The State of All Things: May 2024. (Patreon)

HELLO MY LOVES.

Love from a lighthouse ...or, well, a coffeeshop right after making a little video for you at a lighthouse. I'm reading all comments today and tomorrow, so go wild down there. I'm listening.

Love from America. Sometimes I forget that you're all over the world, and then we get pummeled with something like the Trump Conviction News, and I remember that I'm not just writing to a group of Americans.

So: what a moment in the world. The poetry of global politics and our own lives is always endlessly interesting, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious. Nobody could script this shit better, right?

There's a lot going on, inside and outside, so buckle in.

If you're new to the patreon (and WELCOME!!!!...and THANK YOU!!!), this is our monthly newsletter/community bulletin board/random if-you-missed-it summary of ALL THINGS PATREON, TEAM DRESDEN DOLLS & TEAM AFP, and we lovingly call it "The State of All Things", or the Althing. You don't gotta read it, but if you want the digest, or you're a nerdy person who actually keeps track of how the patreon is doing or want to know about the nuts and bolts of my career and How The Sausage is Made, this one's for you.

I almost always make a little video clip to say hi, and I write about how I'm doing and stuff.

Here's your overall contents and what's inside this month's Althing...

• GENERAL LIFE AND DEATH UPDATE

• PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH

• WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH

• PROJECTS AND EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE

• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING

• PATRON BULLETIN BOARD

• ART BEGETTING ART

• OTHER FOLKS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

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GENERAL LIFE AND DEATH UPDATE.....

Well, my loves.

Nope. Never a dull moment around here in America-land.

I woke up this morning, thinking deeply about Ash, stories, villains, Trump, women, rage, the fight for the right to tell the story. The right to tell what the story means.

If you're going to unfollow my patreon - and not support my art - because of what I'm about to share, go for it.

It was with great joy - but hesitation - that I heard the news that Trump's been convicted, but as we know, it could all mean nothing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/nyregion/trump-convicted-hush-money-trial.html

There's something even scarier to think that it could all mean nothing. Right?

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears, did it make a sound?

If a president is a rapist and a liar and nobody cares, does it matter?

Here are a couple beautiful images that flew through my phone this morning:

The first is this coming week's New Yorker, drawn by my artist neighbor John Cuneo. The genius of the poetry is just....above:

My idea of a great post (this was actually from a couple days ago, but I'm still proud of it):

This was sent to me bny one of my power-lady friends:

And then....

My local bookstore posted this, and my heart stirred a little more:

There's hope.

It springs eternal.

But while all of this feels like a kind of surreal theater, somewhere deeper in me...there's a spring.

A place where a more important Something is growing.

I made a post somewhere in the middle of month asking about book ideas...as I was ambling around NYC having meetings with book agents and publishers.

There's a lot to say.

There's a lot to write.

It was interesting, reading your hundreds of comments (plus the ones from social media) about what you'd like to read about.

I have my internal needs, my passions, my stories to hammer into deliverable shape, but it was also a good exercise to think about how I can morph those needs with the needs of the readers...how I can get my rocks off and also be of service.

I've been thinking a lot about the last five years and how I've been so traumatized and tired that I have really only been capable of short-form thinking, and therefore short-term writing.

The patreon has been a blessing in this way: it's unedited, shoot-from-the-hip writing.

But it can also be a little bit of an echo chamber, a cave, and a trap, as I find myself not wanting to deal with the harder work of book contracts, hard deadlines from without, and critics waiting to tear my work apart.

You know one thing I love about this patreon?

Nobody reviews and grades the posts.

There are no five star posts and one star posts. If there are critics, they're mainly from within the ranks, and the only way to vote is with your dollars and your feet.

It's sort of unprecendented for a writer/musician/artist like me to have this level of income and control, and I find myself lost, sometimes, in the meta-ness of this: what better thing to write about than how wild this entire experience of freedom has been? And the (many) hidden taxes of crowdfunding and running my own show, my own work, my own staff?

And then I'm like: no no no. Why waste my life telling the story of the story?

I have a Dresden Dolls record to make.

Then I'm like: wait, no. There's nobody else that can tell this story like you.

And then I'm like: really, the most important work of my life is going to be to crack my knuckles and tell the story of New Zealand. And then I'm like, wait: no. The most important thing is to remind people that I'm a songwriter. I love it, Amanda. You're 48 and STILL this confused.

I guess we're on brand.

Why not both?

Why not all 67?

Why not infinite variety?

This is why we have the patreon.

We don't gotta pick.

Thank you you all, as usual, for being here, for supporting me, for supporting the team, for making it all hang together.

It's incredible.

xxx

A

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REAL QUICK HOUSEKEEPING before we dig in....UPCOMING PATRON GATHERINGS IN PHILLY AND DC.....

Hey ya'lll in PHLLY AND DC - THANK YOU FOR HOLLERING!!!!

The votes are in and it looks like we have about 50-150 minimum coming to each city, and I haven't said a word about this to social media or anything yet, so depending on the venue we find....I'll wiggle it. Here's what we got so far (and here's the post if you missed it yesterday: https://www.patreon.com/posts/philly-dc-dolls-105245863)

If you missed this post, go RSVP, and stay tuned!! We are hunting down good places to meet, and save the dates: Saturday June 8th at 2-4pm in Philly (somewhere!) and Saturday June 15th form 2-4pm in DC (somewhere!) .... stay tuned.

tickets for the actual dolls shows in Philly and DC are here: dresdendolls.com

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OK!!!!

PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH

This has been an interesting month for Things - I'm doing a lot of ephemera and writing - but it feels like the season for that as I dig back into the music and dolls (coming....next season).

That's the beauty of the Patreon: whatever happens, whatever we're inspired to create, y'all are here to support me and the team, and we can all keep MAKING, WORK
ING, and, you know, subsisting and existing.

As always - if you're not happy with anything I'M ALWAYS LISTENING as best I can, and also you can (and SHOULD!) cap your pledge to make sure you only ever pay as much as you're comfortable with, and you're never charged more than you're expecting.

I read the exit polls, so if you exit, please drop a comment. Even if it's beause you don't agree with my politics. Go for it. Tell me. I wanna know. So does the team. :)

So, without further ado....

First was up....

THE EPIC SPRING BOOK RECOMMENDATION POST

This one is a looooooong post where I talk at length about a whole bunch of books that I've been loving lately.

If you're looking for a new read - consider this your seasonal magazine book feature, and check them out here.

In that post, we also OFFERED A SIGNED BOOK GIVE-AWAY and it WENT GREAT.

We are about to wrap up, sign, and ship all of those requested books in the coming week or so, so if you won a book, WATCH YOUR POST BOXES!!!

It was an inspired fun little thing to do, and I'd like to do more of that kind of thing.

Using this patreon to mail good books to people all over the world is really satisfying in a way I cannot quite describe.

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And then in keeping with the book theme...

MY TALK WITH ELIZABETH LESSER: TRANSCRIPT

My series of talks with authors at Graveside Variety kicked off with Elizabeth Lesser - and as a bit of an experiment, we recorded the talk. The video itself was a bit shaky, so we transcribed it, cleaned it up, and VOILA now it reads like a long-form interview/conversation piece.

Read the whole thing - plus some behind the scenes photos - here!

AS you'll see below.....WE HAVE TWO MORE AFP + AUTHOR TALKS COMING DOWN THE PATREON PIPELINE, which we filmed (or are about to film) for y'all, one with Katherine Yeske Taylor, and one with Leslie Jamison - that one is tomorrow (Saturday) and abouthttps://www.gravesidevariety.com/if you're in upstate NY and wanna come.

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WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH....?

I did the first webcast for $10 patrons in a hot minute! I chatted, played a litle bit of uke, answered some questions, and we had poems from a couple of our regular patron-poets.

The full archive is available to view again here on Crowdcast!

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The other big event this month was the AUTHOR TALK SERIES at Graveside Variety - where I am getting to sit down with some of my favorite authors and pick their brains.

We kicked off with Elizabeth Lesser...

And then continued with Katherine Yeske Taylor...watch for it in yer inboxes.

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And in case you missed it - Graveside Variety - our partly-patron-crowdfunded pop-up venue & clubhouse - is SHUTTING ITS DOORS next week.

There will be a future Graveside-inspired venue down the road as we take off, and it'll have new management and a new name, but for now - Graveside has LEFT ITS MARK ON THE FUCKING UNIVERSE.

It's been an insane and incredible year of making this little art-space happen... and we just posted up a huuuuge scrapbook/farewell post with a ton of photos.

I also wrote, deeply, about how much the space inspired my songwriting.

Go read the whole post here!!!

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PROJECTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE...

For the first time in a little while, we've got all of the upcoming Things IN PLACE AND SORTED, so here's what's on the menu for at least he next month (or until something else shiny and distracting comes up first...)

TRANSCRIPT/VIDEO OF MY TALK WITH KATHERINE YESKE TAYLOR

Similar to the Elizabeth Lesser talk posted this month, I'm just putting the finishing touches on another post with the full cleaned-up transcript / long-form interview piece with Katherine Yeske Taylor. It should be coming to you in the next few days!

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And for the final author talk, we are hoping to FILM my chat with Leslie Jamison, so look out for that to come, probably later in the month.

And finally... we recorded the final PRIVATE PRACTICE session at Graveside Variety - photo above by Anthony Mulcahy!

If you missed the Private Practice, I have been doing these periodically the whole time Graveside has been open - I essentially get around the piano and practice old songs, new songs, work out songs, and have been keeping them as patron-only.

We had one final Private Practice last weekend, and I gotta say, it might have been the best show I've ever played.

I'm so glad we recorded it.

That video should be coming out to you in the next couple weeks.

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EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE

The final author conversation event is happening THIS WEEKEND!

We're going to be trying to film this one professionally for the Patreon, cos I have a feeling it's gonna go OFFFFF. But if you're local - come join us! It's the last official event happening at Graveside in its current iteration and location, so I'd love to see it off in style.

Get tickets here!

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I'm also taking part in this fundraising event on MARTHA'S VINEYARD at the end of June!

I was invited to do this by my friend Geraldine Brooks, who's an incredible writer (and who is generously housing me and my posse of kidlets and friends) and who'll also be performing.

All the performers are going to be playing in the round - we'll all be on stage together and just take turns playing songs.

If you've never been to Martha's Vineyard... you can get to the Island by ferry from the mainland of Massachusetts (or New York), but BOOK FERRY IN ADVANCE if you're coming by car!! They sell out fast! There's also a lotta passenger ferries (and you can fly!)

Tickets start at $25 and go up to $300, so hopefully something available whatever your buget, and ALL the money is going to fund affordable housing for elderly and disabled residents of Martha's Vineyard. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!

I'm hopefully gonna plan some extra fun and hijinks around the island, so if you're coming SHOUT!!! Especially with you're bringing kids - Ash will be with me!

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THE DRESDEN DOLLS ARE HITTING UP THE EAST COAST - starting in jus a few days...

JUNE 7th - Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA - TICKETS

JUNE 8th - Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA - LAST FEW TICKETS JUST RELEASED

JUNE 14th - 9:30 Club, Washington DC - SOLD OUT

JUNE 15th - 9:30 Club, Washington DC - TICKETS

OCTOBER 26th - Bearvsille Theater, Bearsville NY - SOLD OUT

OCTOBER 27th - Bearsville Theater, Bearsville NY - TICKETS

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And speaking of the east coast... the Dolls will be heading back for a homecoming show to be announced soon, and if you also keep your eyes peeled I miiiiiiight juuuuuust be doing a tiny handful of solo shows. Details of hat coming your way soon.

GET. ON. THE. DOLLS. MAILING. LIST:

https://dresdendolls.com/

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HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING....?

As of this writing there are about 9,500 patrons pledging about $29,000 for the first Thing each month. There are also about 19,000 total patrons (nearly 10,000 just following along), which is FAB.

We are holding steady, and I'm also doing almost nothing to promote the patreon itself lately.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NEWCOMERS: you are welcome to (and encouraged to) CAP YOUR PLEDGE.

CAP CAP CAP CAP!!

CAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOURRRRR!!!!! PLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sometime release one thing a month; sometimes three. We know this can create financial insecurity and uncertainty - so Patreon allows you to cap your pledge. This is, essentially, setting a MAXIMUM amount that you want to pay per month.

YOU CAN BUDGET. Say for example, you're happy to pay $3 per Thing, but you don't want to pay more than $10 a month. If that's the case, you can "cap" your pledge at $10, and whether I release 4 Things or 4,400 Things, you won't be charged more than $10.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will still have access to ALL the things/posts/links, even if you cap your pledge!!! It doesn't effect your access.

You can read all about capping your pledge here.

I go over this stuff in every Althing, but if you're new to all this: Patreon charges you monthly & retroactively, meaning that you get billed on the 1st of the month for all the Things released the month prior.

Because people have their pledges capped (SEE ABOVE), the first "Thing" raises the most money by far, and anything released thereafter raises less and less. I LIKE THIS! THIS IS GOOD! It means I never feel guilty about releasing TOO MUCH!!

So really. Please, cap your pledge.

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In April, I Thanged TWO Things:

Whakanewha Live Performance Video, which earned about $32,890 from 9,277 patrons

The State of All Things: April 2024, which earned about $14,299 from 5,223 patrons

(we say "about" because patreon may be still trying to process some pledges that have yet to go through...we never know, you know.)

Them's the numbers.

And remember: these numbers are gross. Not net. Meaning: it's the money raised before fees were deducted by patreon and is not the total deposited to me. Patreon takes a 5% fee (which they use to build and sustain the platform, which is GOOD) and then there's a payment processing fee, which varies on a ton of factors and is usually between 5-9% of the total collected.

These numbers also do not reflect the money I SPENT MAKING THE ART, paying our staff, paying the office rent, paying the Graveside rent and costs, paying for crowdcast, getting myself around, getting the team around and fed and slept, all the collaborators, and my actual staff payroll, etc....you get it.

I don't share that level of nitty-detail-stuff with you because I assume it would bore you to fucking tears. but you can trust me: paying for a full-time staff, office, manager, accountant, and massive team of art-collaborators ain't cheap.

Sometimes we barely break even.

Which is nice.

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PATRON BULLETIN BOARD!!!

This section is for YOU GUYS to share with the community - your art, your writing, your projects, your campaigns... we wanna lift it up! You can email patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and we'll do our best to include as many projects as possible!

For this month...

THIS IS HOW WE PROCESS

From Robin McFadden...

I saved all the medical paperwork from the year that I fought cancer (2018), and five years later used it as a substrate on which I made art and told stories about the experience. It's alternately heavy and whimsical, but mostly just raw and honest. It's called This Is How We Process.

Ultimately, the goal is to get it published as a coffee table book, but until then I would really love it if people wanted to simply access the Google doc. Feedback is welcome!

WOW. You can check the whole thing out here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sVvIwIdkY9s2rMJ5hroHyBIZXPr64Kjt

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ART BEGETTING ART: Art from the community based on my art...

TATTOO EDITION!

Two gorgeous tattoos came to fruition this month.

First up, from @jess_hulbert_ on Instagram...I love it. The arpit hair, mannnnn. YEah.

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And second, a Dresden Dolls heartplane on none other than VERONICA SWIFT:

Brian's been touring with Veronica for a few years now, and you also might recognize her from joining us onstage a few times over the last couple years as our Delilah. She's a bonafide Dolls fan - she even covered Sing years ago! 

And you can catch Veronica (and Brian!) on tour in Canada throughout June, in Europe throughout July, and in the US throughou September. See all the dates and tickets here! 

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OTHER FOLKS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW....

There's never been a better tine on earth to pimp artists.

Everything is getting so fucked.

Here's one that's really close to my heart.

It isn't common for me to post a crwodfund that DIDN'T make it, but guess what?

That happens, and then the artist tries, tries, tries again.

This was a kickstarter for a feature-length audio comedy by a trans artist from our community named Lucy Isle....

and it barely made 10% of its goal.....

Lucy is RE-VAMPING their campagin, and I'm helping, and I'd love you to be there to give it a boost when it goes out. Follow Lucy on IG and it'll be kicked off soon. I think this is gonna be a good one:

https://www.instagram.com/lucieisle/

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GO SEE ANI IDIFRANCO on BROADWAY, IN HADESTOWN!!!!!

I got to see her in the role of Persephone a few weeks ago and she KILLED IT!!

She's on stage til June 30th!!!

I had no idea what to expect from Hadestown...I am not the ultimate Musical Theater /Broadway Nerd you would think I am (especiallly not since having a wrecking ball hit my life in 2020)...and I totally missed this entire PLOT.

So I went into this musical JUST TO SEE MY FRIEND ANI doing the Broadway Thing.

(If you don't know Ani's music, just start here. Then go HERE.)

The show was slow to start and I was biting my nails in fear, and then, about 25 minutes in, the whole thing clicked. If you're into Broadway....this one is worth it.

GO!!!

from Ani's Site:

Ani DiFranco made her Broadway debut this past weekend as Persephone in Hadestown alongside co-star Lola Tung!

"DiFranco’s history with Hadestown began in 2010 when she invited Anaïs Mitchell to release the original studio album of Hadestown on DiFranco's label, Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco originated the role of ‘Persephone’ on the album, leaving an indelible imprint on the character as the show evolved over the course of several years. 

DiFranco commented, “I could not be more thrilled to be joining the cast of Hadestown. It’s like I get to rewind to my New York youth and follow the road not taken.” - Hadestown.

Ani plays the role of Persephone through June 30th.

Photo by Michaelah Reynolds.

Grab your tickets here.

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That's all for now, folks.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patroange.

x

Amanda

------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS---------

1. if you are a patron and new to my work, don’t forget your patronage allows you access to ALL of my patreon releases to date. HERE is the link to download my latest big solo record, “There Will Be No Intermission”, and HERE is a link to download the PDF of the art/essay book that goes with it.

2. if you’re a patron reading this post via an email notification, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol. that's always nice for me to see, so i know who's reading.

3. see All the Things (over 150 of them) i've made so far on patreon:

http://amandapalmer.net/things

4. JOIN THE SHADOWBOX COMMUNITY FORUM, find your people, and discuss everything: https://forum.theshadowbox.net/

5. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff (at least up until a few years ago, this desperately needs updating) on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

6. general AFP/patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer: patronhelp@amandapalmer.net