Ask me to write a song about your country in twenty minutes

I missed getting to see Amanda Palmer last time she was in New Zealand because The Dead Weather were playing on the same night, and there was no way in hell I wasn't seeing that. So when she announced a new tour in 2011 to support her new album Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under, I knew this was my chance to go see her live (and nothing clashed with her this time!). She was in NZ when the massive earthquake hit Christchurch, just 1 day before her performance in Auckland. Luckily she was able to get here alright (though, slightly late) and perform for her loving fans. She brought Jason Webley as her supporting act, he is the other half of Evelyn & Evelyn and a bad ass piano accordionist. I'd never heard of Jason before but I was so impressed with his vocals and his performance that I went to see his solo show the next night as well. The song that really caught my attention was Dance While The Sky Crashes Down, which I managed to record a bit of (I also talk about it more in a previous post). Amanda arrived in the craziest way possible, as usual, by starting the show outside with her ukulele. She made her way inside and walked over the bar, then got crowd surfed to the stage. She was dressed like a slutty Geisha and was throwing glitter and stars into the audience. Her set consisted of her playing a lot of her solo work and even some Dresden Dolls material too. The highlight of the night for everyone was when she played New Zealand, a song she had written about our little country. Jason Webley joined her on stage later in the show and they performed together, doing some stuff from Evelyn & Evelyn. They played well past their estimated end time and would've played all night if they could. It was a brilliant and extremely audience-friendly show.

Amanda Palmer w/ Jason Webley. 23/02/2011. Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland, New Zealand.

Jason Webley

Jason Webley

Jason Webley - Dance While The Sky Crashes Down

Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer - Sex Changes

Amanda Palmer - New Zealand

Evelyn & Evelyn

Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley - Evelyn & Evelyn

Me & Jason Webley

Me & Amanda Palmer

Jason Webley. 24/02/2011. Thirsty Dog Tavern, Auckland, New Zealand.

Jason Webley

Jason Webley - Dance While The Sky Crashes Down

I can't stop staring in those evil eyes

The 'Big 3' of doodles at Massey University of Design in Auckland, New Zealand have been underachieving over the last few weeks but the world is slowly correcting itself and everything is getting back to normal. It is good to see Izak back in the game after the devil tried to possess his glands and incapacitate him indefinitely. Vanilla Fiction has been our stand out performer over this dark period with a consistent showing of exceptionally strong doodles. Now that we are starting to work on our final comics for Uni, there should hopefully be an increase of doodles appearing on this blog as well. It is all up to me now...but until then, I found the most amazing doodle blog on the Internet. A charity website featuring doodles drawn by celebrities including Dianna Agron (Glee), Yvette Nicole Brown (Community), Seth Green (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Joshua Malina (The West Wing), Julianna Margulies (ER), Cory Monteith (Glee), Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) and Martin Sheen (The West Wing).

Now I want to take you back to March 14th 2010, the day Lady Gaga brought the Monster Ball Tour to New Zealand. I was never really a fan of Gaga when she first came on the scene with Pokerface, in fact it wasn't until her appearance on Ellen where she performed Bad Romance and Speechless that I realised how great she really was. I decided right then and there that I had to see her perform live one day, so I went online and discovered that she had just recently announced a show in New Zealand but it was already sold out! I was heartbroken, until she announced a second show and there was no way I was missing out on that. I made sure I got a ticket for her second show and I am so thankful that I did because it was one of the greatest spectacles I have seen in my life. Semi Precious Weapons really impressed me as an opening act and then Lady Gaga just exploded my reality with her performance. Amazing vocal display and such an elaborate stage show, which she brought all the way to New Zealand in its entirety (something most artists fail to do). I was most impressed with her fountain of blood for Alejandro and the giant Doctor Who-like tentacle monster that stalked her during Paparazzi. It truly was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Unfortunately I am not so impressed with her latest material, it all seems like it is trying to hard to shock and is just confusing. She no longer has any restrictions for her musical weirdness and I think she is just going too far and getting lost, she needs to take a step back and listen to the advice of Jack White in the song 'Little Room' off the 3rd studio album by The White Stripes called White Blood Cells. Long live The Fame Monster.

Lady Gaga. 14 March 2011. Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Semi Precious Weapons - Justin Tranter

Lady Gaga - Monster Ball Tour 2010

Monster

So Happy I Could Die

Speechless

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi

It's raining leprosy and acid.

On the 23rd of February, I saw Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) at the Kings Arms Tavern. The KA's is one of my favourite places, it is just perfect for hosting the smaller, slightly less popular bands. It is quite an intimate venue so you always get a chance to have a drink and talk to the musicians. Ive seen quite a few shows there before, including The Black Dahlia Murder, Unearth, Cancer Bats, Cairo Knife Fight, Street Chant, Cobra Khan and The Dauntless. But on that night, I was blown away by AP's opening musician who was a man named Jason Webley, a Seattle-born singer-songwriter known for playing a mix of gypsy, folk, and punk. He is the most badass piano-accordionist I have ever seen and his performance was violently beautiful. Needless to say, I highly recommend you check this guy out. That's him down there, he loves sweaty hugs right after a show.

My favourite song of Jason's is a post-apocalyptic tale of remorse and destruction called 'Dance while the sky crashes down', it is fucking amazing. But it really got me thinking...and now it has become my life's purpose to dance while something epic is happening in the background. It is a repeating theme that occurs in the music I listen to and I've decided I can no longer ignore this message, surely it is a sign that this will be my destiny. So just as Jason Webley dances as the sky crashes down, Lamb Of God dance as the palaces burn and The Black Dahlia Murder dance by night and drink the blood of a child's broken neck, I too, will one day achieve this epic feat

It is my calling.