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

greetings from the studio in burlington, VT. i'm here on my own for five more days - neil has ash in london and is single-dadding until i get myself over there. more on real life way down below.

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first of all, as i said in the welcome post the other night....WELCOME TO SO MANY NEW PEOPLE!!! holy patrons, batman!!!! over 700 new patrons joined in the past few days since i Thinged my "i don't even really know what this is" diary-video with michael pope, "REWIRED".

dorky note: 68 of you newbies were actually patrons previously at one point or another. WE HAVE THE DATA. so, WELCOME BACK. and this means about 90% of those of you who just joined are NEW-NEW PATRONS, welcome welcome. 

i cannot tell you how much it means to take a stab in the dark at something artistically - like that video - having no idea where we're going, why we're shooting what exactly, just working on hunch after hunch, to see it all come together in a way that's so moving to people.

and i always have to remind you all: if i wanted to make something like this in the so-called "real world", where would the funding come from? it's impossible to imagine a world where i'd pay that $10-15k out of pocket (though i've felt so strongly about certain projects that i've done that before) and it's even more impossible to imagine a world where i try to convince the national endowment for the arts (gradually RIP, NEA) to give me a random $15K grant to make a video NEXT WEEK about something i happen to be pondering. and it's certainly unthinkable to imagine that i'm gonna go to Dove Soap or an equivalent and try to get this kind of work sponsored by the very corporations who are draining our souls of magic and trying to sell us stuff. FUCK THAT. that's why this patreon is so incredibly powerful.

i make a lot of different kinds of art - film, music, podcasts, writing, animations, all that - and not all of it will be for you. but all of it will be for SOMEONE out there, and that's the point. this kind of freedom to play and experiment and FAIL and give no fucks, because i'm safe, because i don't have to worry about selling myself to you on a daily basis. you're just *here*.

i loved this comment from a new patron on the welcome post from Dave Fields:

As a 65yo military retiree raised in North Carolina and living in South Carolina since leaving the military, I may seem a bit of an outlier in your mob, but I have enjoyed your music since the days of "Missed Me" and "The Perfect Fit", and long admired your forthrightness. Art, after all, does not apologize. 

AMEN, dave. and welcome.

here's the thing, and it's been thus since my early days in the dresden dolls:

you may feel like an "outlier" in this mob, but i assure you, there's all stripes here. men, women, old, young, white, brown, american democrats, american republicans (it's true!! - there are republicans here, they tolerate my politics pretty bravely), moms, dads, soldiers, teachers, engineers...the whole nine.

i love that the bigger this community grows, the less the core "mob" looks like me. it's what i've always wanted, to reach outside my "obvious" choir of white american women with "my kinda" politics and find other, further-out allies and friends. 

here we are.

welcome, everyone. i love you, no matter who you are and where you are and what you look like.

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before i get to the meat of the ALTHING, i would love to share this little instagram moment that happened yesterday in the wake of the "rewired video".

i posted this shot:

to which a guy named @vito_missing_bear responded:

"wel there goes my breakfast" (sic)

to which i responded:

a long, long thread of a conversation began (i stayed out of it, i ain't stupid, i have songs to write), and he continued to defend his right to not have to see a fat naked woman in his life. 

it was pretty funny.

i've missed having fun on the internet.

i stopped getting into any potential capital-S-situations for a while. i was too busy with a baby.

so bring on the haters, this toddler-free mom has some time on her hands this week, bitches.

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anyway: for the new folks, here's a quick introduction to catch everyone up to speed. 

this post is the "STATE OF ALL THINGS", a monthly rambling digest of what's going on behind the scenes, details on the math & numbers (lots of which are not public), what i've been working on, notes from the team and...a lotta stuff.

it's basically my big, patron-only backstage work-&-community round-up. and i charge for it. it usually takes a few days for me & hayley (more on her below) to piece it together, and we find it a really inspiring use of time. it keeps us on our feet.

for the newbs: patreon is quite simple. since i'm not asking you to subscribe per month, i can charge you all WHENEVER i want (eek)...and i do it very cautiously. 

-i charge once a month at the end (when i write these huge updates and round-ups), and 

-i charge every time i put out a piece of media/content.

this is important: if you want to make sure that you're only charged ONCE a month (for instance, you want to be in for $1/month MAXIMUM) it's very easy to do that, and i encourage it. learn more about capping your pledge HERE. i don't like to feel like i'm soaking people for money if they're just barely hangin' in there but feel they can still afford the $12/year to support my ongoing artwork...which feels fair, it's less than the cost of an old-fashioned CD or record. i'll take it.

i repeat, because this is so important: IF YOU'RE ON A BUDGET, CAP YOUR PLEDGE!!! on average, i post 2 paid/"official thing" posts per month, sometimes up to 3. if you cap your pledge, you'll STILL RECEIVE EVERYTHING, you'll just be paying for what you can afford.  here's info on how to do this straight from patreon's help page:  https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002984506-How-do-I-set-a-monthly-max-to-my-membership- 

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i started doing these monthly "State of All Things" (or "Althings", as my team and i affectionately call them) back in march after lots of thought and feedback from ALL of the patrons. you can read through all of the past posts (including why we call it the Althing :) ) and get a sense of all that's been happening over these last few months in amandaland:

https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts?tag=State%20of%20All%20Things 

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if you want to catch up with all the things i've released on patreon in the 3 and a half years i've been on here, you can: here's everything i've released IN ONE PLACE - about 60 different types of media, songs, videos, documentaries, performance art things, etc. if you have the flu, congratulations. lie in bed and spend 5 hours catching up with everything i've made since having a baby. a few of these are patron-only, so make sure you're logged in:

https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts?tag=Thing

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AND/OR....i also have a list on my PUBLIC website if you just wanna to scroll through and take a look at the collection of Official Things:
http://amandapalmer.net/patreon-things

this link is good for sharing with other people!, since you don't have to be a patron to use it.

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quick one: my personal recommendations for people who just wound up here through the "REWIRED" film....

go watch "bride tripping"! it's a longer, weirder documentary about becoming yourself. it was filmed when i was about 23 years old, and again when i was 42. it's about 31 minutes long:

http://amandapalmer.net/bridetripping

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.....and if you only have a short minute, this is a pretty cute animation i put out a few years ago when the patreon was very new and experimental. it's made from a lost-then-found voice memo i left for myself about neil (gaiman, my husband) talking in his sleep:

Behind the Trees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QlDX8mPAcc

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some more basics for the newbs:

if you are in the $3+ tiers, you always get downloads to everything. 

sometimes, depending on the Thing, i'll share downloads with EVERY PATRON. you can catch up on any downloads you may have missed here, by viewing all the posts i've tagged with "download":
https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts?tag=download

if you ever have any questions about my patreon or any of the Things i've released, you can reach out to patronhelp@amandapalmer.net. note that this is a team afp email address, this is NOT patreon's general support line. when you email patronhelp@amandapalmer.net a FLESHY human member of team afp will reply to you - it's usually hayley - to help you out. having a team of two full-time people in my office - hayley and michael, see more below - and our office rent in new york (WHAT'S UP GREENPOINT!!!), is a huge chunk of what your patronage/money goes to pay for.

more nerdy: if you have any questions or are curious about larger questions of patreon the platform, payment information, features etc. you can scan through patreon's help page, which has tons of great info: http://support.patreon.com

the community tools here on patreon are, shall we say...er, a bit lacking right now. i have been beggin' and hoping that patreon will find a better way to help us communicate with one another on community reddit-like forums without having to use facebook. they are trying. they are slow.

so we've sent up an official AFP Patreon-land group on facebook as a place where patrons can organize, meet each other, and have a cozy space on the internet to share art and connect with each other. you can join, HERE, but make sure you answer the questions so we know you're a patron and not a robot (include your email address and tell us that "AFP" stands for "Amanda Fucking Palmer" - easy, right?)

OKAY. 

on with THE USUAL ALTHING!

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WHAT HAPPENED THIS MONTH...

it was august, my loves. 

i'm currently writing to you from a desk in burlington, vermont, where jason webley and i have come to hole up and write the show for the public theater, estimated finish date, 2046. but we're working on it. we were offered this incredible free work space through a friend of zoe keating's, named ken bogdanowicz who created a set of famous audio recording plug-ins called soundtoys. engineers and audio dorks will rejoice. everybody else, it's just really cool, trust me.

this month's highlight, if you missed it: i released a patron-only video called REWIRED. it's HERE:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-journal-20803724

the video came out beautifully and as i said above, it brought a lot of people over here, which was wonderful.

an exciting note: the rewired SOUNDTRACK MUSIC is coming out as a little digital EP in a hot second. i'm prepping the music now to be available as a stream for all patrons, and downloads for the $3+ download tier. be on the lookout for posts soon. it's about 15 minutes....four tracks of music (obviously, not all of which was used in the 7-min film). 

this isn't the finished EP artwork but it's damn close:

stay tuned.

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i left new york at the end of july and went to iceland for three days without my kid or husband to see what i could discover.

i put together a GREAT ninja gig - on about 48 hours notice, i found a venue, got a bunch of people in a room, and passed a hat for a local charity. i've been meaning to write a whole post about it, which will come in the next few weeks. but for now, look at this amazing shot from behind me on the stage of the gig.....wheeee......

photo by kiddi agnarsson

crazy icelanders are crazy....

photo by gabrielle motola  / gabriellemotola.com

the ninja gig had performances by yours truly, grey gerston, kirstín anna, JFDR, Húlladúllan and Miss Encircled.

while you're waiting for the long-ass post about it, go listen to their amazing dulcet icelandic music (well, grey is from brooklyn).

plus, two people got engaged on stage at the gig. i need to tell you the whole story. 

i swear i will. it's just been busy af.

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i am about two weeks away from recording my FIRST SOLO RECORD SINCE 2012 (when i released "theatre is evil"/the kickstarter record). 

it's going to be produced by john congleton, the mastermind who produced theatre is evil. i can't wait to see him.

i am scared and excited. if you've been kicking around here backstage, you have heard a ton of the songs, since much of it has been experimentally demo-ed and released on patreon. some of the songs you haven't heard yet, and i'm still writing. 

it's far and away the most personal record i've ever written.

at the same time....i have been working hard on shaping and forming the TOURING SHOW. i'll be touring all of 2019 - all over the world.

in order to wrap my head around how the album and tour are going to flow together, i played four shows at queen's hall, an 800-seat theater, in edinburgh:

photo from night 1 by kenny mathieson

photo from night 2 by kenny mathieson

one journalist from "the edinburgh fringe guide" gave me a 3-star review and told people to stay away from me because i was a horrible person who refused to take accountability for her own actions on stage.

yay!

then i got two 5 star reviews from the skinny and artificial womb zine.

here's an excerpt from the skinny:

"The evening is filled with emotion, with laughter, solemn tones and humorous stories. Hardcore fans are indeed catered for here, but anyone taking in this show will be drawn in by the stories and drama of the evening.....Tonight is an intimate peek at an artist and her vulnerability; from the die-hard Amanda Palmer fan to the art lover, there is something here for everyone… unless you don't like sad songs, in which case, in Palmer’s own words, “You’re fucked.”"

.....and i did a slew of ninja gigs and guest spots all around the edinburgh fringe...including a gig at the crowdfund-built pianodrome:

(that's me and neil, after the show, just barely hanging on....)

....and at the skylight during a celebration for the forest cafe....

photo by andrew ab photography

(that's me in the gray, slaying ukulele)

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working on the setlist for this worldwide tour is like writing a play.

it's hard. 

i want to get it right.

i performed 4 totally different setlists in edinburgh and didn't get it quite right.

i'll keep trying.

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then i flew from the UK straight to martha's vineyard, where i worked for five solid days on my "it'll be a musical someday" project with jason webley and steve bogart. we wrote a lot of things on walls:

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I AM AN ENIGMA.

but seriously, $5 people are about to get sent a boatload of stills and behind-the-scenes shots from the rewired shoot. look out fer it.

ALSO! the WIRE SCULPTURE ITSELF is going to get auctioned off to all y'all for charity. watch for that too. it'll happen fast.

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HERE'S WHAT'S COMING 

as i mentioned...i start recording on sept 19th. so, probably, it's gonna get a little quiet. being in the studio always means i get off social media and concentrate on the Art Part. but i won't have a toddler with me for a good ten days, either, which probably means it'll all even out. :)

i'm also working on booking the US and UK and EUROPE tours for 2019. a reminder that patrons will get first crack at tickets AND a gently encouraging reminder to always be on the mailing list in case you drop off the patreon. you can sign up, HERE: http://amandapalmer.net/emaillist  

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for the $25+ patrons: ART IN THE MAIL IS UNDERWAY!!!!!

the team is hard at work to get the first edition of ART IN THE MAIL out to patrons. after months of planning and a few bumps in the road (always), we're finally close to getting this art out to you in the mail. shipping will start at the end of next month. it's too late to opt in for this first round, but if you want to get future art in the mail you can sign up to the $25 ART IN THE MAIL or $75 ART IN THE MAIL (SIGNED) + Guestlist reward tiers now by updating your pledge.

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in VIDEO LAND....

i have FOUR different video projects in the works right now....eek. here's a round-up:

1.

i've been working with director noemie lafrance and producer natalie galazka on the final cut of the "mr. weinstein will see you now" music video. holy smokes is this video looking absolutely incredible. the team and i are working on the release plans for it, we expect it to be out likely in october, right around the one year anniversary of the NY Times' report detailing harvey weinstein's abuse.

i am so excited to be able to share this with you soon, it's so moving and emotional, and it couldn't have existed with you, without this patreon.


2.

photo by peter bajor

LIKE MY HIPSTER COSTUME?

while i was in edinburgh, I FILMED A KINDA-SECRET-FOR-NOW music video with my transvestite stand-up comedian pal andrew o'neill... this will likely be out next month as the video should be done in the next couple of weeks.

here is a little teaser from the video set from a periscope i filmed while we were on a break:
https://www.periscope.tv/amandapalmer/1yoJMVBELApxQ

3.

this month jason webley and the incredible hoku uchiyama filmed a music video for a song jason and i finally recorded together after years of performing it here and there called Electric Blanket....there's also a new (surprise) song by jason & me song coming very soon. i'll give you a hint:

https://meowwolf.com/santa-fe/

4.

and the last video that's in production is coming out at the end of the year. it's a kinda surprise, but i will tell you it involves an incredible animated illustration and involves the art of asking.....it's being birthed/animated by a team in the UK called Creative Connection.

it's super exciting.

here's a sample of the test animation:

and here's a peek at a few panels from the story board.

once the video is done, i'll share the full story board with $5+ bonus patrons.


speaking of the art of asking....


THE "ART OF ASKING" AUDIOBOOK IS COMING SOON....

ON VINYL!

i'm super proud of the audiobook version of "the art of asking", my memoir about life and love and crowdfunding. if you've never read the book and you're more of an audiobook type, go LISTEN TO IT! i recorded it myself, included music, and cried a few times. it's been an audio-bestseller for a while and i get beautiful feedback from it all the time...i'm really glad i took the four days to record myself rather than let an actor/reader do it. it's my story, i owned it.

you can get the audiobook as a digital audiobook download/stream or as a hardcopy a CD audiobook here 

why vinyl? uhhhh...i dunno. i have to say it's kind of a weird thing to do. who listens to audiobooks on vinyl...? we will find out. it's a project my book publisher hachette approached me with, i approved, and they have been working on it for the last few months with my involvement - i picked the tracks, i helped with the artwork. 

it'll be coming out THIS FALL on a double gatefold vinyl and will have selected excerpts from my reading of the Art of Asking audiobook, it'll also have two songs ("Bigger on the Inside" and "Ukulele Anthem") and it'll come with a download code to download the full version of the digital audiobook.

the vinyl will also include new cover art, taken from the book cover photo shoot with photographer allan amato. 

here it be:

spoiler alert: the red sticker bar will be on the outside of the record packaging, it's not part of the cover art, it's just so it can be displayed on newstands because: 

TITS.

right now it's looking like it'll be released in book stores and music stores in october. i'll also have some up on both my USA/worldwide merch store and the UK/europe merch store. i'll share links and details to order as soon as i have them.

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also, WAY down the pike, but EXCIIIIITING....

i'm working with filmmakers/animators now to score some music for a beautiful animation about edward gorey!!!!

i can't wait to tell you more about it, but for right now i can just express gratitude...the patreon (and the fact that i can cross-release the music here on patreon) is the only thing allowing me to justify taking on this project. so THANK YOU, in advance. 

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work is still chugging along on the AFP Podcast. i've come up with a name, and have several episodes in the pipeline.

as i mentioned previously, i'm trying to get several episodes ready before i premiere the podcast, so i can trickle them out in a regular, serial podcast season. i'm also working with other podcasters to collaborate on joint projects, including working on an episode of Conversations With People Who Hate Me with dylan marron.

hayley is collecting "hate mail" from around the net now, and HEY, if you find anything especially interesting or worthwhile for us to consider, send her an email: hayley@amandapalmer.net. 

we're going to reach out to someone who has left a piercingly mean comment on social media and have an honest, compassionate conversation. 

we are looking for comments that aren't too old or outdated. (too bad, 2012 was an amanda-palmer-trolll field day).

here's a sample of some that we've found on twitter:

ouch....but thanks?

i think this person's probably too nice to get on the podcast.

we need someone meaner. help me out here.

i can't wait to do this podcast. if you want to check out older episodes dylan has made, head over to dylan's site: http://www.dylanmarron.com/podcast

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HOW THE PATREON HAS GROWN....

as of this writing there are 11,735 patrons pledging  $45,349 for the first THING of the month. 

I LOVE YOU ALL.

patreon charges you monthly/retroactively, meaning that you get billed on the 1st of the month for all the Things released the month prior (for example, you'll get charged for the Things released in august on september 1st). 

so i don't have figures for august just yet, but here's july.

because people have their pledges capped (HAVE YOU NOT CAPPED YOUR PLEDGE? if you are on a budget, you should. here's the tutorial again), the first Thing raises the most money, and anything released thereafter raises less and less. (I LIKE THIS. it means i never feel too guilty).

the numbers below are gross. not net. basic math. 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 reflects the money i SPENT MAKING THE ART, running my business, etc etc. 

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. so be it. this is awesome.

in july, i Thinged two Things:

Live at Brighton Festival (audio + video) was the first Thing and it earned about $48,046 from 11,048 patrons.

The State of All The Things: July 2018 was the third and final Thing of the month and it earned about $23,434 from 7,158 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.)

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NOTES FROM THE WORLD OF TEAM AFP...

i have two full time employees - hayley and michael - who help me run this entire ship out of AFP-central in brooklyn, and they are awesome. part of their job is to check in with y'all every month here on the patreon. there's also Alex the Merch Queen in the UK! and my manager Jordan is based out of Sydney because he's too busy on the phone with someone saying "WHERE'S AMANDA'S GODDAMN MONEY" or something.

from hayley:

Most of my work isn't really all that exciting to write about, but sometimes there's moments on the team that are just flat out whirlwinds so I thought I'd share the story behind this tweet with you:

These State of All Things posts are long and media-intensive, and they effectively take the whole month to build out since they're a digest of everything that's been happening, but it's really the last week of the month where the most work is put into it making the post itself. I help Amanda build these patreon posts out, but of course we rely on her to write them and ultimately determine what parts of the month in progress she is most excited to share with you.

One thing that's hard to fully grasp: you see Amanda online a lot through micro-sharing - near daily tweets on Twitter, Instagram posts, newsletter mailers, Patreon blogs, a post Facebook etc. but what you don't see on the internet is everything she's doing in the background - you don't see that Amanda is a touring artist, waiting in airports and settling in new cities and different time zones, working on a new album and all that it entails (organizing recording sessions, collaborating with photographers and producers and music video makers etc.) and working on Patreon projects (these Things, although they appear to happen by magic, indeed take a lot of work and time to conceptualize, create and share) and Amanda leads a team of people to realize all of her creative projects. 

She is, in actuality, an artist that is running her own business, a creative business, but a business that facilitates all the pieces to enable her to put projects out in the world. Projects that she herself is the sole creative force behind. Every time you see a Patreon blog, a merch item, artwork for an album, art for a song or patreon release, a Thing from patreon etc. that's all stuff that is coming from Amanda's direction and creation. Now throw in the mix that she's a mother, has a family, is a human being, and sometimes it's just flat out mind boggling to think about all that she does in a given day.

And so having Team AFP here to help guide these projects along, having someone to field press interview requests, someone to help manage her calendar and set up meetings with collaborators, someone to help manage her website and hosting and all the technical parts involved in existing on the web, and someone like me to help manage the bells and whistles and inner workings of this Patreon page and these long posts - it becomes very clear that it indeed takes a village. 

Even with a solid group of people behind her, Amanda is very hands on with everything - and that's something I respect and am in awe of every day. On the execution side of getting everything out on time, though, this can lead to some wild times....

Now, without further ado, here is a story of one of those times:

Last month’s State of All Things was a dramatic whirlwind. Amanda was en route to Iceland on July 31st, literally boarding the plane when she texted me to tell me she hadn’t finished the July Althings post, and was hoping the plane would have wifi.....

The plane did not have wifi. And I was indeed online at 8:30pm working on another pressing deadline.

She wasn’t going to be able to finish the Althings post while she was on the plane, so she sent me some notes to clean it up and publish it. This was all happening around 10pm ET at night, so if she waited for her plane to land, it would’ve been too late to publish it and make the end-of-the-month deadline. 

Amanda LOVES to publish these posts, so the fact that she entrusted me to do it for her while she was completely offline in the air was no small thing.

(when Amanda said she's not "in the post" here this means she was not editing the draft at the time she told me to add things to it. Patreon won't let more than one person edit a draft at a same time - if you try to do that, you'll end up overwriting changes and have to start from the older version again. This accidentally happened for the June State of All Things, but this story is not about that....)

So that was exciting. And by exciting, I mean stressful. 

If you already took a look at Amanda’s list of projects in the pipeline outlined earlier in this post, I think you have a good idea of how packed this month has been for the team. But one big part of this month involved coordinating the execution of the many steps for the first edition of Art In The Mail so we can begin to send the packages out - and there were many, many steps and some bumps along the way.

Once the Art In The Mail packages start shipping, we’ll have a more detailed report in a future State of All Things from the team to share what this process has been like and what we’ve learned from it. We are very much learning as we go, because no matter how much experience we have with producing merch, organizing shipments or coordinating Amanda’s schedule to sign stuff – there are ALWAYS x-factors we just can’t anticipate. Like a postal company delivering a package outside in the rain in a place that isn’t the front door. Or discovering that artwork is too intricate to adequately print on a tea-towel only after we've gotten to the stage of getting test materials. I think when you know the story behind something, you can appreciate it more – because some of the best pieces of art have incredible and interesting stories and that's what makes them special. So we’ll share more about it soon.

If you have any questions for me and Team AFP, or would like to know more about something, or how something was made, or if you have feedback about this section, share it with us! you can leave a comment below or send us an email: patronhelp@amandapalmer.net

Until then, I've got lots of work to get back to. ;)

Love,
Hayley
 

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from michael:

Hello Patrons,

August.  Fuck.  It was a big one.  There are so many projects in the works right now, and I know Amanda has talked about them above so I won’t belabor the point other than to say how hard Hayley, Alex, Jordan, the whole team at Fame House, as well as myself are working to get all this amazing art edited, filed, mixed, mastered, rendered, color corrected, credited, printed, created, shipped, approved, etc, etc, etc, etc.  It’s because we love you all so damn much and we love this community and we love the creative brilliance of our boss.

As for my part in all this I was afforded the very lucky privilege of going to Edinburgh Fringe!  It was my first trip to Fringe (which has been on my bucket list since I first heard about it in college *cough-cough* years ago.  It didn’t disappoint.  If you have the chance, Go.  It was truly incredible to see SO MANY people participating in Art.  Creators and Consumers alike mobbed the streets and queued in looooong lines just to experience and revel in all the amazing art that was taking place!  For those of you who were at Fringe and got to see any of Amanda’s shows at the Queen's Hall (yes, I was there to hear you cheer when she asked if there were any Patrons in the audience), I know you’ll agree that those three hours were incredibly powerful and moving.  For all of you who weren’t able to make it. . . just wait.  This was the blueprint of next year’s Tour and it and the Album that is going to be released are going to be incredible.

There are so many projects in the works (as you all know), but personally I’m so excited about The As-Yet-To-Be-Officially-Named Album.  The whole team is and has been working so hard to make sure that we have everything all set for next year and it constantly astounds me how much goes into the making of an album.  From finding the right recording studio with the right piano, to planning the art work, endless emails about release dates, vinyl pressing, cover art, tour routing, venue sizes, and on, and on, and on.  Trust me, it’s a labor of love.  

But.  That being said, the music and the songs and the stories behind them are so powerful and touching and real, that sitting on the side of the stage every night listening to it all, even though I’ve heard these songs so many times before, there was not a single night that my cheeks were dry from start to finish.  I can’t wait until all of us here at Team AFP get to share that all with you.  There will be hugs, laughter, and many tears and we’ll all know that we ALL were a part of this because we couldn’t do it without you and your continued support and love. Thank you.

I’ll finish my short blurb this month with a special and very personal Thank You to Scotland.  I had dreamed of visiting for years but never had the opportunity until now.  The Mountains, Lochs, Glens, Whisky, Music, and above  all the people truly touched my heart in ways that I can't fully describe.  I can’t wait to go back!

Love,
Michael

......

words from Queen Alex in uk merchland:

(here's alex at the merch table in brighton this past may at the brighton festival)

Hey Everyone-

UK merch-land took a road-trip this month, spending half the month up in Edinburgh for Amanda's shows. It was amazing to see the development that's taken place between Amanda's 'rough draft' shows in May, and these 'dress rehearsals'. I'm super excited to see the final product next year.

In terms of merch, the Edinburgh shows got the first batch of lyric notebooks mentioned in last month's State of All Things, and they proved amazingly popular, selling out by the intermission of the first show! There have been a number of people since then asking at shows and tweeting to ask about getting more of them - we have another batch that are currently in the works, and they should be available in the UK store in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out on twitter and facebook, Amanda will most definitely be shouting about them when they are in!

Here's another sneak peek at some of the finished journals - which come in variations of Sing, In My Mind, Girl Anachronism, and Lost.

Now I am back home, back to packing orders (including leftover Edinburgh shirts and other new merch bits available here) and prepping to send out the UK and EU Art In The Mail subscriptions next month. ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME.

Love,
Alex

....

SOME MORE ARTISTS TO SUPPORT....

every month i like to shine a light on my friends and collaborators who have their own projects going on...

i'd like to welcome brandon stanton, aka the creator of HUMANS OF NEW YORK to PATREON!!!!

i love this man and his work so so so much. i love him so much that i asked him to be my interviewer when i released "the art of asking" in new york:

photo by hayley rosenblum, taken at the new york stop of the art of asking book tour in 2014.

(you can see video footage of that interview HERE!)

you may have seen his amazing social feeds (or book), but like me, brandon needed a way to make his freely-accessible content to PAY THE BILLS, so he now has 3k patrons helping him do it. brandon takes incredible portraits of every day new yorkers and captions them with a quote about the people's stories and lives. here's one...

“It’s  so hard to ask for help.  Because you’re supposed to be ‘Mommy.’  And  you never want to say: ‘I need help being Mommy.’  I carried this person for nine months.  I knew she was coming.  I felt like I should be able  to handle it and I didn’t want to ask other people to stop their lives.  Especially if they had no part in making this baby.  But eventually I had to give in. I’m just one person and being ‘Mama’ 24/7 can make you crazy. I found myself getting  frustrated that other people were going on with their lives. I’d let things fester. And it was unhealthy for my relationships. I’d get heated with my mother and boyfriend. Instead of beginning with ‘Can you help?’  I’d lose my temper, and jump straight to: ‘Why aren’t you helping?’”

you can see more of his work on his website: http://www.humansofnewyork.com

and now he's HERE!!!!!

FUCK. YES. so please, please support his patreon if you can (i do!): his work is beautiful, human, important, day-changing if you follow him.  

https://www.patreon.com/humansofnewyork

and tell him i said hi :)

……………

UPCOMING 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

i added one show this month in tucson arizona with neil....

poster art by malleus

OCTOBER 18th - An Evening With Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman - the rialto theatre - TUCSON, AZ 

this show has since sold out. if you're looking for tickets or have extras, head over to the official facebook RSVP event and make a post:

https://www.facebook.com/events/278506856078039

AAAAND speaking of sold out shows in october....

OCTOBER 30th & 31st - The Dresden Dolls HALLOWEEN shows - Troxy - LONDON, UK

these shows are fast approaching. if you have/need extra tickets, head to the official facebook RSVP events:
https://www.facebook.com/events/242462789833573

if you're in london the week of the gig, stand by for more info, we ARE adding a small warm-up show to dust off our chops and get amped for these special gigs. more info soon - those tickets WILL VANISH IN SECONDS.

........

please don't forget, my fellow americans, that NOVEMBER 6th is the MIDTERM ELECTIONS. i am not going to shut the fuck about it. 

find out where to register / what the deadlines to register are HERE: https://www.vote.org

we cannot fuck around. i don't need to tell you why.

THAT IS ALL!!!!!!

thank you for being here.

thank you for supporting me and my team and my artistic collaborators. it means EVERYTHING TO ME.

i love you.

xxx
AFP

p.s. look who is playing guitar (photo care of dada in london):

------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