The State of All Things: JULY 2019 {official thing} (Patreon)

(patron only - Althing Artwork by michael kemp / @mkemptattooer on instagram)

HALLO LOVES.

greetings from woodstock, NY, where there has not been a mass shooting today. 

for this, i am grateful.

and i'm not even really saying that sarcastically.

if i make time to write anything in the next few weeks, i think i may finally have another mass shooting song in me. 

it's getting bizarre here. 

i don't know what to say anymore. 

it must be time to sing.

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

life?

good lord....when it rains it pours, and when it drizzles unendingly you realize that you're still just standing out in the rain ALL THE TIME AND YOUR CLOTHES NEVER REALLY EVER DRY. people who live in the UK must understand this life metaphor.

this has been as close to an "off" month i've had in a long time and, from the looks of this althing, you can see what i consider "off" time. i cannot help but just do a lot of shit, and even when i stop doing shit things keep happening.

the main thing i've done this month? and i know you'll all support the shit out of me when i tell you this: i've worked on being at home, worked on my intellect, worked on my marriage to neil, worked on my gazpacho recipe. (i will share it later).

i did a lot of "work". and i spent time with my kid, my family, my friends. 

you gotta do this or you die.

i have had a hard time, i admit, with the juggle. i always did, even before i had a child, and now it feels like my improvisational and social time are cut by 80% and there's just never enough time for anything. 

so i have pivoted my approach: i do not attach to things getting done. they will or they won't. as brené brown says really wisely in one of her books somewhere: i end every short work day going (i paraphrase) "fuck it. i didn't do it all, but i did ENOUGH."

every day has been like this.

i was going to put up curtains in my house this summer. i never did. it's fine.

there are still fifteen boxes in my office that have mystery contents. i don't need to know what's in there. it's fine. 

my tour in europe and the UK isn't selling out. it's fine. i'm doing what i can in the time that i have. i am doing enough. (you can help with that, people. TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THE TOUR, PLEASE. unless you're in london, berlin, vienna or stockholm. those are all sold out or close.)

i'm okay-er than i've ever been with everything being half-finished. it's just....fine. it really is.

i will send you my gazpacho recipe soon.

......

i want you all to watch this, and i don't always beg you to watch my interviews.

but this one....oh my god. it was so good. it was filmed in LA in the set of "Critical Role" with CR's brian foster. i had no idea what to expect.

i was blown away by the wonderfulness of this time together. i think you'll understand if you watch it.

BETWEEN THE SHEETS will air at 7pm PT (california time) TONIGHT, monday, august 5th on their' twitch channel twitch.tv/CriticalRole

a few days later, on wednesday, august 7th  it'll be up on their youtube channel http://YouTube.com/CriticalRole

.....and i'll probably remind you here.

IT WAS SO GOOD.

here's a little video clip from it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yz19tFGpz/

.....

if you're a $5+ patron, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: this past weekend i shared a video of me lip-syncing to R.E.M. and dancing in the rain for the $5+ random surprise tier patrons... enjoy. 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/5-patrons-only-i-28899109

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

also, in case you missed it: $10+ webchat tier patrons, i asked you to pick which date you wanted the next webchat to be and you have spoken! it's happening on TUESDAY, AUGUST 13th starting at 3pm new york time. here's more details:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28938556

these webchats are always amazing and we're overdue.

.......

WHAT HAPPENED THIS PAST MONTH...

it was july. 

mostly, i tried to take time off.

i tried to answer by backlog of email.

i failed.

if i still haven't answered your email, forgive me.

i released a BETA PODCAST EPISODE!!!!!

kristin hayter (aka lingua ignota) is a FORCE....an absolutely unapologetic feminist, pianist, force, musician. i chucked this podcast our early because her new album, "caligula" is out right now and she's about to tour and i wanted to help her out.

talking to her was a huge honor and i think you'll love the chat - it goes deep.

it's here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28567131

....

the "ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING" podcast update!

the podcast is coming along....this is a lot more work that i thought it would be, so thank christ i have the patreon to support it. 

the team is hard at work getting everything ready now for the launch...we're aiming for an official release net month!!! (PRAY!!!) 

and while that's going on, i've been recording MORE interviews with some even MORE incredible people. this is going to be real good.

worth posting, from the patreon comments:

this is a good time to talk about the podcast, releasing upcoming episodes on patreon and how it is all gonna work. i can't emphasize this enough: cap your pledge and read and listen and watch all the Things that interest you. 

every Thing i make may not be for every one and that's okay. 

that's why patronage!

....

PATRON SONGWRITING COMPETITION

i put out a call for you to write songs inspired by a ny times article about a blackout in manhattan and DAMN did you DELIVER. here's the original post:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/sunday-contest-28370965

i picked a song called "later you told me" written by thomas herlofsen. here's my cover and the story of how i picked it....

https://www.patreon.com/posts/power-of-power-28810198

BUT....i didn't even manage to listen to all of the submissions, i'm still working my way through (AS WE SPEAK!) 

so there will be at least one more winner. stay tuned.

....

the TED SUMMIT in EDINBURGH

i went to the fine city of edinburgh, scotland, for a week and change to catch up with the TED community. every three years they do a TED-centric event where they invite star speakers, TEDx organizers, the TED staff from vancouver and NY, and, best of all, the TED translators from all over the feckin world.

if you've never seen my TED talk...you should watch it.

if you're my patron and you've never seen my TED talk it JUST ISN'T RIGHT!!!

and if you HAVE seen my TED talk and haven't seen it in a while, here's some news:

it's now had over SIXTEEN MILLION (??!!!???) views on TED.com + youtube.

TED added this great feature to their site and i recently added a bunch of footnotes and links to my talk, things like  blog links, photo links, etc. i had a lot of fun doing it.

ALSO, my talk has now been translated into FORTY-THREE LANGUAGES!!!

all of those translations didn't come out of the sky or google, they came from humans....

and here is me with a ton of those humans....these are the TED translators, and they're a soulful bunch:

the japanese translator, kazunori, came to one of my little secret shows at TED....

and then sent me this message.....

i mean....i wanna just hug him til we both die.

........

i met a lot of TED people.

this is masarat daud, who did an amazing TED talk a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvX_eJtEbtI

i'm going to interview her for the podcast when we are in london, she's a gem.

........

i sat in a dark theater and watched about 40 TED talks get filmed live.....

here is an amazing one  i'd love to share with you - i stood up and CHEERED, can you hear me? - because it's already out:

https://www.ted.com/talks/george_monbiot_the_new_political_story_that_could_change_everything

......

this was one of the highlights of the TED conference...

the fuckin first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, showed up and KILLED IT.

here's her talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/nicola_sturgeon_why_governments_should_prioritize_well_being?language=en

(i snuck this photo while she was getting interviewed by chris anderson, head of TED:)

...

NINJA GIG in CAMDEN

read all about it here.....
https://www.patreon.com/posts/28477445

and a huge big thanks to meg and aaron of the golden lion for giving us a place to ninja gig.

...

NINJA GIG in EDINBURGH

then, in edinburgh the assembly fest offered their space for my first patron-only ninja gig.

the special guests were off the hook, including KT tunstall.

suddenly i see.

read all about it here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28620426

photos below by eleonora briscoe....

.....

FULL FRONTAL NAKED BUSH IN VOGUE ITALIA!!!

in last month's althing i shared some gorgeous photos photographer simon melber took of me for phoenix magazine. well now, he has some more in italian vogue, in at least the web version, i'm not sure if any made it to print (if you have a copy, let me know in the comments if it's printed).

....

AND in case you missed it in last month's althing, the patron-only pins that we had at the patronator table at most dates of the north american tour are now up for order online.

the password, for both stores is: PATRONATOR

USA/WORLDWIDE WEBSTORE:
https://shop.amandapalmer.net/products/afp-tour-merch-patron-enamel-pins

UK/EUROPE WEBSTORE:
https://ukshop.amandapalmer.net/products/queen-of-hearts-enamel-pin-patron-only 

we'll have them at. the merch table during the uk/euro tour, too....

...........

the MERCH FROM TOUR IS UP ONLINE....

it's all here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/27970045

and we have a fancy fancy beautiful new shirt, too, which is now starting to ship, so if you ordered it from the pre-order, be on the look out for it in the mail, they should be arriving to your mailbox any day now.....

go get it..

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

WHAT'S COMING DOWN THE PIKE...?

DROWNING IN THE SOUND - THE MASSIVE MUSIC VIDEO....that has taken forever....

directed by michael pope, choreographed by coco karol. 

we filmed in april, we were hoping to have it out by now but many surprise curveballs have come up and we do not want to rush this beauty. 

it's been a difficult process, but it'll be out soon for better or worse.

here's some more shots from set taken by krys fox:

......

THE THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION ARTBOOK AS A PATRON-ONLY PDF.....

the team has been hard at work getting things together to release a special edition of the artbook here on patreon. this is not going to be a pdf of the proof we sent to the printers for the physical book, oh noooo. this is going to be it's own beast....it'll have TONS of extra photos that didn't make the final book, a brand new introduction written by me now that i've had a chance to tour the show and play the album live, and it'll have some interactive elements to the pages like a SHITLOAD of links you can click to take you to videos, songs and more pictures and other things that i've referenced within the book's pages.

here i am annotating a physical copy of the book so that hayley can go in and type up and collect the links and things i want you to click off to in the digital version.

(photo by hayley)

also, good news:

the physical softcover artbook itself is now in it's SECOND printing, which means the first printing sold out so we had to make more. it's exactly the same as the original printing, but the second printing has a slightly different finish on the cover, which should help minimize the amount of finger prints sticking around on it when you handle it.

i'll be bringing these on the road with me next month in the euro/uk tour, but as always, if you wanna grab a copy in my online shops, you can get it in all three webstores: USA, UK/EURO and the new AUS store: http://amandapalmer.net/merch

......

HOW THE PATREON HAS GROWN....

patreon bills credit cards on the 1st of the following month so we usually see a couple hundred people drop off in the beginning of the month due to payment errors and credit card issues, it takes a few days for this to adjust once people fix their accounts. it's life.

as of this writing there are about 14,942 patrons pledging about  $54,693 for the first THING of the month. 

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

the office talk....

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 were just charged for the Things released in june on july 1st). 

so i don't have the final figures for this month, as they're still being processed, but here's june:

(i say this every month, but if you're new....)

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.

......

just a reminder, i posted this previously but it's worth repeating:  patreon introduced a new pricing and fee plan that took effect on may 7th, however all creators who've had accounts up until then are considered "founding creators" and for the time being are locked into the original fee structure with the 5% patreon fee and the 5-9% credit card payment processing fee.

.....

in june, i Thanged three Thing-thangs:

The State of All Things: MAY 2019 was the first Thing and it earned about $63,814 from 15,117 patrons.

NOTORIOUS ABORTIONIST: a conversation with dr. leah torres was the second Thing of the month and it earned about $30,270 from 9,603 patrons.

Ninja TED: A benefit for the Vancouver Food Bank was the third and final Thing of the month and it earned about $19,237 from 6,421 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.

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

DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP!

from hayley:

Hi everyone,

Where has July gone? In the beginning of the month I celebrated my birthday with Amanda and the entire "Real Compassion" Omega session crew. I have never had so much attention for my birthday in my life, everyone made me feel so loved. During the day, I invited everyone to come to the lake to go swimming with me in the afternoon. It was so fun, so many people showed up, and we played with Amanda and Ash in the water. I got sunburned because I did not want to leave the water, I had too good of a time.

This month I also took my first week off for the first time in over a year. I'm bad about taking time off, but it so was so, so needed. I am trying to be better about setting, and enforcing, work boundaries so that I'm not working, or on call 24/7, so that I have down time to recharge my brain and come back to my desk with more steam and creativity. 

Here is a selfie Amanda and I took with a life-sized cardboard cut out of Bob Ross at Omega

And then back at the office:

Amanda came by and finally signed all the copies of art books and albums that we needed to send out to friends and family, so we did a little instagram live broadcast from the office:

I was just in Woodstock working with Amanda and Bill H and right before I left to catch a bus back to the city I got to play with temporary tattoos with Amanda, Ash and Deana. I chose a kangaroo...

...to announce that later this month, at the end of August, I'll be traveling to AUSTRALIA for the first time! I'll be spending a few days in Sydney with Amanda's manager Jordan to work along side him in the flesh and gather my jetlagged marbles before I head off to Brisbane to speak at a conference at the beginning of September. I'm very excited, but also a little nervous for the long haul flight. If you have tips or recommendations, let me know! :)

And last but not least, I want to share something to illuminate how Amanda and I work with Patreon directly to help inform how the site works, and how I strive to work as a liaison for all of you dear patrons.

While beginning work on this Althing, I noticed that Patreon changed the way they displayed the patron count on the front page of a creator's Patreon, it went from showing you exactly how many patrons a creator had, to rounding it:

(screen cap of amanda's patreon page on july 30th)

I found this to be frustrating on a practical sense, because we need to see the exact number to share it with you all in the above "How the Patreon Has Grown" section of the Althing, but I also saw deeper implications in how this number affects our community.

By removing the last two digits, you aren't seeing the full picture. As a patron, especially a new one who just signs up, you don't see yourself reflected in that number. Amanda has a patron goal, to reach 15,000 patrons - right now, after the 1st of the month we're down to 14.9K but 14.9K doesn't let you know if you are the 14,958th patron or the 14,999th when you sign up, nor does 15K tell you if you're the 15,000th patron or the 15,007th so you lose some of the magic of seeing yourself counted.

This a subtle thing that I believe matters, it matters to me and it may matter to you. So I reached out to Patreon and asked about this, I explained why we need this number for our Althing, and explained why it would be good to have the full patron count publicly displayed. And sure enough, after some conversation and insight on why the change happened in the first place, we were able to reverse the change and get the full number displayed again, so if you go to http://patreon.com/amandapalmer you can see in real-time how many patrons are actively part of our community.

This is just one example of an effect we've had on the platform. There are lots of other nitty gritty influences that we've had, that Amanda has had, that I have had, but moving forward with these Althings, I'll try to share some more examples so you too can see the larger difference we're making not just for us, but for others using this platform to make their art and connect with their communities.

(screen cap of amanda's patreon page on august 5th)

Okay, back to working behind the scenes I go....

Love,
Hayley

..........

from michael:

Hello Patrons,

Writing to you once again from home base in Brooklyn (yay!). July has been relatively uneventful on my end of things, especially compared to the wild and crazy ride that June turned out to be. 

While Amanda was being amazing at the Omega retreat, and then hosting a gazillion house guests, and then bouncing off to Edinburgh and back, I was plugging along in Brooklyn keeping the home-fires burning so to speak. It’s been a nice big breath before Tour kicks off again and I try to keep track of which Time Zone Amanda happens to be in at any given moment! 

That’s not to say that it hasn’t been busy! We’re all hard at work here at Team AFP front-loading a boat load of projects that will be coming out from August until January so that we can keep sending out all kinds of Art through Patreon while Amanda continues to slay on Stage across the EU and UK!

So with that, I’m going to get back to digging out the email inboxes and setting things up for the fall. Sorry that this month’s update has been so short, but to make up for the lack of words I’ll give you some cute pictures of animals:

My amazing one-eyed & mustachioed cat Odin (named before I had this job and before I met Neil, we just both share an affinity for Norse Mythology)

And Odin’s little sister (they’re litter-mates), Freyja who is the sweetest kitty.

And some cute pups that napped while I was working remotely in western Pennsylvania.

Hope you enjoyed! Have a great August everyone!

-Michael

.....

from alex:

hi folks!!

uk merch HQ had a brief flurry of frantic fun this month - waking up one morning to a text from amanda telling me she's just landed in london, and wants to do a ninja gig that night.

BUT! i swept a bunch of stuff into a suitcase, grabbed an uber, and WE NINJA-ED, in a lovely lil pub in camden

and then to my surprise, a couple of days later i get another text from amanda. "what are you doing next week? if i do another ninja gig in edinburgh, wanna come?"

so i schlepped onto a 5 hour train to edinburgh with my pal vicki, laden with ALL OF THE MERCH:

i also ended up being in edinburgh on the hottest day of the year, but thank GOD i escaped the insane london heatwave of 39°c (that's about 102 fahrenheit for you americans. GROSS.) but we managed to take advantage of the rare edinburgh sun, and found edinburgh's hidden beach - here's me on uke-toting duties after a quick afternoon swim, photographed by amanda's pal gabrielle 

since then, life has involved less ninjas but MOAR SPREADSHEETS as I'm knuckling down, nailing down budgets and spreadsheets and stock levels for tour, which is creeping ever closer on the horizon........

until next month (when I will probably be a quivering mess in anticipation of impending tour), be good to each other

-alex

xo

......

AND....WELCOME BACK BILL H!

i am pleased to announce that we have a BRAND NEW (OLD) TEAM MEMBER back in our ranks helping with the social media and all sort of other things.

bill h has been working on and off with me since 2004 when he came up to me after a show and said,

"i think the dresden dolls need a MySpace page"

and i looked at him and said,

"that sounds so dumb"

and he said,

"no, trust me".

and i trusted him.

and here we are.

from bill h:

Hey all, billh here. I’ve been working on and off with Amanda & The Dresden Dolls since 2004. After seeing the Dolls (my first DD show was at Mercury Lounge on 10/22/03) and falling in love with the album I knew that more people needed to experience this music and I wanted to help out any way that I could. I approached Amanda and told her about a site called myspace.com and suggested that the Dolls set up a page immediately. As you can see from this early email, the DD MySpace page was a smashing success:

This was the beginning of a fun and interesting journey in navigating the social media landscape together. I have learned a great deal working with Amanda over the years and am happy to be back with Team AFP once again.

I will be keeping tabs on replies and helping out with the Patreon and socials as well as being all succinct and whatnot. You won't necessarily be hearing much from me in the Althing updates on account of I am somewhat terrified of public speaking. Having said that, know that I am excited to be here reading your replies and helping everyone out as best as I can behind the scenes.

Aloha,

Bill H.

P.S.  Amanda asked me to include an image so here is a fun selfie from an interactive art show I went to in DC last winter.

........

PHEW.

....

THE "THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION" TOUR.....

here are all my 2019 tour dates for now...it's coming sooner than you think.

as always, all info and tickets can be found on my tour page:
http://amandapalmer.net/shows

UK/EUROPE:

Wed Sep 4 – Netherlands – Amsterdam – Meervaart

Fri Sep 6 – Germany – Berlin – Admiralspalast

Wed Sep 11 – Germany – Munich – Kongressaal

Fri Sep 13 – Germany – Offenbach – Capitol

Sat Sep 14 – Austria – Vienna – Konzerthaus

Sun Sep 15 – Austria – Graz – Stefaniensaal

Wed Sep 18 – Germany – Stuttgart – Theaterhaus

Thu Sep 19 – Germany – Essen – Colosseum

Fri Sep 20 – Belgium – Antwerp – De Roma

Tue Sep 24 – Germany – Hamburg – Laeiszhalle

We Sep 25 – Germany – Leipzig – Haus Auensee

Thu Sep 26 – Czech Republic – Prague – Hybernia

Fri Sep 27 – Luxembourg  – Luxembourg – Conservatoire

Sat Sep 28 – France – Paris – Bataclan

Fri Oct 11 – Denmark – Copenhagen – Bremen Teater

Sat Oct 12 – Sweden – Stockholm – Södra Teatern (SOLD OUT)

Wed Oct 16 – UK – Bexhill – De La Warr Pavilion

Sat Oct 19 – UK – Cardiff – St David's Hall

Sun Oct 20 – UK – Cambridge – Corn Exchange

Wed Oct 23 – Ireland – Cork – Opera House

Thu Oct 24 – Ireland – Dublin – National Concert Hall

Sat Oct 26 – Ireland – Belfast – Ulster Hall

Sun Oct 27 – Ireland – Limerick – University Hall

Frin Nov 1 – UK – Dunfermline – Carnegie Hall

Sat Nov 2 – UK – Glasgow – City Halls

Sun Nov 3 – UK – Manchester – Albert Hall

Mon Nov 4 – UK – York – Opera House

Thu Nov 7 – UK – Newcastle – Tyne Theatre

Sun Nov 24 – Portugal – Braga – Theatro Circo

Thu Dec 5 – UK – London – Union Chapel (SOLD OUT)

Fri Dec 6 – UK – London – Union Chapel  (SOLD OUT)

Fri Dec 13 – UK – London – Union Chapel (NEARLY SOLD OUT)

WE ARE PROBABLY ADDING A FOURTH LONDON SHOW ON THE 14th.

tickets will be available to patrons only first, of course. heads up. tickets will proabbly go on sale in september, if they do.

if you're on facebook, you can RSVP to the official event pages, invite your friends and more: http://facebook.com/amandapalmer/events

and SPREAD THE WORD, always.

.......

i wanted to do something a little different in the art department this month, so:

AFP/DOLLS INSPIRED TATTOOS....

cause there's been a lot this month....

i’ve been seeing tattoos related to my work from the dawn of the dresden dolls....i’ve seen full portraits of my face on people’s arms and legs. i’ve seen full backs covered in punk cabaret slogans. i’ve seen lyrics up and down legs. i’ve seen album covers recreated in all colors on all body parts.

but i have to say, almost nothing has made me feel as emotional as this one:

as to the question: you know the answer about as well as i do. it changes in the moment. right now if you’re wondering wafpwd, she would cry at a tattoo.

(posted from @ chelbawamba on instagram, tattoo by @stickpokers).

...

this is allison wilson, who has a tattoo inspired by bigger on the inside..... "trying is the point"

...

charles julian witzel got a tattoo of the patron-only pin designed by alfredo richner

here's art by tattooer michael kemp....if someone gone this inked on them wanna see!!!

....

this tattoo below was shared by @_dimebag_dylan on instagram, of art made by hannah littke inspired by the photo allan amato took that i used for my album art.... artists inspiring artists inspiring artists....

....

AFP + FRIDA combo tattoo from @repulsiastorm on instagram inked by @anna_belle_tattoo

and for meta, here's me with a temporary frida tattoo.....

....

OTHER ARTISTS /THINGS TO SUPPORT:

stay tuned, i'm working on a dedicated post for EDINBURGH FRINGE recommendations....

but for some listening pleasure:

this is GRACIE AND RACHEL....and i think you'll love their music.

i was lucky enough to see them open for ani difranco last month and we made friends.

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

that's all for now loves.

i'm gonna go make some gazpacho.

x

x

a

------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