t doing anything the next night, to come out for the screening of “It” (with Clara Bow--which gave rise to the term "The IT Girl") at the Armand Hammer Museum—they would be playing a set before the movie. I had planned to go, but didn’t get to—I had to work later than usual that night. But I didn’t mind--I didn't have tickets, as it was a free event, so it was fine. JK & the Boys will be playing at a vaudeville event at the Alex Theater in September, and I plan to go that, so that’ll be my extracurricular Janet activity.
I still cannot believe that I met my ultimate musical favorites this week, back-to-back!! I am so utterly flabbergasted and delighted!! Somebody, pinch me, will ya?
Comments
That's so weird! I found this same reVamp site when I was doing a Google search on "1920's"! But thanks for the article! It's just the cat's pajamas to know that there are a lot of other vintage-philes out there!! (:
Hope you're doing well, my dear! I'll be in touch soon!
it was such a fun night...and from what i hear, your next night wasn't so bad either! ;D
what's amanda's blog's address? i'd like to check it out?
Here's A's blog:
http://dresdendolls.com/diary/
It IS Blogger...I'm sorry...(:
I would have loved to have seen the singing! How awesome!! Maybe down the line somewhere, I will get the chance. Hmmm...Cabaret salon? It just might be in the cards!
Thanks for sharing--makes life really interesting when synchronicities happen. I wonder if on some level we unknowingly create them, just to amaze ourselves...