surprise library project REVEALED...and a TO THING OR NOT TO THING poll! (Patreon)

HELLO DEARS

i am writing this post from AUCKLAND LIBRARY. it's 5pm, we have just loaded in an entire film crew, and i'm gonna tell you what we're doing AND ask you a quick patronage question.

so...a few years ago i went to the white house correspondents dinner (and did a podcast about it) and was also invited to samantha bee's "not the white house correspondents" dinner/TV event. 

this is where i meet the Great Samantha Bee, erstwhile political correspondent for The Daily Show and now host of her own show, Full Frontal....

she turned onto my music, and lo and behold, she told me that my song "judy blume" (from "there will be no intermission", which had just been released) was her favorite new song. it's a love letter song, a celebration of "judy blume", one of the world's boldest and bravest YA novelists of all time.  

fast forward to right now. 

sam is doing an episode of "full frontal" dealing with book censorship (if you need to know why) and asked me if i would play "judy blume" on the show. 

whee....national TV! it is not every day i get invited! the last time i was on american TV must have been over ten years ago, when the dresden dolls were doing jimmy kimmel and that sort of late night thing. 

but i said no.

this was just before the new zealand border officially opened....and because i am still being a super-conservative person...dude, you could not give me a gazillion dollars or a grammy or an emmy or my own fucking TV show or fucking anything to leave new zealand and listen to the giant gates CLANK behind me. not with what's been happening with covid and the world. i did not want to get locked out. not for anything.

but, i said to sam, i'd be happy to film it HERE IN NEW ZEALAND. why not? i asked, we could get a library to host us and film it somewhere....new zealand-y. sam said YES. 

and that is why i am currently in the auckland city library, after hours, with a huge crew of filmmakers, lighting people, hair, make-up, and social media assistants, about to basically make a music video in one night, for american TV.

here we are, loading in....

we have a piano getting set up smack in the middle of the library and we are off to the races. we're gonna be here til 11:30 pm.

OKAY, NOW. 

here's the ask for you patrons, and i wasn't going to even ask, but it occurred to me as i was walking over to the library and stressing the budget, and they're setting up for hours yet, and i'm free, so, yeah, here goes:

sam's people gave us a nice lil budget, and as we set up we went wildly over. we could have just pointed an iphone camera at a piano with me in jeans and a t-shirt and had shitty sound...but we wanted to make this BEAUTIFUL. we wanted to make the library BEAUTIFUL (and don't get me started on the lighting in the auckland city library. it leaves....much to be desired. it's good for READING. not filming, so much). we wanted the sound to be impeccable. we decided to throw the kitchen sink at it and spare no expense. so sam's production is paying for part of it, and we're paying for part of it.

when it comes out (in about 3 weeks or so), it'll be aired on TV, and sam wants to keep it off youtube. BUT we can send the footage to YOU, if we want. we asked. there's also an interview with sam, i'm doing a little back and forth "are you there, sam?/are you there, amanda?" bit with her instead of traditional interview. we could send you that, too.

the question is:

DO WE THING IT? 

IS IT A THING?

WHAT IS A THING?

WHAT IS ART EVEN?

it would help cover the budget, and it's a legitimate expense, i mean...here i am, making art.

but it's weird. it's art for a mainstream, commercial purpose. it's TV.

it's promo, almost. but it's also not.  if you strip it down: it's basically me saying yes to another artist (sam) who's doing a project about censorship and wants to collaborate.

this would be an EASIER question if i hadn't already basically made this song into a more-or-less-live in a room-with-books already. i'd call this a win-win and say that we're finally "making a video" for judy blume...but we already DID THAT.

it's almost uncanny. we are more or less RE-CREATING the video we already made for "judy blume"....except in auckland library instead of in a groovy borrowed house in new orleans. (it's pretty great if you haven't seen it, it's the first - and only - video of mine directed by jason webley, and he killed it).

.....

you know me. i want an honest answer.

this is why i love the fucking patreon. I CAN ASK.

this is how patronage works: YOU, you tell me.

if it's a very close vote or anti, i'll skip it.

it won’t break the bank and i’ll consider it out of pocket money VERY WELL SPENT on promo!!

if it's a pretty big majority, i'll go for it, and we'll devote more time tonight to also getting some process footage we can knock together just for you guys. we will then have the extra budget to make a little behind the scenes movie for y’all.

this is aura, by the way,

..who was on call at the last webcast running the social media and is here tonight to do the same...so if you're AWAKE (and why are you ??) keep en eye on my instagram, FB and twitter, i'll be slutting around going live on of those platforms at some point tonight.

i just wandered about the library and took more photos of the crew and the lights. and piano tuner.

it’s SO GOOD.

ok folks, vote, be forthright, HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST THOUGHTS.

check in soon

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