THE FAREWELL to GRAVESIDE POST, with PLAYLIST & SCRAPBOOK! (Patreon)

Hello, my dear comrades around the world!

Long story short: WE DID IT. WE MADE A PLACE! And for about a year, it was called Graveside Variety.

Squished betwixt two graveyards in Woodstock, NY, we went to work. We took your money for a few months, and then we hobbled along on door money and donations. Shows, plays, sing-a-longs, readings, musicals, drag story hours, community coffee hours....what the world needed. What WE needed.

Yes, we did it. We crowd-and-otherwise-funded a little cabaret pop-up venue in the woods, and it's time to close. There is going to be a NEW venue springing up in Woodstock down the street, run by members of the Wider Graveside Family, and I couldn't be more proud. More on that way below the scrapbook, which was lovingly put together by Liz Grammaticas.

Liz: I cannot thank you enough for everything you've done to help this venue stumble along...and for this scrapbook!! It's been an honor to work with you, my dear, and I know the community loves the shit out of you. So does this dumb Rock Star.

,........

Couple housekeeping things!!!!

THE FILM OF SUNDAY NIGHT'S PRIVATE PRACTICE SHOW will be released NEXT MONTH for PATRONS ONLY so you can all indulge in this tiny joyous place in the comfort of your own living room.

We hired a videographer named Anthony Mulcahy to capture the night (I took four of your requests from the other days' post, and invited special guests Storm Large, Rachel Jayson and Amelia Allen on stag e with me. Stay tuned.

..............

THE VERY LAST GRAVESIDE SHOW/TALK is THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 1st, at 1pm. I'll be in conversation with one of my favorite memoirists, NYT bestselling writer Leslie Jamison. We're gonna be discussing here new book, "Splinters", and what it means to challenge yourself to write the truth even if it's emotionally expensive.We will do a Q&A and a signing, and we're also filming the talk for patrons here, YAY! There's a tiny handful of tickets left, so come say goodbye and cry with me. 

..........

MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY NOT LISTEN WHILE YOU READ, EH?

So so so many incredible and eclectic artists graced the stage at Graveside, and one of the things that's such a bummer about creating a crowdfunded venue is that you couldn't ALL come to ALL of the shows.

Hell, even the locals couldn't come to ALL the shows.

But...there's still music.

So we made you a PLAYLIST complied from the many many amazing performers who've played at Graveside over the last year of our existence.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12GTe1IV6CD3fN5qnJ7l2l?si=4494bda670444e2b

..........

Okay now, down to business!!!

My dears.

This is a very special kind of post, and in the almost ten years (! WUT ? yep, coming up in March 2025) of running this patreon, I have never done a post QUITE like this one.

I have done all sorts of whackadoodle things with this patreon money and support. Made albums. Made music videos that cost over $100k to make. Funded poems that cost nothing to make (well, technically but we all know how this goes). Made documentaries, made podcasts, made advice columns, made mistakes, made massive donations to charity, made good, made happy, made a fuck ton of stuff. 

This post is, by permission of the 98% of you who voted in the poll, a FINAL “THINGING” of Graveside Variety, The Little Pop-up Venue In The Woods That COULD. To say it was 100% crowdfunded would be a huge lie: it was also funded by a co-investor, MANY thousands of dollars of contributions from people who walked (and some who never walked) through the front door of the venue, and the ticket sales and merch sales at the desk. All told? 

We still lost thousands of dollars getting this THING into material existence, and without the first three months (and this last month) of extra dough, the loss would have been even greater. So it is fair to say: I would not have opened this little pop-up venue, a bold experiment in community, art, sharing, writing and commerce - had it not been for YOU all saying YES.

I promised, when I asked permission to Thing this venue about a year ago, to write to you, from my heart, about what was happening.

This post, pieced together with TONS of help from Graveside’s main muscle and former Dresden Dolls Brigader Elizabeth  Grammaticas, is a long walk through what this venue has PUT INTO THE WORLD, but before we go deep into what has happened…I wanted to take a moment to talk about what this venue, personally, did for ME.

Yes, of course, it’s all about ME. (She shakes her head and laughs).

But actually, in a way, it is. You’re my patrons. You’re here because you trust me, and you’re here to patronize my art and growth as an artist, my weird choices about how to take your $3 and spend it on something…useful. Artful. Whateverful. Damned if I know how to really describe why it makes SENSE to me that a person from Melbourne, Australia, is okay with spending $3 to fund a queer, avant-garde woods-cabaret in America, but according to my main philosophy, it makes PERFECT sense.

Why? Because the Butterfly Effect of art is well understood by this community. Because the ricochet effect of one venue providing a spring board for some young artist, or a safe haven for a women suffering from domestic abuse, or a place for kids to roam free and draw on each other…it’s universally necessary, and it’s priceless, and you never know what is going to effect what.

And moreover, this venue saved my life as an artist, and as a songwriter.

How?

Here's a photo - by Anthony Mulcahy) of me on Sunday night, debut-ing a new Dresden Dolls song for a group of 60 patrons (that show is coming to your inboxes next month, sans new song).

I also brought some friends to join me (this is Amelia Allen and Storm Large. Yes I'm in my underwear, it was really hot)

I’ll take a moment to tell you; I owe you.

When I returned to New York from New Zealand - after having not stepped foot in America for three solid years - I moved into a house that was not easy to write in, for a lot of reasons.

The way it was shaped just didn’t work; and that’s a long story in itself. All of the songs composed for “There Will Be No Intermission” were composed on friend’s pianos in the neighborhood, or back home in Boston in my old apartment, or on the road on borrowed pianos in basements of venues. For whatever reason: the composition door of this house was locked shut. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I just didn’t feel safe, perhaps it was the fact that the house was filled with domestic vibes and too much office clutter; I’ll never really know. As a songwriter, I try not to overthink these things. But after forty (count ‘em, fuckkkkk) years of attempted songwriting in various rooms, recording studios, apartments, dressing rooms, houses, and houseboats (thanks Jason Webley), I am now smart enough to know what works and what does not….even if I can’t really clarify WHY.

Forgive my lewd metaphor, but writing a song is a bit like having sex with your partner, or taking a shit. You need your conditions in which to, ahem, flow; you want your privacy, you don’t really want to have to explain why to the people around you. It’s an incredibly intimate act, this thing.

So back to June 2022: I show back up at this house in Woodstock: newly divorced, newly  traumatized by Covid and New Zealand and solo motherland and foreign country weirdness, totally emotionally raw, and very ready to do what I know how to do: process through songwriting.

But I returned to a house that didn’t seem to want me to write in it.

So for about a year, I just didn’t write.

I landed in June, began unpacking boxes and trying to figure out what was where, lost a few weeks to my dad landing in the hospital, lost another few weeks to getting covid for the first time, just barely got my shit together enough to get a kid started in a new school, and tried to hit the ground running with my band doing a tiny residency in my neighborhood. But the songs did not come; I was just too exhausted, too frazzled, too angry, too disoriented, too overwhelmed trying to adapt to this new country, for I assure you, Woodstock, New York, America 2022  was not the place I left behind in 2019 when I embarked on tour. 

I was navigating a new American Planet. The pandemic ripped the middle out of so many narratives. I didn’t know where I fit in the story, most of the time. 

Song ideas came fast and furious - as they always do - and I captured them here and there in voice memos and notes, and I waited for that moment to come when I’d finally carve out time to relax, jump into my songwriting suit, and test the waters of Finishing. But that day, which used to materialize magically every few months, just didn’t come. The kid would get sick. Or school would get canceled. Or I’d have an old friend coming to visit - I was so desperate for company, and to revive all of my withered friendships, having been gone from my pals’ bosoms for so long. It was always something. And I know what I would tell myself, if I were hearing this whinging in a songwriting seminar: shut up and just carve out a few hours and WRITE. Just put your phone away and ditch the email and the business and WRITE. You can. 

Anytime. Coward.

Except I couldn’t. I would sit down at the piano in the house, and just get overcome with a mild panic or a mild sadness that would steer me away. Call it childish, call it lazy, but I know you won’t: I just struggled like hell to write in this house. I would lube, I would make space, I would put on sexy music, I would don mental hot lingerie…I just couldn’t get it up.

One day I drove by the empty building that was to become Graveside Variety; and it all became clear in my mind: I needed a space that was mine. But since I’m not a loner, I needed a space that was OURS. That would do nicely. I would rent this fucking space as a place to write songs, and put in it the one ingredient that my house was missing: the community, the love, the connectedness, the safety. The safety. 

Holly and Gracie, who were my newly-found musician friends, egged me on, even though I knew it would lose money. I asked my friend Wren to go in with me as business partner. Would it make money? Almost definitely not. Would it break even? Maybe. I asked my patrons to help cover the rent for three months (now four. You said Yes.)

And then? The stuck spell was broken. Not only did I walk into this little venue - which my patrons and pals all helped me decorate with chairs, lamps, rugs, a borrowed PA and printer, and on and on and one - and feel safe, and free, and whole, but I could WRITE again. And because the venue provided me a place to do my TEENY-TINY patron-only “Private Practice” shows, and the occasional opening slot for one of my guest artists, I had a place to test the new songs. I never - or rarely - announced that I was going to show up and play a new, fetal, dolls song. I would just show up and do it. I would throw the song to the crowd (and often the crowd was not made of fans, it was just…a bunch of people there to see a show) and see how it felt, what it needed, if it stuck.

(photo by Liz Grammaticas)

And that was how I unstuck myself. By opening up this venue, I opened my songwriting heart again, and I started writing what was to become the new Dolls album, which we are now slated to record within the year. Songs like “Houdini”, “The Runner”, “Another Christmas” and “Mister God” all flowed out of me either after hours on the Graveside piano in the venue, or in the little rehearsal room I rented down the street between the venue and my house, and after ten years of not composing a single song in this house, I found myself waking up early in the morning filled with music, and I’d leave the morning bed, no matter how tempting, and/or Ash snoring in his little room, and wander to the piano to find what was trying to come out of my head (that’s how “The Truth” and “The Nail” got written. 

I felt, at last, for the very first time, safe and happy enough to write.

It didn’t matter, at that point, which piano I wrote the song on. The venue, the house, the rehearsal space, my old apartment…I had made a safe birthing cabin for myself at Graveside, where I could give birth to these songs, and that’s where my midwife - the audience - could meet me.

(photo by Natalie Serwan)

I’ve played every one of these songs to the little local crowds at Graveside, and their next incarnations were with The Dresden Dolls as we gradually started touring this year. The final incarnation will be the band’s record.

I wrote a song that I think is going to open the record the other day in my head. It was ready to be tried out on my final patron-only “Private Practice” show on May 26th

There’s so much to say about what happened IN the venue as a result of us creating it, but I wanted to tell you this ultimate secret: I think I started this venue so I could start writing songs again.  Weird workaround, but who cares. 

We did it, and it fucking worked. 

So in a way, yes, I crowdfunded a venue.

But I actually crowdfunded myself out of a writer’s block.

I crowdfunded a place to write my new record. 

Tricked you!!!

Just kidding.

Mostly: I love you. Thanks for funding this experiment, it changed my life, and many more lives besides.

You made a ripple in the art ocean.

A final word: NONE of this would have been possible without the people who worked for the venue and kept encouraging the forward progress. Liz has been the most invaluable wingman of this flightless bird. Holly and Gracie, I couldn’t have done it without their cheerleading and help early on. Josh was one of the most incredible helpers with decorating. Wren brought fire and dough. Ry floated in from across the road and has been killing at the sound board and more. Brendon stepped in to help when we needed it. Sara, Megan, Zibby and Sarah  worked the door and welcomed the community with open arms night after day after night.

All I need is for you to read the story about Mira to know that this venue has indeed left its mark on more futures than mine. It’s been a haven, a harbor, a safe place for many more people than me. And that is the beauty of creating something that you need, sometimes. Sometimes you think you’re building a life-raft just for yourself, and you wind up hauling other people out of the water.

Yet another chapter in this grand crowdfunding adventure, and I love that you’re all here for it.

Without all of you: none of it.

Thank you. 

Love. Love. and Love.

Here's your art, here's you.

Here's to us.

xxx

AFP

……

And now….a little scrapbook for you, by Liz

The Graveside Variety Story.

Liz jumping in here as your humble narrator through the life of Graveside Variety this past year. The story of Graveside isn't any one person's story. It's many stories by many people. Here some of these vignettes, & voices.

THE EARLY DAYS included.....

tiny door investigations

(featuring Lance, Amanda and Holly)

Holly setting up our red velvet cabaret curtains and beginning the transformation of the space....

Business Gracie is businessing....

Josh creating the Graveside window sign, which became our unofficial logo....

He also kindly lent us a LOT of his beautiful lamps.

and.....

taa-daa! venue!

Holly and Gracie during our first coffee hour, proud co-parents of this weird little art venue in the woods....

After Holly, Gracie, Amanda, Wren, Josh, and friends did the heavy lifting of CREATING and SETTING UP what would become Graveside Variety, I joined the team to help the day-to-day and allow Gracie and Holly to go on tour and be the beautiful badass musicians that they are. Cardboard Simon Le Bon & pup Buddy Miranda also contributed significantly to team morale.

(I'm that person that regularly misses the group photo cues...)

Holly and Gracie in the AV corner.

Ry joined us from across the street....

Sara, who saved us all by filling in on a day when our entire staff was sick. She quickly became a valuable member of our team bringing warmth, light to everything you she touched.

Frequently working behind the scenes quietly on a couch...

Look! We're REAL!!!!

THE PARTIES AROUND A PIANO

From the very beginning, a cornerstone of our programming has been our Sunday evenings of Party Around a Piano with Lance Horne.

Lance Horne + YOU = a party around a piano. Bring your karaoke wishlist or secret car-belting banger, and perform it yourself live with Lance on keys with a supportive, raucous crowd of locals and far-flung guests. Sing a song, sing along, and join the party that’s been playing weekly for six years at Club Cumming in the East Village, Show tunes, original songs, party tricks, we’re here for you. From Broadway to Goth, Andrew Lippa to Dua Lipa, all songs, singers, and styles welcome. Feel free just to come sing along quietly from your seat. It’s the congregational afterparty you’ve been waiting for....but really, these evenings, filled with locals and guests of all ages and expertises come together and celebrate each other, this space, this moment. together. safely. supportively. joyously, beautifully.

Lance with our lovely neighbor Molly of Rock City Vintage with Suchness on trumpet.

....

Michael on guitar!!! Amanda on maracas!

Lance with kat baus who ended up doing a live read through of their incredible new play "Pup Play" at Graveside....

Our wonderful Megan singing last July, along with beloved friends of the venue. Megan joined our small but mighty staff in the fall and become in invaluable part of our staff.

John Coons and Jonah Wheeler went on to have several performances at Graveside with their musical "BLEAK!: songs for the not-quite end of the world. We first fell in love with them both from these piano parties.....

Lance, Amanda, Holly < 3

Sarah and Pony.....!

Sarah, who we met at Party Around a Piano, filled in for front of house the last couple of months and has been an absolute gift.

AND....myself and my incredible coworker Megan.

Our last "Pony Tale" at Graveside....

EJ & one of Graveside's youngest regular performers. We STAN the friendship of these two.....

Lance & Amanda doing "Coin Operated Boy" with Amanda NOT at the piano!

Amanda & Lance.....

From Lance:

GSV

Great Sounding Valiance

Gracious Singalong Victory

Generous Support Vocalizing

It has been a wondrous year of gathering by the river, pausing on a Sunday, and meeting each other where none of us were at prior to Graveside Variety. I marvel at how souls combine, how spaces form and call people to them and then the people tell the spaces what they need to be, and how parties rise and fall around the joys and falls of living and dying. I’ve lost count of the number of Parties Around a Piano, the themes, the breath and depth of requests and expressions, but I remember and take away a consistent ‘feeling’. Something vulnerable, goofy, attentive, and unifying through words and music that feels healing. A musical soufflé that just needed 2.5 hours in the twilight and managed to rise without yeast of beer or spirits. If y’all snuck in a flask, so be it. I love that, unique to GSV, our Party Around a Piano had a collective beginning, middle, and end. Most other places we gather, alcohol underwrites and underpins the message and the level of bravery. Here, we ripped the emotional and financial bandaid and it worked. There’s a choir, there are rock kids, there are drawing lessons, there are tales and many people who voiced that they hadn’t sung in public in a long, long time. Now the bulbs are planted, and the mower is approaching to take down the visible crop. We have a season of the Big Deep, long days, and separate campfires. We’ll be wondering when we can sing about Eggs and heartache and gaining citizenship again. We’ll get a new favorite song and won’t have the right place to sing it. And that sucks. And then, Santa and the Grinch will be fighting in the town square again, we’ll make some resolutions, and somewhere in there, the bulbs will be sprouting back. Our next theme will have something to do with Cher because, like Party Around a Piano, she will reinvent herself and return. And I’ll see you Cher 💕

WE LOVE YOU LANCE~!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Outside during intermission at our last Graveside Variety Piano Party

.....

THE SHOWS

TOO MANY to mention, but here are some favorites.

golly presents : Joan as Policewoman

golly presents: Only Son /Jack Dishel

Amadou Diallo for our public opening! Our first show where the listening room became a dance floor.

Holly Miranda and Ambrosia Parsley!!

(photo by Wren)

Kyp Malone accompanied by Nick Oddy and Maria Eisen during another beautiful Golly Presents show

BLEAK! Songs for the not-quite apolocalypse

so dark and devastaingly hilarious and brillaint that we kept inviting John Coons and Jonah Wheeler back!

(photo by Liz)

(photo by Krys Fox)

DeVotchKa!!!

Charming Disaster!!   If you went to the Dresden Dolls shows at Colony, you saw them performing in the lobby. Give these two a wonky old room surrounded by graves??? DARK, BEAUITFUL, & DELIGHTFUL THINGS ABOUND.

MEOW MEOW with Lance Horne (and Amanda!!

11/11 with Jason Webley!! (and Amanda!)

Rizo!!

Rachel Jayson, Lance Horne, and Storm Large....

Not only did the incredible Storm Large perform at our tiny little venue and donated all the proceeds from her show to us, she also made us CORNBREAD which we shared with the audience.

The breathtaking final golly show at Graveside...with the masterminds behind Golly Presents themselves, Gracie Coates and Holly Miranda.

The house was pack and brimming with love for these two and all that they've accomplished.

The kindness, compassion, humor and talent of Gracie and Holly are beyond words. Mix keen curatorial eyes and ears along with the ability to transform any space into something that is stunning yet still unequivocally welcoming…..that’s the Golly touch.

AND, as said above,  we made you a PLAYLIST (!) of some beloved Graveside performers. You can find it here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12GTe1IV6CD3fN5qnJ7l2l?si=4494bda670444e2b

........

PRIVATE PRACTICES AND IMPROMPTU PERFORMANCES

Watching songs be born and molded at Graveside has been one of my greatest joys. It's such a unique experience and a privilege watching new songs take shape in real time at Graveside.

Sometimes Amanda would suprise cameo in a suit.

Sometimes Amanda would surprise cameo in her underwear and robe and then go home and back to bed.....

Sometimes its a combination of the two.....

Sometimes after playing 3 sold-out Dresden Dolls shows across the street, Amanda comes over with the set lists in her pants.....

....and then workshops a new song.....

To first hear a version of a song tried out with a tiny audience in our tiny room....and then to see it come to LIFE again on stage during the Dresden Dolls live shows with hundreds of people. To share being a part of this process with an artist?

An absolute gift.

(Even if that gift made you cry on a regular basis. Come on guys..these are Amanda Palmer divorce songs. Emotional release comes with the territory.

...............

THE LAST PRIVATE PRACTICE....

which was underwear plus tights. it was HOT in the venue and this show as absolute fire. a perfect ending to our last weekend of shows at Graveside.

Reminder, this one was filmed for the patrons!! Watch your inboxes.

With Storm Large....

(photo by Megan Ribar)

Storm and Amelia Allen (on the floor...)

Amanda, Rachel Jayson, Amelia and Storm Large....

the room was love.

speaking of love...

....

THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!!

HALLOWEEN was a turning point. It was when the community FOUND us. We had pizza, donuts, music, and oh yeah, graveyards.

soooo many friends and neighbors.

When Amanda start playing the live version of your Halloween playlist.

Our friends Dirty Mae donated their time to support the communal joy that night.

Look, we were cute for the holidays

The Patron Art Wall !!!

Honoring the patreon portion of this community that helped get this little venue off it's feet the first few months.....

Receiving Niki McQueen’s “The Keeper of Light”. Michael, Nik and I surprised Amanda with this gift from South Africa and our beloved Niki. This is the piece that started the beautiful ongoing collaborations between Amanda, the Dresden Dolls, and Niki McQueen.

Card from our lovel next door neighbors last July.

....life, complete with leg lamp!

SOME MOMENTS

Amanda and Wren.

Two badass and beautiful women and mothers going through divorces and needing a third space. Wren is warmth and love and I cannot express how lucky we were to have Wren's support for this space, financially and emotionally. Wren is type of person that immediately sees you for who you are in the best of ways, and warmly is there to encourage and cheer you on. Everyone needs a Wren in their lives. We are so lucky to share this one.

Gracie with our mulled hot cider for fall and winter.

Holly at the soundboard with Amanda.

Theeeese two.

In 2007, Lance, Meow, and Amanda all met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was helping Amanda with that brigade for the festival that year and first encountered Meow and Lance as well.

16 years later.... who would have thought.

I started baking cookies....a lot. Here's me around the holidays with snowflakes, leglamps, graves, yule cats and christmas cows.

more cookies.

Ry, who took over for Holly on the tech side of things, checking for the tuning of the piano. The piano being a beautiful but sensitive antique..this was needed quite a lot.

Staff and performers after our April fundrasier. Ry! me! John Coons! Lance Horne! Amanda! Yiar! Amelia Allen! Gracie Coates! Megan Ribar! Rizo!

THE FIREPLACE!!!

COMMUNITY AND KIDS PROGRAMMING....

Drag Story Hour with Annie Christ.....

Amanda & Sxip & Coco present "The Wild Rumpus".....the afternoon was definitely delightful wild & rambunctious.

We hosted our friends at Upstate Color for a story at activity hour. Upstate Color is a BIPOC community organization cultivating a sense of belonging with each other and our upstate New York surroundings.

under-piano meeting of minds....

A debut of "Eye of the Tiger" with Ash Palmer Gaiman....

Below: small business pop-ups from small humans. This usually consisted of meditation, advice, drawing lessons, massages, and or art for sale. Oh young capitalism... but the kids mostly donated all the proceeds to the venue.

Massages & Meditation

the kids corner in action.  

This quickly became a parental favorite. Through lovely patron Amy, we have an incredible kids comic & graphic novel collection lent to Graveside. We got to see many kids experience their first comics in this little corner.

....

...the juke box...

........

The Golden Notebook Bookstore

Another cornerstone of our programming from the beginning was working with our local beloved independent bookstore, The Golden Notebook.

Bookstore co-owner Jackie Kellechan and events manager Drew Bossard brought the literary arts to our little venue through a dynamic series of author readings and conversations through the year.

Our last events together have been our "Amanda Palmer in Conversation with Authors" series. We've had Elizabeth Lesser and Katherine Yeske Taylor already. Our LAST event ever at Graveside is Amanda chatting wtih the one and only Leslie Jamison on June 1.

Amanda in conversation with Katherine Yeske Taylor about women in the music industry. Amanda is featured is Katherine's book "She's a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism".

Drew selling boooooooks.

THE GRAVESIDE CHORUS led by neighbor & patron Erika Blumberg. These have grown every weekend and have become incredible. Thank you Erika for being such a vital member ofr our community. The chorus is still going! If you're local to the Woodstock area, please email erika.blumberg2@gmail.com

....

Taking a moment to acknowledge and LOUDLY PRAISE our friends at Fruition Chocolate. Not only is this some of the best chocolate ever, ths business is run by two fo the kindest humans, Dahlia and Brian, who have supported Graveside since day 1. They even made us custom chocolate just for Graveside- "Salt of my tears". We sitll have some left if you want to come by on our last day 6/1!

.....

THANK YOU LIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Amanda writing here again.

Many of you have already heard this news, but now it's official!

There's gonna be a new chapter of venue-ness here in Woodstock. My friends are starting up their own thing....and I'll hand over the mic.

Here's a little note from Holly and Gracie, A.KA. Golly.

I am so so proud this is happening. I am beside myself with happiness that we aren't just saying goodbye to our little venue, but watching it inspire something down the road!!!

Over to Holly and Gracie...and MAKE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR THE NEW MAILING LIST!

I'll see you there, for sure.

......

Dear Graveside Family,

We're thrilled to share some exciting news with you!

As our community continues to grow and thrive, we're embarking on a new chapter together. It's with great joy that we announce our move to a vibrant new venue, under the stewardship of Golly Presents – the dynamic duo of Gracie Coates and Holly Miranda, alongside the invaluable pairing of Alicia and Joel Webber (who have generously made this all possible), the vivacious Victoria Corey (who will be running the café program and beyond), and the beloved Liz Grammaticas (who will be helping to make this transition as seamless as can be), among other wonderful humans we can't wait to bring on board...

We started Golly by bringing artists to our backyard, hosting house concerts in intimate settings. Then to move these shows to Graveside was the elevation we were so humbled by.

Now, we bring the lawn to the graveside to the venue down the road.

Our new home promises to be a haven for music lovers, boasting state-of-the-art sound technology crafted by incredible sound architects and designers. We're dedicated to creating an unforgettable space where every note resonates with warmth and clarity.

We owe immense gratitude to each and every one of you for your unwavering support and enthusiasm along the way. It's your passion for intimate live music experiences that has inspired us to take this leap forward. Our heartfelt thanks goes to Amanda and her incredible Patreon community for laying the foundation for Graveside Variety along with Golly.

While we embark on this new journey, one that promises to unfold many new layers, we want to assure you that our roots remain firmly planted. This transition marks the birth of something new and exciting, but we'll always cherish the memories and connections forged at Graveside. There will always be a leg lamp in a corner near you.

Stay tuned for more details and join us as we write the next chapter in our musical adventure together! Join the mailing list at gollypresents.com to stay updated on it all.

With heartfelt gratitude,

GOLLY

(photo by Anthony Mulcahy)

(photo by Megan Ribar)

...

From Alicia and Joel:

Dear Patrons!
Joel and I are excited to introduce ourselves and share our gratitude for this opportunity that has come our way. It all started with Amanda looking for a place to crash, during the Doll’s NYC shows, coinciding with our youngest’s birthday request to see the NYC show and, and a patron brunch to meet Amanda. It was Kismet that I sat next to Liz and she started filling me in on Graveside Variety.

Joel and I had been wanting to create such a space in our home of Marietta, GA; but, we couldn’t get the town to see the value. Fast forward to Joel and I visiting Woodstock, attending Graveside, and falling in love with all of it…the town, the people, the spirit of support for artists. We, quickly, decided that we couldn’t let this venture of community and intimate live music support end. More Kismet happens upon meeting the beyond talented and kind, singer songwriters, Holly Miranda and Gracie Coates. We knew that they were the minds and hearts we needed to run this new venue as they, already, were producing shows spotlighting local artists. Liz is, thankfully, staying with us to continue her beautiful community outreach along with the amazing Megan Ribar. Added to the mix will be coffee! Area local Barista, Victoria Hantout, will be our coffee guru.

There will be a name change but not a spirit change. Amanda started something amazing and all of us are excited to pick up the mantle of Golly. Yes, Golly! We all believe in the power of music and community. We all believe that our artists deserve a place to be heard that is respectful of their hard work and putting their hearts out to the rest of us to connect with. We all believe that this community deserves a place to gather, be creative, and find a soft place to land with an amazing cup of coffee. We look forward to keeping you updated on the build and can’t wait to see your faces when we open. 

Wishing you all kindness, Alicia and Joel Webber

(67 Mill Hill Rd - before!)

...

And one last Pony tale from beloved Party Around a Piano Frequent Guest, Pony:

i've truly procrastinated submitting my thoughts on ' graveside variety '  .. mostly due to delay .. tho also to finding and putting into words how lovely and special this place has been in my life

in a world of chaos  and consternation .. there is and was and is graveside variety .. a  home to compassion and community .. and music music music !! .. lance horne .. brought me and a merry bunch of new york city minstrels  to woodstock .. and finally i visited this historical icon of music  .. .. with every performance our sunday nites at graveside variety grew in sweetness and popularity ..  

with all our world's many noises .. this dear variety building brought us sweetly together in oh so many ways .. it was my joy to witness and participate in what amanda and her squadron of friends created in this space .. her sincerity and determination to give us graveyard variety will long linger in my memories .. meeting so many lovely locals who discovered our sundays.. then many of them participating with their song .. dance or whatever .. adding to woodstock and it's giant heritage .. ..

our year sailed  along .. with lance leading us in song .. amanda captivating us in her songs and story .. sharing her bold and heartfelt desire to give each of us this opportunity to play and be together here ..

it's been so much fun trekking to a sunday in woodstock .. at graveside variety .. where new friends were made .. where our lives were blessed with magical and abundance of talent ..

may we continue this musical adventure wherever it takes us !! .. yes please !! ..

xxxx

.....

And a little word from Wren, who loaned a TON of stealth financial and emotional support this entire year::

 "I initially lent to the space: Take care of the pain. That it did! "

(neon piece "Seven Sisters" by Erika DeVries)

......

from Liz:

When Amanda first told me about Graveside Variety and invited me to be a part of it, I had just gotten my first (and only) bumper sticker fully owning up to a very specific part of my personality : “I break for cemeteries”.’

Like many people, my relationship to cemeteries has changed over the years.  Having experienced a great deal of family deaths at a young age, cemeteries entered my life as a place of anguish.

As I grew older and lived and traveled to various cities, the cemeteries became a place of peace and connection to the people of a place..a park and outdoor museum combined.  During the pandemic, I lived in a part of the Brooklyn/Queens border with very little parks.  But there was a cemetery, filled with my quiet neighbors.  I wasn’t going to get Covid from the dead, and this cemetery help connect me back to the city I loved that was locked down.

Working at Graveside Variety in many ways returned me, and many others, back to life.  I found community again.   My days became filled in a beautiful way with so many talented, warm, and beautiful new individuals. 

I remembered what community was again, without ever forgetting those who came before us.
Woodstock has a long and stories history with female artists, but it’s the history of a very small selection of males that are the go-to lives celebrated when we think of Woodstock.  

One of the cemeteries bordering Graveside is the rare artist cemetery.  There, tangible proof of the women and other artists that came before us.  

It’s not one history.  It’s not one voice.

And what a privilege and honor to be a part of this.  I’ve met so many incredible people over this past year and made so many lifelong friends. 

There’s nothing like the new life that springs out of Graveyards to help with healing. 

Out of this fertile soil,  we found the seeds for the new space.  Something beautiful, long lasting, and life giving is about to grow. 

We can’t wait to share with you the bounty at this new space.  

That just about does it, people.

ONWARDS!!!!!!!!

GRAVESIDE WILL LIVE IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER.

Thank you all, my patrons, for making this era of our lives possible.

Stay tuned for the film we made for you all on Sunday...it's REALLY GOOD.

LOVE....

AFP