one blanket, under god. (and a code, and....a hug.) (Patreon)

hallo my loves.

i'm having a rough week, i'm sure evrybody is feeling the squeeze.

i'm sorry it's been so long since i've written. i came home from tour, collapsed for two days, and woke up to a house that needed tending, an overwhelmed husband, an overwhelmed baby, a sore neck, a bleeding country, 20 people about to show up for thanksgiving dinner, and i wanted to just pull the fucking covers over my head and fucking disappear.

the good news is that i have a lot of art for you in the next week or so, stuff that i think is going to heal your heart and mine. not yet. wait. but it's coming.

if you were at the boulder, CO show or following me on twitter a few days ago, you also know that i got into a car crash on my way from a recording studio to the gig. i'm fine but it was a beautiful metaphor.

i'd decided to take the entire day to record some flotsam and jetsam from tour...some new ideas...some old shit kicking around.....you;ll see.

the wonderful superkate googled around and found a recording studio in boulder that had an open day, and a piano, and we booked it. i figured i'd just cab it over on the way to the gig, throw down some tunes, bring the baby, and the nanny, and the aunt....

...i took an uber to the studio. the uber climbed a mountain. i made friends with my uber driver, dave, who, as it turns out, is a sound engineer himself. he knows ani difranco. we talked shop. and we kept climbing up a mountain. i was like: where are we going, dave? a half hour drive up a mountain, apparently. 

and the snow came. god it was beautiful. (here's a picture).  and when i got to the little studio at the top of the mountain....it was so quiet. it was just me and prasanna the engineer. the studio is called akashic (it looks like THIS ) and between the name of the studio, which is sanskrit for "sky" and parasanna's name, which is sanskrit for "clear, bright and tranquil"...dude: you get the vibe. i was in heaven. ahem. mister clear, bright and tranquil and i fired up the piano and i started sobbing my truths into the microphones. i recorded, for you guys, a new version of "lost". i htink you'll like it. it'll go onto a new versiono of "piano is evil" when it comes out in vinyl and digital. some songs with whitney. a regina spketor cover. some leonard cohen songs. some really fucking sad surprises.

i've been losing my mind and being in the studio felt like the first, real, concrete piece of work i had to offer the universe since the fucking election.

i pushed things REALLY late and squeezed more than i even expected out of the studio session. 

kind uber dave had ferried whitney up and down the mountain while my kind aunt sonia watched the baby back at her house, and he came back up to grab me just in time to make soundcheck. but then dave got stuck in a snow ditch.

so clear bright and tranquil prasanna, gentleman that he was (and an excellnet engineer, i loved working with him) offered to drive me down the mountain in his truck.

when we were about a quarter mile, we came across five cars all stuck in the snow in the winding road, and we joined them....prasanna put the brakes on and they just. didn't. work.  we slid about 100 feet down the mountain and we saw it coming: there was a another pick-up truck stuck into the road. it was pretty obvious we were going to smash right the fuck into this other truck.

and we did.

clear, bright and tranquil.

the other truck was totally crushed in on the driver's side. the driver was fine, thank god. we were fine. prasanna's front end was bashed in. we surveyed the damage and decided to climb back up the hill, where prasanna had a jeep (A BLACK JEEP. 1995) with tire chains he could put on. i was an hour late getting on stage, and off my head with weird post-crash anxiety, but i made it through. it was a beautiful gig, actually...things work that way. i needed everybody. we took a soft blanket that someone had given me three citires before and passed it around like a talisman. we all tried to fit under the blanket. we tired to fit donald trump under the blanket. if we just stretch it far enough.....

i feel like everything happening in the world right now is that mountain road.

we're moving slowly, but there's a fucking truck parked 50 feet in front of us and we...just....can't....control....this.....car.

the slow crash is coming.

we just have to relax our bodies, hold onto our friends, and breathe.

clear

bright

and

tranquil

i fucking love you guys.

i have more deep-ass things to say to you and a secret little recording on the way.

and

here's a fucking hug.

oh man.

prasanna and dave both came to the show.

i love them both.

what a world.

one blanket, under god.

..........

ok, merch business, if you care:

you're probably gonna get this merch info from the mailing list (you are all on the mailing list, yeeeees?) but here is a basic run-down and your patron discount code!!! (yeeee)

we have made some new things...warm little hats...holiday merch bundles with AFP & dolls stuff that the team put together....there's a new AFP design by lozzy bones, which you can see pictured here, she's a wonderful UK artist, and the dresden dolls malleus design, etc. 

also - **neil and i are doing a holiday card** for the first time together (fucking ampersand be damnded goddamit), only 200, with all proceeds going to the UNHCR to support their incredibly important work to help refugees.

and 10% of ALL merchandise revenue FROM NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER will GO TO THE UNHCR.

place your holiday orders before December 1st to get the discounts and support UNHCR.

ALL the new and bundled MERCH IS HERE: 

http://shop.amandapalmer.net/collections/featured

HERE is the code for patrons only, which gets you 10% off EVERYTHING:

afp16-7ygudh

(please be ethical and don't share this code on the net!!!)

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

quick shows news.....

we just added TWO new shows along with Fort Lauderdale:

Dec. 13 - The Studios of Key West, Key West, FL
7pm - show...9pm - book signing.
Tickets/Info.

THIS PLACE IS TINY!!!!! it fits maybe 180 people. all proceeds from this show will go to a charity about to be determined by Judy Blume.

 and WHAT??? yes:

Dec. 22 - Fábrica de Arte, Havana, Cuba
Tickets/Info
 

we are going to cuba for christmas. don't ask why. 

i don't know if you can get down there....but try.

we will be waiting.

more soon.

xxx

a

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