amandapalmer

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

Published:

2019-10-17 11:08:30

Imported:

2023-03

Content

(patron only)

dear patrons.

here we are! it is the MONTHLY ALTHING.

a couple quick things, before we get down to business.

greetings from a cold dressing room in bexhill. i'm backstage at the first tour stop of my UK tour.

if you're new, HELLO THERE, this is the STATE OF ALL THINGS. i made a post a while back asking if the patrons would be game to support a monthly newsletter/blog that serves a few purposes: it's a monthly wrap-up of EVERYTHING IMPORTANT that happened, for people who don't have time to read every. single. post.

it's a way for me to cover all the basic costs of running this ship: staff, office, internet, the works. it means that i never have to flail to get a piece of content out on any given month. it keeps the lights on. and it's always a good way to get the team and the community connected, because everybody on the team weighs in (see below) to update the patrons about what they're up to. especially when i'm on the road, these Althings are the way we keep the financial ship afloat.

we are, as always, OPEN TO FEEDBACK, about EVERYTHING....from patrons old and new. this post is a great place to chat back at us. we are reading.

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NOTE: if you're new....you will notice that this Althing is titled "SEPTEMBER". that's because we are wrapping up the month of september - we are always a little sloppy about WHEN these come out (we aim for the firs of the month, or close, but hey, it's been a shitshow this month with everybody on tour and traveling and recovering from travel and family stuff....) so...just remember, reality is what you make it.

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first of all....

WELCOME, WELCOME to about 6-700 new patrons! holy shit! a lot of you came via the european tour, or australia, so welcome to all you relievingly non-americans. this community does better the more diverse it is, and i love that i am spanning the globe and picking up allies of all nationalities. i just got the early ticket counts from the australian tour and over FOUR HUNDRED of you in melbourne have tickets for hamer hall already!! that is just so fucking inspiring. thank you.

this patreon is becoming more and more powerful and meaningful by the day, as i use it to fuel my art, my activism, my writing, my entire life. i do not take it for granted, and i do not take YOU for granted. thank you for being here and being a part of it all, at any level. if i inspire you, you inspire me right the fuck back. the people i have met on the road these past few months - a lot of you - have been kind, smart, fiery, sad, compassionate, lost, found, and everything in-between. i hope that this community can give us all a good home, because SHIT IS FEELING CRAZY OUT THERE.

and now the weather.

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

the biggest news:

THE AUSTRALIAN/NZ TOUR IS NOW ON SALE TO THE PUBLIC!!!!

at least one or two dates will be added to the new zealand leg: don't worry wellington, you'll have first crack at tickets once a show is announced.

Dec 30–Jan 1 - WOODFORD, QLD - Woodford Folk Festival
Jan 16–18 - LAUNCESTON, TAS - Mona Foma Confessional
Jan 20 - LAUNCESTON, TAS - Princess Theatre, Mona Foma
Jan 22 - MELBOURNE, VIC - Hamer Hall
Jan 31 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse
Feb 1 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse
Feb 7 - CANBERRA, ACT - Canberra Theatre
Feb 8 - SPRINGWOOD NSW - Blue Mountains Theatre
Feb 14–15 - ADELAIDE, SA - Bonython Hall, Adelaide Fringe
Feb 20 - SYDNEY, NSW - Enmore Theatre
Feb 22 - PERTH, WA - venue and show info TO BE ANNOUNCED
Feb 29 - DARWIN, NT - Darwin Entertainment Centre
Mar 12–13 - AUCKLAND, NZ - Auckland Arts Festival: Hollywood Avondale

i cannot WAIT to bring this show to australia. this is the last stop of the tour and ther show is finally on fire. you guys are getting the best leg.

also...if you're coming to MONA in tasmania (or want to road trip), i'm doing something very special:

the MONA FOMA confessional on january 16-18th is a free event, i will be doing the confessional as a kind of social song-writing experiment during MONA FOMA 2020. i will announce (along with www.monafoma.net.au) sometime in where my “confession booth” will be popping up in the Launceston CBD. i will be talking to people - one on one and totally confidentially//anonymously - about literally they want to share with me. then, at the official ‘There Will Be No Intermission’ stage show on january 20th, i’ll debut a song that i will pen the day before (i will have about 24 hours to write it and memorize it) inspired by what i hear and learn. i will also record this song (and possibly make a documentary about all this?) and put it out through the Patreon here as a thing.

i will no doubt be doing some other weird pop-up and ninja gigs - just stay tuned. especially you adelaide (fringe!!!) canberra (bike ride!??!) and melbourne (EVERYTHING OMG).

as always, you should follow along on instagram and twitter: that's where i post the up-to-the-minute local stuff. but don't worry, i'll never do a local ninja gig etc without coming to the patreon as well.

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ok onwards.....

WHAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH...

it was september!!

i toured MY GODDAMN ASS OFF.

i played 13 shows in six different countries (the netherlands, germany, austria, czech republic, luxembourg and france)) and on top of that, i did a bunch of charity gigs, went to a few climate marches, and generally ran myself ragged. it was good.

upshot: i'm tired. but happy.

the THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION stage show itself is really turning into a more scripted, exact, winnowed-down version of the sprawling talk-a-thon that it was in the states.

the shows in the states were nearing 4.5 hours sometimes, i've got the show down to about 3.5 hours now. 3 if i gotta.

i've cut a few songs, but i've mostly managed to cut the show down by speeding up and compacting the stories, cutting out details....hopefully without losing too much of the important message.

as it's rolled on, i feel more and more clarity around and about the themes that are emerging.

how activism must be compassion-based. how rage is useful but doesn't solve anything after a point. how forgiveness is really fucking complicated. how powerful we all are, and how easy it is to forget. how art is such a primal and important force in fending off the darkness.

every night, i do this show, and every night, i feel like i'm doing my calling. my fucking JOB. sometimes it's almost unfathomable to me, that this is MY JOB. can you believe this is MY JOB? this is my job. what a weird fucking job, you guys. but here i am, doing it. and every night people thank me for doing my weird job. which makes me want to keep doing it.

here are a few of my favorite shots from the road:

photo by gabrielle motola taken in vienna

photo by christin söhnchen

patron-group-photo by gabrielle motola taken in antwerp

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

MEANWHILE, team AFP and our little production house keeps rolling on, although it's been

really really hard with me on the road to keep up with things.

video projects are stalled, animations are stalled, things that need to get written just aren't getting written because i'm underway. the old "i'll do it in the middle of the night" trick is not working now that i have a kid and want to spend time with him and have to sleep. i am doing my best to keep up. i am failing, and i am fine with it. things will happen when and as they need to happen.

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the "ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING" PODCAST, first of all, is still in the works, and going slow, but great.

....right now i'm trying to plan the release date alongside a live podcast event, it's looking like it may drop towards the end of november....with a launch event in london on the 22nd....more details as they're finalized.

and in the cracks of my life, i'm still interviewing guests for future episodes...

a few days ago, i talked with the songwriting, life-loving, all-knowing, no-shits-given force that is kt tunstall...and we were like TWINS. i can't wait to share these conversations with you. i learn so much. if you don't know KT's work, she wrote "suddenly i see" and "black horse and the cherry tree".

she's about to tour in BRAZIL!!! i know that some f you are down there, here are her tour dates. give her a hug from me. tickets and more show details, on her website: https://www.kttunstall.com/

SAT, NOV 2
FORO BUD LIGHT
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, MEXICO

THU, NOV 7
TEATRO LIBERDADE
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

FRI, NOV 8
KUBRICK
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

SUN, NOV 10
ÓPERA DE ARAME - PARQUE DAS PEDREIRAS
CURITIBA, BRAZIL

.....

WE RELEASED A DOCUMENTARY.

we put out the BEHIND THE SCENES/making-of for the DROWNING IN THE SOUND MUSIC VIDEO:

it's REALLY GOOD. i'm almost as proud of the doc as i am of the video itself.

if it doesn't make you proud to be a patron, i don't know WHAT.

the post about it is HERE:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/drowning-in-29532688

....

we released - FOR PATRONS ONLY - the first FOOTAGE OF THE CURRENT TOUR:

THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION LIVE in LOS ANGELES

i felt very conflicted about releasing this, because the show is still in progress. but it's still really incredible footage and i'm happy we captured the moment.

we are taking feedback on THIS POST about which bits of this should go to the pubic, and we are LATE on deciding, so you can and should still weigh in here if you haven't:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/entire-there-be-30208734

.....

I TOURED SO MUCH. WHERE ARE THE REVIEWS? OH, NOWHERE!

the tour has a new element. because there's been so little press coverage of the tour, especially since my usual old ally in the UK, the guardian, has decided to not cover tour or the record, i HIRED MY OWN TOURING JOURNALIST TEAM with patron funds.

BE YOUR OWN MEDIA. jack nicholls and gabrielle motola are on the road with me as Foreign Tour Corespondents, photographing, writing, and working on a two-to-three part piece for you. fuck the papers. we will make our own.

there's a post about all of that HERE:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/30467747

and see way below for some words from jack and gaby.

jack texted me this nick cave quote yesterday, from one of nick's red-hand files. this.

This is not to suggest we should not have our convictions or, indeed, that we should not be angry with the state of the world, or that we should not fight in order to correct the injustices committed against it. Conviction and anger can be the most powerful expressions of universal love. However, my duty as a songwriter is not to try to save the world, but rather to save the soul of the world. This requires me to live my life on the other side of truth, beyond conviction and within uncertainty, where things make less sense, absurdity is a virtue and art rages and burns; where dogma is anathema, discourse is essential, doubt is an energy, magical thinking is not a crime and where possibility and potentiality rule. The answers to the secrets of the heart may just be there, in the inscrutable dark of the forest, in the unfathomable depths of the sea, at the uncertain tips of our fingers.

yes, nick.

yes, jack.

yes, art.

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

THE FIRST LEG OF the EUROPEAN TOUR....

OPEN PIANO: vienna

i did a pop-up piano gig outside in vienna before the main show, as a charity benefit for Open Piano for Refugees
https://openpianoforrefugees.com/doremi

photos by gabrielle...

then did a another open piano for refugees gig in hamburg....

photos below by emilie trondeur

we passed the hat and raised thousands of euros.

you can read about their mission here:

https://openpianoforrefugees.com/

i'm really proud of my community for being so generous.

we also had a great little spontaneous town hall meeting where about 30 of my hamburg-are all patrons sat down with me and my new german bestie judith holofernes after the ninja gig and discussed the finer points of patronage and HOW IT WORKS. we were all such passionate nerds about it and i’m so so proud of this community for putting in the time and effort to help someone else understand this system.

......

here we are in GRAZ, austria.

photos below by gabrielle.

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i donned a dirndl in austria and asked people to decorate me with anti-fascist and pro-love slogans....you can read all about that HERE.

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we headed to the LUXEMBOURG CLIMATE STRIKE....where i spoke to about 5,000 people.

here's a photo of that,

photo by christophe olinger

and some video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ysgVOrZ0Sk

more photos of the strike below by guy jallay/pierre matgé for luxembourg wort

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INTERVIEWS, ETC.

here's some deeper reading.

an interview with The Monocle Weekly podcast on Monocle 24 radio. it starts at 05:30 minutes and ends at around 19:30:

https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-monocle-weekly/533/

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

here's german interview about the censorship we faced with the TWBNI album cover:
https://apps.derstandard.at/privacywall/story/2000108457207/brueste-und-schamhaare-apple-und-facebook-zeigen-amanda-palmer-cover

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

here's the biggest piece of german press we got, from frankfurter allgemeine, and this article is just EXCELLENT (but in german).

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/amanda-palmers-there-will-be-no-intermission-tour-16387848.html

(this translates to "the end of metaphor").

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

i was on german TV.....this was pretty fun, go watch:

https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/092229-000-A/amanda-palmer-auf-europa-tournee/

.......

here's a poem i read for maria popova, aka Brianpickings:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/09/23/amanda-palmer-mary-oliver-when-i-am-among-the-trees/

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the UK indie website Line of Best Fit ran a feature....with some fun photos we took in camden:

it's a good one.

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/longread/amanda-palmer-no-intermission-interview

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other odds and ends:

the PINK charity THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION VINYL:

THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION was printed on pink vinyl (limited edition, only 500 copies made) as part of the 10 bands 1 cause annual fundraiser for gilda's club NYC, an organization that provides community support for both those diagnosed with cancer and their caretakers.

(gilda's club is named after comedian Gilda Radner who passed away from cancer at the age of 43 in 1989).

THERE ARE STILL SOME LEFT, but they are going fast. you can get the limited edition vinyl in select online and brick and mortar retail shops throughout the US - full list is available on the 10 bands 1 cause website:
https://www.10bands1cause.com

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

WHAT'S COMING DOWN THE PIKE...?

the "LOOK MUMMY NO HANDS" VIDEO......

photo by krys fox

production is still underway...this one is turning into a tough one to edit.

DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP!

from hayley:

September was quite literally one of the most difficult months of my life, personally. After landing back in New York from Australia, where I spoke at the BIGSOUND conference, I headed straight into family matters, which lead me to unexpectedly take some time offline. It's been a rough time, quite frankly.

The biggest news of the month is that I was invited to speak at this year's Patreon conference called Patreon Assembly, at their event being held in Brooklyn on November 2nd. Last year they held a conference in Los Angeles called PatreCon, which gathered tons of creators and their teams together to present panels and talks and share their stories. This year the conference is called Patreon Assembly, with the main event happening in LA, but for the first time, his year they'll have satellite events across a few major cities and invited local creators to participate in the local events where they'll have additional programming in person, before they air a watch party to view the live stream of the main event that's held in Los Angeles.

So I'll be speaking at the Brooklyn event in New York, Patreon creators can apply to attend in person here:
http://patreonassembly.com/brooklyn

and everyone else, worldwide, can RSVP to watch the LA event livestream:
http://patreonassembly.com

If you've been reading my report these last couple months, you'll know that I'm trying to use this space to give you some insight on how much behind-the-scenes work I do with Patreon itself to help keep our ship smoothly sailing. This month I've given them some feedback and worked with patrons to get extra support to help with comments not showing up on posts, to help with email and push notifications not displaying, gave feedback on the Patreon Relationship Manager (a backend tool available to creators in their dashboards), feedback on Team Accounts (a new feature for Premium creators), and misc. other troubleshooting issues.

And lastly, one of the most time intensive projects I worked on this month was manually typing up the handwritten annotations Amanda made in a copy of the TWBNI Art Book so that we could begin to find the materials she wants to link out and reference in the PDF version we'll be sending to patrons. There were over 300 different links I typed up to describe and then looked for....

this is a screen shot of a little video clip i shared in my instagram story showing my followers what i was working oon....if you want to see random snapshots into my work and life, you can follow me at: @hayleyfiasco

Until next time...

xo
Hayley

{from AFP: i love you hayley. you've been through the wringer this last month or so and things have been relentless. i know how much this community supports and loves you and i see it more and more as i tour. even though your'e not out here with us...you are. thank you for everything you do for me and for this team. xxxx)

..........

from michael:

Hello Patrons!

I’m writing to you from a lovely pub in Marylebone, London! I will apologize in advance for the brevity of my post this month, but this is truly an 11th hour update and I don’t want to hold up Hayley who has already spent hours on putting this post together.

September. . . wow. Tour was in full swing and I was hard at work trying to keep the business going while Amanda only had tiny windows of time to work, I was finally unpacking the last of my boxes after moving a year ago (I unpacked my last box on day 362 in the new apartment, does that mean I win, or. . . ), and I tried to be good to myself and take enough time off to properly celebrate my thirty-*ahem*th birthday. The theme for this month was definitely all about trying to find a balance. I feel like so often in this job and in life and relationships etc, etc, etc, it’s so easy to focus too heavily on one thing or the other, which means that whatever it is that you’re not focusing on begins to suffer. Focused on being healthy and spending a lot of time at the gym? You’re not spending enough time at home or with loved ones. Focus on prioritizing a social life or time with your family? Your performance at work begins to suffer. And of course all of this is compounded by the more passionate you are about any one aspect of your life. September really put me personally to the test in many different ways and yet, as with almost anything I really learned a lot. I reminded myself time and time again to not prioritize any one thing over the other, but rather to really prioritize balance. I can’t say that I was overly successful, but taking the time to be conscious of it definitely helped my headspace and helped to quiet the nagging voices that constantly repeat “you’re not doing enough, you’re failing, you can do more, you can do it better, why aren’t you perfect” and on and on and on.

Some days, in fact most days, whatever you do, whether it’s putting together a 20 page thesis, planning an international tour, running a marathon, or simply getting out of bed and making sure you feed yourself. . . it’s enough. You’re enough. If you doubt that, just take a breath and think of whatever it is you’ve accomplished, big or small, and remember that the you of yesterday, last week, last year hadn’t accomplished as much as the you of today and let yourself feel good about that.

Sorry for waxing philosophical on you there, but those are some thoughts from a London pub after going non-stop for the past 13 hours since getting off the plane.

I think for today, this is enough.

Thank you for being on this ride with all of us here at Team AFP. I love you.

I'll leave you with some beauty and serenity. Here’s a picture I took in Provincetown, MA when I stopped what I was doing to watch the sunset.

Michael

{from AFP: dammit, michael. you're amazing, and you're more than enough. you astound me with your grace. also, thanks for dropping your life and coming on the road with me. HI, you're literally 6 feet away from me as i'm typing this. let's TOOUR!!!!}

......

from alex:

HOO BOY, September was . VERY, VERY, VERY full on month. Merch Queen went on the road for the European leg of tour, and it was far and away the most intensive touring I've done thus far - 14 shows in 25 days!!!

I started off the tour with my long-suffering partner, Connor. For the first 4 shows (Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Offenbach) we drove ourselves in a big ol' merch truck, rocking up to each venue, unloading what we needed, and then re-loading at the end of the night, and sleep at a lovely hotel.

In Offenbach, we got THE TOUR BUS!!!!! So at this point, I hopped on the bus, we loaded all of the merch into our trailer, and waved farewell to Connor as he drove the van back to the UK. For the rest of tour, we would drive overnight, wake up in some random car park in Europe, unload merch from the trailer into the venue, and then re-load into the bus at the end of the night, when we'd sleep on the bus as we drove yet again.

So while no two days on tour are ever the same, there's always SOMETHING. Things crop up, disasters, diversions, and inconveniences occur, and somehow, despite arriving at every venue by 1pm (usually a good 5 or 6 hours before doors open), there was always a full afternoon of work before the show even opened. So about halfway through tour, I had the great idea that it would be really fun to do a 'day in the life of a merch queen' and record one entire day, minute by minute, especially for the althing here, so that people could peek 'behind the curtain' and see what else goes into merch selling, other than just turn up with boxes and give people t-shirts.

And then, predictably..... I forgot. Every time.

I tried to do it in Prague, and this is as far as I got....

11:55am - woke up on the bus, after a 10 hour sleep, the longest by far that I had had all tour. Unfortunately, in Prague we had to park in a car park 20 minutes away from the venue, and a car was scheduled to come and pick us and all the gear up at 12pm, exactly 5 minutes after I woke up. OOPS. Luckily we had too many things to fit in the car, so two trips were necessary anyway. So I very hastily got dressed, and jumped in the trailer at the back to try and pull out just what we needed for the show (since there was a whole tour's worth of merch there, there's no point transporting 400 t-shirts to every show).

12:30pm - the bus comes back and picks me up.

1pm - we get to the venue, unload all of the boxes into the lobby. First task: count in merch. Every night we count all of the stuff we bring IN to the venue, and then at the end of the night we count all the stuff going OUT, so that we know exactly what's been sold.

1:30pm - as I'm trying to register all the count in numbers into the online system, suddenly the wifi dies. I ask the staff at the bar in the lobby whether they know anything, and they just tell me that I need to talk to our local show promoter. I find the promoter, and she informs me that the venue told her the wifi was fine. I sigh and walk back to the lobby, and magically... the wifi works again!

3pm - after finishing counting all of the merch in, the next job is to unpack CDs, vinyl, and art books for Amanda to sign. She signs every copy of the new album every night, but each copy comes individually shrink-wrapped. So it is someone's responsibility (aka mine) to unwrap them all and lay them out ready for her to come and attack with sharpies.

3:15pm - I realise that I didn't bring enough Ladies Medium shirts into the venue for the night. So I figure I have time to head back to where the bus is parked, and pick up another box.

3:45pm - I'm at the bus, I've picked out the t-shirts, and also some extra art books (it's always good to have extras) but this means it's too much for me to carry on the 20 minute walk back. So I call an uber.

3:50pm - the Uber cancels on me. The app finds me another driver.

3:55pm - the second Uber cancels on me. The app finds me yet another driver. I begin to wonder whether I am cursed.

4:15pm - the third Uber finally arrives, stops, the driver gets out to help me lift the boxes into his boot. But he forgot to put the handbrake on, so as he gets out his car starts rolling away down the road.

And then unfortunately, by the time I got back to the venue I got so wrapped up in frantically running around, unpacking more things to be signed, then re-packing them and carrying them to the dressing room when Amanda ran out of time to come down to the lobby, and then re-writing all of my price signs in a new currency, and then showing new merch sellers around the stock......

You can imagine.

Anyway.

Here are two of my favourite lobbies on tour - Antwerp and Graz (both photos by Amanda). Graz was the fanciest fucking place. And Antwerp had this beautiful stained-glass mosaic ceiling.

Here is a 3 foot cardboard Amanda that somebody brought to Prague, who became my new merch friend.

Here is me having a moment of butchness; after getting frustrated with the lack of display areas in venues, we went to a hardware store and bought Germany's finest wood, fabric, hinges, screws, and a staple gun, and made our own motherfucking display boards in the back of a van:

I still have my merch duck with me.

All ready to hit the road for the UK leg now.

See ya out there.

xo
Alex

{from AFP - ADVENTURES OF MERCH QUEEN. alex, you are CRUSHING IT. thank you so much for coming on this wild ride. and connor, too. both of you are brining so much of yourselves to this traveling circus and i don't take it for granted. thank you. xxxx)

.......

from bill h:

hey all, bill here. I have a couple of things to report this month. we are rebooting the @afpwire twitter and instagram accounts. there is a lot going on with the tour, incoming press, incoming photos, as well as great fan art and some truly moving reviews of the live shows. i want to put more of this out in to the world. rebooting these channels will clear a lane to allow this to happen without amanda and i tripping over one another. if you are sharing fun afp related stuff (i'm really trying to avoid the word "content" here, sounds so sterile) please be sure to tag @afpwire on twitter and insta because i will be keeping tabs on that!

book recommendation!!! Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.

from the description:

Have you ever felt the urge to declutter your work life?

Do you often find yourself stretched too thin?

Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized?

Are you frequently busy but not productive?

Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist.

pretty good, yeah? i haven't had time to finish it yet, tbh, but i did just mail a couple of copies to the office and maybe i can get a mutiny book club sort of vibe happening around this. what i have read so far has already been put to good use. the initial draft of my section for this althing was over 30,000 words but then i considered the way of the essentialist and pared that right the fuck down. ciao.

-b

ps: here is a photo of the @afpwire instagram with 14 followers. i am projecting that we can at least triple that number by next month.

{from AFP - AMEN!!!!! YES YES YES. it has been so hard to un-entangle the varioous channels. having AFPwire back online is going to be GOOD. follow, follow! THANK YOU BILLH.}

........

from gabrielle, our foreign correspondent tour photographer:

Greetings and Salutations Patrons of Amanda Palmer,

It’s three days shy of my 44th birthday and I’m on the Amtrak train through NY State headed to Canadaguia Lake to be with family. The autumnal leaves are swirling on the track behind us and the Eerie Canal is flowing off to the left. It’s been a wild ride so far and I’m not talking about the train.

I flew over to the states just after the show in Antwerp for my brother’s wedding which was planned a year ago. I know how dare he right? Transitioning off tour was like pulling out of a nosedive. The experience of the shows themselves, the conflicting feeling of wanting to photograph afterwards with everyone raw and processing (but many many people smiling) and being sensitive to that, the 12-17 hour days of sometimes photographing from morning through ninja gigs and into the evening gig (even on the bus after with people in pyjamas) then downloading and sometimes editing before bed, left me elated, contemplative, and exhausted physically and emotionally. I was only on tour for nine days. I can only imagine how the rest of the crew feels much less Amanda.

Tour feels like it was another lifetime ago. But I have 11,000 images here on my lap on the Amtrak I’m working through reminding me in vivid colour. I’ve been editing this mammoth library on and off as I spend time going from one part of my family to another before I head back to the UK to join the tour in Cork. I’m living very much in the moment but also simultaneously in the past as I relive a part of the tour each day, juxtaposed with the scenes here respectively in New York City, Philadelphia, New Hampshire and Today the rainy grey of Rochester. I’m in a Wegmans now typing this with my dad sitting on the other side of the little table in the burger bar. Wegmans is a food store of my childhood and second to none and bigger than all the food stores in my current neighbourhood of Shepherd’s Bush, London. Fuck me I forget how big the shopping stores are here! I ran through it with glee straight past the bagels to grab this seat and finish this missive. The USA is indeed a very different place than Europe and the UK in many ways. But at the same time, I feel a similarity that wasn’t here even a decade ago - a simultaneous consciousness or shared awareness of each other which is stronger than ever. You see I’ve been backing and forthing across the pond for 20 years and with each transition in and out I’ve crafted a different part of my consciousness and world view. It feels like the world is catching up and we know each other better than ever. Maybe we know ourselves better too.

In case who I am escaped any past correspondences, I literally can’t remember much unless it is happening right now. So much has happened. So for the sake of doubt, I will say that I am an American/British London based portrait photographer and storyteller who maintains the account @gmotophotos on Instagram and began a Patreon (www.patreon.com/gmotophotos) in August (thanks in encouragement from Amanda and lots of my Iceland book supporters on Kickstarter). I've been making photographs since my teens and studied it formally at university, apprenticed, assisted, the full nine yards. Photography is my music. Though music is my passion too which makes it extra fun to photograph musicians.

If you see me on tour or feel like reaching out via the web I welcome it. If it were logistically possible I'd photograph each and every one of you and listen to your story if you wanted to tell it. I know there isn't enough time on this tour especially since I had to leave it in Antwerp to come to New York for my brother's wedding. It was a splendid love-filled weekend featuring forty children who behaved themselves much to the delight and surprise of the parents. I now have 22 new cousins from the Philippines (and many more family members) to blend with my much smaller New Yorker family. I'll be back on tour in Cork and coming to most of the shows from then till London.

My aim is to try to make a high res copy of what Amanda and you are creating together. To be present but not in the way. To observe, not to judge. You can see more of my photography on the links above or on www.gabriellemotola.com where there is also a contact page should you want to connect. If you've sent me emails and I have not responded I apologise, it has been a very hectic time. I encourage you to gently nudge me if you are so inclined.

The idea of me coming was floated sometime last year after the Dresden Doll shows which I photographed and it was a dream until it became a reality. To work in this capacity with two artists is truly an honour and a privilege and I’m bringing all my skills to it and learning some new ones. Like how to walk out on stage and make a photograph in the middle of a performance without letting the surging nerves mess up the shot.

I’m gaining skills and paying the bills which is the best possible scenario. Thank you for providing Amanda with the means to hire me to photograph her and some of you on this tour and create a piece with Jack Nicholls. It is going better than well. I already have several images I’d be proud to exhibit and a selection to illustrate the insane sanity that has been this tour so far. I can’t wait for the UK! But I will have to. All I have is this moment.

Kindly yours,

Gabrielle

......

from jack nichols, our foreign tour correspondent:

Jack reporting in. September was a whirlwind for me, hurrying through twelve cities with barely an intermission, and since then I have been running between my writing desk to turn it all into a tour account worthy of your reading, and running into the centre of London to watch Extinction Rebellion protesters take up residence around Whitehall.

Sometimes the protests have been silly, as when an environmental preacher was shouting, “And a vision came to me in a dream of a mouse, and the mouse was crying for we must grieve our Earth!”, and at the same time a more traditional Christian Fundamentalist was bellowing from Revelations, “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication,” then pointed and shrieked at a column of red-draped protesters drifting down the road.

Other times they have been incredibly powerful, as when I stood in a downpour in Trafalgar Square and listened to some of Britain’s finest writers take it in turns to read poetry of defiance and hope, while rain washed around our ankles and hourglass flags snapped in the night wind.

Either way, I have this vertiginous sense that SOMETHING IS HAPPENING, and if things must happen in the world, I am glad that we can all be here to make sense of them together.

In the meantime I have received dozens of emails and messages from patreons, with responses that were overwhelming in their generosity and thoughtfulness. Thankyou to everyone who has taken the time to share those with me – they have helped the piece, and they have helped me better understand this community and the world.

Now back to the writing mines.

Jack

.....

reminder.

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

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

UK/EUROPE:

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 (SOLD OUT)

Sat Dec 14 – UK – London – Union Chapel (SOLD OUT)

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND:

Dec 30–Jan 1 - WOODFORD, QLD - Woodford Folk Festival

Jan 16–18 - LAUNCESTON, TAS - Mona Foma Confessional

Jan 20 - LAUNCESTON, TAS - Princess Theatre, Mona Foma

Jan 22 - MELBOURNE, VIC - Hamer Hall

Jan 31 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse

Feb 1 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse

Feb 7 - CANBERRA, ACT - Canberra Theatre

Feb 8 - SPRINGWOOD NSW - Blue Mountains Theatre

Feb 14–15 - ADELAIDE, SA - Bonython Hall, Adelaide Fringe

Feb 20 - SYDNEY, NSW - Enmore Theatre

Feb 22 - PERTH, WA - venue and show info TO BE ANNOUNCED

Feb 29 - DARWIN, NT - Darwin Entertainment Centre

Mar 12–13 - AUCKLAND, NZ - Auckland Arts Festival: Hollywood Avondale

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.

.......

bits and bobs gigs:

BELFAST!!! OCT 26th - LIVE PODCAST with ROISIN INGLE & CO.

roisin ingle and a few other women in ireland were the fire and inspiration behind the song "voicemail for jill", and we talked about what we could do now that i'm coming back to town. roisin and i hit on the idea of a town-hall style podcast.

so on oct 26th, the day of my night-show at ulster hall, i am doing a podcast with roisin & a bunch of other heroic panelists. very small space, very important thing, grab a ticket & be with us for this moment. as you know, the abortion rights movement in northern ireland is heading in the right direction, but there's still a TON of work to do, especially around the stigma and the stories. let's tell some truth.

The Irish Times Women’s Podcast at the MAC presents: Abortion and Northern Ireland, what now? With special guest Amanda Palmer

october 26
starts: 12:00pm
duration: 90 minutes
location: Upstairs Theatre
ages 16+

tickets and more info:

https://themaclive.com/event/abortion-and-northern-ireland-what-now-with-special-guest-amanda-palmer

..........

LONDON: SAVE THE DATE. ARTBOOK EVENT WITH ANDREW TRENDEL

save the date: november 20th in london. more details to be announced soon.

i haven't yet done an EVENT that directly focuses on the content of the artbook, and i was really excited to be invited by andrew trendal from NME to sit down just to discuss the work, writing, and photos in the book. we will try to stream this on the patreon!!!! more info soon.

tickets will be available to patrons first, then we will send the links to twitter, facebook and instagram.

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

LONDON, ALSO.....SAVE THE DATE FOR THE PODCAST LAUNCH!!!

november 22nd in london. save the date, details TO BE ANNOUNCED

IF I GET MY PODCAST SHIT TOGETHER IN TIME (FINGERS CROSSED), THIS WILL BE THE PUBLIC LAUNCH OF MY PODCAST AS WELL!! if not, it'll just be a live recording of the podcast with a very special guest. a VERY SPECIAL GUEST. hear me? a very special guest. hold the date, event and ticket info coming soon.

tickets will be available to patrons first, then we will send the links to twitter, facebook and instagram.

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

OTHER ARTISTS /THINGS TO SUPPORT:

the legendary pink dots are ON TOUR IN THE STATES!!!

one of my fave live bands of all time are touring through the states. go see them and give edward - their singer - a hug from me. if you missed my patron-funded co-written album with him, it's here:

http://amandapalmer.net/icanspinarainbow

for more info on the legendary pink dots:

https://www.facebook.com/edward.kaspel

https://www.facebook.com/legendarypinkdots

.....

and our own MAX MELTON - who many of you in london are familiar with - has a MUSICAL running in LONDON called QUEERSTORY - a queer history of cabaret.

it's HILARIOUS and max and mercury, his sparring partner, are so talented. please head out and see them in london if you have a free night:

https://alexanderluttley.com/productions

....

ART BEGETTING ART!!!!!

this is sylvia k, one of my fave collaborators and patron here. she made this after seeing the show in berlin. (@sylviakdoodles)

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

@katznhai

....

@colorinyourcheeks

...

@flowersforfelcia
....

@nichteuerkunstwerk

......

awhile back @mkemptattooer posted this tattoo sketch on instagram, and said i wanted to see the final tattoo if it was being inked....

well folks, here it is, in it's freshly inked glory on @derekhutsell,:

and it looks like someone else was inspired, too.... this is from miss red1012...

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

this one is sneaky, but i have to put it in....

al also has a patreon, if you're into supporting comics.....

https://www.patreon.com/TAGartwork

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

PHEW.

that's it, my loves.

fare thee well til next month....

and thank you so, so much for being here and supporting this wild ride.

you mean everything to me.

p.s. main header photo by @anni.are.u.okay, via instagram, from the stockholm show.

------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

Content

WHAT'S COMING DOWN THE PIKE...?

DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP!

ART BEGETTING ART!!!!!

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