I am generally not a mean person. If I see a spider on my wall, I’m much more apt to shoo it outside than to smash it with a newspaper. If I see a small child with candy, I generally “Ooh” and “Aww” over how cute it is, rather than take said candy from the child. I go out of my way to avoid conflict with all those around me, as roommates past will (angrily) testify.
But I cannot let this go by without saying my piece.
Listen: Several month ago, we here at Radio Exile ran a now infamous piece about 8 Musicians Who Need a Punch in the Face. Most people saw the piece for what it was; a humorous attempt to bring a few musicians, most of whom we actually enjoy, down to earth a little. To call them out on some of their foibles. Most people saw this for what it was with one exception: Amanda Palmer fans. To say they took the piece personally and overreacted is to say that Rush Limbaugh is fat and has a large ego; a slight understatement. We learned a valuable lesson here at Radio Exile; Amanda Palmer fans view her like certain Muslims view Allah: put Allah in a bomb turban and you may find your life threatened; joke about wanting to punch Amanda Palmer in the face and and you’ll get a similar reaction. Folks, you don’t mess with Islamic extremists or Amanda Palmer fans.
The thing is, I sympathized with her fans slightly. Oh sure, they overreacted and the personal threats we received were unnecessary, but had somebody taken similar shots at some of the artists I loved, I would have likely reacted similarly. I found myself respecting their love for their artist and I felt slightly bad that we had said we wanted to punch Amanda Palmer in the face. I almost considered downloading some of her stuff to see what all the fuss was about.
Until now.
Until this.
Amanda Palmer is helping to create a high school play based on Neutral Milk Hotel‘s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. She has now debased all that I love in life and I would like to punch her in the face for it.
Some things just should not be. An example: last week at SXSW I saw Rachael Ray dancing hard core to the New York Dolls, who were covering Janis Joplin. This should not be. Another example: The Philadelphia Philles should not be. They’re too good, too scrappy, and I hate them for what they’ve done to my Mets. Yet another example: Alaska. Why is this a state? Honestly?
An Amanda Palmer created play based on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea should not be. This should not even exist in some bizarro acid trip world. Why is she doing this? WHAT is the point of this? Is there any chance this will turn out well? Why can’t she just make a play based on Bee Thousand? Or perhaps Merriweather Post Pavillion? Or hell, she can even do it based on On Avery Island. I’ll even throw in the Everything Is EP. But not In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. That album is a religious experience and Amanda Palmer is going to blaspheme all over this sacred text. Jeff Mangum (seated at the left hand of God, I’m pretty sure) must be vomiting up his Pinkberry frozen yogurt.
And that is why I now am pro-Amanda Palmer face punching.
Link: Pitchfork
Last 5 posts by Tom Williams
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18 comments for “Amanda Palmer Creates High School Play Based On In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Destroys All That is Holy To Me”
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[...] Contact « Amanda Palmer Creates High School Play Based On In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Destroys All That is … [...]
she’ll stop at NOTHING.
welcome to the dark side.
Argh! This is almost as face-punch worthy as Bono and Sting trying to help those in need! The end of the world is nigh…
i almost cried when i heard this. no piece of music has ever mattered to me more, and to know amanda palmer is performing it makes me want to cry. and every drama kid in my school listens to nmh, and it is safe to say that they are all really stupid, and they all miss the point of the whole album.
you’re entitled to your opinion, but last time i checked, your emotional connection to “aeroplane” is no better or worse than anyone else’s. clearly, participating in this is how she is manifesting her connection to it. hell, it’s the drama kids’ show. it’s their connection.
on a side note, it’s fucking great that she is working with the drama kids at her alma mater. keep in mind: this is their show and their idea, not hers.
and jake @ 2:24, there’s no such thing as “miss[ing] the point of the whole album”
does art have to mean the same thing to everyone?
You, Tom Williams, are a tool.
And you, Zach, are calling me a tool on the internet because of something I sarcastically wrote while in my boxers at 2am. This does not make you a tool but it might just make you a pseudo-Comic Book Guy.
No, Tom. Zack and Eli are right. I understand your personal aversion to this concept, I do. Sometimes you just don’t like the idea of an artist you dislike covering (for instance) an artist you do like. But to say that any piece of music is sacred – that’s an idea I suspect Mangum would puke over.
I don’t understand the idea against the play? Julian Koster of NMH thought it was a great idea.
http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/onthedownload/archive/2009/04/30/members-of-neutral-milk-hotel-stump-for-a-carousel.aspx
People! I am obviously being facetious here. I don’t care if Amanda Palmer makes this play! I think it’s sort of a dumb idea but if she wants to expose kids to Aeroplane then good for her. Do I want to see it ? No, I prefer to keep the image of Aeroplane that I have in my head and not to subscribe to Amanda’s. But seriously, this whole piece is a joke. I’m glad for any exposure or press that Jeff, Julian, Jeremy, and Scott get. They deserve to sell a million albums so they never have to work again.
[...] This really made me want to make some paper dolls of the Radio Exile staff and have us debate the merits of certain “Neutral Milk Hotel-themed plays“. [...]
Tom, take a chill pill. You are not handling the backlash gracefully.
And I don’t understand the NMH fans’ entitlement issue. Is that a hipster/yuppy thing?
Short answer: yes.
I might do it too, but I recognize it.
Tom,
it’s not obvious that you’re being facetious. If anything, it seems more disingenuous. But okay, whatever you say. By the way, this project wasn’t Palmer’s, it was the kids in Lexington. Palmer joined them and helped to shape their ideas.
http://pulpandcircumstance.blogspot.com/2009/05/needle-is-still-singing-in-my-heart.html
http://www.examiner.com/x-4150-Providence-Events-Examiner~y2009m5d14-High-School-theater-never-looked-so-good
[...] Amanda Palmer Creates High School Play Based On In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Destroys All That is … (radioexile.com) [...]
someone please kill that bitch.
Amanda Palmer does all her projects for the same reason a kid pulls her dress up to show her undies. Amanda Palmer is ambitious, pathetic and untalented, a terrible combination.
There is only one point to anything Amanda Palmer does; to promote herself in her continuing attempt to claw her way to the top of the heap. Which will never happen because Palmer is a clown… and not a funny, ha-ha clown, just a circus geek “bites the heads off chickens” kind of clown. What won’t Amanda Palmer do to get attention? Nothing is too low for this joker. Prepare for years of internet posts about her bowel movements, her dildos, her tits, her latest STD, what she ate, who she’s fucking, how a friend’s death affected HER, ad nauseam. Now she’s even got involved with Scientology. What is amazing is that there are always zombies ready to idolize someone as empty as Amanda Palmer.