Happy Dresden Dolls Bandiversary

The Dresden Dolls, those lovable ragamuffins Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, are ten today. They first met at a Hallowe'en' party ten years ago and are celebrating with a sold out gig in New York. They've been apart for a couple of years but now is the perfect time to get back together. They're also saying a big 'thank you' to you, me and the world by giving away copies of their very first album, a collection of live performances on the record, 'A Is For Accident' and you can download it here: http://bit.ly/aisforTHANKYOU .

My love affair with the Dolls began in 2005 when they were part of Patti Smith's Meltdown on the Southbank. They performed a couple of songs at the 'Stand Bravely Brothers' concert of Brecht songs at the Royal Festival Hall and then did a free gig in the ballroom area. After that gig I bought their first studio album, 'The Dresden Dolls' from the merch stand and Amanda signed it with a flourish of her gold pen. And I lost my heart. I've seen the Dolls on every visit to London since then and, in the last couple of years, Amanda's solo shows. I've even bumped into her by accident with Neil Gaiman and still been the happy recipient of a trademarked Amanda Hug.

I also went to see Brian when he played drums on the Jesse Malin tour a few years ago and was lucky enough to meet him after the show - of course, it was Brian I went to support, not some random American, and he was, of course, excellent. How many times have you been to a gig to see the drummer? Ah, but Brian is no ordinary drummer.

Sadly, I didn't make it over to Boston to see 'Cabaret' and I'm not in New York for the Hallowe'en show, but it's going to be filmed so I expect it'll be available somewhere at some point. The Dresden Dolls make me happy and will continue to do so. All I can say is...

PUNK CABARET IS FREEDOM!