“I’m just so fundamentally optimistic, and I barrel forth in life with this attitude that everything is going to be absolutely fine and go my way.”
— Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer (@amandapalmer) is a singer, songwriter, playwright, pianist, author, director, blogger, and ukulele enthusiast who simultaneously embraces and explodes traditional frameworks of music, theatre, and art. She first came to prominence as one half of the Boston-based punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, earning global applause for their inventive songcraft and wide-ranging theatricality.

Her solo career has proven equally brave and boundless, featuring such groundbreaking works as the fan-funded Theatre Is Evil, which made a top 10 debut on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its release in 2012 and remains the top-funded original music project on Kickstarter. In 2013 she presented The Art of Asking at the annual TED conference, which has since been viewed over 20 million times worldwide. The following year saw Palmer expand her philosophy into the New York Times best-selling memoir and manual, The Art of Asking: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Let People Help.

Since 2015 Palmer has used the patronage subscription crowdfunding platform Patreon to fund the creation of her artwork. This has enabled her to collaborate with artists all over the world with over 14,000 patrons supporting her creations each month. Palmer released her new solo piano album and accompanying book of photographs and essays, There Will Be No Intermission, on March 8, 2019, followed by a global tour. Recorded in late 2018 with grammy-winning Theatre Is Evil producer/engineer John Congleton at the helm, the album is a masterwork that includes life, death, abortion, and miscarriage among its tentpole themes.

Watch the interview on YouTube.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Castbox, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Want to hear an episode with Amanda’s husband? — Listen to my conversation with author and world treasure Neil Gaiman, in which we discuss the writing process, first drafts, artistic collaboration, daily routines, and the merits of fountain pens. Stream below or right-click here to download.

This podcast is brought to you by Peloton, which has become a staple of my daily routine. I picked up this bike after seeing the success of my friend Kevin Rose, and I’ve been enjoying it more than I ever imagined. Peloton is an indoor cycling bike that brings live studio classes right to your home. No worrying about fitting classes into your busy schedule or making it to a studio with a crazy commute.

New classes are added every day, and this includes options led by elite NYC instructors in your own living room. You can even live stream studio classes taught by the world’s best instructors, or find your favorite class on demand.

Peloton is offering listeners to this show a special offer. Visit onepeloton.com and enter the code TIM at checkout to receive $100 off accessories with your Peloton bike purchase. This is a great way to get in your workouts, or an incredible gift. Again, that’s onepeloton.com and enter the code TIM.

This episode is also brought to you by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness, generate leads, or build long-term relationships that result in real business impact.

With a community of more than 575 million professionals, LinkedIn is gigantic, but it can be hyper-specific. LinkedIn has the marketing tools to help you target your customers with precision, right down to job title, company name, industry, etc. Why spray and pray with your marketing dollars when you can be surgical? To redeem your free $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com/TFS!

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Connect with Amanda Palmer:

Website | Patreon | Twitter | Instagram

• There Will Be No Intermission by Amanda Palmer: Vinyl | CD | Patreon | Bandcamp
• Amanda Palmer on How to Fight, Meditate, and Make Good Art, The Tim Ferriss Show #67
• The Dresden Dolls
• 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
• Theatre Is Evil by Amanda Palmer
• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, TED 2013
• The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer
• Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
• Dropping Ashes on the Buddha by Zen Master Seung Sahn
• Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Rare Footage of The Eight-Foot Bride by Amanda Palmer, YouTube
• Woolworths
• Star Wars
• Black, White, and Jedi Over: Zen Themes in Star Wars by Lee Neikirk, Medium
• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhD
• Adam Gazzaley: The Maverick of Brain Optimization, The Tim Ferriss Show #67
• FKK: Freikˆrperkultur by Rubab Paracha, Study in Germany
• Steroids and Cancer — What You Need to Know by Karen Raymaakers, Verywell Health
• The Day after the Longest Day of the Year by Amanda Palmer, Patreon
• Peet’s Coffee
• What Is a Miscarriage? Planned Parenthood
• Kripalu
• Beloved Demons by C. Anthony Martignetti
• Tara Brach on Meditation and Overcoming FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), The Tim Ferriss Show #94
• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
• The Sandman: A Beginner’s Guide by Scott Meslow, GQ
• Profligation, Oxford Living Dictionary
• The Cure
• The Legendary Pink Dots
• History of Muzak: Where Did All The Elevator Music Go? by Jennifer Gersten, WQXR
• Knock-on Effect, Merriam-Webster
• Men vs. Women on Pain: Who Hurts More? by Alice Park, Time
• Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide by Tim Ferriss
• Doc Parsley’s Sleep Remedy
• Amanda Palmer Is Crowdfunding Again, but This Time on Patreon by Stuart Dredge, The Guardian
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by David Delamare
• Death by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
• Amanda Palmer at SXSW 2019

SHOW NOTES

• Books are heavy. Amanda shares one of her favorites that she lifts and gifts most often, and explains how it got her through that one time she was arrested outside an Adelaide Woolworths. [08:02]
• Amanda’s current book obsession and musings about humanity’s uneven relationship with knowledge, understanding, compassion, and sleep. [15:41]
• Reflecting on profound interviews and the nature of Amanda’s most recent project — what she considers to be her most personal to date. [21:10]
• The metric Amanda is using to gauge the success of this record. [23:10]
• How baring one’s pain and vulnerability can be a generous act. [23:47]
• “Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. This performance will last seven years.” [28:01]
• How Amanda met her mentor Anthony, the difference he made in her life, and how she coped with the pain of losing him to a rare form of leukemia, sitting at his deathbed, and the mourning process. [30:33]
• Amanda takes us through her heartbreaking — and empowering — Christmas miscarriage. [41:46]
• Why people — women, especially — should be encouraged to talk more openly about trauma, loss, and grief. [52:48]
• “What are you unwilling to feel?” Amanda talks about an early fear she’s mostly overcome and what she considers to be her current Achilles’ heel. [55:50]
• The first time Amanda remembers feeling not okay — which likely contributed to her deep-seated fear of feeling unbelieved. [1:01:37]
• Amanda addresses the “tyrannical and destructive” myth of everlasting pain being a necessary component of the creative process. [1:06:03]
• On understanding and harnessing one’s pain to make it useful to others, the difference between the pain of childbirth and the pain of imminent danger, and pain as a metaphor for our society. [1:12:46]
• What we risk when pain becomes our primary motivator. [1:18:22]
• What we risk as a society when we marginalize the pain of others or monopolize it as a proving ground, and why recognizing that we’re all suffering from some kind of pain — whether it’s physiological or psychological — should be a shame-free part of the cultural conversation. [1:20:33]
• What is the knock-on effect? [1:29:30]
• How has moving to a fan-supported model changed Amanda and her art? [1:31:09]
• What was the boiling point that proved crowdfunding to be an ideal business model for the way Amanda creates? [1:36:04]
• An example of how crowdfunding helped an artist get his book out to the world when the traditional publishing model failed — and its community offered unconditional support when the worst imaginable thing happened to the creator. [1:37:32]
• What Amanda especially likes about her community at Patreon. [1:39:53]
• Crowdfunding platforms may change and evolve, but the current iterations prove that people can come together to ensure their favorite artists don’t have to starve for their art (or deal with a marketing department’s tampering to make said art more appealing to the masses). [1:41:12]
• Parting thoughts and how you can seek out and support Amanda’s efforts and offerings in the Palmerverse. [1:44:10]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Posted on: April 18, 2019.

Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

Who was interviewed? Here's a very partial list: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and nearly 100 more. Check it all out by clicking here.