Notes on the Dresden Dolls and Girls Rock Camp
By JIM SULLIVAN | November 27, 2006
The Dresden Dolls |
It’s no secret that, along with being a rock band, the DRESDEN DOLLS are, well, theatrical. And from December 9 through January 13, they’ll be taking their act into a real theater in Harvard Square. Singer/pianist Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione will star in The Onion Cellar at the American Repertory Theatre’s Zero Arrow Theatre. “The idea for the collaboration came from ART,” Palmer explains. “I had had the concept of creating The Onion Cellar on my back burner, and this was the perfect opportunity. I think you can take risks in a theater setting that you can’t take in a rock setting. You’ve got more contact with the theater audience, and there’s a different energy. If nothing else is true about me, I like to switch things up. The director [Marcus Stern] has said from the beginning that we can create a piece of theater that rises to the level of a rock show rather than bring a rock show down to the level of theater.” The title is taken from the surreal nightclub in Günter Grass’s novel Die Blechtrommel|The Tin Drum. And the production, Palmer says, “is improv-based, incredibly personal, and tailored to the talent of who is on stage.”The GIRLS ROCK CAMP in Portland, Oregon, is recruiting. For five years, the organization has been teaching young women the art of rock, and on December 13 the Boston area gets into the picture with a Girls Camp benefit at T.T. the Bear’s Place featuring hip-hopper Cathy Cathodic, post-punks the Squids, the electronic More Teeth, and New Hampshire’s the Nicky Click. As Click, who got involved with the Camp when she lived in Portland, explains, “It’s really important for young girls and women to learn music. And it’s really important for women to have their own actual empowering time.”
On the Web
Girls Rock Camp: http://www.girlsrockcamp.org
Email the author
Jim Sullivan: jimsullivanink@verizon.net
Related:
Boston music news: October 6, 2006, Boston music news: August 10, 2007, Boston music news: March 16, 2007, More 
- Boston music news: October 6, 2006
Underwood deals head on with two major misconceptions.
- Boston music news: August 10, 2007
The Dresden Dolls played Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” tour this summer.
- Boston music news: March 16, 2007
Amanda Palmer may be the public face of Dresden Dolls, but drummer BRIAN VIGLIONE is no shrinking violet.
- Boston muisc news: April 13, 2007
The working title for Amanda Palmer's solo album is Who Killed Amanda Palmer? , but the Dresden Doll says she’s toying with another: That’s Amanda Fucking Palmer to You .
- NEMO and the Boston Music Awards
It all started a week ago Wednesday at Avalon, where bands played, the audience mingled and schmoozed, a guy in a bear suit turned out to be Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione (I think), and the NEMO music festival kicked off with the 2006 Boston Music Awards.
- Boston music news: June 23, 2006
Local cabaret-punk duo the Dresden Dolls are unveiling a multimedia spectacular called “F#%k the Back Row” at the Brattle Theatre this Sunday. Watch the trailer for Unearth's "Giles" (QuickTime)
- All dolled up
We have seen the face of Boston rock and roll, and it’s got painted-on eyebrows.
- Growing pains
So much has happened for the Dresden Dolls over the past year that it’s no surprise the duo fared so well in this year’s Best Music Poll.
- Life is a cabaret
The Dresden Dolls have been crazy busy since the release, earlier this year, of Yes, Virginia (Roadrunner), and their autumn itinerary ensures they’ll be applying the pancake make-up well into winter.
- Playlist: May 25, 2007
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, Songwriters on Songwriting, and more.
- Crying game
The Onion Cellar that Amanda Palmer envisioned is not the one that the ART will present at Zero Arrow Theatre.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, More
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Concerts and Tour Dates, Dresden Dolls, Brian Viglione, Marcus Stern, Gunter Grass, Nicky Click, Cathy Cathodic, Less
