the winter spiral.... (Patreon)

i'm stealing time from writing my art-book text to write you a shortie-blog about what's been going down for the past few days. it's been BANANAS. in the last 48 hours alone i've been on a TV set, in the recording studio, tied to my chair for the book deadline, making edits and changes to the video that's going to announce the tour and record, and i'm basically running around like a multi-media art freak with my head cut off. but it's fun. and i managed to take an evening with ash at the annual winter spiral, this gorgeous secular/pagan-y ritual held at the basilica (a converted factory that melissa auf der maur turned into an art-church in hudson, NY).

all the children took turns silently walking through the spiral, which was made of branches, and they each held a single candle nestled in an apple. in the middle of the spiral was a hollowed-out tree (where, rumor has it, the faeries live), and each child lit their candle from the faerie-tree and placed it in the spiral, until the whole path was aglow. then the adults took their turns. i walked that spiral feeling the course of the whole year - all the losses and growings and missteps - burning away, and i have to say, as a non-church-going family of atheists, these rituals are so important and beautiful...the cold comes, the dark comes, we find a light somewhere within. 

i still have such a hard time reconciling my decision to live in new york, and therefore, live with the winter.

i have always hated the winter so fucking much...it feels like the final frontier of my evolution as a person. if i can love this, i can fucking do ANYTHING, bitch.

......

meanwhile

I AM GOING TO BE ON A TV SHOW! and the timing of the filming was FUCKING TERRIBLE but i decided to do it anyway because how many times are you invited to be on the blackest-humor TV show in history. 

the show is called HAPPY! and it's currently filming its second season...the first season is dropping on netflix in a few days and the second season will be out on syfy sometime in early 2019 ... i'll drop you a line when my bit is going to air.

the writer/director, brian taylor, is a huge fan (he impressed me yesterday with his deep love of the dolls' song "the gardener" and i was like: ok, you pass the fan test). he dropped a line a few weeks ago to see if i would play this tiny cameo which was going to entail about two days of filming and i was like: I JUST CANNOT. i have a record to drop. and then they were like WE WILL MOVE THE DATES AND MOVE THE EARTH AND PLEASE DO IT and i was like fuck it, i may learn something.

and i did! TV is WEIRD!! people live in trailers all day! you sit around a set and then have to act in bizarre little emotional chunks on command! there are hundreds of people setting up each shot! i did really enjoy it, actually...especially after being on the set of good omens off and on this while year with neil and his whole TV crew....and it's nice to actually come outside my little music and art-weirdo bubble every once in a while and see how the other half lives.

the part i played wasn't extraordinarily demanding...i had to memorize a few pages of dialogue...but the scene was also violent. i had to work with a stunt teacher and i also had to make the fundamental decision to be okay with it. when i first read the script, my inner feminist balked. so i wrote an email to patton oswalt, who voices one of the main characters in the show, and said: "this really doesn't seem like my thing. i hate violence" and he was like "OMG DO IT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT IS ALL META VIOLENCE" and i was like...i trust patton oswalt. so we'll see.

getting special effects done...

(these two photos by michael mccomiskey...who's been killing it as an on-set assistant)

......

meanwhile....

after i untangled by bra from my mac cable....i spent the day in the record studio today creating the soundtrack for the art of asking audiobook animation that i keep telling you about!! here's a little video clip i posted to instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq-kAT8A6h1/

IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL. if all goes well it'll be out this month. i cannot wait for you to see it and if you love it enough, we can make more....

...........

meanwhile...

THE GOTH PARTY AND YOGA WAS AMAZING.

i think i might be getting old, though. or maybe it's because i'm exhausted and it's winter....but i enjoyed the yoga almost more than the dancing to the smiths all night.

here's some pix from the performance:

photo by rosegmetals

photo by amanda_grins

(with cormac bride.)

and here we are, singing THE TWELVE DAYS OF FEMINISTMAS!!!!

photo by amanda_grins

NO TAMPON TAX!

here is weeknight, the amazing band who joined us from NYC:

photo by amanda_grins

and here, in his glory, is chris wells, aka THE QUEEN REAPER:

photo by owentate

here is the WHOLE group from yoga:

and here, as promised, is the link to the spotify playlist i made! i need to work on it...opening with plainsong by the cure had the opposite effect as intended....

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5wKSINjSSBxFzJz0P4D9B9

...........

that's all for now my loves

so much more coming soon...this next week is gonna be MAYHEM

xxx

afp

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

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