Rather Fond of Green

www.gopetition.com/petition...iran.html

Other ways to help can be read here: emsenn.com/iran.php

Fear kills.
People are dying for what they believe in all over the world right now, and not just in Iran. Iran's government is clearly running scared, and their people have become expendable to them--their people who are free thinkers just like us, their students, their mothers, their internet-savvy rebels.

Do what you can from where you are.
Hold the light.
Thank you.

New Song Available for Download Today!

"Girl with the Lion's Tail (Lucia's Song)" awaits you.
skinnywhitechick.bandcamp.com/tra...song
Enjoy!

I realize that my bias is severe, but even so, I hope you'll all agree with me: Tony Fabris (find him at www.geekhackfilk.com ) has done an amazing job, in his capacity as recording engineer, of helping me create and perfect this song as it sounded in my head, mixing each vocal and each instrument to my every specification, in addition to meeting his June 1st deadline for producing the entirety of our friend Brooke Lunderville's album. This will not be the only time we work together in the studio, he and I, I dearly hope.

Betsy Tinney's cello contribution to this piece is, as usual, breathtaking. I don't know what I did before I had cello in my life. So much emotion is contained in those five strings (and that's not a misprint--Raven is a five-string cello, not a standard four-string). What amazed me most about the cello part that Betsy brought to this song is that from time to time, she not only evokes Lucia's emotions, but those of Lucia's husband Ludovico as well. The scene in Palimpsest which inspired this piece involves Lucia cutting her ties with her husband, and his not wanting to let her go. Particularly toward the end of the song, Betsy and her cutting, mournful cello work put me in mind of Ludo begging Lucia to come home with him. This is absolute magic, and I never would have expected it. Thank you, Betsy!

Michelle "Vixy" Dockrey (find her at www.vixyandtony.com )played shaker on this track, as I was uncertain of my own ability to lay down a good, strong, steady shaker track myself. It was the least she could do, as she is a consummate musician and vocalist, but this tiny favor from her nevertheless has helped the dream of this song come true, and I love her for it.

Thanks, always, to Cat, ( www.catherynnemvalente.com ) for inspiring me so. Our tour ends in a day, but I have yet more songs coming to accompany her delightful and sinful book. Keep checking the album page throughout the summer. I'm hoping to complete at least two more songs as part of the tie-in album. Tomorrow Cat and I perform the Palimpsest Road Show one more time, on the deck of a tall ship in the New York harbor. Location info is on my tour schedule page, www.skinnywhitechick.com/shows.php and the show is also listed as a Facebook Event. I hope you'll join us.

GBMojo CD Sale! Help out the Traveling Fates!

Just got word from Ginger, so I'm spreading it.
Go help my girls! If they don't get enough money for their tour, we might not get to meet up again as the Traveling Fates next month, and I will be a sad, sad Sooj.

Hullo from GBmojo!

We wanted to let you all know where we're at with the Summer Tour Fundraiser and Sale: An effort to raise the dough we need to hit the road this summer!

OUR GOAL: Raise $1,000 by Saturday 5/23/09

OUR STRATEGY: Have a big ol' sale by offering you crazy savings on GBmojo Merchandise AND open up our Online Tip Jar for donations in ANY amount! (No really, any amount from $1 and up!) :)

RAISED SO FAR: $200.00 (wahooo! THANK YOU!)
STILL TO GO: $800.00
DAYS LEFT TO DO IT: 4!!!!

To get your limited-time-discount merchandise, come see us at
www.gbmojo.com/buymerch.cfm

If you'd like to make a secure donation to our online tip jar (in ANY amount), you can do so by cutting and pasting the following link into your browser. Remember: many pebbles, big pile. Even a little goes a long way when you multiply it by the power of the people!
www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

Thank you for all you do! We'll be looking for you soon out on the road.

xoxoBekah&Ginger
GBmojo

To all contributors, editors, supporters of the Ravens in the Library anthology

Dear contributors, angels, saints, mischief-makers, miracle workers,

Today marks exactly four months from my surgery.
I am well, whole, and sane, largely because of you.
I just finished a cross-country tour which I likely would not have been
able to undertake at all, without the generosity of my amazing friends and
benefactors, namely yourselves. Not only have I been surrounded by
healing energy all this time, I have been freed from the shadow of my
first terrifying grown-up debt.

At every opportunity in my live performances since I got back on the road
in late January, I have pointed out the unprecedented wonder which is the
Ravens in the Library anthology. Obviously I can't describe all of the
magic which makes up the book in my patter between songs on stage, but I
give it my best. My fans will back me up on this, I hope.

My one regret is that I cannot at this moment thank each of you in person,
let you read in my eyes what it means to me that you came to my rescue
when given the opportunity. I, small girl with guitar who runs around
singing for her friends and stealthily making a living at it, deserve all
of this magic, all of these wonders? Some would say no, but you have said
yes. The fact is that this anthology is so incredible, so unbelievable,
that I am still reminding myself here, now, in the spring, that it's real,
that I can hold it and read it, as can everyone. And so, my words of
gratitude can never be enough.

What I can do, which I hope will add up to something like 'enough' one
day, is keep singing, keep adding more interesting art to the world, just
as each of you do. Wherever I go, I can keep telling the story of how I
was once rescued not so very long ago, by an army of magicians and
avengers and artists and wordsmiths, most of whom gave of their talents in
spite of not knowing me at all. This in itself is an incredible tale, but
at the end, I can always pull the actual, tangible book from under my
bard's cloak, to prove it true.

I fail horribly at 'damsel in distress', but hopefully I won't get a
chance to practice it further.
Thank you for all that you have done.
With more gratitude than my body can hold,
S. J. Tucker

Palimpsest Tour in Los Angeles

Catherynne M. Valente and I are still searching for a place to host our Palimpsest road show in Los Angeles. Our target dates are April 25 and April 26 of this year. We need your help. Those of you who've come to our New York, Delaware, or Boston shows, you can help, too--especially if you have phamily out in California.

What we've tried so far:

Catherynne has fed me all of the L A bookstore suggestions she's received, and I have sent all of them booking inquiries. Dark Delicacies was willing to host a simple signing, but Cat prefers that we do our full show--readings, music, theatre, everything. I agree with her.
Unfortunately, Sue at Dark Delicacies says her store is not equipped to host our full show, that they are only set up for author signings. All of
the other bookstores I have contacted have completely ignored my emails.

What I would love best of all is a warehouse or factory space that we could set up lights and stage space in, an empty church space, even a VFW hall if it's cheap to rent...a versatile space with room for dancing, no smoking no alcohol, basically a blank canvas that we can transform into a little piece of Palimpsest for just a little while. The Brooklyn Lyceum, where we performed on February 25 in NY, turned out to be the perfect space. If we could find a space like it in Los Angeles, with a minimum of money and fuss, that would make me so happy. Anybody know any un-busy blackbox theaters, any lofts, any galleries owned by friendly folk?

A house concert would work just as well, if we can find a host. House concerts are simple, intimate, and fun, and we can translate Palimpsest into a house concert format very easily. Most of you who are reading this already know that I have a blast performing for house concert audiences. All we need is someone who's willing to let us take over their den, living room, or dining room for an evening of entertainment.

All we need is a place to go. Help us find it. Stained glass windows are optional. (smile)

Leave me a comment or email me here and I'll send you the write-up I've been sending out to prospective venues, which you may forward on or copy however you like, and I'll also give you our promo photo to pass along to anyone and everyone. Anything I can do to help you help us find a place to put on our show, I will do. Saturday April 25 and/or Sunday April 26 are the dates we want. This will be the Very Last Stop of the Palimpsest Tour. We do not want to give up on L. A. We want to bring all of our cities and all of our stories together there.

We made this happen in New York City; we can make it happen in Los Angeles--with your help. Thank you.

edit: If you find us a place to hold our show or if you put us in touch with someone who does, you get a free copy of my final, completed album, Quartered: Songs of Palimpsest, at the end of the tour. I will get it to you by mail, via download, however I need to.

New Album Available For Download Now - Quartered: Songs of Palimpsest

Attention Citizens of Palimpsest!
Let the music be your guide: skinnywhitechick.bandcamp.com

Generally the party ends with Mardi Gras. Our party, which is a simultaneous book and album release, starts now.

Palimpsest is the newest novel from Catherynne M. Valente, in stores 2/24/09. Quartered is its official companion album, and it will evolve and grow, a work in progress available via download only, as author and composer tour the United States together, across the season of Lent and beyond, from February 25 to April 30 2009. Check back with the album page linked above for new songs each week.
Tour schedule here: www.skinnywhitechick.com/shows.php

What if there was a place beyond terror, beyond passion, where your obsessions come to life? Where your secrets walk the streets? Where the only law is desire? What would you do to get there? Past the edge of the world lies a city of the mind and of the flesh: Palimpsest

Catherynne, Dmitri, Kevin and I will be touring together in support of Palimpsest and Quartered through the end of April. I suspect I will be writing more new songs about the book during that time. The fact that this companion project is download-only gives me complete freedom to record and upload new material as I complete it. Considering that my medical adventures at the beginning of this year really set me back so far, compared to when I actually wanted to have the initial six songs completed, realizing that I had given myself all the time in the world was a great relief. I could fly on this happy thought: I don't have to stop writing about the book at all. If more songs come, they can join the rest as soon as I get them ready.

Here's to living in the future.

Please enjoy the new tracks (they're unmastered right now, but they won't be forever) and know that I appreciate hearing your thoughts. If you have any questions for me, those are wonderful, too. Most of this is entirely new territory for me, and I've never deliberately put myself into such a place before. Believe me when I say that your feedback is important There is even a track which features Cat herself–it won't be the last if I have my way.

I will be performing all of these songs at the launch in NYC. I'll be performing as many of them as possible at our other performances across the nation. Check the album page for new songs each week as we travel.

our new location for February 25

Wednesday February 25, 2009 — 7-11pm
Palimpsest Ash Wednesday Book and Album Release Gala
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 4th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 857-4816
$10

Please join us. I'm immensely relieved and grateful that Nick and the Brooklyn Lyceum have come through for us in this. Current performances include burlesque, rope, music, and literature. We're currently figuring out what sort of goodies we'll have to give you, just for walking through the door....I will post when ticket sales go live. Soon.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and referrals, everybody. You're the best.

Help Me Out.

Galapagos Art Space in NYC, which was set to host our Palimpsest Release Gala Event on February 25th, just emailed Kevin and asked us to reschedule for March. It is now exactly 21 days until the event, 20 days until the book's official release.

I have never had any venue do this to me in connection with any event, without giving a concrete reason, less than a month before the event was to take place. They will not tell us why, and they do not have to, but from our end, I cannot be objective about how royally fucked and needless this feels.

Needless to say, I am in shock, and I am very, very angry.
Even if we could reschedule, which we cannot because all of our other appearances in support of the book are very tightly scheduled, what would keep them from doing this to us a second time? Kevin asked them for contracts at least a month ago, and they ignored his request.

The silver lining is the picture I have in my mind of the gorgeous, gigantic venue which will come to our rescue in this trying time.
I know you know what and where it is, and that you'll tell me in comments. I love you, my miracle workers, and I need your help. A lot.

We have belly dancers, burlesque dancers, amazing rope suspension artists on board for this, as well as the caliber of combined music and literature you've come to expect from [info]yuki_onna and myself in recent times. The circus needs a place to play, folks. Please, please help us.

And if you'd like to pre-order Palimpsest once or twice, to ensure that it shoots to the top of every bestseller list in existence upon its release, to make it plain to these poor people just exactly whom and what they have fucked over, please do that as well:
www.amazon.com/Palimpsest.../0553385763

It will no doubt provide more lasting and satisfying results than the thoughts of arson and homicide running through all of our brains.

The Traveling Fates Continue.

In the Spirit of SOOJ…

…The Traveling Fates continue! On Tuesday January 13th SJ Tucker of Skinny White Chick fame and one of the three Traveling Fates will undergo pelvic surgery. As a result she has had to cancel her appearances during the Florida portion of the Traveling Fates tour this winter. IN THE SPIRIT OF SOOJ the other two members of the Traveling Fates, Ginger Doss and Bekah Kelso, will continue the tour and collect what would have been SJ’s (Sooj’s) pay to bring back to her to help with climbing medical expenses. They will be collecting donations in her name and selling her CD’s and even performing some of her songs… These performances truly will be IN THE SPIRIT OF SOOJ and in her honor. Your attendance is greatly appreciated. Tour dates here: www.skinnywhitechick.com/shows.php Visit the Fates: www.travelingfates.com

Memphis Transgender Day of Remembrance

Last I knew, Memphis was to mark its observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on this day, Nov 15 2008.

I have never had a morning when I woke up not knowing who I was.
Many people close to me have had mornings like that.

Here's a toast to those who, as my fiddler says, 'are blowing a great big hole in everything' right now. May we all come to know ourselves so well, and may we celebrate each other.