Singer ‘showered with kindness’
American singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer says she was “showered with kindness” during her enforced lockdown in Hawke’s Bay.
Palmer was on the last leg of a global tour in March with her author husband Neil Gaiman when Covid-19 hit.
But Palmer said the time spent in lockdown was the “hardest of my life”.
“Our marriage hit a very sore spot while in lockdown and Neil made the regrettable decision to head to Scotland, where he’s still locked down.”
Gaiman’s 12,000km move to locked-down Scotland at the start of May made headlines around the world and he apologised to everyone on the island of Skye after police visited.
But when things were at their hardest, Palmer, 44, who rose to fame in the musical duo The Dresden Dolls, was “showered with kindness”. “Someone loaned a car, someone else a piano, people have brought over warm clothes and little toys for Ash, my 4-year-old,” she said.
“We’ve been showered with feijoa jam, wine, hand-knitted mittens and warm hugs.”
Palmer said the separation had been very difficult.
“Emotionally processing all of that and being a single parent for the last few months has been a real struggle, but it’s also been a real blessing.
“Our son is really missing him, and we are hoping Neil can find a safe passage back down to this part of the world so that they can reunite.”
But her time in the region gave her time to step back and write her first new music in months.
And after a recent tour of Toitoi: Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, Palmer said an upcoming show is in the works.
“I can’t wait to play that gorgeous in-house piano. I’ll arrange some smaller shows in local cosy places too,” she added.
Palmer said she was also off to Auckland to record music for a quick release. The New York-born singer also performed at the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Market, singing a handful of songs alongside a few young local artists.
“I’m a busker by trade,” she said.
“I cut my performer teeth in the street back in my twenties and I maintain there’s no gig like a gig in front of a bunch of people who don’t know you and don’t need to care about you.
“We forget, in the internet age and the blockbuster economy, how powerful it can be for a small group of people to gather together and hear an artist or a storyteller spill the emotional details and reflection of the here and now.”