Amanda Palmer's NINJA TED: That Night in Vancouver!
I wasn't there. I wasn't familiar with many of the people performing. I was lucky enough to be asked to mix this concert, and I'm better for it!
Amanda Palmer, also known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, is a singer, songwriter, performance artist, author and really knows how to put on a show!
'Ninja TED: A Benefit for The Greater Vancouver Food Bank' was a concert that's an "emotional manifestation" of her reaction to TED Talks, which was happening up the street. She stole some of her favorite people and things from TED, which so many people can't afford to attend, and put on her OWN show to benefit The Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
From Amanda's Patreon page: "I was honestly not expecting to be as excited about the recording and flow quality as i am, but i just listened to the entire show and DAMMIT this record of this evening is a small masterpiece of sound, learning, laughter, and total straight-up weirdness".
The show includes performances from AFP with and without Jason Webley. Local musician Geoff Berner adds his accordion and vocal stylings to make some political points with a large dose of humor. Cellist Paul Rucker provides some wonderful improvised work, followed by some spoken words from Sarah Parcak. LADAMA follows with a pair of energetic tracks... and it all just builds from there:
Emily and Amelia Nagoski, Sarah Kay with cellist Joshua Roman, Maria Popova and Neil Gaiman,
Singer Mike Posner delivers a stellar guitar and voice version of his hit "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" (you'll need to purchase the album for this track... and it's totally worth it), followed by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley's 'Evelyn Evelyn' performing "Have you seen my Sister Evelyn?".
Myth Busters Adam Savage follows with a clever ukulele backed performance, plus a dialogue and spoken word piece by Riz Ahmed (HBO's "The Night Of", "Rogue One- A Star Wars Story").
Fans of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" will love "Preludes and Nocturns", performed by Neil with actor Joseph Gordon Levitt, who later adds solid drumming to back a super-group of artists from the evening.
Computer scientist and artist Jaron Lanier offers musical background to Sandman, followed by a free jam called "The Birth of Bits" with Lili Haydn and Joseph Gordon Levitt.
Jason Webley returns with the Carnival Band to perform "I Made a Promise to the Moon", followed by all of the evening's guests onstage to perform "Let the Sunshine In".
It's an artistic and eclectic evening well worth visiting (or revisiting if you were there). There is so much great material from so many great artists. It was my absolute pleasure to help bring this to life as an album.
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