Ren’s sad news, a note to Ren, a note about patronage, and TRANARCHY in Boston Thursday
Hi folks.
On my way to NYC for the gig tonight and I know I’ll see many of you there. Thanks for all the commenting on last nights weekend-round-up…and for keeping me company.
The show is sold out but we are using patron $$ to film and photograph it – stay tuned.
We just added some special guest to the bill. If you’re coming DO NOT BE LATE !!!
Ok…
Here’s an odd little one for you, some food for thought about patronage, and art, and life, and support, and time.
I’ve posted about Ren in the past – I think their work is amazing and important. I first came across “Hi Ren” when people started sending me the link and the number of referrals finally hammered me into clicking the link (the same thing happened with Chappell, and Phoebe Bridgers…and people weren’t wrong…it takes a lot of piling on to make me believe a recommendation:)
Here it is. 9 minutes of pure WTF how is this so goddamn good. An ode to mental health and the demonic conversations we have within our own heads.
https://youtu.be/s_nc1IVoMxc?si=ZmWGAJ4go-GYxu8V
And I’m not surprised to see it has 38m views. When I first saw it a few years ago it had a few hundred thousand and I was like:
This man is an artistic emotional genius.
Someone told me it was the merger of Eminem and Girl Anachronism. They were right.
His work also just keeps getting BETTER. Watch this beauty, about silence and domestic violence:
And this, on the lighter side:
https://youtu.be/JwtEOp7pC1A?si=h0MaFOLRMOhRPyjF
……
Anyway: to the point.
Ren has a huge patreon. I’ve plugged it here quite a few times, but Ren needs scant help from me. He’s exploding. He’s been working his ass off and growing his career and constantly making art and communicating with his supporters. He has of patrons.
But he’s also struggling.
Ren deals with – and is very actively open about – constant struggles with his mental and physical health. He’s a musical genius, and he also has Lyme disease and suffers from what seems like a near-constant avalanche of setbacks with his physical health. He’s a huge advocate of transparency in this departments and his openness is a huge part of who he is…and also what draws his audience nearer to him (sound familiar?). I would love to sit down and have a coffee with him and Sophie Strand. And Chappell Roan. There’s a large Venn in the Venn Diagram here.
Yesterday, Ren posted this up about his current skids, including a painfully all-too-familiar groan about losing the audio recordings of a hugely important show. I have been there.
You can read the post, it’s public. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sad-news-112608853
I’ve been supporting Ren’s patreon for a few years and have been reading the posts and taking in his content not just as a fan, but as a patreon nerd.
At a certain point, Ren transparently passed the baton to a full-time content assistant, and that assistant posted footage and videos on Ren’s behalf. Sometimes Ren would write in. Sometimes it was his assistant. It worked.
The community really seemed to – and seems to – understand the power of patronage whether or not Ren was in the room, in the posts. Ren is so transparent with his crowd that it inspires ME.
Anyway, I wrote my own comment over there and I thought I’d share it with you over here as well, because. You’ll understand.
It says,
Ren, thank you for always being so honest and real. The patrons are here to take care of you so that you can plough forward with your life’s work and it’s going to constantly evolve. I for one am here for the long haul and don’t need dick from you for a year if you want to just heal and send the occasional letter.
I struggle with this constant perceived expectation of output with my own patrons – I have 22,000 at this point – and they constantly try to tell me what people here are telling you: ease up.
Patronage means that you don’t have to be an art factory on a capitalist schedule producing constant supply for a constant demand. Fuck that shit.
Be an artist. Be a human. Be a healing person. Be a person with a small life when you need. You don’t need to be a product. Chappell Roan has been speaking to this lately too. Success doesn’t need to mean you owe the world your entire self with no boundaries. Artists can live peaceful lives; the industry is built to have all artists think otherwise.
Also: I fucking feel you on that recording fail. I once recorded a live song with one of my heroes and the hard drive musical crashed and mangled one of the most powerful moments of my career. It was unfixable.
I could not explain the level of anger and frustration and disappointment. I get it. Here’s a hug.
To all of Ren’s patrons who may be reading this…you’re amazing. Support this artist forever and stick around even when things get quiet and human.
That’s what we need from you.
Love & art 4eva
X Amanda Palmer
…….
You patrons – especially the ones who’ve been here since 2015 – understand something about my life and my work that’s incredibly my powerful and transcends my social media, my book and my musical output.
You’ve been with me through thick and thin.
You’ve been with me when I couldn’t “content-create” and you constantly understand that I’m a human being and not an art-factory.
When I look at what’s happening with Chappell Roan and the costs of fame, I find myself thinking: I am the luckiest fucking artist in the world.
I live in the sweet spot goldilocks zone of recognition and personal freedom.
Thank for you being an amazing bunch of people.
Also, go support Ren, even if it’s just following his patreon for free. If you love his work: he needs you there.
One last quickie –
BOSTON THIS IS TOMORROW NIGHT and I may be able to make it…. it’s so nice to be back in this community. It was nice in the woods but I missed being where there was stuff happening alllll the tiiiime. Up next: FREE ALL AGES all-trans-girl-bill house party concert on Thursday.
Evan Greer is an old Boston ally who also works really hard to make the internet a better place with Fight For The Future and Mya Byrne is a force of a songwriter who played at my little venue, Graveside Variety, last year, we met through Lance. I don’t know Riggings but if the company is an indicator? Fierce as well.
Love
A