Recovery & reconciliation, part 57. The State of All Things: June 2024 (Patreon)

HELLO MY LOVES!!!!

IT'S ALTHING TIME!!!! Amanda-on-attempting-vacation-edition!

I'm reading comments!!! Say hi, check in, tell me what's going on...introduce yerself.

I'm reading....everything!

The nicest thing about this patreon is the mild paywall which makes this a nive and lovely place to chat with me and each other. Use it.

Respond to one another.

Make community.

Here's the contents if you wanna skip around.

• GENERAL LIFE AND DEATH UPDATE...

• PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH

• WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH

• PROJECTS AND EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE

• ELSEWHERE ON THE PATREON

• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING

• PATRON BULLETIN BOARD

• ART BEGETTING ART

• OTHER FOLKS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

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Here we go.

GENERAL LIFE AND DEATH UPDATE!

Hallo my deeeearrrrrrs.....

If you're new to the patreon, WELCOME!!! This is little monthly "State of All Things", also known as the Althing; it's sort of our montly newsletter, shareholder report, and community bulletin board. Amanda's Oprah magazine. It shifts and changes form, it always includes certain things, and Alex our merch Queen in the UK always helps me cobble it together. Alex is at GLASTONBURY right now (I demanded reports about how Avril Lavigne does) and I'm sorta jealous but not jealous because I'm on my one full (well almost full) offline week here on Martha's Vineyard....trying to let my brain melt a little.

My little Althing video got cut off, but it was in such a beautiful way that...I let it be.

It wasn't Ash interurrpting me, by the way, it was one of the other kids.

And I'd like to think of it not as an interruption, but rather as a clarion call to stay in the moment, as that's what this week was about: staying in the moment, being off my phone, spending quality time with other artists, writers, friends, families, their kiddos...and not just work-work-working.

This Althing - and a couple of emails, texts and phone calls - is the only "work" I'm doing.

The only thing I'm using my phone for, for these few days, is to see who we're meeting to go swimming, and which place we're swimming, and to rustle up some rehearsal times for this tiny tiny little benefit show I'm doing on the Vineyard with some of the most quality human beings I've had the pleasure to get to know in a long, long, time.

It's a good reminder that there are whole worlds out there, awaiting me. I've been stuck in certain little worlds so long. It's nice to visit other planets, get new perspectives, remember that the universe is vast. Artistically, socially, culinarily.

I'm recovering, still, from what feels like millions of onion-layers of horror that I am only starting to understand. It's gonna take a while. I think a lot about compassion, about forgiveness, about Jesus, about what it means to be raised in a cult or a culture, about Jesus, about my gay, recovering friends born into punishing, born-again Christian families, about the two girls who came up to me on the dolls tour telling me that the Dolls was their first "secular" band.

 About the lasting and sometimes seemingly untangle-able legacy of trauma, addiction and pain. About what we can and cannot fix.

About the men I've visited in prisons, and what they have to say about being on the inside, and how their inner worlds work.

I've been reflecting on celebrity and what it buys, and what it chases away, what it costs.

I've ben reflecting on gender, and what we've constructed around that whole idea.

I've been eating a LOT of chocolate, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, and nectarines.

I've been staring at the sky.

In the last few days, I've thrown a ball to a child, and caught the ball, over 1,300 times. (We're counting).

Ash is thriving in this environment and I'm not shocked.

He's got his mom 24/7, water to swim in, sun, and a whole community of kiddos with no shoes running around.

We talk a lot about missing New Zealand.

We do.

Speaking of which...

The presidential debate....? Let's not go there. It does feel like a good time to rev up the Dresden Dolls engine and go back out into the world singng very loudly about freedom of expression, reproductive freedom, queer freedom, art freedom. I'm ready. The new Dolls' is taking shape - as I say in the video - ever so strangely, and I love that it's being cobbled and assembled together in a manner unlike any other record I've made.

Circuitous is the word. I've been writing this album since 2013. But most of the songs from before 2020 aren't making the cut, because the things I'm writing RIGHT NOW are so incredibly....good. Not just good, but alive. Apt. Full of new, important, fire. I feel that, in my art bones, you cannot turn away from what wants to be expressed. This is the challenge of the moment, and the center of many conversations I've been having with the other writers around me this week.

What is the truth? Where are the lines? What do we do with the truths we have, how do we package them? How can art rise to the moment, especially in America, right now, with the state of things? Who gets to tell which story? Why?

I usually save book recommendations for the end of the Althing, but I'm gonna toss these up here, as I'm in a little circle here on the Vineyard and I want to deep-dive you into the world I'm swimming in, including the music.

So as I take my leave, and thank you deeply, as usual, for being my patrons....here's a few books to keep you company, and some music to go check out.

I'll be back at work for real in a week or two, and it's going to be a busy, busy summer and fall.

I have some NEW ENGLANDish SOLO SHOWS to announce (Northampton, MA! Fairfield, CT! And Tarrytown, NY), those are coming in the fall and IT for me for touring season in 2024...so watch closely for that on-sale, it'll be patron only.

And the rest....peruse.

I love you all so much.

Here's the books of the beach posse:

Here's book #1...a hilarious, swear-y, play-within-a-morning-pages romp that's perfect for the frustrated Sandwich Generation trying to raise kids and deal with old parents. It's HILARIOUS.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Morning-Pages/Kate-Feiffer/9798888451311

Here's #2. If you haven't run into Ronan in the news or on social media, he's leading the charge where it comes to keeping journalism and the world a more integrity-based joint. His passion is the truth and Mario Kart, making me (and Ash, who's now veering into Mario-land, with extreme boundaries) a true fan.

https://www.amazon.com/Catch-Kill-Conspiracy-Protect-Predators/dp/0316486639

Here's #3:

Geraldine Brooks is a gorgeous fiction writer mostly known for her historical fiction (she won the pulitzer for "March") but this is a lesser-known memoir, and I've JUST cracked into it. IF anyone wants to read it with me, I'm here for book club. (For all of the above books, really, let's READ TOGETHER!)

https://geraldinebrooks.com/foreign-correspondence/

And last but not least....

Here's a little music that I've discovered to keep you company.

Two new artists, both also Vineyard locals, both stunning:

Willy Mason:

Track 12: Oxygen. You're welcome.

https://willymason.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-humans-eat

Lexie Roth, yet another Vineyarder, is the other new discovery.

This is the song currently on rotation in the kitchen here:

https://soundcloud.com/lexierothmusic/sets/home-recordings

Her Hallelujah ain't bad either.

ENJOY.

xxx

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PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH.....!

DRESDEN DOLLS LIVE STREAM from 9:30 CLUB, WASHINGTON DC!!!!!!

Yessss, the Patreon funded a free public live stream of our show in our nation's capital. Dare I say it was ON FUCKING FIRE.

The stream was up for 24 hours after the show itself - if you missed it, we miiiiight bring it back online for patrons.

We're talking. Stay tuned.

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The final of my Private Practice shows at Graveside Variety was filmed professionally, and we just put the video up a couple of weeks ago.

The video is open for ALL members of Patreon - paid and unpaid - to give you a little sneak peek.

The show itself was absolutely off the wall, with special guests Storm Large and Amelia Allen.

Read alllllll about it, and watch the video here!

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WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH....

A little bit of an unusual one - but VOICEMAIL FOR JILL (from my last solo record There Will Be No Intermission) has just been featured in a commercial for Plan C, an information resource for abortion pills here in the US.

I posted just the other day a little about how the collaboration came to be, the work that Plan C are doing, and how you can help...

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As well as the DC show livestreamed abve, we also hit up PHILLY.

Here are some choice snaps from Philly....

(photo by Jade Slater)

(photo by Santo Donia)

(photo by Steve Cerf)

(photo by Santo Donia)

And just a couple from DC, by Melissa Smith...

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The Dolls were also featured in a gorgeous WASHINGTON POST feature, about the Dolls' past and future, the new record, the songs.....

“I desperately wanted to find and create a community where I felt safe enough to sing these songs, because singing these songs was scary. They were so personal; they still are,” Palmer says. “I was only able to do it with someone like Brian who was absolutely there to hold the space. … That was kind of a radical act.”

Such a beautiful article.

If you're a $3 patron, we pasted the paywalled article for you here (shhh)

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While I had a day off in NYC, I ended up at Club Cumming posing for a still life session...

If you want to see a whole host of drawings that the attendees did of me, check them all out here.

I AM GOING TO AUCTION OFF A COUPLE OF THE SKETCHES FOR CHARITY WHEN I GET BACK ONLINE! Stay tuned.

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I was also just on.....AUSTRALIAN TV!

I was asked to be on a new show called "The Art Of..." which aired a couple weeks ago.

This show is on a mission: to answer life's big questions through art. Join the ever-curious Namila Benson on the journey as she meets artists from all over the creative landscape to find out who we are and where we're headed.

They did a great little interview with me, and you can see the whole 10 minute segment here on YouTube.

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PROJECTS AND EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE.....

Coming up verrrrrry soon, we'll have the final two Graveside Variety author talks.

In case you haven't seen it yet, last month we posted the cleaned-up transcript of my talk with Elizabeth Lesser (and also posted up the iphone-filmed video of the talk for $5 patrons)

We have two more talks coming up - there'll be another cleaned-up-transcript-Thing (with phone-video for $5 patrons) with KATHERINE YESKE TAYLOR, author of "She's A Badass: Women In Rock Shaping Feminism"

And then we roped in a pro film crew to get a good, professional recording of the final talk with Leslie Jamison - so for that one, the full video will be going out to all patrons:

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Also coming up - hopefully this month? - is a new video I recorded with Luke Gajdus, titled "Here, There and Anywhere"

It's a 4-handed piano piece, similar to the one we released last year tiled "Neither Here Nor There" - once again filmed against the gorgeous Aotearoa scenery.

Here are a couple of screenshots of the video to whet your appetites...

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Also in upcoming-Patreon-land (i t's not exactly a 'project' per se, but after the last Spring Book Recommendation / Giveaway, I'm going to be doing ANOTHER book giveaway - this time with two books from pals of mine: a memoir from performance artist Ruth Ivo, and a cookbook by photographer-pal Kyle Cassidy:

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In the events world, as I said above, verrrry very soon I'll be announcing my FINAL SOLO SHOWS OF THE YEAR.

I'll only be doing three solo shows, they're all in the north-east States... and we have some more gorgeous artwork from Niki McQueen to be revealed very soon.

Here's a little sneak peek of the artwork for you:

Watch this space.

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And wrapping up the year, THE DRESDEN DOLLS will be hitting up two more cities...

We're hitting up the BEARSVILLE THEATER for two nights in October:

OCTOBER 26 - SOLD OUT

OCTOBER 27 - TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

And finally, we'll have a triumphant HOMECOMING SHOW in Boston, performing with our other Boston-dwelling pals Gogol Bordello.

These shows are at Roadrunner, which is the biggest venue we've played in quite some time - 7,000 tickets across two nights.

Tickets are on sale now and FLYING - especially for the Saturday - so I recommend snapping them up quick...

NOVEMBER 1 - TICKETS

NOVEMBER 2 - TICKETS

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ELSEWHERE ON THE PATREON...

Just for funsies this month, I thought I'd give you all a little insight into what some of the higher tiers on Patreon are getting as part of their perks, in case you wanna up your pledge at all.

In the $5 'Bonus Surprises' Tier over the last few years (I think it started during lockdown?) I've been sending out little voice rambles...

They're little voice notes - usually 5 or 10 minutes (sometimes 15 or 20.... depending what's on my mind), and usually recorded when I first wake up in the morning, before I get out of bed. If I wake up with something on my mind, or something I want to chew and mull over out loud, I just whip out my phone, hit record, and ramble along to myself... or to you.

Usually I'l then send them over to Alex in the UK, who transcribes them so they're accessible to all, and then we send 'em out.

Sometimes it'll be a few weeks or months between them... sometimes I'll send out three in a month. It all depends :)

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Meanwhile, over in the $10 Webcast Tier, last month I got on the webcast, played some ukulele, answered some questions...

These gatherings are really lovely - the $10 tier is quite a bit smaller than the lower tiers, and combine that with timezones, it means that we usually get around 100 people tuning into the webcasts and chatting together in the chat. A really nice cosy little group.

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And up in the $25 Art In The Mail tier... WE SEND YOU BEAUTIFUL THINGS!

Every few months (usually around twice a year), we create some mailable ART in some form, and get it out to all of you.

Here's a small little collection of the various things we've put out through the years - SOCKS! Art prints! Jigsaw puzzle! Stained glass window sticker!

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And finally, if you're feeling really flush... we have the $75 Guest List tier!

This one entitles you to guestlist spots for any headline show I'm playing (and MOST OF THE TIME we are able to help you out with the Dolls shows, too).

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Way in the stratosphere...the $100 folks get postcards every once in a while, and the $250 tier gets...well, anything they want. No blowjobs, no no no.

But all the merch they can handle.

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With all of these tiers, you are always entitled to everything in the lower tiers too.

And if you have questions, hit us in the comments, or you can email patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and someone will be on hand to help you :)

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HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING.....

As of this writing there are about 9,400 patrons pledging about $29,500 for the first Thing each month. There are also about 20,000 total patrons (over 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 May, I Thanged FOUR Things:

Spring Book Recommendations, which earned about $33,518 from 9,391 patrons

Transcript of my talk with Elizabeth Lesser, which earned about $14,701 from 5,309 patrons

Farewell to Graveside Variety, which earned about $9,206 from 3,323 patrons

The State of All Things: May 2024, which earned about $7,473 from 2,700 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 PATRONS - you can promote your work, ask for something you need, show off something you're proud of... you can email anything over to patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and we'll try to include as many as we can each month!

First up..... HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-artist-niki-mcqueen-to-the-dresden-dolls-shows

If you've been paying ANY ATTENTION for the last 18 months, you'll have seen some of Niki McQueen's gorgeous artwork - we've bene using it for all of the Dresden Dolls jaunts since last year:

Well, being in South Africa, Niki has never managed to actually SEE the Dolls perform in person..... so a community fundraiser has been set up by Natalie to try and raise enough money to fly Niki from South Africa over to the States later this year to see the Dolls in October/November.

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

It's just hit $250. It's a long shot, but maybe y'all can help. I'm about to kick in as well.

THE COMMUNITY HELPING EACH OTHER OUT: YES.

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And also this month..... something to add to your (or your kids') reading pile, from fellow patron Christopher Werner!

I self-published a book. It’s not about trauma or equal rights or mental health or anything of any kind of societal issues or weight.

It’s monsters and haiku. I created the characters, the place, the drawings and the haiku. It’s a silly book, but it’s my silly book.

I’m very shy and might have been happy leaving Gloamingham inside my journals. But I wanted the characters to live outside of them, and not regret when my time comes that I didn’t when I had the chance.

The publisher BookBaby, prints copies on demand, and for printed books gives 50% of the royalties back to the author! 

You can find the book here!

My page is at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/arrow%e2%80%99s-field. If that doesn’t work, you can go to store.bookbaby.com and search “Arrow’s Field.”  I’m attaching a PDF of the book. That way you can decide if it’s something the community might be interested in. 

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Graveside Update!!!

Graveside Variety, our little crowdfunded venue in the woods, is now DONE AND DUSTED!

I moved 99% of our objects out before I left on my offline trip, and the piano is scheduled to go back to her original owner in a few days.

Here's the parting shots....I thought you'd like taking a look at the back of my car as I filled it up with books and leg lamps. :)

The spirit of the venue is going to live on down the street in Woodstock in a BRAND NEW venue with a new name, and you should, if you're local (or not!) follow https://www.gollypresents.com/ for more news.

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ART BEGETTING ART!!!

This section is here to show off some of the incredibly talented artists from within the community... if you'd like to see your work featured here, you can always send it through to art@amandapalmer.net or patronhelp@amandapalmer.net.

To start off this week, a gorgeous Dolls-y drawing from @adriennedanielle_arts on Instagram...

Some gorgeous performance sketches from @mirpaint.s...

And finally, a sketch from the aforementioned unannounced still life session, this one by A. E. Kieran (who is also behind the teapot-skeleton artwork on the new Dolls/Gogol Boston show poster!!)

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OTHER FOLKS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW!!!

FLOTSAM! is back.

My dear sister-friend Jason Webley is about to launch his annual RIVER CIRCUS, "Flotsam", and this time they're hitting the Ohio.

Jason and his ragtag beautiful bunch of circus/musician friends take an annual jaunt up or down a river in America and entertain people who gather on the shore to see their circus raft. It's FREE, by donation only, and a truly magical spectacle. They do NOT have a huge media machine, so please be their media and SPREAD THE WORD if you live in any of these areas!!!

https://www.rivercircus.com/about.html

They're also CROWDFUNDING, with a modest goal of only $5k.

They've raised almost $600.

If you can help them out, that'd be amazing: https://www.gofundme.com/f/5m8zs-flotsam-river-circus-2024-ohio-river-tour?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR107s7ISFT41xqWeUAfBB7TXWzkA71rQPNKH5lYWNY15RXIiardVI9CC0s_aem_FDlkyyl-tqYIoOA8y4dvxQ

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And....ANOTHER FRIEND ON TOUR.....

My long-time pal and piano-comrade REGINA SPEKTOR has just announced a summer tour across the north-east US and Canada.

She's turned off comments on social media and that's made it hard to promote hereshows. I hope you can get out to support here work, she needs it. She's such a totally unique voice and if you're never seen here strike a pinao in person....she's a stunning and captivating performer - seriously....if you can, get out and see her (and tell her I said hi).

July 24 - The Egg - Albany NY

July 25 - HISTORY - Toronto ON

July 27 - The Met - Philadelphia PA

July 28 - Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric - Baltimore MD

July 30 - The Wellmont Theater - Montclair, NJ

July 31 - MGM Music Hall at Fenway - Boston, MA

August 2 - Merrill Auditorium - Portland, ME

August 3 - The Palace Stamford - Stamford, CT

All tickets are on her website here

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As mentioned above, my old Philly friend Kyle Cassidy (who's been photographing the Dolls and me for almost as long as we've been around) has published a COOKBOOK!

From Kyle:

Longtime Dresden Dolls / AFP Photographer Kyle Cassidy has written a vegan cookbook, starring his cat, Roswell. It's a cookbook, sure, with more than 50 original recipes, but mostly it's a book about love. You might also spot some Dresden Dolls inside.

Kyle is splitting the profits 50/50 with indie bookstores hit hard by COVID. You can order it at https://cookingwithroswell.com 

Everything in it is easy to make. Don't get it for your vegan friend, get it for you.

(I'm gonna do a book giveaway for this one....so stay tuned!!!)

I just got a chance to flick through the book when I was in Philly, and it is AWESOME.

We will have a couple copies of this to give away to you fine patrons - that post should be coming out in the next few days. But if you're eager to support (and you SHOULD), you can go ahead and order online now!

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I appreciate you all so so so much.

See you all soon as the season heats up

LOVE,

A

------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