Dear Amanda Palmer,
I love and respect your work. As a Boston native and a musician, your career has been an inspiration. As a fan of theater, the Who Killed Amanda Palmer tour was nothing short of breathtaking---you brought rock and roll and performance art together in a way that was both spectacular and intimate. I think I understand what you are trying to do with the Evelyn Evelyn project. I think that, if anyone can make this work, you can.
That said… I doubt that anyone can make it work. You see, while your loyal fans may be able to accept your attempt to intertwine theater and rock music, most people won’t. The issues that you’re tackling would be acceptable in a Nicky Silver play, but---like it or not---that is not your medium. You are a musical artist and will be judged as such.
When I read your blog on Evelyn Evelyn, it made me sick to my stomach taking it at face value. You see, I hadn’t been keeping tabs on you, (I fucking hate Twitter, sorry,) so I read the story as fact. This made me lose a great deal of respect for you, as well as your list of guest stars. “What? You found a pair of disabled twins who have been exploited for their entire lives, twins who don’t want to be in the public spotlight, and you decided to exploit them? What the fuck, Amanda Fucking Palmer?” Stepping back, I did the thirty seconds of research to figure out that the story was fiction. And that made it worse.
You see, there is precedent for this. There have been artists who took on alter-egos to tackle important social issues. David Bowie fought intolerance and explored bisexual and gay counterculture as Ziggy Stardust. Brian Warner tackled the hypocrisy of mainstream values as Marilyn Manson. Now, aside from the fact that you’ve all toured with Nine Inch Nails, I find it hard to put you in the same paragraph as these artists. It’s hard to explain where the line is drawn, but I’m afraid you may be crossing it.
I respect the idea of bringing awfulness to the spotlight and making people think about it. I also respect artistic freedom, I respect provocative fiction, and a number of other things that this project could be. But this could be a fucking disaster. You know your fans; you know that they “get” what you’re doing. But most people don’t. In your apology letter, you talked about context, and that’s a valid point.
Imagine walking into a Mindless Self Indulgence concert never having heard the band before and hearing “FAGGOT FAGGOT FAGGOT!” It’s offensive. It’s terrible. But it’s nothing compared to the idea of hearing an inspirational story about the disabled, going to their show and finding a full grown woman and a full grown man sewn together in a single dress, playing the ukulele and singing a lighthearted song about elephants. Now, there's context for you.
It’s like going to see Lady Gaga and finding her smeared in blackface, chained to the stage singing about how much she loves boat rides.
Now, that said; good luck to you, Amanda. I hope you know what you’re doing. Maybe you’ll manage to pull this one off; maybe I’ll add you to that list with Brian and Bowie. For the sake of those you could deeply offend, I certainly hope you manage to do this. I also hope you knew what you were getting yourself into. You’re dancing in quicksand.
Sincerely,
J.W.M.
P.S. That bit about Roadrunner---it read as an excuse to do this. And that’s bullshit. There are plenty of artists who have avoided label obligations by simply going uncredited, or wearing Nixon masks in press photos. If this all blows up in your face, please respect the intelligence of your fans and don’t you dare tell us this was “the only way” to get your record out. Thanks.
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