MASHUP out tomorrow, NEW INTERVIEW in AMERICAN SONGWRITER, free reb fountain song... (Patreon)

HALLO LOVES.

HI!!!!!

Album cover?

quickie summary:

my SECRET MASHUP with REB FOUNTAIN is dropping TOMORROW, online and to patrons only!!!

1. new long interview out in american songwriter today!!

2. in about 21 hours, i'm part of a live online TV show called "#DoReMeTootomorrow debuting a secret mashup project that i'll also email to patrons (only!). the show inclides busy philips, sandra bernhart, and more...and we're all covering SEXIST SONGS. sign up for the stream here (it's on crowdcast and pay what you can, all the $ goes to abortion access front!). and look for me, i'll be there in the chat!!

3. re: reb fountain, my duet partner.....i think you'll love her music....so to whet your appetite, we're emailing you a free song, here, with her blessing! wav attached.

...........

Deeper We Go.

Lots of news today from level three lockdown, as I sit here on my bed with my laptop still not quite believing in reality.

Lots of GOOD news for a change....not just wah wah wah lockdown lockdown lockdown....so hang onto your seats and get ready to get excited with me about something other than fucken beaches and teeth and lego and trees n shit. Not that we don't love those....but.

As you may remember, I asked y'all for good IRONIC SEXIST COVER SONG IDEAS a long while ago....

AGES AGO. Remember? OH MY GOD. That was MAY.

Remember MAY? 

I don't!!!!!!!!!!

Anymay....

I'd been asked at the time to record a live video cover song OF A SUPER FUCKEN SEXIST SONG for a live-stream event organised by Lizz Winstead (from The Daily Show) to benefit Abortion Access Front. They do this live-stream event (quite comedic, usually) annually and it's always the same gag: they ask female artists to cover the most sexist songs they can find.

Ironic songs about dark subjects?

From me?

FROM ME?!

Who could imagine such a thing?!*

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

HERE IT IS, HAPPENING TOMORROW, LIVE!!!!!!!!

As usual, I kinda took the idea and ran with it and didn't quite do the assignment.

You'll see. Since my "concept" only made sense as a DUET, I enlisted kiwi indie artist Reb Fountain to be my partner in crime.

BUT HERE IS THE THING....because of some (they will be obvious) legal issues, I cannot put the song out "in public".

So guess who's gonna get it? YEP. YOU!!!!!!!!! Just zee patrons.

The entire "music video", the live one-take filming of the song in the recordsing studio here in auckland - which I hoped would go to youtube and be VIRAL GOLD - is now gonna be patron only!! YOU WIN, patrons, you win.

I'LL SEND IT TO YOU TOMORROW.

Anyway....the actual streaming "show" that inspired this epic live mashup video undertaking is happening in a little under 24 hours, you can get tickets and register to see it live on Crowdcast HERE. IT'S PAY WHAT YOU WANT! And all the $$ goes to Abortion Access Front.

It's gonna be GOOD!!!

Here's what the crowdcast itself looks like. A lot of you should already be familiar with crowdcast since it's the same technology I use for my streams....LOOKIE!!!!:

The stream is TOMORROW, September 23rd starting at 9pm ET

THE LINK TO JOIN AND DONATE IS HERE:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/do-re-metoo-2021/register

AGAIN, ALL proceeds from registration fees go towards the Abortion Access Front, who as I'm sure you can gather, are AWESOME:

My heroes.

AND REMINDER......

The video and audio of our mashup/contribution is coming tomorrow.

so.....HOLD THE PHONE.

YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT.

......

More?

To PROMO this fucker, there's a great interview out today about the event, and everything else going on, in American Songwriter today.

You can read the whole article here, and here's a few bits cut n pasted:

American Songwriter: In all your work, do you ever worry that you’re risking your own mental health by participating or feeling anger?

Amanda Palmer: I’ve turned my hardcore songwriting brain faucet off for most of the pandemic, and it’s been interesting to see when the leaks cannot help but spring into my life. I just cannot stop writing words in my head, and that’s been the case since I was fifteen. I’ve been confronted with some particularly horrific emotional twists in my life plot lately, some real shockers, and it’s really interesting to stand outside of it, detach, and notice how my brain goes to songwriting as a form of solace, and of comfort. And even that instinct is worth examining. I’m slowly evolving away from the songwriter who had to scream her truth—and the truth about the patriarchy, abuse, sexism, betrayal and so forth—to the world at the top of my lungs. I’m finding a quieter and more powerful outlet lately. I’ve noticed that a lot of things will self-destruct without your screaming, if you simply stand by and wait. But only time and experience will give you that perspective. And sometimes it’s still nice to grab a mic and scream at the top of your lungs. If nothing else, catharsis makes you feel better.

The older I get, the more I realize that generalized political writing has its place, and the highly personal has its place, and the mark of a great songwriter is knowing exactly where to set that dial. Songwriters like Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Sinead O’Connor, Jeff Mangum—they have this uncanny ability to enmesh the hugely general with the searingly personal details, and when a song-chef can get that right, it’s ambrosia. But get it wrong and you burn the soup. The more I feel political despair, the more I wonder if the world needs the dial more turned towards the personal, as a secret mainline to the universal. Watching a new artist like Phoebe Bridgers straddle that line and tap into the Zeitgeist gives you a clue. Songwriting like hers would have been great at any point in time, but especially right now, that particular “I am going to quietly scream into this pillow while divulging almost everything” is what people have an appetite for.

AS: How are you working to keep connected to your own audience these days?

AP: Patreon, Patreon, Patreon. I’m slowly moving away from Facebook and other for-profit algorithm companies, I think they’re slowly destroying us. I currently have about 12,000 patrons, and that’s where I go to be with my people. I still use all platforms; my mailing list, the usual socials, but Patreon has been my emotional and financial bread and butter lately. It’s so comforting, my Patreon, and reminds me of the early days of the internet, back when it was just a delight to be online with kind, supportive like-minded people from around the world. AND I’ve been doing little gatherings here in my new adopted country of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Patreon has been a wonderful avenue of paring things down to the core community. I had a party at my HOUSE a few months ago for patrons only and welcomed 50 people through my front door for a potluck and hootenanny. We all took a walk on the beach and tooled around town together. That sort of thing used to be possible on Twitter back in 2008-2012, back when it was more of a clubhouse, but Twitter lost that magic seven or eight years ago when the whole world joined. Patreon has sort of taken its place.

read the whole interview at:

https://americansongwriter.com/amanda-palmer-talks-pandemic-patriarchy-and-patience/

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

AND now....a PRESENT FOR YOU TODAY, that you will see attached to this post as a WAV file.

While I decided this song needed to be a duet, I ended up calling up my new-found kiwi soul sister Reb Fountain to help me out, and we ended up recording the track together......here we are in the studio.

......

and here's some nice images the project put together :) 

Here's what I said to AAF about my thoughts around this event.....

With the pandemic raging alongside a melting climate, there's bigger danger brewing from the exhaustion: our reproductive rights are slowly but surely being undermined to the point where abortion may be criminalized while we aren't looking. If our right to choose disintegrates, everything else will fall off the cliff with it. The noise of the daily news is deafening, so right now, Art is one of our biggest allies.

I spent most of 2019 touring the world, telling my abortion stories on stage, and writing and sharing my own songs, but there's something really powerful about taking a sexist song and twisting it to your ironic advantage, it's like a form of artistic jiujitsu.

I have a history of loving projects like this... Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and I once did a deeply ironic cover of "What's the Use of Wondrin'", a deeply sexist song from "Carousel" that condones domestic abuse. When you take back music, and take back words, you take back the storytelling rights.

......

And some words from Reb......

As an ex-pat living in Aotearoa, I wept when New Zealand recently removed abortion from The Crimes Act; enshrining women’s reproductive rights into law. And yet I bear witness to, and weep at, the dismantling of women’s rights to bodily autonomy in my homeland USA.

One part of ME galvanises my right to self determination whilst another ME asserts choices about my body/my life as a masculine prerogative. WE are worlds away yet we have grounds for solidarity.  I am not whole until every woman is free from violence, from crimes against her humanity.  Those who represent ME around the globe must represent ME - my daughters, my mothers, my sisters, my aunts, my many selves.  My American and Kiwi experience may seem so disparate yet the struggle is the same - denaturalise violence against all women in all forms, including the crime of removing women’s rights to informed, safe and legal reproductive health care choices.

Abortion is normal. 

Abortion is a health issue.  

Abortion is ok.  

And fuck it if I’m not gonna sing for our collective reproductive freedom.

Turns out Amanda and I are related … not just in sisterhood … who would have thought that a chance covid encounter could have brought us together mid-tour, at a coffee shop, in small town New Zealand. This’ll be our first musical collaboration - a song sung in solidarity - a fitting duet for distant cousins who are so far apart from the ones they love back home.

......

It's TRUE.

I was sitting in a cafe in Napier, chatting with Reb, when we realized we were both MACKINNONS FROM FUCKING THE ISLE OF SKYE, my grandmother's homeland.

Here's that happening....almost exactly a year ago.

Fuck I've been in this country a long time.

HOLY MOTHA!!! WHAT. sorry for the almost double post but auckland songwriter @rebfountain and i just found out while sitting in a corner cafe in napier new zealand that we are RELATED. we are both mackinnons from the isle of skye. WHAT IS THIS LIFE????? i’ve found a kiwi sister. cried a little 🙏🏼😭♥️♥️♥️

..........

And if you're not familiar with Reb, now's a PERFECT time for you to catch up... Her new album is out in just a couple of weeks.

LET'S LISTEN!!!!!!!!!!

(photo by Marissa Findlay)

More about Reb....

In May 2020, Reb Fountain released her self-titled album via New Zealand label Flying Nun Records to critical acclaim. Reb won the 2021 Taite Music Prize, was shortlisted for the Silver Scroll award for her song ‘Don’t You Know Who I Am’, and the album Reb Fountain was nominated for five New Zealand Music Awards.

Reb Fountain, is a consummate recording artist and performer; spell-bounding audiences with her music and artistry alike. From sold out tours to touring with Crowded House to knocking it out of the park at Flying Nun’s 40th Anniversary gala, Reb is a rising star.

Reb was born in San Francisco and immigrated with her family from North America to Lyttelton — the quiet port town out of Christchurch that’s been fundamental to New Zealand’s alt-folk scene, raising artists like Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, and Delaney Davidson.

The perfect extension of her 2020 self-titled record, the highly anticipated new album IRIS elevates Reb Fountain’s music to new heights. Reb effortlessly combines pop elements with her trademark noir folk-punk sound; weaving authentic and anthemic tunes that create an instant and indelible impression.

......

So.....Reb - MY COUSIN - has given us permission to share one of her songs here on Patreon, SO attached to this post is a .wav download of "Don't You Know Who I Am?" from her 2020 self-titled album.

Download. Listen. Love.

Nick Cave vibes.

And after you've fallen in love with her music, you can go and pre-order her new album IRIS from her website.

She and I were just talking on the phone this morning about how hard things are right now.

Her last album wound up coming down in lockdown and people were so excited and supportive....pre-ordering, donating, really shoeing up for the artists who were locked down and fucked with release plans.

She says this time is really different. It's a year and a half later and once again, New Zealand is in lockdown but this time people are just OVER IT.

I hope we can help show up to support her. Please do, she needs it, she needs us, she needs you. Give her a follow on social media and if you're feeling the love, pre-order her record. Even getting 20-30 more sales will mean a difference to an artist like her.

AND.....

SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW FOR SOME MASHUP AWESOME!!!!!

ok

for fun

last clues for the truly curious

#1 

#2 

HAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAA

XXX

AFP

*major points to alex for finding this, i didn't even know this existed on the internet omg, 2:35, the first and last time i will ever "rap" in my life

------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