I’m online: BOSTON ROLL CALL! Who’s here? IDEAS FOR A COMMUNAL SPOT! And words of HOPE for patrons from “Beautiful was the Fight” director. SCREENING TONIGHT!
Hello loves.
I’m here, live, online in the chat and on this post, for the next HOUR (It’s 2:50pm EST on WEd, Nov 13th). I’m watching the poll, reading all comments, responding where I need/can, and also encouraging you to GO TO THE CHAT when you finish reading this to be in community. BE. IN. COMMUNITY.
QUICK HOUSEKEEPING:
#1 – I just made the link for tomorrow’s $10+/Ask me Anything Webchat. If you want to join, we’ll be on at 11:30am-12:30pm EST. RSVP and start chatting here: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/79knfebl25za
#2 – 8am AND 8pm seems to be working for us to have daily check-ins ON THE APP CHAT, which everybody seems to be appreciating the fuck out of because everybody’s nerves are fucking FRIED and we need our little moments of hug n’ rage. USE THE CHAT. Be. In. Community.
#3 – thank you all for your comments and fiery encouragement on my post-thing last night. I AM BACK ON FIRE AND IT TOOK THIS FUCKING ELECTION TO DO IT, and I don’t know where we go from here but ON. ON WE GO. ON ON ON.
…………………
NOW!!!
BOSTON PEOPLE, REPRESENT IN THE POLL PLEASE!!!!
I NEED A HEADCOUNT! How many of you are there???? PLEASE COMMENT, too, and tell me where you’re from? Salem? Somerville? Allston? JP? LEXINGTON? MEDFORD? TALK TO ME!!!!! Tell me a little about you, your family, where you are, what you do. HARVARD? MIT? TUFTS? MUSEUM SCHOOL PEOPLE? BERKLEE PEOPLE? TRANS PEOPLE QUEER PEOPLE MUSICIAN PEOPLE NERD PEOPLE THEATER PEOPLE YOUNG PEOPLE OLD PEOPLE ALL PEOPLE!!!!!
ARE YOU READY TO COMMUNITY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS POOR CITY WITH ME?
I AM READY. I AM READY.
HAND ME MY MACHETE.
WHAT COUNTS AS “CLOSE ENOUGH” TO BOSTON? ANYTHING CLOSE ENOUGH THAT YOU’RE WILLING TO GET HERE FOR THINGS. SO, I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE IN MAINE, RHODE ISLAND, CONNECTICUT, NEW YORK, CANADA, OR MEXCIO….IF YOU’RE WILLING TO COME TO BOSTON EVENTS, YOU’RE PART OF THE BOSTON POSSE.
I ran screaming from this cold-hearted metropolis. I am back to DO MY BEST.
So. Okay, here we go. It’s getting Boston-y. I got questions. Locals, listen up, talk to me. Global weirdos….feel free to follow along or ignore this post.
FIRST UP: I hope to see MANY of you tonight (WED, NOV 13th) in Arlington at the “Beautiful Was The Fight” screening at the Regent Theatre with me and the filmmaker/direcvotr, David Habeeb….7:30, $15, the cinema holds about 400 and is about half sold out so there will certainly be sits if you just walk up! I am attaching, below, some beautiful words from the David. Here’s more about the event: https://regenttheatre.com/events/beautiful-was-the-fight/
*THE AFTERPARTY – which is public – WILL BE AT DONUT VILLA DINER at 10pm-MIDNIGHT* Even if you can’t come to the screening, if you’re in the hood and want to drop by the party, come! Identify yourself as a patron if you can by wearing/showing some king of playing card. I may not make it to midnight…but who knows.
IF YOU ARE COMING, THERE IS A THREAD ON THE SHADOWBOX HERE TO FIND RIDES/TICKETS/OTHER PATRONS!!
…………………….
AND NOW….
I have a quick question for the Boston folks, and I’m going to be reading ALL COMMENTS
DOES ANYONE IN BOSTON HAVE ANY LEADS ON FAVORITE VENUES/SPACES WHERE WE COULD GATHER?
I am hoping to do a gathering/livesteam as early as the eve of Decmeber 9th. I have a few special guests ready, but we NEED A SPOT!!!!
I rented the Paradise Rock Club for us all the other day during the dolls shows.
(I just went rummaging for the photo that Natalie took, but I can’t find it, grumble. Il’l send it, and the two aftershow patron-shots, in a separate post. I’m still reeling from the shows. Sorry bout that. Natalie, if you’re reading this, can you email it over to Michael@amandapalmer.net)
Anyway: they paradise charged me $500 for the two-hour hang. It was well worth it.
There’s a budget! The patreon money is FOR THIS KINDA STUFF.
But there’s gotta be a better way, a better place for us to hang, gather and COMMUNE. A stage is nice, a piano is nice, chairs are nice, a PA is nice, food is nice, a bar is nice, but we can technically do without most of htese htings in a pinch. I’d like to find us a home that isn’t a night club. It was dark, and sad, and everybody had to stand. Upside: there was a PA and everybody could find it easily. WHERE SHALL WE GO????
I am specifically looking for a place that:
-fits 200+ people. all weather (not outdoors).
-feels like we can make it home. warm, inviting, places to sit and hang out and talk, not sterile, living-room-y, welcoming.
-run by allies or, even better, run by a patron?
-accessible to the T or public transport, and/or easily driveable (in town) with parking
-accessible to people in wheelchairs, can’t be up 5 flights of stairs, etc
-kiddo-friendly, and if possible, dog-friendly
I fantasize about places that look like THIS:
DON’T MAKE ME START A VENUE IN BOSTON
It is fucking tempting but I’m too tired, and I need all my spare time (what sparte time) for this old house I just moved into, and unpacking my life and trauma and boxes, and the Cloud Club, my old arts collective, which is its own story. WE may be able to gather there, but it’ll take a long hot second before we really get it back up and running.
………..SO……………..ALSO……………
If you have a space that’s FAR from Boston but you think it might be a wonderful place for the community to gather for a filed trip (I mean: I will not say no to making a filed tripto your 200 capacioty mansion ballroom in Western Mass or Vermont or whatever….just gimme a second), feel free to share. But I need a place we can GO, work, GATHER, OVER AND OVER, somewhere that is less than a 30 minute commute for me (I’m in Lexington).
HIT ME, HOMETOWN, HIT ME!!!!
………………..
And now….over to David, who wrote this just for you.
WORDS FROM DAVID HABEEB ABOUT THE FILM SCREENING TONIGHT:
Dear Amanda & her patrons,
With the film screening only moments away, it’s midnight and I’m sitting here reflecting on the past seven years it took to make the film; how I felt then in November 2016, and how I’m feeling right now in November 2024.
When I started the film back in November 2016, I was a mix of emotions given so many things going on in our country at that time, especially with respect to politics, the election, how people, mainly marginalized people, were treated, seen or, worse, not seen. The divisiveness, the hate, the fear, the intolerance. The lack of compassion. I was dumbfounded, worried, and angry. I’m not sure I had ever seen or experienced these things at the level they seemed to be at back in 2016, and they were intensifying. The film is not about politics, I never wanted it to be, but related themes linger in the background. I wanted it to focus specifically on women in the Boston music scene – and be mainly about music, art, and the importance of live performances, community, gender equality, empowerment, and compassion. This was deliberate.
Flash forward seven years later. The film has been made. I’m very proud of it and it’s been well-received by many audiences. I was fortunate to have so many people, collaborators, family, friends, colleagues, in my corner who helped and supported me throughout. I met so many wonderful (marginalized) people along the way, opened my heart and mind to them, participated in the Women’s March in Washington D.C., tried to be an ally, tried to learn as much as I could, and tried to listen and reflect on what I heard to be able to tell other people’s stories through this documentary.
I was confident, and thought I saw evidence, that we (many, many people in this country) collectively made progress to fight back against some of the ugliness, injustice, and lack of compassion and understanding on display back in 2016 and maybe change minds and hearts. I thought we did. Maybe? I guess we didn’t. It’s November 2024. I never would have imagined that I, and I know so, so many other people, would be feeling the same.
There are so many poignant, intelligent, and heartfelt comments shared by many of the artists in the film. Hearing them for the first time, during my interviews with each, proved to be a very emotional experience for me and I’ve seen, watching audience screenings from the back of the theater, the same to be true for some people who have seen the film. I think now, more than ever, their words carry extra weight and meaning. Some are deeply sad to hear, and others are powerful and uplifting. Powerful and uplifting – that’s something I hope our film is to people when they see it.
“It’s not something society has ever wanted anyone to be.” – Jac Mestel referring to being transgender.
“I just wasn’t sure if anyone was going to accept me at all.” – Jillian Gilpatric on being transgender.
“I think it’s super important for marginalized people to have a voice, for anybody to have a voice. I think that’s the most beautiful thing in life.” – Carissa Johnson
“She wanted us to not be pitted against one another, to see each other, and celebrate one another.” – Chelsea Berry on Ruby Rose Fox’s goals when creating the Queen Treatment Only concert back in 2016 that featured female-fronted bands from the Boston scene. When filming this show, and seeing these empowered, talented artists coming together to support and celebrate one another, it was then I realized there was something bigger going on. I talked with Ruby the next morning to let her know I wanted to expand the project from being a short film about her to several women in the Boston music scene. She fully supported the idea and the project was born.
Naming the film Beautiful Was the Fight, which came from a Ruby Rose Fox lyric for her song called, “Oh, Roy,” was inspired and intentional. I thought it perfectly captured the spirit of the film and several themes I kept hearing after doing interview after interview – 41 in total. I never answer the question I get often which is, “What does the title mean?” I know what it means to me, but it’s important to me to let people figure out their own meaning in it.
So, in summary, I am, again, a mix of emotions only a day away from the screening.
On the one hand, I am eternally grateful to the universe that I have been able to become a filmmaker, something I wanted to be since age 12, and have been blessed with so many amazing experiences having had made this film. I’ve met so many people and have made truly special connections with more than I could have ever imagined. I’ve become immersed in their music and live shows. This music community has welcomed me in, I feel a very small part of it, but I know I’m better for it. Making this film, because of the people involved, has given me some of the happiest moments of my career, my life. Still, sadly, I see that the fight goes on and we are still looking for that beautiful something, that beautiful something in one another. The fight still needs to go on. Really? I guess it must. It absolutely must.
On a lighter note, I’ve included a fun fact sheet about the film. Please see attached. Also, here are many behind-the-scenes images in case you want to peruse and/or use any.
The photos will give you an idea, visually anyway, of the past seven years I’ve spent interviewing these artists, spending time with them rehearsing, performing, learning as much as I could about each person, and simply making special connections that I know will last a lifetime. https://www.flickr.com/photos/155693489@N02/
With gratitude,
Dave
If you’re out of town, you can see the trailer for the film HERE:
See you in the comments, in the cinema, in the sky, wherever.
I love you all.
xxx
A