The State of All Things: January 2024 {official Thing} (Patreon)

Hello my loves.

Greetings from a friend's house in Sydney, where I am couchsurfing at the tip of paradise, it seems. Here's my host, feeding a wild bird (a sulfur-crested cockatoo) on her deck about five minutes ago.

I have the show in Sydney tonight, my head is full of music and the end of this little Down Under era, and I know I'll see a lot of you down under folks today....if you're in Melbourne or Sydney and you missed the patron meet-up info, it's in a post from yesterday. 

To all of you NEW PATRONS/SUBSCRIBERS....WELCOME to the MONTHLY ALTHING. This is where I pour out (usually with our merch Queen Alex's help with photos and links) the month's work and the state of play in the world of AFP. Thank you for being here, thank you to many of you for hopping the paywall into being a paid-up patrons (it helps) and just...THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE, especially as I juggle life, divorce, tour, kid, new career moves, new music plans, trying to get the team updated...and all that. I'm doing a lot at once, but it all feels like it's working. It's construction time.

Here's the general contents of this month's Althing...

• GENERAL LIFE-n-TIMES UPDATE
• NZ TOUR ROUND-UP
• PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH
• WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS MONTH
• PROJECTS AND EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE
• DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP
• HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING
• OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

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GENERAL LIFE-n-TIMES UPDATE...

Well well well.

I'm in the MIDST of doing these shows (4 of 5 tonight) and my heart is happy being able to share the survival stories on stage.  It all helps iron out the wrinkles of the trauma of 2020-2022. The pain never leaves me, but the stories, and what they mean, and where they will take me, are starting to make more and more sense.

AND, update: YAY!!!!! WE FILMED THE SHOW IN AUCKLAND AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE MAY BE FILMING IN MELBOURNE!

So for those of you (and that's most of you) who missed this show, you'll get to taste it.

The current plan is to put out the Auckland show for patrons only.

It's gonna be a slow and strange spring - just a handful of Dresden Dolls dates and the Sinéad O'Connor tribute at Carnegie Hall and precious little else on the road (see all tour dates below), so that me (and Michael, and Alex, and Jordan) can focus on getting the AFP-land cleaned up for the next chapter.

I'm tired.

But excited.

I'm feeling the heat of the world bubbling up inside of me, ready to come out.

I am so, so SO FUCKING EXCITED to crack into working on and recording the new Dresden Dolls record, it's going to take some time, but I can feel how GOOD IT IS GOING TO BE IN MY BONES.

I'm working hard on breaking ground on a few new book projects, and have been having meetings with publishers down here, which makes my heart excited.

It's all gonna be so slow, but so delicious. Long game time. Some of these projects won't see the light of day for YEARS.

Patience is hard.

And as always, so so so grateful that you're here supporting me as I wend through the world.

I want to write 10,000 more words about how I'm doing and what this all means, but I'm still on tour and trying to get from gig to gig, so this is gonna be a less writy-writy post and a more showy-showy post.

It's been a massively visual month.....

So I'm gonna save the deep long-written post-mortem take-aways from this time in the world for a latter date, and just barrage you with a ton of pictures that I took that will all speak a thousand words about how fast the last month has moved:

New Years, California. Backstage with the Dolls.

New Zealand. 

Catching up with old friends on the balcony on Waiheke....that's my little fairy god-daughter Chinami, Aya's sister.

With family....in Glenorchy....that's Grandpa Jack on the left.

Dinner with the Waiheke friend crew...

Ash and his bestie, in Queenstown, near Bob's Cove.

New Zealand, running into Chloe Swarbrick at Radio New Zealand during press.

My lips to god's ears: she's the next Prime Minister down here.

Getting into make-up for NZ TV.

Some blurry love from after the show in Auckland.

And there's more, beacause look, we have a 

TOUR PHOTO ROUND-UP......

QUEENSTOWN.....

(photo by Derek Smith)

(photo by Derek Smith)

(photo by Bron Cheung)

AUCKLAND

all photos by Jennifer de Koning

with Julia Deans...doing "Little Island" in Auckland....

with Aurelia Tokington...watching them play their own tunes.

LOVE....after singing "Whakanewha".....

Listening to Selina Tusitali Marsh reading a poem....

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WELLINGTON....

(photo by James Pettigrew)

with Julia Deans making a guest appearance on "Little Island" and we did a little secret Paul Kelly cover together....

(photo by Michael McComiskey)

We threw a patron meet-up while I was in Wellington... (all photos here by Michael McComiskey)....

And here's me with a handful of patrons after the shows in NZ!!! (photos by Michael)

I love Kathy so much it HURTS!!!!

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PROJECTS RELEASED THIS MONTH

First up, the biggie... NEW ZEALAND SURVIVAL SONGS was released.

This is my first album release since There Will Be No Intermission back in 2019... and it's very safe to say that this album wouldn't exist at all without the Patreon, and without you all.

You can read the full post about the release here (including the link for all patrons to download the album), and you can also stream it in all the usual places.

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And last week I put out my talk from the Rubin Museum with Noor Tagouri...

The title of the talk was - pretty loosely - "Life After Telling The Truth on Yourself", but we went all over the place, including taking questions and contributions directly from the audience.

You can watch the video, and read more about the event and Noor, in the Patreon post here. 

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I wrote an article for The Guardian Australia's Three Things feature. I had to pick the thing I would save from my house in a fire, the most useful thing, and the item I regret losing.

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NEW ZEALAND SURVIVAL SONGS PRESS ROUND-UP

There's also been some GREAT press down here for the record, so I thought I'd take a sec and share some of the goodness with you.

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I dropped into radio station NEWSTALKZB to do an interview in the studio

If you're in New Zealand, you can hear the full interview on the NewsTalkZB site here

If you're outside of New Zealand, you can view an edited-down video clip here on the NZ Herald website

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A piece was also just published in ROLLING STONE AUSTRALIA, an interview and general chat about the album and tour:

“I have not fucking changed,” she adds with a laugh. “At 47 I’m still putting pen to paper and writing songs to try and make meaning of the hardest things I’ve experienced. For better or worse, that’s just the kind of artist I think [I’m] always going to be.”

A-fucking-men.

Read the whole article here on Rolling Stone Australia

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13th Floor just published a GREAT review of the Auckland show... Read it here. 

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THE NEW ZEALAND SURVIVAL ART PACKAGE...

We've put together a limited edition art-package that we've called the New Zealand Survival Package. It includes:

• a high quality 8x10 art print of the photograph used for the album cover, signed by me
• a fancy New York Times-style pullout with an article by me, all about the songs and my time in New Zealand
• a download code for the album
• all coming packaged in a custom hand-stamped envelope.

These are being printed to order, and hand-signed by me while I'm on tour down in New Zealand and Australia, so as well as selling these on tour, we are going to have a VERY LIMITED PRE-ORDER - we've extended the deadline so now they will be disappearing THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND.

Once that week is up, they'll disappear into the night from the stores, and we'll be printing exactly to order. So do it NOW, eh?

Get them here:

US store / UK store / Oz store / NZ store

Don't forget, we also made a 12" vinyl single of The Man Who Ate Too Much and the Ballad of the New York Times - you can buy this separately, or bundled together with the art package.

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SINÉAD AND SHANE TRIBUE AT CARNEGIE HALL...

If you remember, a few months ago I performed at a tribute night for Sinéad O'Connor at City Winery.

They're now putting on a SECOND and BIGGER NIGHT, this time as a tribute to two fallen Irish punk legends: Sinéad and Shane MacGowan.

The line up for this is INSANE (David Gray, Glen Hansard, Cat Power, Dropkick Murphys, Lisa Hannigan, Billy Bragg, Gordon Gano (of Violent Femmes), The Mountain Goats, Bettye Lavette, Eugene Hütz (of Gogol Bordello), Julia Cumming, Kat Edmonson, and the Resistance Revival Chorus), and tickets are almost sold out - there's just a handful left here. 

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Last week it was WEBCAST TIME... I did a webcast for the $10 patrons and up from down here.

We had a good little catch up, I answered some questions, and brought Michael up to chat.

If you're a $10 patron, you can watch the webcast back here (and if you're not on the $10 tier - COME JOIN US!)

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PROJECTS AND EVENTS COMIN' DOWN THE PIKE.....

The Down Under tour continues - there are shows in Sydney and Melbourne yet to come...

February 1st - City Recital Hall, Sydney AU (w/Brendan Maclean) - TICKETS

February 3rd - Hamer Hall, Melbourne AU (w/Claire Bowditch and Boudicca Farquuhar) - TICKETS

And then a few weeks later, I'll be reuniting with Brian and THE DRESDEN DOLLS WILL BE HEADED TO THE SOUTHERN US STATES...

MANY OF THESE SHOWS ARE CLOSE TO SOLD OUT SO PLEASE DON'T WAIT TO GET TICKETS!!!!!!

March 22nd - Mohawk, Austin, Texas - TICKETS

March 23rd - Mohawk, Austin, Texas - TICKETS

March 26th - The Kessler Theater, Dallas, Texas - TICKETS

March 27th - The Kessler Theater, Dallas, Texas - TICKETS

March 29th - The Eastern, Atlanta, Georgia - TICKETS

March 30th - Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville, Tennessee - TICKETS

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In terms of upcoming PROJECTS... We have the final talk from the Rubin Museum - with Gonkar Gyatso - that should be coming in the next couple weeks. The films from NZ/OZ will make it out, and I have a SURPRISE thing which MAY INVOLVE another piano on a hill.

:)

There's also a couple more Dresden Dolls piano demos sitting in my back pocket... all to come very soon.

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DISPATCHES FROM TEAM AFP....

Michael (our NYC assistant) and Jordan (me and dolls' Sydney-based manager) are out the tour road with me so I'm not badgering them for text this month....but LOOK..

Jordan had a boat connection through a friend AND LOOK 

WE'RE ON A BOAT MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

Me, Michael, Beautiful Brendon (who's on tour doing sound)

Jordan holding my uke at press the other day in the Botanic Gardens of Sydney...

I FUCKING LOVE THIS GUY.

Mr Michael McComiskey and I have now been traveling and working side-by-side together for over a month, and I cannot say enough good things about this golden human being and his ability to juggle work, life, love, loss, and grief...tour, ferrry, car, boat, plane, train....he's ON IT.

We sometimes drive each other up a tree but god, the love is deep.

I like reminding you all: you pay this guy's salary. And your money is well fucking spent. Together, we are making amazing art all over the world, and it feels good to be out on the road doing our jobs. When we're at our best, it really is a dream.

Here's Michael overlooking the bay, on Waiheke.

THE WHOLE DOWN UNDER TEAM AFP!!!! 

From left to right: Steve (who works in Jordan's Sydney office, Michael, me, Brendon, Jordan)

OHHHH AUSTRALIA. 

You prettttty.

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HOW THE PATREON ITSELF IS DOING....

As of this writing there are about 10,000 patrons pledging about $30,000 for the first Thing each month. I am nearing 18,000 total patrons (8,000 just following along), which is FAB.

We are holding steady, and I'm also doing almost nothing to promote the patreon itself lately, because I've been in hardcore tour-and-mother land, and this month especially been deep in TRAVEL, and not so much posty-posty-writy-writy.

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.

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In December, I Thanged THREE Things:

AFP & Sophie Strand: Life After Exile From The Kingdom of the Well, which earned about $34,347 from 9,467 patrons

Live To Tell, which earned about $14,149 from 5,236 patrons

The State of All Things: End-of-Year Edition, which earned about $8,682 from 3,271 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.

Which is nice.

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OTHER ARTISTS TO SUPPORT & FOLLOW

UK pal Grace Petrie has just released a new single - Start Again, from her upcoming album, Build Something Better (which has artwork designed by our very own Merch Queen Alex). You can watch the video here 

And here's the link to pre-order the album 

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SIR CHLOE

My latest musical love is Sir Chloe, and I found out about her because she's a fan.

If you're looking for something new to listen to, run don't walk, and she's on tour and blowing up.

instragram.com/sirchloe

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COLD SNAKE

I discovered this GEM OF AN ALBUM (it's old, but maaaaan it's good) through a friend recently.

The Dark Ages - Cold Snake....aka Sofi Tahnhasuer....from my hood in Massachusetts. 

She's from Martha's Vineyard. 

Check out the track "Don't Give it Away", and you're welcome.

https://thisiscoldsnake.bandcamp.com/track/dont-give-it-away

That's what I got for right now.

Wish us luck for the last two shows out here.

More when I get home....

And as always, thank you for being my patrons.

It means the world to me.

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