"Seizing Darkness", a special podcast with Laurie Anderson & The Rubin Museum (Patreon)

Hallo loves....

TL;DR: This isn't an official THING, but it's a Big Deal....I'm the featured guest/interview on a podcast that came out today. It's a really beautiful, hard-to-describe, very ....artistic?.... podcast series called "AWAKEN" put together by The Rubin Museum in NYC and hosted by one of my heroes, Laurie Anderson. They've titled the episode "Seizing Darkness" (how perfect is that). This ain't your ordinary podcast, it's a real deep-dive into life, art, presence, mindfulness....and all that good stuff. 

Give it a listen here: 

https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/approaching-the-mandala-with-amanda-palmer-awaken-podcast

(note: $5+ patrons got the entire, raw and unedited almost-two-hour interview, here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52889251)

.......

Meanwhile....greetings from Waiheke Island. Ash was in a little Matariki-themed theater production last night with his wee friends, Neil and I sat together and watched him peek out from behind a curtain, and my heart is filled to bursting. God I love it here. And, as usual, I'm deeply homesick. The Paradox continues.

The kids passed around little blank notes onto which we were supposed to write our mid-winter Matariki wishes.

Here's Neil, wrapped up snugly in the freezing hall. I don't know what his wish was.

.....

You've got a big, beefy Althing coming your way within a few days (now that Hayley has moved over to Patreon, our own Alex Knight, Merch Queen™ has taken over the Althing reigns) but I wanted to get this podcast out as its own post, even though it'll be mentioned there. It's not MY podcast, it's a podcast I guested on....and I'm not doing a ton of that lately. 

But this once is SPECIAL AS, MATE.

It's in collaboration with the Rubin Museum, in New York, and it's hosted by one of my all-time biggest art/music heroes, Laurie Anderson. 

If you know me, you know that I have followed and admired and basked her work (and shows) since I was a tiny teen.

She's huge in my art-mind, in my art-life.

(If you wanna go down a little listening hole, I suggest starting with Big Science, then moving onto Bright Red).

(did she fall? or was she .... pushed?)

To entwine with her on a project like this is beyond my little-Amanda dreams.

Furthermore....if you don’t know the Rubin Museum, it’s this "HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE THIS IS HERE?" museum of art in New York, housing Buddhist, Tibetan, and other Himalayan and Asian art.

It's part museum, part temple, part school....part everything.

Here's a picture of their Tibetan Buddhist shrine room…...

Some of you may remember when I did an event there back in 2018 with neuroscientist David Eagleman, all about TIME and how we find and make time, and what that means when you are Amanda Palmer and trying to ride a balance between mother / musician / art-maker / writer / wife / friend / EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME.

It went out as a podcast before I actually "started" a podcast. A Proto-cast?

Anyway, that talk’s up on YouTube, and if you’ve got an hour to spare it’s a great watch.....

A few months after that, The Dresden Dolls needed a place to do a photoshoot (with our old pal Kyle Cassidy) in New York City, and I asked the Rubin if we could come take pretty photos amongst their statues! Here are a couple of those shots....

In the women's bathroom of the Rubin....because of course....

......

So, when they asked a few months ago if I wanted to take part in their podcast series about grief, survival, and mindfulness…. 

HOW COULD I SAY NO??

....and that brings us to now.

The podcast is called Awaken, and here’s the description from their own website…..

The Rubin Museum presents AWAKEN, a podcast hosted by acclaimed musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In 10 episodes we dive into the personal stories of guests who share how they’ve experienced a shift in their awareness, and as a result, their perspective on life. From deep introspection to curious life-changing moments, awakening can take many forms, from the mundane to the sacred.

Taking inspiration from the exhibition Awaken: a Tibetan Buddhist Journey Towards Enlightenment, we use artworks as a jumping off point and hear from authors, artists, wisdom bearers, and Buddhist teachers, because every journey is different.

therubin.org/pod

This is NOT A NORMAL PODCAST.

Here's the description for my episode:

What role does darkness play in the journey toward enlightenment? In this episode, hear about the power of darkness and what it means to embrace it. Musician, songwriter, and best-selling author Amanda Palmer shares the story of her childhood, the trajectory of her life as a street performer to musician, and how embracing her own darkness set her free.

Amanda begins by considering a painting of the powerful, fierce guardian Yama Dharmaraja. 

This fearsome deity wears a crown of skulls and a garland of freshly severed heads, is surrounded by flames, and stands astride a buffalo and human corpse. While ominous, this is actually a depiction of wisdom—one that destroys egos and fiercely protects Buddhist teachings.

Which means....yeah.....we go to some really unusual places. It isn't just a light chat.

I don't wanna spoil it...but yeah. It's really good. Profoundly moving.

Also, to aid you visually, here's the piece of artwork that we spent a good deal of the podcast referencing. Feast your eyes.

It took me a few ganders to even understand what was going on in this painting, which is from Tibet and created in the 1700s.

There's some more information about the painting here. 

......

HOW TO LISTEN?

The episode is out NOW, on all the regular podcast places, or you can click here to hear it on SoundCloud.

OH AND....we’re also going to be releasing the FULL unedited conversation as a bonus little perk for those of you in the $5 tier, so keep your eyes on your inbox for that one….should be ready for you folks within the next few days.

WHEEEEEEEE....

.....also, $10+ people, stay tuned, we are about to schedule another ask me anything/poetry-reading/anything goes webcast. Stay tuned.

x

a

------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. are you 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