There is something quite calming about remaining anonymous whilst observing people critique your work.
White Night was bursting with so much choice that Ros O’Gorman and I hadn’t intended to go the Music, Melbourne + Me exhibition – we had already wondered through a few times over its three month run – after all we had our photos up on the walls of Room 4: The Venue Room – Sticky Carpets.
However, as we left Amanda Palmer’s Ninja Gig, a friend sent a text congratulating me on the “killer exhibition” and my “awesome photos of sweaty rock stars” and saying they even had to “queue to get in the gallery”. Another friend sent a text saying he “gave up queuing after half an hour”. Queues?! We were intrigued.
Our brief for this exhibition was heartfelt. The Exhibition Consultant asked for photos that illustrated the connection between the venue, the performer and the audience. Basically, the soul of a gig.
Both Ros and I loved the final choices made by the Curator of the exhibition. It was encouraging to have this corroborated on White Night.
Though always encouraging (please don’t stop) hearing praise from a partner/friend/colleague/acquaintance, it is somewhat more reassuring hearing it from strangers who were unaware of our presence – or maybe we were lucky to have witnessed the courteous 1am crowd 🙂
Whatever the case, I was content being a voyeur this White Night.
Soon we’ll be calling her “our” Amanda. Amanda Palmer wants to move to Melbourne.
Her Instagram last night said it all:
amandapalmer 18 hours ago
if you were ever wondering why i want to move to melbourne.
this is happening at 4:05 am in the national art museum.
@whitenightmelb http://instagram.com/p/kud368wW7B/
Amanda Palmer loves Melbourne. And Melbourne loves Amanda Palmer.
Personally what I love about Amanda Palmer is that she makes me smile, she laughs on stage, her enthusiasm for life is contagious, she appreciates and loves her fans, she inspires, she is photogenic (sorry about the shallow beauty reason but I am a photographer after all), she’s intelligent (makes up for my previous reason right?) and she bloody well rocks!
Last night was no exception. Amanda Palmer smiled, laughed, rocked. Ninja style. Her now famous impromptu “ninja gigs” are like Melbourne’s summer storms, forecasts may be flawed … unless Amanda announces them on social media. Yes, that’s right, a secret gig, announced usually a day before, on Twitter. Yep, a “secret” gig 🙂
So… Amanda Palmer walks in to a bar, jumps up on to the bar counter, and starts signing “Map of Tasmania” to approximately 400 of her closest friends.
Here are some pics from last night:
As we were leaving, a guy asks: “Oh do you know Dresden Dolls? Is that an Amanda Palmer impersonator?” He was rapt when I told him he had in fact stumbled upon a gig by the REAL Amanda Palmer.
Don’t rely on “stumbling upon”. Make sure you follow @AmandaPalmer -if you don’t already! You never know: it might rain again soon …