Magnificent Eyes

M.I.A., David Byrne, and more attend the two musicians’ experimental collaboration in a bookstore. SPIN’s Charles Aaron explains.
And with good reason. Last Friday’s intimate benefit show at Housing Works bookstore in New York’s Soho neighborhood was an acoustically nuanced, elaborately voiced performance by the Brooklyn-based indie-rock theoreticians Dirty Projectors featuring pop’s most likable experimentalist, Bjork. And everyone — most of all the patrons who paid $100-$400 a ticket — wanted to hear every carefully composed strum and croon and otherworldly hocket. So they shooshed. (…)
Meanwhile, the increasingly lubricated crowd was warming to the task of spotting musical “celebrities” amongst the crowd of 300 — M.I.A., David Byrne, St. Vincent, Evanescence singer Amy Lee, members of Vampire Weekend and the National. All right, so it wasn’t an Us Weekly field day, but still, a lively turnout, which reportedly raised upwards of $40,000 for Housing Works’ efforts to assist homeless, HIV-positive New Yorkers (read more..). More from this event: HousingWorks.org Huge thanks to EvanescenceVille for this find!

“From our contact at Legends and Lyrics: ‘Just keep checking www.legendsandlyrics.com. It will be at least fall before this airs on PBS stations and can be bought on DVD’” Thanks to EvanescenceVille for this info!

In front of a shining black Baldwin piano, Amy Lee of Evanescence made her first real performance in over a year…and it was a good one. On February 23, 2009, the hauntingly beautiful singer/songwriter could be found at a taping of Legends and Lyrics in Nashville, Tennessee, sharing the stage with artists Gavin DeGraw and Dwight Yoakam. Though out of her element in an ”in the round” session, she quickly made herself comfortable at the piano, performing an acoustic set with guitar (cue Terry Balsamo of Evanescence) and cello. The trio can only be described as raw, ethereal, and haunting. Lee, the first of the artists to perform, began with Bring Me To Life from the album Fallen, setting the bar for the program. Before delving into Lithium, from album The Open Door, Amy felt the need to clarify the meaning of the song. Speculating that there were likely many interpretations, she explained simply that the song was about choosing to feel over choosing numbness. Good Enough, also from album The Open Door, was described by Lee as the “happy song” of the evening. Before Call Me When You’re Sober, again from The Open Door, she went on to explain how the song was created from two very different pieces, one from her, one from Terry. (more…)

“This is what we got from Tim as an answer to our question concerning the new song’s title: ‘hmm I wasnt there but I think it was probably a song called “your love”…’ (Tim McCord)
Tracklist: Bring Me To Life, Lithium, Call Me When You’re Sober, Good Enough and (a new song called) Your Love” Thanks to EvanescenceVille for this info!

Evanescence has been awarded Platinum and Gold certification by the RIAA! The My Immortal digital single has been certified Gold (more then 500,000 sold) and the digital single Call Me When You’re Sober has been certified platinum (more than a million sold). Thanks to Evanescence.com and EvanescenceVille for this news!

Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee will be featured on an upcoming episode of Legends & Lyrics, a unique musical performance series showcasing the art of songwriting. Each show is a mixture of famous recording artists from all genres who write their own hit songs as well as the professional song poets they sometimes depend on to write hit songs for them. Lee will be accompanied by Evanescence guitarist Terry Balsamo during the performance, which will be taped on February 23 in Nashville, Tennessee. Legends & Lyrics is distributed and presented by American Public Television and will appear on PBS stations nationwide starting April 2009 (check local listings).