The State of All Things: JUNE 2018. {official thing} (Patreon)

hello my loves. 

welcome to the june ALTHING!

if you're new here to patreon, WELCOME!!! we love you. i love you. you're here. hooray!

this "state of all things" is my monthly wrap-up of well, all things...especially designed for those who don't have enough time to read EVERY GODDAMN post (there's a lot) and just want a summary.....and also good for catching people up who have just joined. 

as approved by the general consensus of the peanut gallery, i also use this post to charge you for my basic monthly running-costs; it helps keeps things afloat (the staff paid, the lights on, the internet bills covered) especially when i am in more down-time-mode and thus do not have to be tempted to pull some random piece of content out of my ass just to make sure we can pay everybody's insurance and make rent. (it also means i can breathe and not have to worry about every charging for blogs, or content that really doesn't feel totally thing-worthy. don't forget: I AM MAKING THIS ALL UP AS I GO ALONG).

i am, at the time of this posting, literally covered in sweat, fresh from the #FamiliesBelongTogether protest in downtown woodstock, NY this morning.

if you're from overseas and haven't been following the current events in the states and why this is happening: more than 700 events/marches were planned across the country, under the slogan & hashtag “#FamiliesBelongTogether” to protest against the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents in recent weeks after they crossed the border without authorization under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” crackdown.

here are some photos. 

me & justine makin' signs....

that's ivy, neil's assistant stephanie's daughter, holding the sign. she was also the little girl in the mother video...she's really getting her politics on....

and here's ash atop my assistant michael's shoulders. it was a brutally hot morning (it's getting up to 90F today) and ash was slightly cranky and kept wailing “WANT TO GO HOOOOOME!!! HOOOOME WITH MAMA!!!!”  he had no idea how poetic his cries were, in context.

and now...

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HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED THIS MONTH...

it was june. 

the summer came. i went to a wedding, became a mermaid queen, tried to work on a play, went to a prison for a few days, worked on a podcast, threw a goth dance party in the woods, and played house at me & neil's compound-in-the-forest, which forced me to wrestle with reality and admit defeat: i am now a full card-carrying member of the town of woodstock, NY. they know me at the co-op and the library now. it's all over. and i am a householder and a mom. there are days when i get more excited about cleaning the fridge than i do about answering my email. i do not really know how this happened to me...but i do. i have a child. i think that's what happened. i am also learning to forgive myself for being exciting about cleaning the fridge. i mean...someone has to clean the fridge. mostly i am reckoning with the fact that i never had anything in the fridge before, because i lived on tour, alone, and ate burritos, and then they were gone. and then i started dating neil gaiman, and we ate in restaurants, and then we were gone. and then i had an infant, and i ate burritos or ate in restaurants, and gave my infant a boob to suckle, and then we were gone. now there is a refrigerator, that i own, with food in it because the kid needs to eat and it's curtains for the burrito lifestyle. i'm okay with it. i am. i am. i really am. i am.  

fuck yeah. 

this was a month of gathering and cleaning. i barely wrote any music. oh fuck, who am i kidding: i wrote no music. i wrote half a song after the prison stint and don't know what i'm doing anymore - but for the moment, i'm okay with that. 

henry rollins used to talk about taking "inhale" years and "exhale" years. inhale years: travel, live, be, read, gather. exhale years: write, tour perform. i envy hank. i've always been so attached to exhaling so constantly that i don't have time to breathe in. i'm trying.

i've been thinking a lot about this patreon and how it works, why it works, when it works and doesn't work, why people join, why they stay, why they leave. why it's okay when they leave. 

this is a workshop, i keep reminding me (and you). it's not a store, it's not a shop, it's not a place where the general public comes in and gets a perfect, shiny product and takes it to the counter. it's my backstage mess, it's where you see the art-sausage getting made, it's where we sit at the kitchen table and drink and eat (burritos, or whatever you'd like) and commune and where you support me exploring. i'm still figuring it out. there are days when i cannot believe i created enough good fortune to actually be this trusted by over 11,400 people. this, too, is okay. i'm trying. and think that's why most of you stay here. to try with me.

enough people gave me & hayley feedback that these posts are great but a little too long and rambly. i'll try to keep it short(er?...which is hard for me) and sweet.

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there were two official patreon things:

#1 

Big Yellow Taxi

.....a very organic recording collaboration with zoe keating, sean ono lennon and john cameron mitchell made at pioneer works in brooklyn at maria popova's brain pickings' universe in verse event.

you can listen/read all about it HERE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/big-yellow-taxi-19387276 

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#2

Pulp Fiction 

the video and short story....

.....a new music video by david mack and olga nunes, an original story by lauren beukes and a new mix of the song with MOAR BASS by edward ka-spel. you can watch the video and read the story about it here and you can read the patron-only short fiction story from lauren beukes here.

the responses have been beautiful.

there's a big interview with me & david in paste magazine about the project that i will post & discuss in a few days. 

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

i went to PRISON.

i spent a weekend at a "restorative justice retreat" at norfolk prison about an hour south of boston - technically "Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk". what in hell's name is a "restorative justice retreat"?, you ask. basically: i spent 16 hours in large and rooms with inmates, victims/survivors and people from the criminal justice system. everybody shared their stories. it was one of the most powerful things i've ever witnessed in my life. i haven't written about it yet, though i took extensive notes and a lot of the experiences i had in there are now burned on my brain. i am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with all this backed-up profound experience i've stumbled into in the past year - the refugee camps, the abortion referendum, a miscarriage, prison....i just haven't had time to sit and write essays about all of it, or even much music. i find myself thinking that the podcast, or even another book (though i said never again after the last one) may be the only direct flight out of this airport of emotional backlog. i don't know. i know i have the patreon and that it's going to help me, no matter what choice i make.

on a totally different note:

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

i went MERMAID-ING.

neil (and ash, and justine, and hayley and michael from team AFP) and i all
marched in the historic freak-flag coney island mermaid parade. there's a great article about it HERE in vulture magazine (plus lots of fun backstage photos).

i brought my podcast producer, fannie, along for the rider and hopefully we will be able to make a podcast out of it....

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i went WEBCHATTING...

i did a great two-hour-long webchat with $10+ patrons....and you can tune into the archive here. it was a reallllly good one. hayley and i went into a lot of the nuts and bolts of how we run things.... 

view the webchat archive here (ALL PATRONS CAN NOW VIEW THIS)
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/village-webchat-tonight


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INTERESTING READS/LISTENS:

i did an interview with Ms. magazine....about gender, feminism, art and y'know...
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2018/06/25/ms-qa-amanda-palmer-changing-game

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i did an interview for a british podcast called "My Favourite Elliott Smith Song". i talk about a lot of things i don't usually, so if you want some off road listening....
https://audioboom.com/posts/6904107-amanda-palmer

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READ MORE...

this is a great Q&A and review of dublin's national concert hall show:
http://www.beatvyne.com/2018/06/07/inside-tracks-amanda-palmer

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i thought it might be fun to do a 

SOCIAL MEDIA ROUNDUP...

this is, sweetly, my top tweet from june....
https://twitter.com/amandapalmer/status/1004228829798227969

...........

 this was my most commented-upon post of the month from facebook:

and there was this. i didn't post here on patreon when anthony bourdain dies - i wish i had cross-posted, but it was one of those days....

and my top instagram post....the merfamily.

and...goth night. 

there were so many patrons there - dancing into the night. we are going to have to do it again.

if you want to keep up with me as i careen, i try not to post here daily for fear of bugging you. so follow me on the socials. i am relentlessly post-y.

if you're not already following me on social media, git on it.  

twitter: @amandapalmer 

instagram: @amandapalmer 

facebook: amandapalmer

(that's easy ain't it)

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HERE'S WHAT'S COMING UP.... 

the first offcial AFP podcast episode (working title: "The Art of Asking All the Things" - see what we did there???), featuring david eagleman (and matt nicholson) is still underway....we're working on tweaks and edits, and we're going to maybe add another interview/layer. i want this one to be impressive as fuck so that you guys don't think that me doing a podcast is stupid.

i am slogging away at this EPIC musical theater project with jason webley and steven bogart at the public theater. oh my god it's gong to take a long time. stay tuned.

in more exciting newses....
i'm working on a few new music video projects!!! one for a song with jason webley (an oldie but goodie), and one for "mr. weinstein will see you now". i'm doing something for the latter that i've never tried before with choreography, and i am SO PROUD of who we are working with. more on that soon.

and in kind of beautiful, brace yourself, future-news...i am about to do my first OFFICIAL photoshoot for the UPCOMING ALBUM and TOUR 2019. i'm working with the incredible art-duo kahn and selesnik (they also did the "grinning man" photo) and we are going to do three photoshoots throughout the summer and fall: two in new york and one in the UK. we are going to need your help...you'll see why soon. it's exciting. i have been sharing the album song-lists with the artists and we've been attacking an approach to how i want to visually put myself across, and how i am going to get the tour and album images to match the stage show and costumes....: album art, tour art, merch art, press photos...THEY DON'T COME FROM NOWHERE. 

it's really nice to have a fatter budget to work from than usual because of the patreon. photoshoots with hardcore art-teams like this aren't cheap: they run into the tens of thousands of dollars when all is said and done. because of patreon, i have the starting capital to pay for it even though these images probably won't be seen until NEXT SPRING. it's fucking relieving, is what it is. and i like telling you these things...sometimes you have to spend money so, so far in advance to make things work. this is sort of shit that labels used to foot the bill for (and then throttle you on the back-end). NO MORE. i have you. thanks.

their work is so beautiful....the best way to present the amazingness of Kahn & Selesnik is to just screencap a google image search of their photography:

...and there, above, you also have a very nice view of my webpage bookmarks.

it's a nice time to remind you that while i don't lurk daily on the official facebook page, i do check in there from time to time, and post myself, and stalk everybody's lives. if you're a facebook user, it's a really great palce to connect with the rest of the community for the time being while we try to build a better amandapalmer.net website and better social tools for us all to connect because, y'know, facebook ain't that great for a lot of reasons. but for now, it's what we've got. join the private group HERE. you'll be checked by the mods (to make sure you're a real patreon member) and then invited in.

it's a nice place. people are really beautiful to each other and the internet needs more of that.

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

a little exciting reminder that my band

THE DRESDEN DOLLS

(art by cypherx)

.....are playing TWO SHOWS ONLY in london in october (30 & 31 at the troxy). they are TOTALLY SOLD OUT but we are going to announce a TINY warm-up gig for oct 27th - so stay tuned, those tickets will literally disappear in minutes. i got you covered.

i got the inspired idea to make a heavy metal t-shirt for the shows and i'm working with two designers: christophe "lord of logos" szpajdel who does stuff like THIS:

and the famed metal-artist DAN SEAGRAVE to do the painting...

IT'S GONNA BE SO METAL!!!!!!!!

just saying. excited.

speaking of METAL AS FUCK

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2019, and the new record/TOUR...

i plan to record my new album (including a lot of stuff that i've demo'd here on the patreon, plus new things) in sept/otcober. i'll be in LA with john congleton, and he and i have been mapping and planning the session - pianos, helpers, guest musicians...then the album will probably come out in the spring (around march). i'm talking with SXSW about doing a speech there (about patreon, life, and art). then, TOUR. for ever. tour for a long time, at least. this is the first time i'm going on a WORLD tour since the Theatre is Evil tour back in 2012. before book. before TED talk. before baby. 

i spent over an hour on the phone yesterday with my american booking agent, matt hickey. we had long talks about how i'm going to map out north america and what sizes of venues to play. my career and draw is at the point where i can probably do some pretty sizeable theaters (up to 2-3k capacity) but i'm also scared of losing the connection to the people in the room. in the cities where i may be playing those massive shows, i may also try to do late-night patron-shows, or little secret shows the day before or after. there's really nothing like playing to 300 people, especially when they are TOTALLY YOUR people. i'm also planning to roll out a system, where you all can vote with your credit cards (and literally try to collectivize) to get me to spots where i can't go without a human guarantee: 800 people in alaska want to plonk down for tickets? i'll come. hong kong? i'll come. romania? i'll come. brazil? i'll come. but i will need to see at least 500 or so tickets in advance, or else the whole thing won't work. so that's exciting. and all the usual suspects in europe, UK, north america, mexico, australia & new zealand can expect to see me. i'm PSYCHED. this show is going to be sick. sick in the best, saddest way.

……………...............

HOW THE PATREON HATH GROWN:

IT'S GROWING! slowy but surely.

as of this writing there are 11,409 patrons pledging  $44,298 for the first THING of the month.

patreon charges you "retroactively", meaning that you get billed on the 1st of the month for Things released the month prior (for example, you'll get charged for the Things released in june on july 1st). so i don't have figures for june just yet, but here's may...

because people have their pledges capped (HAVE YOU NOT CAPPED YOUR PLEDGE? if you are on a budget, you should. here's a tutorial), the first Thing raises the most money, and anything released thereafter raises less and less. I LIKE THIS. it means i never feel guilty. for the people who have the disposable income and can afford to pledge for three things, GREAT. for everyone else on a budget, GREAT. every patron gets access to every Thing no matter what. win win win.

the numbers below are gross and 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. also, none of this reflect the money i SPENT on the projects, or the staff. i don't share that 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. 

in may, i Thinged two Things:

Mr. Weinstein Will See You Now was the first Thing and it earned about $50,112 from 11,361 patrons.

The State of All The Things - MAY 2018 was the second and final Thing of the month and it earned about about $25,111 from 7,578 patrons.

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

someone on the webchat asked HOW YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT MY MUSIC, THE PATREON, ETC....

i think you guys know what to do. if you love the experience, just take the time once in a while to tell people. in a bar, in person, at work, over email, over twitter, it's all just people telling people. tell people how amazing it feels to DIRECTLY support artists making art instead of giving your dough to massive faceless institutions who screw artists. it feels nice, doesn't it.

if you're a real dork and want to see the growth of the patreon ANY TIME, the site graphtreon is totally public and geekily tracks all creators....

https://graphtreon.com/creator/amandapalmer 

i also support their patreon!!!

 
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FROM THE WORLD OF TEAM AFP...

this hayley and michael ALL sparkly at the mermaid parade....michael had a sunburn for days on his face that was fish-scale-shaped...

THE TEAM THAT WEARS WINe-RED LIPSTICK TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER. 

from hayley:

The most eventful part of June for Team AFP was by far the Mermaid Parade. It was quite special to be part of Amanda and Neil’s royal court, following them down the parade route and helping them out throughout the day. It was truly magical to see so much creativity bursting out of the crowd and from the parade marchers, and to do it together with Team AFP and Team Neil Himself was quite a trip. I shared a few photos and some words about what it was like watching the royal Mer-family, which you can see here on my Instagram....

Another notable thing that happened this month was that I was able help Amanda with her patron-only webchat. I've written this here before, but the best part of my job is being able to interact, listen to and meet so many of you, so I appreciate opportunities like the webchat to read the chatroom on the broadcast, and interact with you when Amanda pulls me on the screen to share some behind the scenes news and happenings.

In the weird way that time flies it's been ONE YEAR since Michael joined Team AFP and when he told me, my response was, "ONLY?!" We've gotten A LOT done and there's so much more to do, it's been such a great and wild year for Team AFP.

We have a busy summer ahead, and we're just starting preparations for next year. As always, we want to hear from you - what's working, what could be better, what do you love, what about the patreon do you like/don't like etc - leave comments here or email us at patronhelp@amandapalmer.net if you have any feedback or questions.

<3,
Hayley

hayley@amandapalmer.net

....

afp sez: folks... hayley always deserves applause - she helps me (and the whole team) with so many nerdy-nitpicky things...including gathering links and photos for these epic posts. she's incredible. in short, the whole team is killing it. michael's actually at my upstate house right now with his 13-year old son, liam, taking a breather. work family. it's the bestest.....

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from michael:

Hello Patrons!

Time always moves fast, but this month seemed to absolutely FLY by!  Where did it go?! Wasn't I just writing the State of All Things for May?  Whew! I'll try to be brief. 

I will echo Hayley's sentiment that the Mermaid Parade was definitely the highlight of this month (dare I say the year so far)! Seeing so many people come together to create all the ART and MUSIC and LOVE and BEAUTY is for me, a veritable feast of soul food! Getting to be part of the Royal Court was a dream of an experience and to march with such amazing people like Hayley, Jason Webley (whose costume was equal parts hilarious and terrifying), Krys Fox, who also took a ton of pictures, and Stephanie and her family really made the day so wonderful and special. 

(photo: krys fox)

Also, as Hayley said it is my AFP Work-Anniversary! One year ago I came up to Amanda's house in the woods to do an immersive first week of brain picking and inbox alignment and it's been non-stop ever since. I could write so much about what this first year has meant to me and how amazing this ride has been so far, but that's for another blog at another time.  It's been amazing, and it's all made possible by you, the Patrons. I feel like I say this every month, but I can't stop saying it. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

The remainder of June as been spent catching up on a load of emails and prepping for a slew of projects that are in the pipeline. I can't wait for you to see what we have in store for you in the coming months. Videos to be made, Songs to be written, Photoshoots for the New Album, Fringe!  Dresden Dolls in London! And SO. MUCH. MORE!

Here's to the start of my second year with y'all and to many more to come!

love,
Michael

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BOOK CLUB!!!!

i figure these monthly digest are a great place to dump my reading list on you. fair?

i'm a voracious and slutty reader (i often don't finish books) but i'm always wondering when and how to dump my recommendations on all y'all - and i love it when people recommend or hand me books. always feel free. maybe it deserves a separate thread, but for now....

someone told me about this book the night i was between days in the prison, and i devoured it. if you want a really direct understanding of what it's like to be shuffled through the american prison system (spoiler: there's a happy ending), read it. 

.......

THIS beauty of a book was given to me by coco karol, and i've been reading it slowly...it's like a poetic song-prayer to nature and how every little thing is so interconnected. it's full of incredibly beautiful nature trivia, but it reads like someone telling you a story. highly recommended. 

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

i just played a little book launch at joe's pub for amanda stern's new book, "little panic".

she wrote a lot of it at me & neil's house, and i'm only about 30 pages in but GOD IT'S GOOD. if you grew up with an anxiety/panic disorder of any kind, OR you have a child with same, do yourself a favor and nab this one.

here's me at joe's pub, with my fly down, at her book launch. oh yes. i am classy that way.

(photo by michael mccomisky)

 
on the same topic...

i'm halfway through this book and it's GODAMN WONDERFUL. and heartbreaking. some of you may have seen justin (aka the bedroom philosopher) open up for me in australia. justin's writing voice is so phenomenal, such a perfect combination of funny and whole-hearted without being syrupy, woe-is-me and sentimental. i have a feeling a lot of people will find "oh my god that was me" relief in this book, esp if they grew up with parents who were dealing with any kind of mental illness....

this book may be harder to find in the states or europe, but go go go get it.

start here: http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/get-up-mum or ask your local bookstore to order it!!

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SOME MORE ARTISTS TO SUPPORT....

i don't know if this is going to be up everybody's alley

(wait) i know this ISN'T GOING TO BE UP EVERYBODY'S ALLEY...

but this is my favorite new musical/artist discovery:

LINGUA IGNOTA:

listen to this track, and WAIT....listen to me. listen to the WHOLE THING. it starts off incredibly intense and avant-noise, and then.....holy fuck. just listen. with headphones. in the dark. you're gonna die: https://linguaignota.bandcamp.com/track/woe-to-all-on-the-day-of-my-wrath

she's on tour now. for those who are into the avant-noize-soundz...i can't imagine that this show won't be fucking intense and soulful:

(the actual dates are kinda hard to find/access online - but they're here: http://www.thrilljockey.com/artists/the-body)

thanks to cormac bride for turning me on.

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ALSO.....

COMICS DESK:

if you're a fan of weird, hyper-surreal and lurid comics, my pal hans rickheit has a kickstarter going for his long-standing comic CHROME FETUS, and it's already broken past its $2k goal...but there's still 27 days to go. if you want to support a true underground original, look no further. he's a totally unique talent and has done a lot of crowdfunding: he will deliver. i also support him here on patreon. but if you want a one-time hit, you got it. kickstarter, baby. GREAT FOR ONE-TIME PROJECTS:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/59021817/the-gloaming-1?ref=user_menu

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(photo by Andrew Watson)

SHOWS n TOUR DATES.

all the upcoming tour dates are below. as always, you can head to the official show pages for more info: http://amandapalmer.net/shows

AUGUST 9TH - QUEENS HALL / EDINBURGH, UK - TICKETS
AUGUST 10TH - QUEENS HALL / EDINBURGH, UK - TICKETS

(these above two shows are newly added and STILL HAVE A TON OF TICKETS!!! spread the word!!!!)

AUGUST 17TH - QUEENS HALL / EDINBURGH, UK - TICKETS
AUGUST 18TH - QUEENS HALL / EDINBURGH, UK - TICKETS

(these above two are almost sold out!!!!)
……………..

that's it, my loves.

oh....one more thing.

i'm in the midst of doing a big long-form article/interview for BILLBOARD magazine. i took my story about patreon to a journalist i liked (jed gottlieb, who used to write for the boston globe) and asked if he would be my ally and take the story to the press...so that we can control how the story gets told, since it's complicated. 

i haven't talked to the press about the patreon very much on purpose. after getting burned so hard for using crowdfunding and kickstarter in 2012, i was like: i'm done. but it's an amazing thing, an amazing platform, and i want other artists to understand it. so i'm starting to feel a little selfish by just working away here in my cave and not talking about it very much to the outside music-business world. 

we've done two interviews, and so far, i think he's getting it right. i'm sharing more information with him than i would with a normal journalist...because i trust him. the article will probably be out next month or the month after....wish us all luck.

to you all:

thank you for being here, thank you for supporting my staff and collaborators, and thank you for believing in me.

i love you all, so much.

the people
united
will
never be
divided

xxx
AFP


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

1. if you’re a patron, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol.

2. see All the Things i've made so far on patreon: http://amandapalmer.net/patreon-things

3. join the official AFP-patron facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/afpland

4. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

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