Amanda Palmer returned to Vancouver for her annual visit TEDTalks, and having just had tiny wee baby Ash a handful of months ago, still decided to throw a three-and-a-half-hour-long charity-for-the-Greater-Vancouver-Food-Bank party for the third year running under the banner of #NinjaTED (“ninja” shows being what Palmer calls her pop-up gigs).
This year’s cavalcade of awesome featured everyone from her own baby (AWWWWWW), Canada’s Yo-Yo and Kite Dancing champions (Harrison Lee and Tristan Underwood respectively), to astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield (for it wouldn’t be a #NinjaTED without the Starman himself singing “Starman”, with herself, Ms. Palmer), to slam poet Sarah Kay poeting about magical cats, to guitar whiz Usman Riaz, to Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins, to dance legend Bill T. Jones blowing minds as he graced the stage, to her friends and amazing musicians Jherek Bischoff and Jason Webley being bass- and accordion-tastic, to Brainpickings’ Maria Popova dropping knowledge, to singers Jill Sobule or Damian Kulash from OKGo (talking about zero gravity and puke!), to magician David Kwong making money appear inside a kiwi, to Mythbuster Adam Savage doing a full fake TED talk, to accordionist and local Geoff Berner, to tap dancer Dayna Szyndrowski and Flamenco dancer Michelle Harding, to a Balkan orchestra Orkestar Šlivovica…and phewf did I miss anyone?
Oh and let’s not forget the auction of a $20 ukulele signed by everyone that fetched a further $3,000 for the Food bank, or the fact it was live-streamed by Huzza which earned a further $1,500 or so, plus the door tickets, which all went to a very worthy cause. As always, special thanks to the great people at the Vogue Theatre, who continue to donate the venue each year.
Look up the phrases “variety show” “good heart” and “chaotic awesomeness” in the dictionary and you’ll see a photo of Amanda Fucking Palmer, writer, TEDTalker, performer, artist, Patron to the Patreons, eyebrows of intensity, singer of songs about her fears of being a first time mom, just standing there, looking at you, beaming out smiles to the world.
Watch a replay of #NinjaTED here. And please click on all the photos to embiggen and scroll through! \m/
