Hot Rod Heidi, Go-Kustom, Alpine Backdrops, Mega Clevage and Banned From All Washington Safeways For a Year: Super Amanda in Seattle Travelogue

Warning: Extreme explosive film content!








How wonderful it was to have a weekend of working and it was ALL singing, film and music video WORK! Seattle is so beautiful and everyone at G0-Kustom was so much fun.
All my You Tube antics have attracted truly good entertainment people, as sick of the mainstream industry bs as I am and who are serious about my singing, acting and, as D.A. Sebastian put it, "not just my boobs."


FRIDAY was pretty crazy, in order to get a really early flight to Seattle and avoid the notoriously unreliable local airport shuttles, I spent the night at the airport and arrived in beautiful lushly green Seattle very happy but knackered. The space needle , visible from the freeway, was cool and Seattle was stunning in it's sheer size replete with lakes everywhere. After meeting everyone at the label whose offices and studio double as an arts school for children during the weekdays, I went with Go-Kustom producer D.A. Sebasstian to , you guessed it, Starbucks inside the nearby Safeway, a giant one. Welcome to Seattle!!


Went right into the recording studio after that to work on a few tunes for an upcoming "Kill Switch...Klick" Box set including a track called "Hemi Charger" which I suggested be dedicated to Tura Satana, patron saint of all Kustom Kulture gals. I had fun exchanging spaced out and accidentally "shoplifted" stories with others. I'm making a very funny You Tube video about the whole incident this week.



SATURDAY morning saw me go right into filming the long awaited high definition video for "Killing Machine" first thing in the morning. It was my first professional shoot complete with green screen, lots of hair whipping around and the KSK featuring Super Amanda music blasting over and over. I had been worried that shooting from below would not be as flattering and would yield results similar to Marlon Brando showing up in the Philippines to star in "Apocalypse Now" but thankfully DA is an incredible cameraman as well as director, editor, musician, singer etc and I did not have to wear a black sheet and sit in a dark lagoon. We shot inside with green screen and out side for different lighting. Then it was more singing and a trip to the Northgate mall (my first trip to ANY mall in over a year). Almost everyone looked like an extra in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video and they were all friendly
plus Rankin Bass' "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" was on flat screen overhead.
Saturday night meant that it was time to film the long awaited "two girls barfing scene" (we are zapped by alien gamma rays while primping in the bathroom) for D.A's Seattle Film Festival bound film "Hot Rod Girls save The World."
My cohort in regurgitation turned out to be none other than the stunning Hot Rod Heidi who exceeded my expectations of how cool a Kustom Kulture gal could be. She is divine! Perfect petite figure, flawless Betty Page quiff, vintage clothing down to her shoes and a beautiful cheerful face-I can't wait to direct her myself when I direct films! We went over the lines, chose our characters and we turned out to be a great match on screen.
Heidi gave me the low down on Kustom Kulture and how it's pulling in people from dozens of genres and influences (punk, new wave, biker, surfers, rockabilly, psychbilly, swing, bebop, mod) and all age groups and how in Seattle especially it's like a family community.




SUNDAY was my official interview for Go-Kustom TV with the delightful Lindsay Calkins the lead star in "Hot Rod Girls Save The World." A friend donated this immensely sprawling hand painted alpine mural to DA's school which we chatted in front of as it complimented my dirndl. From boobs to You Tube to leftism we talked about all the usual Super Amanda stuff. Then more singing in the studio, including perfecting a proto EMO song called "Listless" which was higher and not really in my key and that I'd like to do over. I trained to sing in almost any key but have let my higher register get weak from not using it enough. I talked a great deal about music with DA and about how much we love The Who and Pete. D.A is a huge Who fan and we agreed that they are one of the greatest bands EVER producing some of the most powerful sounds ever, spanning rock, RnB, soul, hard rock, country and even folk and gospel. We all watched "Hitman" for my final night in Seattle and while it was an exciting film, I found myself seeing too much "video game influence" which makes sense because that's what it originally was! I'm not really keen on virtual games and sex symbols inspiring live action media, Lara Croft is one thing but I'm geared much more towards the reality of the surf, road and concert stage leaving the internet for email and DIY movies and music. As Seattle music genius Jack Endino would say "The Unpredictable Joys of Analog Recording" may take more time but it's well worth it and all the imperfections that virtual realty spackles are not for me. I see that as a credo that goes beyond music to include other areas of life.


So while I never saw downtown or even the space needle up close and was very sad to leave Seattle and my new two and four footed friends, I'll be back very soon to stay for awhile and work on Kustomizing my Super Amandaness for stage, screen and 'The Rainbow.'