BOSTON, MA. (Top40 Charts/ Dresden Dolls Official Website) - THE DRESDEN DOLLS join a lineup of both musical pioneers and rising stars - including Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, Erasure, The Gossip, and The Misshapes - along with host
Margaret Cho for a month-long summer tour to benefit GLBT advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign.
Kicking off June 8 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the tour promises five hours of nonstop music each night, with special guests ranging from Rufus Wainwright to Indigo Girls and Rosie O'Donnell taking the stage at various stops along the way. THE DRESDEN DOLLS - singer and pianist AMANDA PALMER and drummer BRIAN VIGLIONE - are set to perform throughout the 15-date tour, showcasing what Rolling Stone calls a "weird brand of Weimar-inspired punk musical theater," and Alternative Press touts as "something new and delightfully disquieting."
"This tour is a childhood fantasy-warp for me. Cyndi was one of my three main formative idols. I kid you not, I spent several hundred hours of my after-school life working on my choreography to the entire 'She's So Unusual' record in my parents' living room," muses PALMER. "As to the holy trinity postered above my bed, I wanted to f*** Prince, I wanted to pose like Madonna...but I wanted to be Cyndi Lauper."
Expect plenty of crossover on the tour: THE DOLLS are known for their creative collaborations with fellow touring artists, and word has it that Cho and others may be joining THE DOLLS on stage for nightly surprises.
In the meantime, while VIGLIONE explores the familiar mix of music and theatricality in a full band setting - joining fellow Bostonians Humanwine on their "Fighting Naked" tour - PALMER has opted for more intimate confines. PALMER was recently in Nashville working with Ben Folds on her solo debut, which promises to be no mere concoction of piano ballads and sparse confessionals.
"The songs range from intimate ballads to faster and harder Amanda-assaults-the-piano thrillers," says PALMER. "We've been adding everything from organs and Leslie cabinets to strings, horns, and tympani. The final result should be Biblical."
PALMER was in Venice Beach earlier this month to shoot a video for "Shores of California," the third single from THE DRESDEN DOLLS' breakthrough 2006 CD "Yes, Virginia" - the highest-charting new CD the week of its release. A sexually ambiguous twist on David Lee Roth's "California Girls" video, the "Shores of California" clip will be out in June to coincide with the start of the True Colors tour. For more on THE DRESDEN DOLLS, go to www.dresdendolls.com.
True Colors tour dates are as follows:
Fri., June 8 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Sat., June 9 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
Sun., June 10 Denver, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Tue., June 12 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Wed., June 13 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
Fri., June 15 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Sat., June 16 Boston, MA Bank of America Pavilion
Sun., June 17 Washington, DC Merriweather Post Pavilion
Mon., June 18 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
Tue., June 19 Toronto, ON Molson Amphitheatre
Thur., June 21 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Sat., June 23 Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Center
Sun., June 24 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Wed., June 27 San Diego, CA SDSU Open Air Theatre
Fri., June 29 San Francisco, CA Greek Theatre
Sat., June 30 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre
