Amanda Palmer Occupies Dewey Square in Boston

Many people have been asking where the music has been for the Occupy protests. As you can see from my previous post, Jeff Mangum took everyone by surprise when he performed at Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday night. Today, Occupy Boston had their own special guest in the form of Amanda Fucking Palmer. She performed several songs with her trusty ukulele and it was quite a special moment. Her wit and charisma shined as she ran through songs with her shadow cast below signs that read “Have fun” and “We are the 99%.” In honor of Jeff Mangum’s performance, she began with a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Two-Headed Boy.” The set also included a “reimagining” of Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” the clever innuendo-laden “Map of Tasmania,” a unique take on “Free Bird,” and a rendition of Billy Bragg’s “The World Turned Upside Down.” The highlight of the set, though, was a new song tentatively titled either “The Ukulele Anthem” or “Play Your Ukulele”. It suggested that many of the world’s problems could be solved by picking up the ukulele and learning a few songs. Let the ukulele revolution begin!

After having spent some time with the activists at Occupy Boston, I was absolutely appalled by how it has been bastardized in the media. Fox News would like you believe it’s disorganized and has no clear message. Both of these things I found to be egregiously untrue. They have specific tents set up for each aspect of the occupation and the collective message has been read loud and clear. There is also a collective message for Occupy Wall Street which has only been covered by one network, Current TV. When Amanda Palmer first addressed the crowd she stated “I’m not here to make a political statement. I’m just here to fucking be here” and the same is essentially true for me so I’ll end my political rant here. Nevertheless, I only ask that you not judge the movement until you learn more. If you have the time, stop by Dewey Square in Boston. There is an information tent with plenty of material so you can join the conversation and take your own stance. Below are videos of Amanda Palmer’s performance, relevant information on what Occupy Boston is about, and some pictures from the event.