'Stalker' music video by Jim Batt

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Directed by the incredibly talented (and imminently patient) Jim Batt.
This video was shot in one day in the middle of winter in Melbourne, Australia. The spunk (that's Australian for total babe) I'm stalking is Mojo Juju, an amazing musician and performer here in the land down under.

The house belongs to Frankie Valentine, Mojo's partner.

My dress was found at a vintage shop and the rest of the costume was provided by Rose Chong Costumes in Melbourne.

That little nightgown was FREEZING cold. I also had no idea how see through it was until I saw the footage.

Big thanks to: Mojo Juju, Frankie Valentine, Jim Batt, Anthony Cleave, Rose Chong's, Tim Tam's, Murray Lorden, and whiskey.

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And one other thing: MY ALBUM COMES OUT DECEMBER 15TH!!!!!!!!!!

Hearing My Song on the Radio

Today I tuned in to BBC6 Music online to listen while a fan in Florida got to call in and request any song he wanted. What he requested was my song, "Rainbows and Unicorns," and what happened inside me was amazing.

I listened to several songs before mine came on, radio friendly songs by famous artists, wondering how my song would sound next to these slick productions.

The show's host, Chris Hawkins, announced that they would be talking to listeners all around the world to get special Christmas requests. Chris said that one of these calls would be to Tampa, Florida - this is where Kyle, the young man requesting my song, lives. Seems the call to him was eagerly anticipated. They liked especially when Kyle said, "Awesome." And Kyle was Awesome. He was casually articulate and interesting. And he had chosen my song as his gift to BBC6 Music.

And then Rainbows and Unicorns started, and held it's own next to all those famous songs. There was my little song, not so little anymore, out in the world, all on it's own, doing it's thing, and being rather lovely.



I was anxious and proud and honored and shy and amazed and happy most of all.

Thank you, Kyle!

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And then I watched the final edit of my music video by Jim Batt. "Stalker" video launches tomorrow: Monday, December 13th. Watch out world, this video is really wonderful!

In Between Everything

Here I am in the midst of a performance reverie. Peaches was at this show in Berlin, she said I was intense. Intense is exactly what I want to be - along with everything else.

Here is something I've been thinking about:

Art happens in the space in between the viewer and the piece. The listener hears the space between the notes. The reader lives between the words. There is an undefinable, intangible, amazingly profound thing that happens. And we cannot see it, hear, touch it, taste it, or smell it. It happens beyond the senses, or maybe between them.

We work so hard to create these amazing works of art, symphonies and cathedrals and giant paintings, great novels, we work our whole lives to express something, to create something, that can only happen in the space in between. The artwork is not the art. Art is the incredibly personal relationship that cannot be expressed or defined.

We have art teachers, art critics, art industries. We can say a painting, a song, a book is technically good or bad; we can have subjective opinions, we can say, "Awesome!" or "Suck!" ; we can point at the thing and say yes, or no, but we cannot ever point at the art. Because art is the gap.

So why? Why bother? Why work so hard, use so many words, so much paint, learn how to play barre chords, when it isn't the art that is the art?

Because what we make provides a structure, and structure defines space, and in the space the art happens. In a properly defined space, art can be perceived, however ephemerally, however fleeting, or intangible, or rarely. We build a a beautiful thing and the art comes to it.

We try to capture art, but it cannot be captured. If the thing that lives in the gap is not allowed to move freely it will wither and die very quickly. You see it all the time, an artist has some form of success, and repeats this over and over again, thinking to capture the inexplicable thing that happened the first time, only to find that the repetition has driven the art out of the thing completely.

This isn't to say that repetition is always bad. Sometimes it is repetition that leads to the most amazing of artistic experiences. Repetition can be a form of discipline which can lead to a magnificent structure. What is bad is the stagnation and denial of movement. Trying to stay still in the moment that is already gone.

The experience of art, music, literature, is so fulfilling that we don't want to be without it ever. Moments of pure feeling, that don't necessarily have an emotion attached but can be any and all at once. It is a feeling of true understanding and belonging. What you understand or belong to cannot be explained. Open your mouth to say why and what you think/feel/know and the art, the gap, the bright, living thing in between everything, slips away.

And then we are empty. And we try to fill the space with something that resembles the thing that once filled that space. We try our own repetition. Like addicts we will do anything to fill the hole that art left.

But just as art is the gap, art is also the void. I am learning to live with the emptiness, not to give in to it, not to submit to a depression or a fear. And when I can be empty, without trying to stuff myself full of anything and everything, that is when my best work begins.


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More photos from the Berlin show. (Photos by Jim Batt.)

And by the way, Peaches is intense.

Sparkly Things and The Terror of Sleep

I am about to have my very own makeup line! Sweet Libertine and I have concocted a new line of colors - two eyeshadows and one glitter. To launch on December, 15th with my album!

Go here for the Sweet Libertine official announcement:   www.sweetlibertine.com

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I've been working hard with Molly Crabapple and Jim Batt on our animated music video for The Organ Donor's March - that song will be released on my album on December 15th. The video will come...later.

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I have so many cool merch things coming up. Interesting, odd, amazing, lovely. Yum!

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As the date approaches - December 15th - I get more and more anxious. Today is a good day so I write a blog. But man! The stress! I woke up in the midst of a full blown panic attack - sat bolt upright, unable to breathe, feeling like my insides were trying to be my outsides, as if my whole body was trying to purge itself from itself. When I do sleep I have nightmares. One nightmare featured sleep itself trying to kill me. Sleep was like a jealous lover, angry that I wasn't paying enough attention to it and beating me because of this.

Today though, I woke feeling rested, got a good email first thing, then set some fancy meetings regarding my release. Then I thought about my upcoming Australia plans, my animated music video, my album, my family, my friends, and felt like I actually have a really great life. When I sleep, things go much better.

Time for a nap?

Nope. Workworkworkworkworkworkwork.....

Love!

K

Quite Possibly Impossible

T-shirt HERE

The Impossible Girl is being...... difficult.

Today the manufacturing plant called to say there is a problem with the master audio disc I supplied them. I should tell you, I was not very nice to them. This is their fault. They should have checked the files weeks ago, when they said they were checking the files.

Every day there is a problem. Things that should be simple, easy, rote, are difficult, awkward, late, broken, corrupted.

I've put out several CDs with my band. I know how this is done. The manufacturing plant makes tens of thousands of albums every year. My mastering engineer is one of the very best. It isn't like we all just woke up and decided to make a CD. We are professionals performing the crafts we have been perfecting for years.

This isn't a crisis, this doesn't change the release date of December, 15th. It's just very stressful to get phone calls every day with new problems.

But maybe this is part of the story of The Impossible Girl. My own journey to her wasn't easy, so why should her journey to me be any easier?

Travis Louie, who drew the amazing cover art, told me he started the painting three times. I've watched him work, he's amazing, everything he does looks perfect. I can't imagine anything he does being not good enough. And he told me how strange it was to have to start this piece over and over.

The first song of the album, Impossible Girl #1, is an incantation, the sound which calls her forth into the world. I implore you to sing it with me. In your head, in your room, in your local coffee shop, at work, at home, at a glance. Sing it loud! Play it loud! Share it loud!




Pre-order the CD here:

Next album will be called, The Easy Girl....

Important News - New Release Date

In the fashion of many beautiful and difficult women, The Impossible Girl is late. Not terribly late, but late enough that I am pushing back my release date to December 15th. Sometimes art takes longer than you expect. Actually, it almost always does. But also, sometimes, it exceeds your expectations. And taking the time to make it great pays off.

 

And, well, The Impossible Girl will not be rushed.

 

As you can see above, the art by Travis Louie is amazing; the design by Jim Batt is wonderful.

 

She looks great. She sounds amazing. She's totally impossible. We wouldn't have her any other way.

 

The new release date, and the date you can expect to have your CD packages by is December 15th. In time for that holiday. And better for the wait. Believe me. It is beautiful!

 

Order the album here. You can also order additional discounted copies for friends, family, attractive strangers, strange attractors, stage actors, staid acts, stacks and stacks of them - the album that is:    ORDER HERE

 

Thank you. So much. For being with me on this journey.

 

Humbly, and with great gratitude,

Kim Boekbinder
The Impossible Girl

www.kimboekbinder.com
www.theimpossiblegirl.com
www.twitter.com/kimboekbinder

Chapter Three

Photo and design by Jim Batt www.jimbatt.com

Track #2 is probably not safe for work.

Here we are again, release day! Chapter Three of The Impossible Girl is up and out and ready for download.

Rainbows and Unicorns by Melissa Dowell: www.melissadowell.com

Lick My Love Pump by Ryan St. Germain www.ryanstgermain.wordpress.com

Impossible Girl #3 by Rita Burkholder (a.k.a. Helen Keller's Ukulele)

helenkellersukulele.bandcamp.com

He Said by Justin DeVine (he's too cool for a website.)