I recently went to Los Angeles as Amanda Palmer’s guest during her Art of Asking book tour, to talk with her and her fans about my contribution to her book.
In summary, I am the massage therapist she met on her birthday, who had something important to talk about with her before the table work could begin. It had to do with music, grief, anger, and money. I wrote about my experience in the blog, you can read about hers in the book, and here is a fan account of the performance that night.
“Your story about Courtnee had me in tears. And when she actually came up, shared her heart, shared Hey You, and said the words “Anger is just disembodied grief,” I felt a million lightbulbs of healing go off at once inside my currently grief-stricken heart over a recent breakup with a man who had talked with me about marriage.
Coupling that with the context of the evening, the woman so broken with disembodied grief her heckling rattled all of us, and watching how gracefully you handled the situation, I felt a peace rise in me that I hadn’t had before.
I am terrified to start writing. Not because of writing, but because of reaction. I know you know how that feels. But last night, seeing it happen in person, watching you literally be surrounded by love, both on stage and off, despite the ghoulish, projectile word-vomiting grief, I became brave. This to say – you, your story with Courtnee, your reconciliation, forgiveness, friendship, and willingness to actually put all of those things on display, created room for this.
It would not have happened without that story. It would not have happened without Courtnee present last night. It would not have happened without the grief ghoul literally manifesting in person. ” – Heather Jabornick
It wasn’t entirely planned, but I ended up singing a song for Amanda and her fans that evening, using Amanda’s ukulele. It turned out beautifully – there is just no replacing natural reverb. The Art of Asking Book Tour. Sat, November 22, 2014. First Unitarian Church – Los Angeles.
