The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer & Brené Brown

Author:Amanda Palmer & Brené Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Right around the same time, I was with Jason Webley in New York doing a weeklong run of shows in a small theater in the West Village. We were performing in character as the conjoined-twin Evelyn Evelyn sisters, wearing a custom dress lovingly hand-sewn for two people of considerably different heights by our seamstress friend Kambriel. I was the right Evelyn, Jason was the left Evelyn, and we each used a single hand to play one side of each instrument—guitar, piano, and accordion. We wore matching wigs, Jason shaved his beard and wore lipstick, and the result was absurdly unconvincing. Our friend Sxip played the role of our sleazy Svengalian stage manager, and our actual tour manager, Eric, pulled double duty playing the role of the silent, oppressed, and worrisome stagehand. The twins were reluctant performers. The shows were shambolic and perfect.

As usual, I was crashing with Josh and Alina across the river in Brooklyn. One day I realized that our show and signing wouldn’t be over until eleven thirty, and I had a meeting next door to the theater at ten the next morning. It seemed pointless to spend an hour getting to Brooklyn just to sleep, get up, and turn around again, but it also seemed ridiculous to splurge on a hotel. Without giving it much thought, I twittered:

Who’s got a couch/decent bed anywhere in/near West Village? Need crashspace. Will be low-maintenance, in and out. Will trade tickets for the @EvelynEvelyn show

Which is how I arrived, six hours later, at the doorstep of Felix and Michelle. In the moment my finger touched the buzzer, I started to worry that perhaps I was taking this whole Twitter-crowdsourcing thing too far. I’d only ever couchsurfed with Brian, or with the Australians, or with Jason by my side. What if these people were axe murderers?

Axe murderers don’t follow me on Twitter, I reassured myself.

But think about what the neighbors say about certain killers, I argued back, as they’re being interviewed by the local news. “They seemed so normal.”

They said in the email that their names were FELIX AND MICHELLE. How could a nice-sounding couple like FELIX AND MICHELLE be axe murderers?

Bonnie and Clyde, I argued. Bonnie and Clyde. Plus—

The door opened and there was Michelle.

Hi, Amanda! She threw the door open and ushered me into the kitchen of the apartment. Jesus, you must be exhausted. How many shows have you done in a row? Five? Sorry we couldn’t take you up on the ticket offer, we had some stupid museum benefit to go to. Let me show you the guest room…I’ve just changed the sheets for you and…wait, before anything…WINE. Red or white? Or Scotch? Felix just brought back a special bottle from Scotland…

And she bustled me into the guest room, where fresh towels were folded on the bed.

I stood there in awe, wondering how I ever could have doubted the universe.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.