Album a Day (Book Edition): Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence

I love companion pieces. As an artist I totally get it when you say to yourself, "Yeah...this works but how can I expand on it and if I can't do it alone who can help me?" And that's exactly what Amanda Palmer has done for her debut solo album Who Killed Amanda Palmer. I purchased the book, Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence, when I went to see her with my former housemate (can I just say how nice it is to live in a house every once in a while?) and close friend Brian (so close that he bought me a ticket to see Amanda Palmer with him) play here in Los Angeles with Sxip Shirey (accompanied by Sxip Shirey's hair, if you don't get it then you weren't at that show so sorry, but you can follow them both on twitter), Jason Webley (to whom she dedicates the book), and her and Jason's collaboration Evelyn Evevlyn (and I'm sure I will be reviewing their debut album together very soon as I have listened to it a few times and it just all sorts of good). The book was 40 dollars and well worth every penny. Limited to 10,000 copies (which seems like a lot but limited is still limited) the book features the lyrics to all of the songs on the record with the exception of What's The Use of Wond'rin? plus stories by Palmer's fiancé Neil Gaiman (this is normally the place where I'd tell you who this is but if you don't know who Neil Gaiman is then its probably best you discover on your own) and photography by Kyle Cassidy (who also reportedly laid out the book), Beth Hommel (one of two photographers including Cassidy that got top billing on the book alongside Palmer and Gaiman), Ben Cerf, Tom Dickins, Lauren Goldberg, Amandacera Hannon, Marie-Harveline Caron, Regin Hertrich, Ryan Krakowsky, Michael, McQuilken, Gregory Nomoora, Ron Nordin, Oliver Orion, Tegan Rain, Malka Resnicoff, Nicholas Vargelis, Anabel Vasquez, Rodriguez, and Amanda Palmer herself with appearances by several artists most prominently (at least to me) Jason Webley and Regina Spektor. I really like the inclusion of the lyrics and this is definitely not the first time Palmer had something like this (or the book itself) as there were either companion books or at least songbooks (and sometimes the books were a mix of the two) for her previous releases as part of The Dresden Dolls. What makes this book different is that she chooses to play more off the fiction aspect of the title Who Killed Amanda Palmer. The lyrics here are the one element that don't really match the theme but if you are going to have companion pieces then they are going to need to have at least some crossover (something I'm dealing with now as I work on my new avant-garde film and book of short stories both titled The Impossible Task of Knowing) so I think the inclusion of the lyrics is nice for the fans of the music. Its also interesting to read the lyrics and listen along to the album (which is what I did, though the order of the lyrics are in the order on the album that they appear in the book so I skipped around the songs as I read along in the book) because you'll notice that the two don't always match up which would seem to indicate that the lyrics were put into the book before they were finished being recorded (though this is also something that could have been changed at times during the mastering process of the album which is said to have taken three times). I don't think it should come as a surprise that the real highlights of the book are the short stories by Neil Gaiman. There are only a few but each of them is a bit of a different style and so sometimes you get stories that seem like clues as to the fictional death(s) of Palmer and other times you get a simple small poem also connected to the theme but not always as directly. Gaiman's language is always just so compelling and I love the quiet nature of his writings here. One of my favorite lines comes towards the beginning of the book as part of a diary entry by one of three young girls that finds Palmer's corpse. The line says, "The bruises on Ms. Palmer's neck were the colour of blackberry jam. There's another great story about a writer riding in a hot air balloon with his love and typing out the end of his novel (perhaps metaphors for Gaiman and Palmer) when his love gets annoyed with his typewriter before he throws it out of the balloon (though this would seem to indicate to me not Gaiman and Palmer). My favorite story though is one about a girl (named Amanda) whose father marries a woman with a daughter of her own and then the father dies leaving Amanda with her stepmother and stepsister (both of them just awful). The story reads like a Hans Christian Anderson or Brothers Grimm fairytale where a young Amanda is sent by her evil stepmother to buy drugs for her. I'll try to spare you the spoilers but Amanda's generosity winds up resulting in jewels pouring out of her mouth as opposed to the stepsister who's greed and indifference only produces various lizards and reptiles. I just adore the jewel imagery which is enhanced by a wonderful photograph by Amanda Palmer of jewels coming out of her mouth and she lays dead. In fact almost every picture in the book is of Palmer's fictional corpse taken by the various photographers in a number of scenarios. The aforementioned picture is the best one taken by Palmer though the other ones are generally good. In addition to that photo I really like the two page spread of eight photographs taken in succession of Palmer in her underwear in a very cabaret looking room going absolutely nuts (one of the few photos in which she is not a "dead") and the red and green close-up shot of Palmer on the page just after the lyrics to Oasis. Kyle Cassidy probably has the most photos throughout the book. I don't really think there are any outwardly bad photos in the book but Cassidy's generally aren't my favorite. Most of them are technically good but remind me a lot of most of the photographers I experienced while working in the fetish scene which is to say that the pictures are fine but the photographers are so enamored with the subject and the concept that they often fail to take advantage of the photographic medium and so the pictures are ok but more a good idea than a well executed piece of work. I think Cassidy's best photo is actually of Palmer in a diner with two friends and her face is lying in her food while the two friends are looking anywhere but at her. Palmer doesn't look actually dead in this photo, its just funny and feels like its the most honest photo in the book. There's also a cute picture by Cassidy that accompanies one of Gaiman's stories in which Amanda Palmer's future-self travels to the past Terminator-style and kills her past-self. Cassidy's photo involves Palmer in her more current look holding a sword and standing over the body of herself-circa-Dresden Dolls (with full makeup). I think Beth Hommel's pictures are stronger and often more subtle like in a great photograph just after the lyrics to Runs In The Family in which Palmer's corpse is in the background mostly out of focus with just her hand and the leg of a really great piece of furniture (maybe a chair) in focus in the foreground though my favorite of Hommel's pictures is right on the nose: a polaroid of Palmer nude and dead in the snow just in front of the Yale University School of Art sign and dated December 19, 2008 9:10 PM (clearly trying to recreate a crime scene photo). In fact, in usual Amanda Fucking Palmer fashion she is naked all over this book so if never have seen her in such a state, curious, and don't mind corpse poses or arm-pit hair then the book may be worth it alone to you for that. I won't go into detail about every single photographer but my favorite pictures (besides the ones previously mentioned) include a black and white nude photo of Palmer's nude corpse washing ashore by by Michael McQuilken (I believe the only B&W photo in the book), Palmer's corpse in her underwear with the panties pulled just below her ass just beside a baby carriage in the hallway of what appears to be a hotel by Marie-Harveline Caron, Palmer hanging by a noose on swing next to a young boy swinging by Kyle Cassidy, Palmer's corpse in full cabaret attire lying on a cobblestone street alongside Kriss Kross magazines (worth it for the beautiful color alone) by Regis Herthrich, Palmer's bloody corpse in a sequined dress where the photo looks again like a crime scene by the on-camera flash by Anabel Vasquez Rodriguez, the cover photo (but inside the book) of Palmer lying dead on a couch, covered by leaves, with the words "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" written on the wall accompanied in the book by a fictional description of an anonymous artist using the body as an installation piece both by Gregory Nomoora, Palmer's corpse once again in underwear, a garter belt, and stalkings this time on a spiraling staircase as the photo is taken down the stairwell with the foot of the on-looker peaking in by Marie-Harveline Caron, and my absolute favorite is of Palmer's bloody corpse in fishnets and a pink tank top accordianed-up in a shopping cart by Nicholas Vargelis