I love AFP. I first fell in love with her after watching this talk (especially at 2:03). I've kept the love going sometimes watching this video on repeat dozens of times straight. I've done that many days over the past couple of years. It's got horrible lighting, lackluster sound, but SO M U C H SUPPORT from her fans. Ahhhh.
Amanda Fucking Palmer evokes courage, depth of feeling, and fantastic expression. Today she has one simple, quiet request for her birthday...
She posted her request early in the morning, and by the time I got to the link, her base wish had been fulfilled BY DOUBLE. (Edit: Now day 2 has brought 100K more! I love that you all love her so much!!!) But the more we bid, the more detail she and her team of artists can put into the products and the more she inspires us to follow our dreams as the support we need to live will find us!!! And the more we all prove the old way of publishing music by being tied to a record label is coming undone.
(For full impact, go watch this video on Amanda's site and read her birthday announcement.)
So, did you actually follow the links and watch the videos? That's your homework for the night. Just fucking do it.
Last week I was introduced to *the listserve*. I immediately signed up; it was day one. When I told someone about it the next day the total number of people signed up had grown from 3264 to 6487!
I mean, the opportunity to send an email to 1 million people, right?! How exciting and nerve-racking that would be?! How it stops you in your tracks. What would be the perfect thing to say? What's worth telling one million people? It was hard to not think of it as a marketing opportunity. But don't we market ourselves everyday? Even when we stay home - we're protecting our brand and the outside world from grumpy me... Life is art and the way we speak and what we choose to share about says even more than the actual words coming out of our mouths or fingertips (onto a keyboard... I think you caught that one).
What if you could offer your YOU art a bigger audience? An audience of thousands, approaching a million? What if you were called upon to share a message with this group of a million, randomly. Wait, let's flip this around - what if you got to read a message from someone each day that was put under this unique spotlight condition and rose to the challenge of saying something worth a million listens?
The other interest that comes to mind is, "You'd better get your act together, self, if a million people could hear something you say." Have a life worth advertising.
Either way, I'm stoked to be a part of this process. I may be called upon to share a message with thousands upon thousands of people, the email lottery. But for sure, I'll be offered a new email each day from a new person with a perspective I may not have been exposed to, someone who is willing to share a bit of themself with so many of us.
Three days ago, the listserve hit 10,000 and today I received the perfect indoctrinating email from Emil Stenstrom from Sweden containing a splendid balance of heads-up, use-your-power-for-fun, and warmth-of-life, kindly message, gently nudging this project forward into a special place in my heart.
If you'd like to see the email too, leave a comment below (with your email) or email me at heyrootmix [at] yahoo dot com with "Emil 041812" in the subject line and I'll forward his message to you.
1.
Reading through the tweets for #THTH, I was getting butterflies in my tummy and smile after smile across my face. This was so exciting! #THTH stands for Tony Hawk Twitter Hunt and Sunday he hosted an international find. But only in English speaking countries. He can only tweet in English.
Here's the clue for San Francisco's filled goodie box...
...which was found in under 3 minutes.
2.
Across that bridge pictured above, was the second super-awesome thing you probably missed...
pic courtesy of Ron Evans
Books Inc. hosted Attack of the Authors with Jason Fry and
Ryder Windham, writers who shared their experiences writing Star Wars books. Not pictured: more stormtroopers, a Rebel pilot, and a Jedi Knight. Thanks for the pic and explanation, Ron!
3.
This one I missed, but hope you made it - Vanessa VerLee Variety Show! Here Vanessa is about to cover My Sharona, which, when little, her brother made her think was written for her father's church secretary. They'll be another V. V. Variety Show in the Fall, so stay tuned!
picture by Brandon Smith
4.
If you weren't in L.A., or didn't make a trip down there specifically to Caine's Arcade, you missed the presentation of his $152,000 scholarship check; all funds raised in under a week from supporters happy to participate in a return to off-screen creativity.
You also missed the announcement that each dollar raised for Caine's education up to $250,000 will be matched by to start the Caine's Arcade Foundation to find, foster, and fund other creative kids.
Here's a video that recaps what's happened since last Monday. And here's a spectacular article pointing out why discovering Caine's Arcade is so important for him and others.
5.
Finally, you may have missed me bidding on my new mini home bass and snare drum kit...
6.
Oh, and Mission Open Studios. I like to catch up on what I missed by having a little online show, browsing through artist websites. No free cheese and wine though.
Let me know if you discover a new favorite artist and what you didn't miss this weekend!
I love Jeremy Rourke's music and it's been a super-wonderful addition to watch as he shares even more of his creative heart with us by setting his music to stop motion animation. "scraps of paper" has just been released today. Take a look.
Be sure to take some time to enjoy earlier videos he's made. Award winning ones! And if ya wanna see him live and up close irl, just follow this link for deets.
Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
A 9 year old boy - who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto part store - is about to have the best day of his life.
When I was growing up, my family had dinner together every night. And when my dad started teaching in the evenings, he still came home for dinner, then headed back to the shop afterwards. It was never an option to not eat together. It wasn't a hassle to be there either. It just was. It was the way we did things.
I love seeing an executive show the importance of getting home to share this enriching time with her kids. Are today's leaders forgetting what contributed to their success? As an executive in my office who leaves in time to coach his kid's soccer team and have family dinner says, "It's the little things."
How appropriate for this message to come from a facebook executive. Facebook keeps a lot of people online, but I've used it to connect with others to do stuff IRL. I met friends at the park, took a weekend get-a-way trip, and saw live music all because facebook connected me with last minute plans. Facebook keeps friends and families connected. Sheryl seems to be demonstrating that principle in real life.
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