New Jersey’s indie rock band, Steel Train, has been around over a decade now and they’ve still got it even if they’re only releasing their third (self-titled) studio album this year. We were lucky enough to catch a set of theirs a while back and are highly anticipating the arrival of the fresh new album in our hands on June 29.

However, lead singer and songwriter of Steel Train, Jack Antonoff, has shared with us that he had always heard the new album with a female vocalist. Of course, the new album will feature the guys on vocals but they had another trick up their sleeve to make that idea happen. They’ve not only gotten one female singer to cover a track off the new album but they’ve successfully acquired more than ten very well-known ladies to make this become a reality!

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Like a sci-fi plot in which multiple alternate universes all collide upon a single point, Evelyn Evelyn (the side project of Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer with Seattle musician Jason Webley) has crafted a song in which a seemingly random host of pop culture forces find themselves rubbing elbows and egos, including Frances Bean Cobain.

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Amanda Palmer, lead singer and pianist of the Dresden Dolls and solo artist, writes in a blog post about how she made $19,000 using some creative strategies on Twitter. She performed a “Donation-Only Gig”, did a Webcast Auction, and started the trending topic on Twitter, “Losers Of Friday Night On Their Computers”, on May 15^th. From Amanda’s post:

“I twittered a guest-list only event in a recording studio in Boston, to take place a week later. The gig lasted about 5 hours, all told, with soundcheck and signing. I took mostly requests and we had a grand old time. First come, first served. The first 200 people to ask got in, for free. I asked for donations and made about $2200 in cash. I gave $400 back to the studio for the space and the help. We sold some weird merch. I think we should call it an even 2k.”

Here’s how she made the other $17,000:

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