Hey, everyone! The absolute pinnacle of my week was sitting front row at my favorite musician’s gig in Queenstown last night. However, it has been a really lovely week. Read on!

Playing Chinchón

After work one day, Marcos, one of my Argentinian friends from the hostel, invited me to join him and some of his friends at the Queenstown Gardens. We had plans to do yoga together as his back has been hurting him lately. We never ended up doing yoga. Instead, we hung out on a picnic blanket and played a card game. The game is called chinchón. It is essentially a card matching game. I had never seen cards like this before. They reminded me of Tarot cards – staff, cups, pentacles, swords.

Marcos played Argentinian music and people passed around maté, which is sort of a tea that I mentioned in last week’s post.

Once we had played a few rounds, another hostel mate Lau came to join.

We were essentially speaking Spanglish. Sometimes, I could understand what the others were saying but other times I didn’t know most of the words and they were speaking quickly. Still, it was a cool experience.

At one point, I was offered some maté by Lau. I felt quite honored as it was my first time trying it. “You’re Argentinian now” he jokingly said. I didn’t realize that when drinking maté, you have to drink the whole thing at once. Then it is refilled for the next person to drink. And refilled again, etc. etc. It’s actually a pretty cool concept. To intentionally take the time to pour a single person a drink, then to refill and hand to the next person. Sharing is caring!

Spanish-speaking has been going well. Now that I am back at the hotel, I worry I won’t be practicing as much but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I’ve been doing Duolingo and I will continue practicing with my friends in person. At times, I am delighted that I’m able to carry on an easy conversation in Spanish.

The Luge

Well, I talked about Skyline last week. On Saturday, I finally went on the luge! I bought three rides. I didn’t think it would be so much fun but it really was. I was surprised by how quickly I was able to race down the mountains. My brother and nephew would have loved it.

Other Fun Things

Some other moments throughout the week…

On Wednesday, I practiced slack line with the other weirdos. I saw a small dog hanging around and I crouched down to pet it. It ended up liking me. It was the first time I’ve been able to interact with a dog in such a long time! It enjoyed the attention and ended up hopping on my lap. At one point, a little baby tried to come up to the dog and the dog actually hid underneath my legs haha. Later, I continued to practice slackline and juggling.

After slackline, I went with Jasper, Yvonne, Abby, and some others to Silent Disco. It was a fun night but the music wasn’t as good as the week before. Another night, I hung out with Jasper and Yvonne again. We got ice cream at Anita’s ice creamery.

There was a goodbye party for Ojus one night. Bruno DJ’d.

On another day, the hostel peeps hung out by the lake for Shenal’s going away party. He was leaving the hotel and moving to Frankton since he got a new job there. It was a lovely hang and the sunset was beautiful. It feels good to be making friends and spending time with them.

Amanda Palmer in Queenstown

My favorite musician, Amanda Palmer, was slated to perform at the Sherwood hotel on the 21st of January. I had seen some posts that she was already in Queenstown earlier in the week. There was one day where she actually was playing piano at the lakefront and I missed it by maybe fifteen minutes. I couldn’t believe it! I had been reading at the park but got called back to the hostel to unlock the door for someone who lost their keys. Afterwards, I just continued to read in my room until dinner time. Had I stayed at the park until I wanted to, I probably would have walked home and passed Amanda playing piano! Alas.

Amanda apparently knows the piano-playing busker, Luke, who frequents the lakefront. He typically plays there every night around sunset. It is his only job – how cool is that?

I ended up talking to Luke one day. I asked him if he had gone away somewhere because I hadn’t seen him since I’d been in Queenstown. He told me he was in Europe for a little while. I told him the reason for me asking is that I hadn’t seen him around until the past week and suddenly he’s back and playing this beautiful music every day and then I see my favorite musician post a video of him. He asked, “Who’s your favorite musician?” “Amanda Palmer.” “Huh. She’s out kayaking with my partner right now.” WHAT? Small world. He told me he’d see me at the show on Sunday.

And then Sunday came…

Originally, I wasn’t planning on getting to the venue too early but after thinking about it, I remembered it was a sold out show and I wanted to try to get a good spot. I decided to get there at 4.30pm since doors opened at 6pm and I wasn’t sure how large the venue was. It ended up being pretty small. I talked to the receptionist and they told me I could just hang out. I read a little bit and was thrilled to hear Amanda doing her sound check.

At one point, I realized I didn’t know what the process was like for checking into the venue. It was sort of a casual place but I wondered was there going to be a place to queue? I decided to go ask the receptionist. Afterwards, I asked if I could use the toilet. Someone had just gone in there. I waited for a moment and when the door opened, I was face to face with Amanda Palmer. “Hi,” I say like a weirdo. Who says that to someone coming out of the toilet? Hahaha. She had a goofy smile on her face.

I continued to read until it was time to enter the venue. Occasionally, I would get glimpses of Amanda as she talked to her crew.

Sorry. I am aware I probably am coming off like a psycho haha. BUT I LOVE HER MUSIC and as my mom suggested, maybe I have a “spiritual connection” to her haha.

Anyway…

Re-Meeting Amanda

Eventually, it was time to enter the venue. On my way in, Amanda passed by me and I said, “I’m so excited!” She responded with, “Me, too!”

Once I was in the venue space, Amanda magically appeared again. She came right up to me and gave me a fist bump. She said, “Congratulations on being the first person on this whole fucking tour.” The Queenstown show was her first show on tour and I was the first guest.

I was definitely star struck and shaking, but I said to her, “I made a drawing for you,” and started to pull it out. She was busy but she turned around to take it from me and after looking at it, said, “this is really good.” She asked me what my name was, where I am from, what I’m doing in Queenstown (when I told her where my job is, she said, “oh, yeah, I know where that is.”).

Amanda asked for me to put my Instagram information on the back of the drawing so she could share it on her Patreon. She also took a photo on her phone of the two of us with the drawing. I hope she posts that one on Patreon, too!

Finally, I asked Amanda if she could autograph a photo that I printed out. She told me I came at the perfect time because she was just about to get changed for the show.

Okay – so the photo I wanted Amanda to autograph has kind of a funny story.

When I first met Amanda 12 years ago, it was after her show in Chicago. It was The Dresden Dolls doing a sort of reunion tour. Amanda and Brian came out and were signing autographs but Amanda said they had to be up super early so they couldn’t do photos. My friend Jess and I stubbornly wanted pictures, so we crossed the street and hung out near the trailer. At one point, I saw Amanda and I called out her name. She stopped. Jess and I hurried over to her. I told her how much her music means to me, etc. and we took a picture together. At the time, Amanda used to shave her eyebrows and draw them on with eyeliner in crazy, cool designs. She had just removed the makeup and had “bald” eyebrows… As a result of this, she had covered basically her entire face with her hair in our photo LOL. I decided to print out the picture and see if Amanda would sign it. When I explained a bit of the situation, she said, “just the teeth” and kind of chuckled.

And yet, she signed it for me. I have since laminated it haha.

Then she left. “Bye, Steve!”

I had the venue to myself. Do I sit right up front, literally right in front of the keyboard?

Yes. I will never, ever have this opportunity again. It was such a small venue. It must have fit maybe 30 or 40 people maximum. When Amanda came on stage later, she said, “I think I know half of you here.” It was mostly an intimate show for friends instead of the standard venues she plays at.

While waiting for Amanda to come out and play, I talked with some of the other fans. Two couples were quite old and I was surprised they were fans of Amanda’s music. I might have actually been the youngest person at the venue which was kind of bizarre. Two of the people I talked with were from Melbourne, one was from PERTH!!! and two were from Madison, Wisconsin which I thought was so funny. Later, I met someone from Minnesota, as well. The Midwesterners seem to love Amanda.

And then… it was time.

The Show

Amanda came out playing the ukulele. Her opening song was a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”. She stood on a bench singing to us. And after, she made her way to the piano.

The first song of hers that she played was “Runs in the Family,” which felt so out of place to the rest of her setlist. It is pretty manic and chaotic. The other songs were all somewhat related to New Zealand or Australia (since this was a tour for her new EP called New Zealand Survival Songs and she also has a lot of songs about Down Under). “Runs in the Family” is a song I used to practice on piano when I was a teenager. It was surreal to see her playing it right in front of me, as if to me.

At certain points throughout the show, Amanda looked right at me as she sang.

It was such an incredible show. Inbetween songs, she would give context to when and where she wrote the songs. Essentially, her EP about New Zealand is based off of the two and a half years she spent stuck in New Zealand during the pandemic.

I was really pleased when she played “Australia”. That was a song of hers I had rarely listened to but in the months leading up to me leaving for Australia, I listened to it constantly. She talked of how when she was much younger, before she was touring with The Dresden Dolls, she went to Australia and fell in love with it – much like I had.

She also played the piano-only version of a new Dresden Dolls song called “Runner” which was SO good. My friend Joey and I were messaging about the name because his favorite musician made a short film called The Runner.

While watching the show, there were times that I could tell Amanda had gotten completely lost in the song. I had, too. It was like time stretched out and behaved differently than how it normally does. I suppose that’s what it’s like to be In The Zone.

Other times, I couldn’t believe I was sitting front row at my favorite musician’s Queenstown gig. It was almost a spiritual experience.

Amanda’s final song was “Little Island” which is my favorite song on her new EP – a song about New Zealand itself.

Afterwards, I lingered for a little bit. People who donate to her Patreon (myself included) were invited on stage to take a picture with Amanda. Surely, they will at least post that picture in a few days.

Amanda was surrounded by people asking for autographs, etc. but once things had calmed down, she and I locked eyes and I put my hands together in “namaste” and said, “Thank you.” She thanked me for the drawing and said, “Bye, Steve!” I couldn’t believe she remembered my name after performing a three hour show.

I felt acknowledged. I think that’s all that any of us really want, right? To be seen, heard, acknowledged. Especially from our idols. I know it was a little act on Amanda’s end – to have a conversation with me, to take a picture with me, and to sign an autograph for me. She will likely forget my name in the coming days as she meets so, so many people. But for me – it is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Thank you, Aoteroa New Zealand! You’ve DONE IT AGAIN!

Miscellaneous

I will just write a few more little things that didn’t really fit in the above section…

It was funny to see that Amanda is shorter than me because she seems so big in my mind.

Amanda doesn’t shave her armipits or legs which like HELL YEAH!!! While she was performing, I could actually see the hair on her legs. I thought to myself, “well, I’ve never been close enough to her at a show where I could see her leg hair” hahaha.

And finally, what a difference it was from the last time I’d met Amanda until now.

Her, then: no eyebrows, dark hair, a much more punk look.
Her, now: A mother in hippy attire, eyebrows, greying hair

Me, then: pretty unhinged, not yet (or maybe only very newly?) sober, still in college
Me, now: living in New Zealand, has it much more together, also greying hair

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Anddddd so yes – I have fulfilled my role working at the hostel and have now been back at the hotel as of Friday. It is quite a change but it’s fine. I like being behind a computer. While I enjoyed working at the hostel, it was time to get back into the groove of things at the hotel.

Also, I saw the eels again! They’re so big.

A very, very rainy day in Queenstown…

I had a magnificent discovery this week, too! One of my absolute favorite movies C.R.A.Z.Y. is notoriously difficult to find on streaming platforms. I’d asked my brother to download it for me back in 2020 but it didn’t have subtitles. It’s a French movie. I asked him recently if he could look into it again and he said he couldn’t find anything. As luck would have it, I tried downloading the movie instead of just viewing through a web browser and suddenly the subtitles were able to be activated. YES! I haven’t watched the movie in maybe ten years, so I’m really looking forward to giving it a watch one of these days.

Art of the Week

Reflections

I don’t have much to add here. The show last night was one for the books. I feel so good about it!

Nothing much planned for the next week. Practicing slackline, spending time with friends, practicing Spanish, etc. If it is good weather next weekend, I will try to go hiking the Ben Lomond summit. We shall see.

Until then. Sending you all my love! xx