Tuesday, August 24, 2010

In the Woods, in the Bath, with a Bottle of Whiskey.


Outtake from music video for "Impossible Girl #3" by Jim Batt

Videos are on their way. Being edited. Being made extra amazing. I'm so excited. Just watched a rough cut of the video for "Open/Avocado" by Bri Olson and I LOVE it! Can't wait to share it. I was worried I would hate it because I'm in it and I haven't been feeling so great about me lately. But I still love it. Any director who can make me enjoy 3 minutes of my own face is very talented indeed.

Actually I have been depressed for the past week. No reason.

Nothing is wrong.

But that's the problem with depression. Nothing.

And on top of the depression I felt a guilt (or if there was a feeling it would have been guilt) because actually my life is really amazing right now. And I didn't think I had the right to feel bad. So mostly I just stopped listening to myself. I took a walk. I dug a hole and pushed the nothing into it. Felt the coolness of the ground seep up into me. Washed my hands in the ocean. Wrote "Impossible Girl" in the sand and watched the waves swallow her whole, take her out to sea where her heart flies. Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty.

Today I feel better. Been getting things done. Playing with a two year old - mostly teaching her how to swear and run with scissors. (We finally got in trouble for jumping on the furniture.)

Don't you wish your big sister was a rock star? Yes, yes you do.

The songs are still going strong. 12,000 plays now. Has slowed down after last week's flurry of famous author mentions, but there seems to be a slow burn. Even if you aren't a famous author it means a lot to me, and really does help, when you mention my music on the internet. Twitter, facebook, myspace, blogs. All of it helps. As does using your mouth to tell people. I like that one too.

http://bit.ly/TIGch1  - copy and paste that to share.

And one last thing: Your homework assignment for the day/week/year/life

Take a moment to think about the person or people closest to you. Someone you might take for granted. Think about something they do really well. Maybe it's the way they cook, or sing, or make art, or smell, or look, or snoozle, or wrangle ocelots, or travel through time....could be anything.

And now tell them.

Today: pay someone a compliment. Because we take people for granted. All of us. And even if we know how great someone is, we often forget to tell them. Because we think their greatness is so self evident that to mention it would be redundant.

I think you're great. I do. I really like the way you read my blog.

Love,

K

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Molly Crabapple Strikes Again



I just got this beautiful Molly Crabapple poster of 'The Impossible Girl' paper doll printed and it is SO GORGEOUS!

Holy hell is that woman talented!

You can order this poster (includes download of Chapter One of my album.) here: http://music.kimboekbinder.com

I also added signed postcards to the album download page - if you already pre-ordered my album for $10 or more you will be getting a signed postcard already - so no need to order one!



I will be adding more merchandise as I go, packages, t-shirts, stickers, and more. Here we go!

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Day four and my album has been listened to over 8,000 times. I am very pleased with this and now just need to figure out how to keep it going strong. Every mention helps! So blog, tweet, repost. Bandcamp gives you lovely 'Share' options - you can post a little player to almost any site on the web. 

It feels so ^*&@&^#^!!! good to finally have songs I am proud of out in the world. The recordings are fantastic. Producer, Sean Slade, and engineer, Benny Grotto, did such a good job at giving my songs the right amount of production.

Hurray!

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And...San Francisco show this Friday, August 20th at The Independent (such a great venue!) with The New Orleans Bingo! Show (such a great band!) I play at 9pm. 


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Exceptions, and Random Movie Times

Zip. Zip. Zoom. Trying to keep up with all the emails. Falling behind.

Getting some lovely buzz on my little EP/first chapter of my album.

Neil Gaiman's tweets helped steer some people my way. And today Warren Ellis blogged about The Impossible Girl. Fun times!

I am now sitting in bed - though sleep is many hours away (I also call bed, "the office,") under a pile of sequin dresses. Fun times!

I'm staying in Carmel, CA with my father. My two year old sister is very excited to see me. She 'helps' me cook, and type; she tries to take my pants off while I stand in the kitchen; she sticks her hand down my shirt (after looking down it to see what's in there;) bites my thighs; sticks her finger up my nose; and squirts herself in the eye with Windex. Then she laughs as I hold her under the tap to rinse her eyes out. Fun times!

I taught her how to pounce on people. And how to jump on all the furniture - a skill which has helped me get as far as I have in the world today.

I'm not really a "kid person" - as a general rule - but she's a pretty fantastic little person and I make exceptions for the exceptional (smartest thing I've EVER said.)



**Random Movie Times**


This is a short silent film clip I made with Jim Batt while I was in Melbourne, Australia last month making 5 music videos. This clip is for Jim's Ghostlight Project which is a collaboration with four other artists of various mediums - it's really good.

Every day of the week, Monday through Friday, a new post gets added. Monday's are the days that Jim adds a new silent film clip, Tuesday is music, Wednesday is a photograph, Thursday is a graphic of some sort - usually a film poster, and Friday is a written piece (a scrap of script, a journal entry from an insane actor...) The project is really interesting and I was very excited to be part of it. Jim is very talented, as evidenced. Kim is very silly, as evidenced. Enjoy!

The Impossible Girl - Chapter One



<a href="http://music.kimboekbinder.com/album/the-impossible-girl-chapter-one">Impossible Girl #1 by Kim Boekbinder</a>

Wow. Chapter one of the album is out in the world, being downloaded, listened to, talked about, loved. What a momentous, amazing thing. What an undertaking. And it's just the beginning! 

There is unique art for each track of the album. Chapter four features the amazing talents of: 



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The videos are coming soon!

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I decided to release the album in chapters because it is such a big project, so many songs, styles, so much art, so many video plans. I didn't want to release the full album, all 18 songs, and have them be lost amongst themselves. I want each song to have room to express itself without having to clamor for attention above the din of 17 siblings. Four songs at a time seemed like a much more listenable experience. Just enough to get excited about, but not so much that each one can't be fully enjoyed.

It also gives me more time to collect great art for each track, make fancy videos, and design a nice package for the physical CD.

It will be a constant stream of music, art, and videos!

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When the album came out on Sunday I put a minimum price of $1 - but let people add more if they chose to. It was important to me to value my own work (and I do!) and also to honor those of you who pre-ordered the album by valuing your contributions and not just giving it all away for free.

Half way through the day I decided that I would see what happened when I didn't put a minimum price on it and lo and behold, suddenly people were giving me more money for it. Instead of $1, $2, and $4, I started to get $4, $8 and $15. Some people still only give $1, and many people are downloading for free, but at this point I want people to have my music, to know it, love it and support the art when they can.

So I think I will leave the album up with no minimum to download...for now. I'm making it all up as I go along. And it's just me, with a laptop, and some wild schemes. No managers or minions. Getting a little swamped under a mountain of emails, but in a good way. So good.

There have been many mentions of the album on the internet. Thanks for that. Keep it up, it really helps when people post about it, talk about it, tweet about it. 
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In the past few days a few people have told me they are proud of me, then they seem to catch themselves and say something like, "But not in a condescending or patronizing way...maybe it sounds corny...but I'm proud of you."

And I just want to say: It's ok be proud of me!

I worked really hard. I'm still working hard. I'm just winging it out here on some random current of creativity that seems to be keeping me afloat (ish.) And I'm going to keep doing it. 

Yeah...I'm proud of me too!

And I'm proud of you, for taking a chance on The Impossible Girl. For believing in art, for following through. Yes. You.

Eat a cupcake!

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Life still has it's ups and downs. Sad days, bad things. But overall I am very happy with where I am, and what I am doing, and who I am doing things with. I have a great network of creative friends, and my art is getting better and better all the time. I can't wait to release Chapter Two on September 15th!

And I'm looking forward to playing at The Independent in San Francisco this Friday, August 20th. May be my only California show this year...unless it sells out, and then I'll have to come back.



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Thank you for making The Impossible Girl possible. 


Love,

Kim Boekbinder
The Impossible Girl