HI AMANDA, how has your An Evening With tour been going so far?
Brilliant! Its really nice to be solo on stage after so many years of touring with a massive stage troupe. The dressing room seems very empty but I love the spontaneousness on stage.
Has touring/performing while six months pregnant presented any unexpected
challenges and have you been receiving baby gifts from fans?
I have more gift onesies than I know what to do with, but I'm sure they'll quickly get covered with baby vomit and Ill be really grateful.
Touring pregnant has been really wonderful, and a mixed bag I'm tired all the time but everyone is really kind and understanding when I need to lie down on any given floor and nap.
Do you have any of your last-minute 'ninja' shows planned in this neck of the woods and have you played any memorable ones recently?
Yes, I've just booked a ninja gig in Belfast for the last day of tour. All the info is on my Facebook page Fb.com/amandapalmer and I'm really looking forward to wrapping the
tour up that way.
My favourite ninja gigs are always the ones that happen at the very very last minute. I did one in a beautiful loft in Chicago a few weeks ago that is up there in the top favourites, mostly because I got to spend the night and sleep with a real cat.
How much of a challenge was it to write/record The Art Of Asking and what's the reader/listener response to it been like?
Well, reading the audiobook after writing the damn thing was easy. But writing the book was a bitch. The first six weeks, when I just vomited everything out, were easy but the six months of editing hell were unfathomably agonising.
Who is your favourite fiction writer and have you ever been tempted to have a go at writing a novel?
Ohhhhh. This is hard. I have a million books that I love. I grew up loving John Irving a lot, The Hotel New Hampshire is one of my favourite novels. And I've been loving young adult fiction lately: I just read the whole Lois Lowry 'Giver' quartet and loved it.
I'm not sure I'll hit the fiction desk any time soon. we already have one fiction writer in the family (husband Neil Gaiman) and he's not bad, you know.
You've been vocal about your desire to constantly tackle new projects to "make all of the things all of the time". How are things going with your current Patreon.com fan-funding experiment and which 'things' are you getting most enthused about making?
I'm about to 'thing' a webcast from London tonight and thats thrilling and I'm about to spend two weeks in the studio with a songwriting hero of mine.
I'm not sure exactly how I'll leak out the material but I'm so excited to be back recording
and writing, especially in the summer of London, while pregnant. It feels magical.
You'll be opening for Morrissey soon are you a big fan and are you excited to visit his world? Isn't he precisely the kind of artist who should be getting on board with something like Patreon?
I'm a huge fan, I was raised on The Smiths and therefore I'm understandably terrified.
Hes been open about hating crowdfunding, but that's fine he's Moz. He's allowed to hate anything, really. I will not try to change his mind. I will just toss some Gladioli his way and run in terror.
Finally, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Slow down, Amanda, and say less.
:: Amanda Palmer, Sunday June 14, The Limelight, Belfast. Tickets 24.50 from Ticketmaster outlets.
