Dresden Dolls Diary
The very first Dresden Dolls song I ever heard was “ Coin Operated Boy .” It was given to me as part of a mix CD made by my best friend in high school, Heidi. It was 2005, and we were both 14. That summer I remember eagerly awaiting the Dolls’ “ Live at the Wireless ” performance on Triple J radio, and rushing up the stairs in the converted church my mother’s friends lived in to the highest point of the structure to hit record on my tiny little radio/mp3 player and listen appreciatively through my headphones. I had missed the start of the performance, but unbeknownst to me Heidi had been recording at her place too, on a tape deck. She lent me the tape so I could stitch together the entire performance using an auxiliary cable and my laptop. I still have those recordings. They’re a bittersweet reminder, as my friendship with Heidi would be one of the most important of my life, and end sourly a few years later. I bought “ Yes,Virginia… ,” and later the self-titled album , from a