Leeds United

I saw Amanda Palmer's show at Webster Hall last night. Really great stuff. She has either really come into her own as a solo performer or I've just gotten used to the absence of Brian--he's probably my favorite drummer in rock music right now, so this was my hurdle. Especially when she does songs the Dolls have recorded. Either way, fantastic, moving show. She sounded great, the Danger Ensemble's performace arty addition completely worked, great all around. Please do check out Who Killed Amanda Palmer, it's in a tight album of the year race for me, along with The Red Sea by The Shondes" and the underrated Gnarls Barkley delight The Odd Couple.

And then there's this:


Great video, right?

According to Ms. Palmer, Roadrunner Records tried to make her recut the video. They wanted shots of her stomach excised. Because, apparently, she's too fat. She told them where to stick it, thank god.

Now, I'm not surprised, but I am disgusted. Disgusted that a label would sign a band as weird and subversive as The Dresden Dolls that made their name in part by messing around with sex and sexuality in a myriad of debacherous ways. Apparently Amanda has gained weight or something--I really hadn't noticed, but I guess record companies have a ladies' weight monitoring department or something. Suddenly she's supposed to cover up? My brain is honestly freezing up and locking down at the logic of this--do they think any of her fans are going to be put off by her stomach? Do they think its going to scare new fans away? Really? And they actually felt okay telling her this? Go ahead and snuff-theme your album, no worries there, but keep your clothes on? We live in a sick fucking culture. These people actually think they have anything to say about art, about punk-derived music? I want to hurl.