... or is it Eddie Vedder's Amanda crush? Maybe it's not even news, but whenever two ukulele afficianados start trading [professional] love in public forums, it's going to hit the Interwebz.
Who is Amanda Palmer? Well, I didn't know until the New York Times featured her and Ed in an article about the ukulele's current popularity. She's a fairly obscure American artist who at some point started whipping out a ukulele on stage. That eventually led to her cutting a full album of Radiohead covers done on ukuelele. It's on Bandcamp for a dollar right now.
Much like Ed, the ukulele doesn't always take the forefront in her music, but in her most recent album with The Grand Theft Orchestra included a song called Ukelele Anthem.
It seems that Ed took a shine to that song because he covered it on New Year's Eve at Bill Maher's party in Hawaii then he sent Amanda a ukulele as a Christmas gift (it looks like she needs it, is that a toy 4-string on her album cover?) and included a gift that said, "Thanks for penning the greatest ukulele song ever written." Anyhow ... she was "filled with absolute joy."
Then earlier this week Ed invited her to Melbourne to play Ukulele Anthem and Hard Sun. An experience that left us with some great backstage pictures. You can see what Amanda had to say about it on her blog.
So, will this public crush continue? Will Palmer be on Ed's third album? Will that third album be available later this year? Will it include songs that were left off the soundtrack for Out of the Furnace?
I can't help it. It's a Pearl Jam blog. Certain questions must be prioritized.
