the AFP confessional booth in tasmania, and other notes from here & now. (Patreon)

(public post)

hallo loves. 

**i'm live reading comments right now and will edit this post when i hop off.** (EDIT! offline. still reading). 

here are some some words, and i've missed you, melbourne especially. 

i've "been here" but haven't really BEEN here and that's been hard. (see why below). 

but before i mumble on about my life and fires and sick husbands and house-moves...let me just remind you that i love you. i really love you. we're a good community and i fucking creish you all the time. and when i'm busy, i miss you a lot. 

quick one...MELBOURNE: please save the date, i'm going to be doing a fundraiser/Q&A open to the public this coming saturday (jan 25th) at the arts centre around 2 pm. announcing soon.

and before i dig in.....i also would love some feedback from you (way below) about what to do about patreon and art and money as far as the australian bushfire effort is concerned. a lot of you on social media have ASKED for me to Thing something for charity, which is just so goddamn beautiful and generous of you....and i will.....but i have a few options and i want your feels and direction. so keep reading and please weigh in.

i'm reading and commenting live right now for about 30 minutes and i'll come back to this post often over the next few days to read comments.

first, let me tell you what i'm about to do in TASMANIA, because it's awesome and i'm very excited, and it's also a very patreon-related Thing.

it's THE AFP TASMANIAN CONFESSIONAL @ MONA FOMA

WHAT IS IT? WELL....

 it's what it sounds like. it's a confessional booth, and i'm setting it up at one of the best festivals in the world.

it's moved to northern tasmania. which, if you're australian, is quite hard to get to. i'm trying to save trees, so instead of flying, i'm going to take the overnight ferry from melbourne.

the MONA FOMA festival is really really close to my heart, this is my third or fourth time performing. 

it's just an incredible collection of art and artists, and if you're anywhere in australia, i highly recommend dropping your life and coming to tasmania on a whim and attending with me. and also....confessional!!!

why a confessional?
because.....because why not. 

because people like to talk.
because i like to listen.
because i want to make new music.
because fuck unshared secrets.
because the @monamuseum is one of the bravest and most beautiful risk-taking places in these parts.
because they asked if i wanted to do anything, anything at all, and i said yes.

SO.....this coming week, at tasmania’s incredible (i know!! i’ve been! and i've met many of you there!!!) festival in launceston (it's not in hobart this year), the fine folks of MONA are literally building us a confessional booth, much cosier and spacious and less catholic than the one shown above, promise.

it's going to be more like a little secret room, with couches and chairs and nice low lights. 

i have set confession hours (below). you can talk to me (about anything) as long as you need to. i will listen. we are providing tea, wine, water and handkerchiefs. everything is confidential. on sunday when it’s all done, i am going to spend a day at a piano and write a song, based on everything that the confessions made me feel. or something like that.

it's sort of like what i did with patreon when i put out prompts or posts before writing drowning in the sound, the ride, and voicemail for jill. but i'm doing it IN PERSON, and i think that's important.  

then i am going to play the song on monday, when i have my official festival show at the festival at the princess theatre. then i will record the song when i get back to melbourne and THING IT HERE ON PATREON. 

so, nitty gritty.

the booth will be operated at CITY PARK, TAMAR STREET.

hours:
thursday 16 january: 12-4pm
friday 17 january: 12-3 pm & 10-12pm
saturday 18 january, 12pm-i die/collapse (the sites stataes just 12pm, it's supposed to be 12-4pm, but i'll probably just go til i'm DONE).

this is what the sign outside the confessional will read:
- Please wait in line until called by staff.
- First in, best dressed. There's no set time for your confession. Take as little or as much time as you need.
- Confessions can be about anything. Amanda encourages you to share fears, regrets or secrets you want to get off your chest.
- All confessions are anonymous. Amanda may use details from your confession for a song but your identity will remain protected.
- You'll be alone in the space with Amanda. Please observe friendly etiquette.
- Recording devices aren't permitted in the space—not yours and not Amanda's.

.......

and just a note from me to your all - you know me. really, anything goes.

you can tell me...ANTYHING. 

anything.

if i am afraid you're about to leave the booth and kill yourself, i will probably call for help. and like in all mental health professions and stuff, if you tell me that you're doing somehting that's like, putting children in danger, i'll call the cops. so maybe just don't tell me that. better yet, maybe don't do it.

anyway: ANYTHING GOES. abortion stories from all sides, miscarriage stories, assault stories from all sides, guiltinesses, problems, i mean....after the year i've had, i can handle pretty much anything. really. try me.

ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONFESSIONAL, hit me. i'm answering.

..........

then......THE SHOW - my first EVER in launceston, tasmania - is monday, 20 january, at princess theatre. 

the show is 6-10pm and the doors are at 5:30pm.

you can get tickets on the mona foma website here:

https://monafoma.net.au/program/amanda-palmer

if you're ANYWHERE in tasmania, for god's sake, come.

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

also, if you're at the festival, i'm also playing the "MY FAVORITE THINGS" variety show - which is free for festival pass holders, on jan 17th! come join me there, it'll be fun....https://monafoma.net.au/program/my-favourite-things.

many artists will be covering songs from the sound of music. i may do that. and i mean...can we talk about this line-up?? LAIBACH???? LAIBACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is gonna be good people.

i want them to play "climb every mountain"

and now for the weather.

....

part 1.

love from sydney, where i just left the family behind to do a day of press, tour promo, album promo, i'm-not-sure-what-the-fuck-i-am-tryuing-to-promote-anymore-besides-compassion-because-honestly-whateve.....and where i'm feeling the lingering fingers of pointlessness as i begin to wrap this world tour and everything feels like it's softly ending with a terrified whimper. i still haven't figured out what anything means at the moment but hey give me a couple more weeks and i bet i can make sense of it. 

wrap up a tour about abortion, climate crisis, and compassion in a burning inferno at the bottom of the world? where, like after 911 in new york, the best and worst of humaity crawls out and shows its respective mugs?

i mean, why not. it seems apt.

i woke up the morning and looked at my new app, "australian fires". the fires are close to ballarat now. wait. i had dinner with rose last night, and her husband mihn. they're there in ballarat, for the (i shit you not) ballarat organ festival. we made a lot of organ puns, espeically when rose told me that her costume shop was holding a life drawing class on the roof, but she would miss it while they were gone.

they will have an organ festival all of their own, i said.

but now they are where the fires are.

will the fire eat them? kill them? run them out of town?

i don't know.

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

part 2.

love from the next day in melbourne.

the rains came. 

the rains came and quenched the land and put out a ton of the fires and now ballarat and all the organs there are safe. what a strange way to live.

neil and i and ash moved house today - we were staying in some digs in clifton hill that were lovely but not set up for a little kid, so we've moved to richmond and neil is turning that place into an office and writing pad. 

i've moved five times since december 20th. i am so burned on packing up and unpacking and packing a household. it eats your soul. and yet all of this - moving from london, moving to melbourne air bnb #1, moving to woodford, moving back and moving house twice, was happening against the landscape of people living in their cars and having no place to live at all, losing everything. i have no real complaints. we live a life of such incredible luxury compared to most people in the world. it's all relative. we're fine, we're safe, things are just slightly a pain in the ass. perspective is fucking important.

what HAS been the biggest pain in the ass is that with all this moving around and house-hunting, plus neil have to cancel his journey with me to the woodford festival, we've lost the leisure family-time we hoped we were going to get. not to mention the leisurely (that's a laugh) catch-up and admin time we hoped this last week would allow us. i had had fantasies of going to yoga, playing with ash, hitting coffee shops and working for long stretches to answer unanswered emails from three months ago. this was supposed to be catch-up time. it didn't happen. so an indulgence especially if you're a friend of mine or a collaborator: if i haven't answered your email, it's not personal. my inbox has 1,000 messages in it and i'm trying.

but the rain has come,

we've found a house,

and i'm ready to get this party finally fucking started.

if you're in melbourne, hold the phone. i want to do hijinx with you.

the hamer hall show is doing REALLY WELL b ut not quite yet sold out, please talk it up!!!

all dates are below.

OH and one more thing, mebourne and beyond....

i am doing a TRIPLE R  RADIO TAKE OVER!!!

THIS SUNDAY (tomrrow, january 12th) i'll be taking over the radiowaves from 6 to 8pm melbourne time.

if you're local, you can listen live on air via the radio at 102.7 FM, or you can listen live via triple r's website:  rrr.org.au.

once the show is over, it'll be archived to listen on their website on demand. i'll share the link to that when i get it. 

Triple R is a publicly funded broadcaster with on air line up comprised almost entirely of volunteers (like me) who have 100% control of their own programming. fuck yeah.

so expect it to be GOOD.

.....

as far as DONATING TO THE AUSTRALIAN FIRES EFFORT is concerned, we've done some digging, and i think we've found a perfect charity that focuses on the future and sustainability while the governmnet doles out it's 2 billion dollar aid package. which is good, but it's also like: how are we going to move forward and make sure this isn't happening again next year? is it possible? 

anyway....i got many requests from you for a cover of "beds are burning", and i may be able to wangle a cover out...if i have time to rehearse and prepare i may even be able to record it LIVE in melbourne, how fucking perfect would THAT be?

i also have a clip that's unexpectedly awesome (from portugal), and i could technically thing that fast and give part of that momey to charity as well. it's a little random, but....i could.

i could also do a 2019 version of "australia" and re-release that, i love that song. the album version is live and it never got a proper studio recording. it also never got a video....

and with THAT in mind....

i also wanted to throw this out there:

given that THIS IS A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD and the idea here is to also send a message of solidarity to the australians without spending a ton of money on a project (it doesn't really work to Thing a project that costs $35k for charity: it leaves no money for the charity).....DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS about how we could create a creative group effort of art to send to our comrades in oz? something like a group sympathy card made through the internet, but much more creative....? it's the world, it's 2019, it's the internet, there must be something i'm not thinking of.

hit me.

that's it for now loves, a lot more soon.

send more rain, please.

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 (at least up until a few years ago, this desperately needs updating) on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

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

UPCOMING SHOWS:

Thurs. Jan 16 — Sat. Jan 18 - LAUNCESTON, TAS - Mona Foma Confessional

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

Wed. Jan 22 - MELBOURNE, VIC - Hamer Hall

Fri. Jan 31 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse

Sat. Feb 1 - BRISBANE, QLD - Brisbane Powerhouse

Fri. Feb 7 - CANBERRA, ACT - Canberra Theatre

Sat. Feb 8 - SPRINGWOOD, NSW - Blue Mountains Theatre

Fri. Feb 14 — Sat. Feb 15 - ADELAIDE, SA - Bonython Hall, Adelaide Fringe 

Thurs. Feb 20 - SYDNEY, NSW - Enmore Theatre

Sat. Feb 22 - PERTH, WA - Perth Concert Hall, Perth Festival 

Sat. Feb 29 - DARWIN, NT - Darwin Entertainment Centre

Thurs. Mar 12 — Fri. Mar 13 - AUCKLAND, NZ - Auckland Arts Festival: Hollywood Avondale

Sat. March 14th - CHRISTCHURCH, NZ - The Piano

Mon. March 16th - WELLINGTON, NZ - St Peters Church, Wellington Fringe

ALL TICKETS: https://nointermission.amandapalmer.net