The State of All Things: May 2022 {Official Thing} (Patreon)

***IF THE VIDEO ABOVE ISN'T WORKING, CLICK HERE TO ACCESS DIRECTLY ON VIMEO*** 

• **NEWS FLASHES, & AUCKLAND GOODBYE GIG, TOMORROW!!**
• A LITTLE LIFE UPDATE
• WHAT'S HAPPENED THIS MONTH, WORK-WISE
• ROUNDUP OF PROJECTS THAT WERE RELEASED IN MAY
• DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP
• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING
• OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW
• ART BEGETTING ART
• THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD!!

......

Oh holy shit here we go

GOODBYE, AOTEAROA.....

I'm leaving. On a jet plane.

I've been in this country for two years and two months of my life. And Ash's life. Ash grew up in a foreign country. By accident.

I was touring for seven months without going home before Covid hit.

I have not walked in my own front door, or seen my old friends, or my states-side family, or any objects or belongings I've accumulated in my life (save the one small suitcase of show clothes I brought with me to NZ) since mid-August 2019....almost three years ago.

I have never felt this bizarre cocktail of emotions.

The last few weeks have been a blur of packing and solo parenting and tying up loose ends, school, paperwork, cars, bikes, relationships, object-shipping. Plus three shows for the local theater fundraiser, plus trying to record the last moments of emotion (see below)

I've barely had time to check my texts or emails, or keep up with any kind of long-term thinking or work. It's fine.

What do I feel? It'll take me a few years to know. But meanwhile, let's hug.

REMINDER, to the KIWIS....we are gathering TOMORROW (TUESDAY!)! I posted about it here. We are going to gather either at Freyberg Place or The Auckland City Library (if the weather is shitty) tomorrow (Tuesday, May 31st) at 3pm for a goodbye sing n' hug n' whatEVER. Bring gifts for one another (see post)! See you there...Nga Mihi....**

.......

**NEWS FLASH**

And welll....SURPRISE. I pulled a fuckin' fast one and recorded the two new songs that I wrote last month in a fit of emotional goodbye-feeling. There's a reason.

One of them is a duet called "Little Island", with guitar and harmony from JULIA DEANS of Fur Patrol (I played it at the Artworks fundraiser) and I'm going to release it just to patrons before the month is officially over. Like, tomorrow or the next day, cos it's ALMOST THE END OF THE MONTH. I'm still 16 cramming on my goddamn essay that was assigned 6 weeks ago, pulling an all-nighter. Whatever. I've embraced it. I work well this way. Fast, last-minute, and full of fire.

The next song (untitled at the moment, but I also played it at Artworks) will come out at some point soon...again, just for patrons. This kind of art-making is making me so goddamn happy. Art for me, for my community, for you, for life, for this, for now.

So, poetically, I have enough written-in-Aotearoa songs now (4, more or less, 5 if I record one more at home?) for a little EP. So there we go. You'll get the first peek, as my patrons, and I'll probably try to assemble something - some sort of NZ memory-album - when I get home and rested.

I'm so tired I think I might do nothing but mother for two months after I get home. Three months. Four.

But anyway....here we are, me and Julia recording this number, this last Wednesday. 

Where are we? In an underground WW2 tunnel on the far side of Waiheke Island, of course. How could we not? And....fear not. We got video. We'll work on releasing that much later.

It's good. 

It's really, really good.

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

At the moment I'm typing this last little bit of the post, it's early early morning in Aotearoa, and it's my last day here on the Island. We leave on the ferry this evening and we'll stay the night in the city, then fly to America tomorrow night.

I have volumes of things to say to you.

But I also have Ash, and he's about to wake up and start packing with me, and I need to make us breakfast and keep sorting through the books...which ones we are going to take to post office, which ones are going in the bags, which ones are long-lost library books (I found two), which we are giving to friends, which ones we are giving to Ash's school....

I counted, and Ash accumulated about 700 books since arriving here about two years ago. I didn't go into an op-shop or a bookstore without getting him a new book, and many were sent from his faraway dad, and many were sent from authors, and friends, and many were given as gifts from the locals. 700 books is a lot of books. That's like, almost a book a day. I'll write about it more later, I'm sure, but I feel that one of my biggest accomplishments over this last two years is that I kept the kid more or less off screens. We read. A Lot.

I do not take books - and where they come from - for granted. 

Every one of these books came from....somewhere. Some of them came from YOU. It took me the better part of the day yesterday to sort through them all, and I gave special consideration to any books that were gifts, especially the ones from Aotearoa - the local stories. 

It's gonna cost us a goddamn king's ransom to ship them back, but fucking FUCK IT. These books will live on a special shelf in Ash's room at home, and when we read them, we're going to feel the love and kindness of stories and connection that this land has showered on us.

I won't start in about how many books I accumulated. There were many, including many from you all.

I won't start in about a lot of things.

I can't.

The last two years has taught me this: there is a time and a place to tell the story of what happened, and the time is not always now.

I've been the art-maker AND the journalist of my own experiences for a very, very long time. For the next while, I'm going to focus on being a mother and an artist, and little less on being the journalist of my own life. There is too much catch up.

Right now, the time is for packing, for traveling, and for loving Ash, and loving this goodbye, and getting on a plane and going home to recuperate from the hardest two years of my life. 

I know you understand because I....know you do. Because I know you.

And, I will say here what I said in the parting video.

I would not have been able to stay in this country were it not for you, my patrons.

You literally made it possible, covered my rent, and put food on my table.

You paid my staff.

You kept our lights on.

You kept me safe.

Because I needed to put art out every month, I sometimes felt trapped, but mostly I felt motivated. To keep going. To make, to do, to create. 

I will be spending most of the next year - and years to come - in a daze, thinking about what this all meant.

But I can say it in rough words right now: you all, collectively, kept me sane, safe, protected, loved, understood, informed.

You changed my life.

You. My patrons.

You changed my life.

I'm going to get back to packing.

But before I do....here are a few more shots.

This is a Kumera (sweet potato) I allowed to flower in my kitchen, and my friend said she would babysit it, and that same friend also left some underwear at my house. So I call this Sculpture "Kumera with Unreturned Underwear":

Here is my friend Susannah, in the midst of our packing frenzy today....(nad there's Michael on the couch, more on that below) who agreed to deliver the art to its rightful owner.

It's her birthday today. Happy birthday, Susannah.

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

This is the Goodbye Gardenia we planted in Tanya's garden. It was a gift to me, to stay in the ground here.

Tanya promised to send photos when it flowers.

This just....accidentally happened this morning and I thought it was funny.

Also....I just gotta say something about this guy.

Michael McComiskey, my assistant and friend for five years (we just celebrated our 5-year work-a-versary last week) got on his own jet plane and came all the way to New Zealand two weeks ago to help me transition back to the states.

He wound up also watching Ash, helping organize a theatre fundraiser, working on a film shoot and song recording session, playing ukulele IN the fundrasier, and...we managed to get some hikes and swims in.

I cannot say enough good things about this human being. 

Michael is one of the kindest, smartest, hardworking people I have ever had the pleasure to work with, and I'm so happy he got to know my friends and the island a little bit before I left. He and I have been on the phone for two years without seeing one another. My life has changed immensely. He's had covid not once but twice. My business more or less fell apart and hung in there by a thread.

But we survived it, and we are still a work-team, and we're fuckin' great at it.

That you all help to pay his salary is not lost on either of us. What he does for me, he does with and through you. It's all connected.

Blessed.

......

WHAT HAPPENED THIS MONTH...

THE ARTWORKS THEATRE FUNDRAISER CABARET

WE HELPED RAISE ABOUT $15k for the theatre!! Thank you to all the patrons who came, and those who donated from afar. And honestly, the fact that I'm crowdfunded and effectively salaried by a crowd (you) made it possible for me to do this. So you all donated, in a roundabout way. Any time I do something to help others, anytime I donate money, it's flowing through me from you. Don't forget that.

Just a few days ago, I played my final shows here in Aotearoa.... three back-to-back-to-back shows at the Artworks Theatre here on Waiheke. Like most tiny theatres in the pandemic, they've struggled to stay afloat. This event not only made some dough, but it sparked people back into seats.

I went out in a cloud of glitter. 

My friend Koro - aka Constance Maraj - and I played co-host and did like 14 outfit changes....and I played 5-6 songs every night, including the two new ones (see below). We had about 12 different variety acts, singers, dancers, burlesque, songs, aerial....it was DIVINE.

It all felt alive. 

The community was so so happy to be out and about after the up and down and down and up of lockdowns...

Here's the theatre....

And here's a little about them from their webpage...

Artworks Community Theatre (‘Te Whare Tapere o Waiheke’ –  the house of entertainment) is one of Waiheke greatest attractions. We are proudly the largest venue on the island. Being a multidisciplinary performing arts hub, you can enjoy a diversity of shows and events, from dance, comedy, music to theatre. With a passionate team we constantly ensure all guests, performers and directors have the best possible experience from enjoying efficient processes and systems to experiencing a clean and safe artistic environment.

They're still taking donations, since they run entirely not-for-profit, so if you're in New Zealand, you can donate here:

https://www.artworkstheatre.org.nz/donors

Here are some photos I took during the set-up and backstage...

I miss this mess.....

Michael, by night...

Ash came to see mama at work....

My boy, my boy....

Watching Ash explore the theater was one of the highlights of my stage-heart's life. He loved it up where it was SECRET.....

THE BEST-DRESSED CONTEST....

LOVE.

This one from Simone Flight...

And some backstage photos from Victoria Bell....

Is this not heaven....?

We are Queens, yes.

We plundered the local costume rental shop, who donated.

THESE ARE ACTUALLY FROM THE SET OF XENA. 

Who us?

And a few photos from the show itself, by Peter Rees...

Wilkommen....

Michael singing "No More Fucks to Give"....which brought the house down....

Duetting with Aura....who was pulling triple duty as Social Media Assistant, Babysitter, and Lounge singer....(this is the new song you ain't gonna hear for a second)

CONSTANCE IN HER MERMAID MOMENT:

CURTAIN CALL!!!!

......

LITTLE ISLAND

This new little song....tt's coming. To whet your appetite....here are a few behind-the-scenes shots from Michael....taken the other day at rehearsal at Whittaker's Museum on Waiheke...

......

PROJECTS RELEASED IN MAY

This month, we've released.......

.....NOTHING YET. It's a race to the finish on every front.

WAIT FOR IT.

......

DISPATCHES FROM VARIOUS MEMBERS OF TEAM AFP

From Jordan:

Greetings Dear Patrons!

I write this to you from a fairly elated sense of happiness and hopefulness in Sydney, Australia. Change is afoot! Not only is Amanda leaving Aotearoa (NZ) and going back home to the US, but… Australia has a new Prime Minister! A Labour one… With an arts policy… with Indigenous constitutional recognition in its aims… and he’s local! In fact, we live on the same block. My dog pees on his gate every day… some days TWICE A DAY! After years of conservative “leadership” to now have a more left leaning government is a palpable relief. Especially for those in the music and art world, for our Aboriginal mob and those looking to a more sustainable view towards climate change than the Australian Governments who have systematically ignored the environment in the past years. Hallelujah. Hopes are high.

May has been a great month for me. I managed to make it to Aotearoa to share good times, yummy meals, friendship and ideas with Amanda and Michael. I got to talk monsters & villains with Ash. I got to see Waiheke Island, meet with a new distribution company we will be working with for New Zealand and even get in some record shopping. I rate Real Groovy in my top 10 record stores of the world. Yes, my dear Kiwis who are reading this – in the not too distant future you will have easier access to a selection of Amanda’s merch with the cheapest shipping prices available for those in Aotearoa.

I have sincerely loved having Amanda in my timezone. It’s going to be very sad to see her depart, but also… I am happy for her to be reunited with her family and community of friends in the US. We’ve got so many art projects in the slow- cooker in the kitchen for the next few years, I think we’re going to be in for quite the ride, and one I am sure you will all enjoy coming along with us on.

As always, thank you.

Jordan.

{Love you Jordan. I'm gonna miss being in the same time zone too. But ...trades. - AFP}

.......

From Alex:

A quick one from me this month - I've been out on the road with Grace Petrie, slinging merch. I worked out that as I am writing this (on May 25th), this is the first day that we have not either had a show or been travelling since the tour began on May 4th. 

It's been very tiring.

So I'll just leave you with two recommendations - a book and a song. 

I've been reading this book, given to me in a Christmas book exchange in 2020 (shh, my reading list is very long). It's about mermaids, and a crew that goes out to investigate a previous crew that may or may not have been eaten by mermaids.

I thought it sounded like it had the potential to be lame, hence why it didn't race to the top of my list. But actually, there's a deep sense of terror and foreboding within the pages, that I'm finding myself utterly captivated. (plus, lesbian content!)

It's called Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, and I'd thoroughly recommend it (although I'm only 300 pages in, so I take no responsibility if the last 150 pages are shit)

And my song recommendation comes from the support act on the tour I'm currently working on. It's a song called "14 Miles" by a singer-songwriter named Jasmine Kennedy (not the queen from drag race, lol)

It's a beautiful, sad, raw, honest song about the death of her nana, and I can't stop listening to it. 

I came back
at lunchtime the next day
and asked what it was you'd ordered
that you were pushing 'round your plate
you said you didn't really have much appetite
but you let me read the menu and suggest things you might like
and I guess it didn't matter
'cause you weren't gonna eat
but if we didn't plan for wanting we'd be accepting what that means

It's on Spotify and all the usual gubbins, or you can download it free (or pay what you want) on her Bandcamp page here:

https://jasminekennedy.bandcamp.com/track/14-miles

And that's all for now.

Take care of yourselves, my friends.

(In my natural state, napping in the back of the tour van (in my vintage AFP #LOFNOTC Caps Locks FTW shirt, as photographed by the aforementioned Jasmine Kennedy)

{WE LOVE YOU MERCH QUEEN. I hope we get to see you soon, maybe in NYC, hint, hint, hint. - AFP}

......

HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING/GROWING

As of this writing there are about 11,900 patrons pledging about $38,000 for the first Thing each month.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NEWCOMERS: you are welcome to (and encouraged to) CAP YOUR PLEDGE! PLEASE.

I cannot stress this highly enough.

Your pledge on Patreon supports me per Thing that I release, but sometimes it's unpredictable how many Things will come out in a month (sometimes it's just 1, usually it's 2 or 3, we have been known to do 6 or 7).

We know this can create financial insecurity and uncertainty - so Patreon allows you to cap your pledge. This is, essentially, setting a MAXIMUM amount that you want to pay per month. YOU CAN BUDGET. Say for example, you're happy to pay $3 per Thing, but you don't want to pay more than $10 a month. In that's the case, you can "cap" your pledge at $10, and whether I release 4 Things or 40 Things, you won't be charged more than $10. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will still have access to ALL the things, even if you cap your pledge!!! It doesn't effect access.

You can read all about capping your pledge here.

I go over this stuff in every Althing, but if you're new to all this: Patreon charges you monthly & retroactively, meaning that you get billed on the 1st of the month for all the Things released the month prior.

Because people have their pledges capped (SEE ABOVE), the first "Thing" raises the most money by far, and anything released thereafter raises less and less. I LIKE THIS! THIS IS GOOD! It means I never feel guilty about releasing TOO MUCH!! So really. Please, cap your pledge if you are on a budget.

In April, I Thanged THREE Things:

Judy Blume from Auckland Library, and BTS doc, which earned about $43,163 from 12,094 patrons

Dirge Without Music, which earned about $18,198 from 6,753 patrons

The State of All Things: April 2022, which earned about $10,265 from 4,076 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.

And remember: these numbers are gross. Not net. 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.

These numbers also do not reflect the money I SPENT MAKING THE ART, paying my staff, paying the office rent, paying for crowdcast, getting myself around, getting the team around and fed and slept, all the collaborators, and my actual staff payroll, 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.

......

OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

I've said it again but I'm gonna repeat....the only thing I'd love to ask you to do this month is READ SUSAN CAIN'S NEW BOOK WITH ME!!! I'm taking it on the plane.

She and I have a huge interview coming out together within the next few months - patron-funded - and I want you to get to know this book before it happens.

Her new book is called "BITTERSWEET". 

I'm sorry.

Did someone say "HOW SORROW AND LONGING CAN MAKE US WHOLE"?

Didn't I just do a whole fucking tour about that?

Sign me up.

And if you've missed susan's TED talk about the power of introversion, it's amazing. That's how I met her: https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

......

SOPHIE STRAND

I've been reading a ton of Sophie Strand's online work lately, and I think you would all really love her.

If you're on Instagram she's a peaceful and honest force: https://www.instagram.com/cosmogyny/?hl=en

She posted this, for instance, on Mother's day:

She's a neighbor and new friend of mine from the Woodstock area and we have plans to hang when I get home...and her writing is a beautiful mish-mash of plants, the human spirit, feminism, and "I can't explain it and that's why it's good".

Her new book just went on sale for pre-order and I've read enough bits from it that I can recommend it.

It's called THE FLOWERING WAND: REWILDING THE SACRED MASCULINE.

If it's up your alley, it's gonna be REALLY up your alley. If you know what I mean. 

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Flowering-Wand/Sophie-Strand/9781644115961

......

ART BEGETTING ART

From @loimestudios on instagram...based on a photo by Allan Amato....

To just give a break from my tits....this is from @daisies_and_tears on instagram...

But now back to my tits....from long-time darling @zugart on instagram...this image clearly inspired. Who doesn't love tits.

LASTLY.....

......

THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD!!

This is the space for you all to share and promote your work, crowdfunds, anything else! Send through anything you want to post here to patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and we'll be picking a couple every month to feature! 

This month....

Some of you will recognize Pedro from the webcasts (and for always leaving beautiful, thoughtful comments on posts here). Now he's set up his own Patreon for his work.

I've just joined, I'm so excited to join and see what happens here...SUPPORT PEDRO!!!!

Check it out here.  

......

Some of you will ALSO recognize Callie as our Hype Queen from the webcast shows at Union Chapel back in the heady days of 2019.....and she's an incredible musician and spirit.

She's set up a GoFundMe page to help with transitioning - both in the medical sense, and also whilst relocating to Glasgow.

Here's the link, please donate and help one of our own live her best life:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-those-hairs-away-from-my-face

......

That's all I got folks.

I'm gonna release this song,

get on a plane, 

and fucking collapse.

Wish me luck.

I love you so much.

xxx

AFP

------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS---------

1. if you are a patron and new to my work, don’t forget your patronage allows you access to ALL of my patreon releases to date. HERE is the link to download my latest big solo record, “There Will Be No Intermission”, and HERE is a link to download the PDF of the art/essay book that goes with it.

2. if you’re a patron reading this post via an email notification, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol. that's always nice for me to see, so i know who's reading.

3. see All the Things (over 150 of them) i've made so far on patreon:

http://amandapalmer.net/things

4. JOIN THE SHADOWBOX COMMUNITY FORUM, find your people, and discuss everything: https://forum.theshadowbox.net/

5. 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/

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