The State of All Things: June 2022 (Patreon)

• A HOMECOMING....LIFE UPDATE
• WHAT'S HAPPENED THIS MONTH
• RECENTLY RELEASED PROJECTS
• DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP
• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING
• OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW
• ART BEGETTING ART
• THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD!!

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A LITTLE LIFE UPDATE....

I wrote a giant-ass post yesterday - with a little voice recording from the world of towering oak trees - about how it feels to be back in the US ( back in the yew ess, back in the yew ess ess AYYY.....)

Summary? 

I mean....weird. But wonderful

Read it HERE. 

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Patreon-wise....

Everything has fallen apart a bit, in terms of output. I've been focusing on Ash domestic life, moving, re-uniting...all the things that just need my immediate focus. Work is gonna hafta wait for a moment.

I may try to write something poetic, and draw something, from the offline Maine vacation I'm about to go on with my family.

It'll be very artsy-crafty, or I may try to write and record something on ukulele...or otherwise delight you with something sweet. Or I may try to take a stab an an Ask Amanda Column if I have it in me.

Or this might be the first time in many months I just put nothing out, if my soul is too tired. Hold the phone.

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But there are BIG THINGS COMING....and the biggest thing (slowly, surely, steady as she goes, mate), is the DRESDEN DOLLS reunion.

We are taking the band bat-mobile out of the garage with incredible care...oiling her up, new paint job, making sure all the circuits are working. It's gonna take a hot second.

BUT....BUT BUT....I can tell you first, O MY PATRONS.

SAVE THE DATE: Nov 10, 11 & 12th...my beloved band, THE DRESDEN DOLLS, are going to be playing three shows in woodstock, NY, at an incredibly special (TINY TINY) venue to be revealed (probably not til the end of summer).

We will ALMOST DEFINITELY be doing some other local hinjinx, and I will ALMOST DEFINITELY be doing some gatherings around that time just for the patrons...incliding possible (finally!!) hosting a dinner for the upper-tier patrons, and maybe teaching a yoga and mediation class, and doing a lot of hugging....how and where we can.

If you can, keep that weekend free. The tickets will go FAST so the best way to make sure you nab one is to get on the dresden dolls mailing list (that's where the info will go before it comes here or to social media) and keep your eye on the mailer. We will announce the on-sale time and date before the actual tickets go on sale, so you can set alarms.

We are so excited to make music together again.

If you've never seen the band...oh my god. You will. And then you'll understand everything.

(The Dolls live at The Troxy in London, October 2018).

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WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED THIS MONTH, WORK-WISE....

In other work-related news, just a little sneak peek that there is a secret little something coming soon...

I made some special New Zealand Vinyl.

It's gonna take a hot second.

But...wait for it.

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We're also just about to launch into our next round of ART IN THE MAIL...!!!!

This time we're taking it a little bit more back to basics in the 'art' sense - it'll be a print of a physical painting. The painting will be done by one of our own patrons, Joni Augustine, who painted the picture that you'll probably recognize from my social media avatars...

Joni posted on Instagram a little while ago that she was trying to raise money to help with her transition, after being utterly fucked by the Irish healthcare system. So I figured that Team AFP could commission some artwork, get Joni some cash, get a beautiful piece of art for the folks in the Art In The Mail tier... and...win win win all around.

But, which picture to commission?

 Well..... we thought we'd leave that up to YOU. We've talked to Joni and she's picked out a handful of (NEW AND UNSEEN) photographs from some shoots I did before leaving New Zealand. So, dear $25 patrons and up, keep your eyes on your inboxes - soon you'll be getting a poll post, in which we'll ask you to pick which photograph you want to see rendered into artistic beauty by Joni. She's super-psyched to get working on it.

And....here's the PLUG....if you want to receive your very own gorgeous art print, IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO UP YOUR PLEDGE. Especially if you're at a lower tier but haven't capped your pledge - rather than pay $10 for 3 Things in a month, why not join the $25 tier and cap your pledge at one Thing? Then you get ART IN THE MAIL. :) And you get to support other artists in the world-of-art-ecosystem by helping me pay them for their work. It's pretty beautiful.

(If you have NO IDEA WHAT I MEAN by "cap your pledge", my god, do it.... here's a tutorial :)) 

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RECENTLY RELEASED PROJECTS....

Er.

Well, normally here I would talk about what we've put out this month.... but the last couple Althings have come out earlier in the month and have been our FIRST release, so instead let's look back at the second project that came out last month, after the Althing...

LITTLE ISLAND, my goodbye song to Aotearoa, was released (literally, I hit the  button symbolically 30 seconds before take-off) from the airport as I was flying home to the USA.

It's been released exclusively for patrons (for now)....you can find the Soundcloud link to listen, and read about the process and see some behind the scenes photos of the recording, allllllll in the Patreon post here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67121873 

And at some point, I'll put all this New Zealand music, plus stuff you haven't heard, onto one record (and then maybe HAVE TO GO BACK TO NEW ZEALAND TO PROMOTE IT, HORROR OF HORRORS).

Just sayin'.

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DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP....

From Jordan, in Sydney:

Hello Dear Patrons!

I write this to you from a wintery Australia, where it feels like life is shuddering back to normal. 

Although the world sure ain't normal anymore (was it ever?) we’re still playing it like it is. 

We’re nearing the end of our winter festival season here, with Vivid in Sydney, Rising in Melbourne and Dark Mofo in Hobart and I have been enjoying it. Bands are back on the road and I am gearing up to go down to Tasmania for Dark Mofo with Nils Frahm. It’s gonna be great! Art! Food! Music! Whisky!

In the background in AmandaLanda we’ve been busy as usual, preparing both Patron-only and public releases. One which will undauntedly make our friends from Aotearoa happy is a collection of the songs Amanda wrote in the Land of the Long White Cloud. 

More on that later, when it is ready to be fully and properly announced, but needless to say there’s been a lot of time, thought and effort into preparing this material and release.

There’s an ongoing sense of excitement in the air (still) around our new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese (aka my neighbour). It feels amazing to have our new PM quickly swing into action and start righting some of the wrongs that have been blatantly sticking out like a sore thumb for the past… age. I am exceptionally happy about having a Minister for Foreign Affairs who is female, Asian, gay and an absolute powerhouse. I feel Penny Wong will accurately represent our country as it is. We also have an Arts Minister and the full arts policy will soon be revealed in detail, but there will be a focus on our First Nations people. 

This is exceptionally exciting for me, as someone who has been representing and booking Indigenous Australians for decades, I readily welcome some Government money to help things on their way!

I wish all you Patrons the absolute very best and thank you for your continuing support.

What I am listening to and reading this month are as follows:

Stolen Focus (Recommended to me by Amanda)

Timbuktu (Oumou Sangare) 

Love, Jordan

{Love you, Jordan....I already miss being in your timezone...- AFP} 

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From Alex in London:

This month I have not got a lot of business to report on.... But tangentially to business, I've spent the last 5 days at my parents' house, aka my childhood bedroom that I never really finished moving my stuff out of when I left university.

My parents are selling and retiring down to the seaside (cue Dear Old House), which means I have spent these last 5 days sifting through boxes of my life up to the age of 21.

So I thought maybe it'd be fun to share some relics of AFP fandom past...

My collection of assorted ticket stubs, wristbands, and passes from AFP shows from 2011 to 2017, plus my collection of photos constantly harassing Amanda after shows, lol

The shirt I hand-painted for the Grand Theft Orchestra show in 2012 (I think Village Underground, the Theatre Is Evil 'preview' show the summer before it was released?)

((I actually think this is a rather nice design IF I MAY SAY SO MYSELF, and as head merch queen, if you agree then let me know and maybe I can work my magic to make something less hand-painted hehehehe))

Speaking of hand-painted merch....

...my lovely Dresden Dolls shoes that I painted and wore TO DEATH until the soles literally disintegrated (they were only £8 Primark shows though, so the disintegration happened after about 3 weeks, lol)

And finally in today's show and tell session - the satchel bag I customised myself after my Evelyn Evelyn t-shirt ripped, so I put a border on and sewed it onto a bag, which, like the shoes above, I also brought everywhere with me until the strap fell off and the bottom of the bag literally disintegrated (but despite only being £10 on Amazon, the bag actually lasted a good year or so!!)

ANYWAY....

Having looked at all that, I'm realising now there's maybe some symbolism and full-circle-moment in the fact that I spent years making my own AFP merch at home ad now I am the dedicated AFP Merch Queen.... 

I guess just keep doing what you love (and taking photos with artists at their shows) until eventually someone pays you for it :)

xoxox

-Alex

{SWOON. Why are we not already plotting a lone of 178 boutique merch items for the dresden dolls store for 2023, Alex? *Cracks Whip*....but seriously. god I love you. Memories, old, and new ones yet to be made....-AFP}

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HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING

As of this writing there are about 11,600 patrons pledging about $37,000 for the first Thing each month.

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

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 May, I Thanged TWO Things:

The State of All Things: May 2022, which earned about $42,412 from 11,754 patrons

Little Island (with Julia Deans), which earned about $17,701 from 6,514 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.

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OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

LAURA JANE GRACE has joined the land of Patreon!!

I am so proud, and can take a tiny bit of credit for this one, as I helped talk her onto the bandwagon. I can't imagine a better artist for this kind of crowdfunded platform.

You can find her page HERE:

https://www.patreon.com/laurajanegrace

She's launching one tier only. $10. All or nothing, baby.

If you don't know Laura....here's a little bio for you:

Laura Jane Grace is the founder, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me! They’ve come out with 7 studio albums. Grace is one of the first highly visible punk rock musicians to come out as transgender and has become an outspoken advocate for transgender awareness. Her column Mandatory Happiness was published by Vice for years. 

Her autobiography is entitled, "Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout."

Her debut solo album “Bought to Rot” was released in 2018. Her new album “Stay Alive” is out now on Polyvinyl Records.

And you may also recognise her as one of the first guests on The Art of Asking Everything podcast, from way back in October 2020. Here's us at the recording session, photographed by our dear Hayley Rosenblum...

If you want to go back and hear that interview (it's a REALLY GOOD ONE, if I do say so myself), you can find it in all your normal podcast places, or find it here on the web).

GO GO JOIN HER PATREON!!!!

AND TELL HER AMANDA SAYS HI.

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This one is close to my heart.

As some of you know, but many of you may not, I lost my beloved older step-brother, Karl, to ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease) when he was only 27 and I was 20. His death changed my whole life, and my whole family's life.

Rob Brownell is an author who reached out to me...and who is currently kickstarting his debut novel, after being diagnosed with ALS in 2017 - and using the book fundraiser to also raise money for Team Gleason.

Invention Is a Mother is a slightly sci-fi, darkly comic (puns! crude humor! irreverence!), sometimes wrenching take on our product-centric technology culture. The plot—like real engineering projects, like my quixotic goal to write a novel—is a marriage of ambition and absurdity.

Since Kickstarter doesn't let you donate to charity (?!?!?) they're running the book fundraiser and the charity fundraiser SEPARATELY.

The Kickstarter link is here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robbrownell/invention-is-a-mother

And the charity fundraiser is here:

https://teamgleason.rallybound.org/creative/RobBrownell

Here's a little about the charity, and what they do:

Team Gleason is a charity that helps people with ALS by providing them with technology, experiences, and support which enables them to thrive in the face of debilitating terminal illness. They funded Rob's digital voice so he can continue to communicate as the disease progresses.

Give it a look.

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I also just became a patron of Talli Osborne, aka nubs416, an inspirational speaker who was born with no arms below the elbows, and no femurs or knees. 

She describes herself as "a punk rock optimist dedicated to inspiring the world."

I MEAN, FUCK YES. A sister.

You can find her Patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/Nubs416

And if you want to see her in action, you should check out her TEDx Talk "Differences Are Beautiful" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Fl_OCmKa8&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

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Our beloved London-area cabaret pal Ruby Wednesday has just released their long-awaited album, full of gorgeous, haunting songs on Bandcamp:

https://rubywednesday.bandcamp.com/album/narcissus

I've played with Ruby a few times over the last few years (they guested at The Dresden Dolls warm-up show in London back in 2018), and they've played with me at patron-only events in London, and also popped up in Australia.

If you want a little primer, here's a gorgeous video of us both duetting Astronaut at a tiny little London drag club back in 2017. Oh those times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iurslmXUhdc&ab_channel=NixCrabtree

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And finally for this month, REGINA SPEKTOR is back with a new record!!!

Recorded during the pandemic with my friend John Congleton (who also produced Theatre Is Evil and There Will Be No Intermission), it's out next week, June 24th.... I CAN'T WAIT.

I've loved Regina since I heard Soviet Kitsch back in 2004, and she opened for the Dolls a few times...

and in case you want a crossover, here's little old-school Amanda performing some old-school Regina for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUo2hSWc8A&ab_channel=AdrenalineSleep

....and here's Regina playing on Colbert last night!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zyYq4YhAEw

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ART BEGETTING ART

A collection of the most beautiful art from the community over the past few weeks... remember, if you'd like to see your art featured here, tag me anywhere on socials @amandapalmer, or email it to us at art@amandapalmer.net :)

First up this month: from regular fan-artist Mike Zug (@zugart), with another gorgeous piece to celebrate a certain band reuniting...

Next up: a beautiful little sketch of another band from days of yore... EVELYN EVELYN, by @artofdel (and if you're inspired, why not throw them a dollar or two on ko-fi?)

And finally for this month, an absolutely gorgeous piece by @andrebragaarte...

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THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD!!

This is the space for YOU, the patrons, to advertise whatever you have going on! If you're opening a new store, crowdfunding for new shoes, or want to ask if anyone has a spare ukulele going... email us at patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and we'll try and fit as many notices in here as we can :)

For this month....

Nikki Mierjeski got in touch with us about a book her mom has just put out, called Anarchy in High Heels:

"Last July, my mom published a memoir that she had been working on pretty much my whole life (I'm 34). It recounts her times in a feminist satirical performance art group during the 70s and 80s. I feel like if Amanda had been in San Francisco back then, she would absolutely be a part of Les Nickelettes. 

We lost my dad to Covid in February 2021 - sadly he didn't get to see this go out into the world, and he was so proud of my mom for making it happen. I know she would love to see this story reach more people."

Here's the blurb of the book - and I gotta say, it sounds AMAZING.

A San Francisco porno theater might be the last place you'd expect to plant the seed of a feminist troupe, but truth is stranger than fiction.
In 1972, access to birth control and a burn-your-bra ethos were leading young women to repudiate their 1950s conservative upbringing and embrace a new liberation. Denise Larson was a timid twenty-four-year-old actress wannabe when, at an after-hours countercultural event, The People's Nickelodeon, she accidentally created Les Nickelettes. This banding together of like-minded women with an anything-goes spirit unlocked a deeply hidden female humor. For the first time, Denise allowed the suppressed satirical thoughts dancing through her head to come out in the open. Together with Les Nickelettes, which quickly became a brazen women's lib troupe, she presented a series of feminist skits, stunts, and musical comedy plays.
With sisterhood providing the moxie, Denise took on leadership positions not common for women at the time: playwright, stage director, producer, and administrative/artistic director. But, in the end, the most important thing she learned was the power of female friendship.

You can find the book from a local independent (tax-paying!) bookstore HERE:

https://bookshop.org/books/anarchy-in-high-heels-a-memoir/9781647421366

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That's what I got for ya this month, my dears.

I love you all so much.

Thank you for seeing me through the last two years.

I'm going to rest...and I'm going to make a lot of amazing things once I've rested.

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