The State of All Things: November 2023 {official Thing} (Patreon)

• BASIC LIFE UPDATE...
• PROJECT RELEASES THIS MONTH...
• WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH...
• UPCOMING EVENTS...
• PROJECTS COMING DOWN THE PIKE...
• DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP...
• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING...
• ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & OTHER ART TO CHECK OUT...
• ART BEGETTING ART...
• THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD...

......

BASIC LIFE UPDATE.....

Hello my loves.

Jesus christ....greetings from Boston, Massachusetts, where I was not supposed to be.

Welcome to the never-ending. There will be no intermission, again.

My head and plate is overfull & scrambled this month, and if you’ve been following along, the vast majority of the last two weeks - which was supposed to be spent Doing Thanksgiving and getting myself cleaned up, rested, rehearsed and ready for tour - was spent in a hospital with an important friend: Lee Barron, my landlord/cloud-club-dad/benefactor/whatever-you-wanna-call-him. It matters not, he's my Art Family. I’ve talked a lot about Biological and Logical family, and I have many families, I get the feeling many of you do, too. Sometimes the call comes, and you go. This is what we do for each other when we’re logical.

I've been drinking it in. Sometimes, it's hospital time. 

You don't get to pick. You don't get to pick When. It doesn't get to be convenient.

I did this with Anthony, my best friend, when he got leukemia. I rented a house in Boston. I learned who I was, who I wasn't, what my relationships were and weren't. Where my value systems ven diagrammed with the rest of my world's. 

Four years, it fucking lasted. I postponed so many tours and canceled so many shows. I stopped questioning. I just went for the ride.

It sucked, it put a massive dent in my career, and I've never. ever regretted it. I'll do it again. I'll do it as needed. 

I know Who I Am. So do you. I like to think that's why you're here.

Why are any of us here? News at 11.

Meanwhile, we the combo of going HOME to my folks' house for Thanksgiving and coming back to the cloud club for this unexpected chapter, I've been blender-ed into the deep past.

I still have my old, beloved, apartment here in Boston - at the Club Club, Lee's gift to the universe - and I’ll have more to write about this....just not now. I’m scrambling to get this Althing out by midnight (can you tell?) amidst a scatter of half-packed suitcases, groceries, meds, papers, meetings, and various other triage issues. We brought him home from the hospital only yesterday.

I have barely rehearsed for the Dresden Dolls shows coming up in LA and San Diego but I am doing my level best to juggle All The Things, and I just wanted to bust out a short monologue about my state of mind.

Then.....I woke up this morning to the news of Shane MacGowan being gone. 

A surprise? No, can't say it was. Time.

Artists, and their marks, their stains on the pages of life.

I have been looking at so many aspects of life lately, as I sit in the hospital, watching the beep-beep-bloop.

As I watch Ash watching the world.

As I watch the unfolding of time.

As I think about addiction, love, vines, wine, keys, locks, cigarettes, music, plants, parties, hermits, food, meals, tables, stairs, architecture, core values, heat, cold.

As I look around me. My god, this place.

I’ve lived in this apartment in the South End - on and off - for 24 years. That’s half my life.

There’s so much to say about who gives who what, and how it’s all worked, and I feel, for sure, my core values nowadays being tested. What is important? Who the fuck am I? What are my actual values? Where do I dwell?

I faced so much of this in New Zealand, but I’m feeling lately like the true test was coming home…and this homecoming, especially. I am truly being called on to face who I’ve become in the last 25 years, and to face where and how I’ve strayed from myself.

What art can do. What it can’t. What fame can do. What it can’t.

What money can buy. What it cannot.

You all keep me steadier than you know. You truly do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

One day, it'll get simpler.

Or maybe it never will.

xxx

Amanda

......

PROJECT RELEASES THIS MONTH

THE NAIL - DRESDEN DOLLS PIANO DEMO #2

Following on from the release of Houdini last month, I released the latest of the Dolls piano demos, you can listen to it here.

I've been puting these out basically in the dead of night, with very little fanfare on social media, just to give you guys a peek behind the curtain at the very early conception of these songs. The lyrics could still change (and ARE still changing on tour), there are nod rums on the recordings... they're my very vague watercolor sketches, just for you.

......

THE LITTLE ISLAND MUSIC VIDEO

Just last week, we put out the official performance video for Little Island, the lead single of my weird little EP coming out early next year.

The video was recorded on Waiheke, just a few days before I left, in an underground tunnel from WWII.

Check it out and read more about it here.

......

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH....

$10 WEBCAST... amidst technical hitches!

For the latest $10 webcast, we tried our hardest to get a decent performance setup over at Graveside Variety... but unfortunately we were once again hampered by technical issues with Crowdcast.

BUT STILL, you can catch up on the webcast here, we chatted and had a lovely time... and Noor Taguri dropped in at the end, ahead of our chat at the Rubin museum.

And as a little treat, I also recorded a video of me playing the song I WANTED to play on the webcast (Houdini, the Dolls piano demo I posted a couple weeks ago), and we uploaded that especially for $10 patrons here. 

......

RUBIN MUSEUM TALKS

My three talks at the Rubin Museum were great - Sophie Strand especially was ON FIRE, as you'll know if you were there.

We're going to be Thinging the events (with Sophie, Gonkar Gyatso, and Noor Taguri), they'll be coming slowly but surely down the pike...

THE SOPHIE ONE WAS ONNN FIRE and I think we're dropping that first. 

Get excited. You'll wanna watch it.

......

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Dresden Dolls' final run of the shows is approaching, starting NEXT WEEK, find the last few tickets here:

Dec 8th - The Belasco, LOS ANGELES, CA - TICKETS

Dec 9th - Observatory North Park, SAN DIEGO, CA - TICKETS

Dec 28th - Aladdin Theater, PORTLAND, OR - SOLD OUT

Dec 29th - Aladdin Theater, PORTLAND, OR - SOLD OUT

Dec 31st - The UC Theatre, BERKELEY, CA - TICKETS

And jus a subtle hint - if you're in the southern US and feeling left out... you might wanna GET ON THE DRESDEN DOLLS MAILING LIST, there miiiiight just be news coming very soon about next year...

......

AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND TOUR

Yes, to support the release of the upcoming New Zealand EP, I'm gonna be touring internationally for the first time since I got back to the US in 2022.....

Dates and tickets links below:

January 21st - Sherwood, Queenstown NZ - SOLD OUT

January 24th - Q Theatre, Auckland NZ - TICKETS

January 27th - Old St Pauls, Wellington NZ - TICKETS

February 1st - City Recital Hall, Sydney AU - TICKETS

February 3rd - Hamer Hall, Melbourne AU - TICKETS

......

PROJECTS COMING DOWN THE PIKE

RUBIN MUSEUM TALKS.....

As I mentioned above, we recorded all three of the talks, and they'll be coming out in due course... We'll probably be putting Sophie's talk out first in the next couple of weeks, because it was absolute FIRE. Sometimes I can just FEEL when something incredible is happening, and it happened right there on that stage.

......

NEW ZEALAND SURVIVAL SONGS EP.....

Yes, the New Zealand EP is coming soon. It'll be out January 11th - including:

LITLE ISLAND - the new single released a few weeks ago

THE BALLAD OF THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE MAN WHO ATE TOO MUCH - which were both released exclusively on Patreon at the time they were written

WHAKANEWHA - a brand new song which has been out on the road with the Dolls, but this recording is just me on the piano and a special guest backing vocalist

......

MORE DRESDEN DOLLS PIANO DEMOS

We haven't mapped out exactly when, but rest assured - there are more Dolls piano demos in the can and ready to come out down the line.

The next one is probably going to be The Runner, and (as anyone who's been at the Dolls shows this year can attest) it is a fucking. good. song.

I almost don't want to put it out like the others, because seeing a song like that enter the world with no fanfare makes me a little sad.

But we'll see.

......

DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP

From Michael:

Hello Patrons,

My update this month will be very brief, but I at least wanted to give you a little wave from underneath email mountain.  There’s always a bit of an email buildup when shows happen because it’s really hard to answer emails when one is running around backstage at theater and dealing with all the little things that need to be done.

I was just starting to catch up when I went down with some health issues that sidelined me for a week.  I’m fine and it’s nothing too serious, but very distracting and making it difficult to work.

So. . . that just means that there’s a lot to catch up on, and a lot to do before Dolls shows on the West Coast (which I’m really excited about) and the New Zealand/Australia Tour (which I’m also really excited about).

And with that, I’ll just end this very brief update with good wishes for everyone this December which is full of holidays for many, and a couple of nice pictures from this month for you all as well.

Flying into LaGuardia Airport at Sunset is just the best

May we all know the feeling of love and safety that my sweet cat Freyja was experiencing in this moment.

Many hugs to you all as always,

Michael

......

From Alex:

Hey patrons!

Just waving and checking in from beneath a large pile of merch orders and email admin... I managed to come down with COVID last week, just in time for the AFP and Dolls Black Friday sales to launch... so now I'm all recovered and better and clawing my way through the backlog of orders, with a healthy dose of Buffy the Vampire Slayer happening in the background (as always)

I'm also currently reading this FANTASTIC book - Never Whistle At Night, it's a collection of short stories by Indigenous US/Canadian authors, branded as 'dark fiction' - some are straight up terrifying horror, some are a little unsettling, but all are about 15 pages or less, and I've been absolutely ripping through it.

That's all from me for now - back I go into the land of envelopes and t-shirts...

-Alex

xoxo

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

From Liz:

Hello Patrons!

WHAT A MONTH.  My goodness, coming back after the incredible Dolls shows in NYC at the end of of October, we had a truly magic month at Graveside.

We had a rare live performance by none other than Jason Webley (and on 11/11) no less.  Folks traveled from near and far for this special little show, and the joy on the faces of Jason, Amanda, and literally everyone in the room was palpable.

Photo by Dahlia

A few days later, we had another installment of Amanda’s hybrid rehearsal/ workshop/ chat session/ performance “Private Practice”.  These continue to be incredible, so intimate, warm, heart-wrenching, heart-warming, and just BEAUTIFUL.  It was also so so wonderful seeing so many familiar faces, particularly from Campersand.  

You guys ...

If you’re not familiar with post-post-modern diva Meow Meow, let me just say this : she is an absolute gift.  Every minute of a Meow Meow show is pure pleasure. She’s absolutely funny and devastatingly talented. She was on my Graveside dream list and when Lance Horne said that she would be able to do a show at Graveside, my heart nearly exploded.   I mean my god, she’s playing at CARNEGIE HALL next spring..but came to do one show on a cold dark Thursday night at our scrappy little venue.   Again..the JOY in the room, from Amanda, Lance, Meow, everyone.  What a gift.

I first saw Meow Meow perform with Lance Horne at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival way back in 2007.

It was an incredible & transformative time, to say the least. It was the summer when I was 21 and would have just graduated college, but health and traumatic life circumstances altered this timeline.   Instead, I talked to Amanda after a Dolls show about coordinating the brigade.  She invited me to Scotland for her residency at the Fringe Festival.   The timing was right.  I needed to take this trip.  I was fortunate enough to have been able to make it happen. So for the first time,  I traveled internationally and independently as an adult.

In exchange for coordinating the community I was welcomed to so many incredible shows at the festival for free and with open arms.

I had never seen a city transformed by art like that before. .. and I had never felt so welcome around so much art. I met Sxip Shirey and Reggie Watts.  I saw Meow and Lance. And I learned that I loved working at a space where art and community magic happen together beautifully. Our little spiegel square. It was a little paradise of talented beautiful humans.

Reconnecting with Amanda last year after moving upstate and recalibrating my life post-pandemic, once again Amanda and the surrounding community once again has been profoundly influential & inspiring…more than I could have even imagined.  Last fall I had shot an email before the Dolls shows asking if Amanda needed any help.

(Woodstock 2021)

One year later, I am co-running this little oasis of art and community known as Graveside Variety.  Being able to host Meow Meow at our space,  with Amanda and Lance, who I now work both with regularly and are dear friends…. 16 years... later ... oh how beautifully things have come full circle.

I love you Amanda.  I love these teams, AFP and Graveside.  And I love you all.

Just…thank you. Everyone.  My life is so much richer with all of you in it.

Love,

Liz

{I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU LIZZZZZZZZ} -AFP

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

FROM JORDAN:

Greetings folks. What a world, what a time to be alive! Here's two photos that I feel perfectly sum up the way it has been rolling for me and just about everyone I know... IF YOU ARE LUCKY that is... And I do consider myself lucky.

Sometimes, it's all fun & games with nothing but sunshine and clear skies ahead

Then... often without warning... the storm clouds gather.

I send you my best wishes, the best of luck and fortitude for you and yours wherever you are.

Jordan.

......

Speaking of Liz.....GRAVESIDE VARIETY CHECK-IN!!!!!

Even though the Patreon is no longer "directly" funding Graveside Variety (the little pop-up venue and weirdo-hub I set up in Woodstock NY), I still thought it'd be good to take a minute and hand over the mic to see how things are going, and give you a heads up on some of the excellent upcoming programming. So without further ado, over to Liz...

Don't forget, we are working hard on creating a patreon page JUST FOR GRAVESIDE to try to get us through the rest of the year. So stay tuned for that...esp the locals!!!

......

Liz here, again! .... updating you on some of the wonderful things upcoming at Graveside Variety  this month!

This Saturday, 12/2 we have Juliana Nash, esteemed musician and co-founder of Pete's Candy in NYC.   We are very excited about this one!

After the show that night,  we are having John Coons back with Bleak!:Songs for the not quite end of the world. Holiday edition: Escape your holiday blues!   This is our THIRD time having Bleak at Graveside, because it’s just that good.   If you saw one of our previous runs, please tell others to catch it this weekend!

AND we are having our absolutely wonderful Party Around a Piano with Lance Horne EVERY SUNDAY in December!  It is part sing along, part open mic, part your-dreams-coming-true as Lance accompanies you on the piano.  They honestly keep getting better every week.

We also have Mark Lerner and John Burdick, and Rebecca Lark later this month, along with holiday decorating parties and potlucks.

We’ve also expanded our Community Coffeehouse hours to every Saturday and Sunday 11am-2pm.  We hope to see you soon!

Full schedule and tickets available at gravesidevariety.com

Ps.  The Graveside Patreon is coming soooooon! We are currently working on figuring out a way to STICK AROUND.

......

HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING.....

As of this writing there are about 9,600 patrons pledging about $30,500 for the first Thing each month.

We are dipping down, but I'm also doing almost nothing to promote the patreon itself lately, because I've been in hardcore band-and-mother land, and this month especially been deep in hospital-duty.

It doesn't worry me much, but I am having to Thing three things a month to keep the costs covered. We have CEASED covering Graveside Variety, which means I also have to dig into my own pocket for that.... and my pocket is whatever money I make from the patreon, mostly, so it's all connected.

Is what it is.

As I always say: these things are cyclical.

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

CAP CAP CAP CAP!!

I sometime release one thing a month; sometimes three. 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. If that's the case, you can "cap" your pledge at $10, and whether I release 4 Things or 4,400 Things, you won't be charged more than $10. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will still have access to ALL the things/posts/links, even if you cap your pledge!!! It doesn't effect your 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.

......

In October, I Thanged THREE Things:

Hence The Sellotape, which earned about $34,399 from 9,439 patrons

Houdini (Dresden Dolls Piano Demo #1), which earned about $14,243 from 5,215 patrons

The State of All Things: October 2023, which earned about $8,404 from 3,196 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 our staff, paying the office rent, paying the Graveside rent and costs, paying for crowdcast, getting myself around, getting the team around and fed and slept, all the collaborators, and my actual staff payroll, etc....you get it.

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.

Right now, because I'm not regularly touring or putting music out, we're just about breaking even.

Which is nice.

......

ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & OTHER ART TO CHECK OUT

My pal Mariana Barcellos has just released a new album, Cantos do Mar (Songs of the Sea), available everywhere on Spotify.

In her words:

This music invites us to breathe deep, dance, meditate and connect with the ocean (physical and metaphorical).

The inspiration for writing this work comes from my home land Brazil, the devotion for Yemanjá, mother of the seas.

Here's the link to listen on Spotify.

And if you're in Boston, she's doing a show in just a couple days on December 2nd, at Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown:

......

And if you're on Instagram, you might have seen a couple weeks back an exchange between me and a band I love, The Bobby Lees.

The Bobby Lees are a seriously blazing punk band who grew out of Woodstock, NY, and have been pro touring for seven years. They're amazing. They're on a label. They've been to Europe. They're real. They're Doing The Things. They have a massive cult fanbase and, if you believe my taste, they are a fucking INCREDIBLE live band who leave blood, sweat and tears on the stage...the way we like it.

A week or two ago, they posted this to their feed:

And I posted this in response:

Hey amazing band. Thank you for saying it. We have all been watching this happen for years. This is exactly why - 10 years ago - I turned to crowdfunding, and there’s where about 90% of my income has come from since then. Touring and merch helps, but my audience picks up the tab for me to create in peace without flailing. The music industry mostly still hates me for doing this, and I will get no calls for no awards ceremonies; but my community has become stronger than the industry, and it’s a beautiful bond that I now have with the 10,000 or so people who pay my monthly salary to make art that comes from my heart and not to feed the fucking algorithm. It is it’s own job to run a patron-based band, but people do it and do it well.

I have mostly stopped trying to talk to the public and the press about it; I usually just wind up getting yelled at, as people still don’t understand this kind of exchange for what it is. But it works: if a band has a devoted and understanding following of a few thousand people willing to pay for their creative output, this is probably the way to go until and unless the larger system itself fixes. I - and people like @imogenheap - harbor fantasies that blockchain and other micropayment technologies will come and save the musicians someday. But it ain’t happened. Meanwhile - if you need any advice about building a patreon, I’ll help you build it. My Patreon currently makes enough for me to cover my rent, my office, my bills, and my staff. It ain’t nothin. And it also makes me feel incredibly creatively safe. Kendall’s got my #.

And then, a couple weeks later, I went to their show in Woodstock.

Jason Momoa, an actor who's huge, showed up...having seen their post and wanting desperately to help the band not die. He gave an impassioned speech at the end of their set, which I caught on video and you can see here on Instagram.

If you wanna help out the band - AND YOU REALLY SHOULD - you can check out their website to buy merch, or see their last tour dates for the year (and the foreseeable future...)

December 14th - Santa Ana, CA

December 15th - Los Angeles, CA

December 16th - Pioneertown, CA

December 20th - New York, NY

Tell them I said hi.

......

And my pals DeVotchKa have just launched a Patreon!

They're about to release a super exciting (and local to me) thing - after playing a super special show at Graveside Variety a couple months back, they're about to release the recording of the show especially for patrons. Here's some words from them:

In September of 2023, DeVotchKa played a very stripped down (you might say unplugged) and intimate set at Amanda Palmer's "Graveside Variety" in Woodstock, New York. We were delighted and surprised to find that one of our favorite bands, Modern English, was in the audience, and we were even joined on stage for a few songs by our old friend Gabe, who was touring with Modern English at the time.

This show was recorded mostly with our cel phones taped to the walls, and the audio was taken direct from the mixing console. We are releasing this footage as a Patreon exclusive. We hope you enjoy this show as much as we did.

Thanks, Amanda, for inviting us to play.

Join us on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/DeVotchKa

......

There's a new album out from my wonderful friend and hero, Edward Ka-Spel.

"Tease Seize... Apply" is out on Bandcamp here.

In case you aren't familiar, Edward Ka-Spel is the lead singer of my teenage favorite band, The Legendary Pink Dots. They were everything to me - formative both to my feelings and my songwriting.

I also collaborated with Edward on an album "I Can Spin a Rainbow", which was one of the first 'big' Patreon projects we put out, way back in 2017. 

If you missed that one, or if you just fancy a trip down memory lane, that's on Bandcamp too here.

......

ART BEGETTING ART.....

This is the section where I try to highlight some of the gorgeous art that springs up online and around the world based on my art - hence, art begetting more art.... If you have some artwork you'd like to see featured here, the best way to get it seen is to tag me on Instagram, or email art@amandapalmer.net!

And speaking of collaborations.... at Graveside Variety, I met Matt who had this GORGEOUS tattoo:

In case ya don't recognize it, it's based on the video by David Mack for 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.... the cover of the Richard Thompson song that I collaborated with my dad on back in 2015.

If you haven't seen it, here's the link to the video.

And here's the whole album if you want another, more folk-y trip down memory lane!

......

In the realm of tattoos - a BEAUTIFUL pair of matching tattoos, posted by @ruthlessskaterginsburg:

......

And finally for this month, a doodle done ENTIRELY ON A PHONE (holy shit) by @caffeinateddoodler:

......

THE PATRON COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

This is a little place for YOU PATRONS to offer yourselves up - if you've got an ask, something to offer, somethign to promote... email patronhelp@amandapalmer.net and we'll do our best to make sure as many things as possible get in here!

For this month...

Locals to Woodstock!.....

If you're looking for a music teacher, look no further:

Erika Blumberg is a patron and Graveside regular living in Bearsville. She is a music teacher who offers community events like singalongs and music history classes. She has played piano and led some singalongs at Lance Horne's Party Around the Piano nights. Erika also does piano lessons, vocal coachings, and accompanying, all on a sliding scale.  If you live in the area, contact her at erika.blumberg2@gmail.com to learn more.

......

That's what we got, loves.

Sending you so much strength and joy in this upcoming holiday blitz.

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