Notices by Shannon Curtis (shannoncurtis@mastodon.social)

— not to mention the minutiae, the mind-numbing rote tasks, and the constant treadmill of work in running a creative *business*.

I felt so SEEN listening to him speak! (Plus I adore him, so, that was nice 🥰) And he gives some lovely encouragement to keep going, despite it all, because it's important.

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I say "another" because it's been like that around here for ... months? With a brief break at the holidays, and when I was in the hospital last fall, we've been go-go-go-going, nonstop, for months. 🏃♂️

A friend posted a story by Dan Levy in which he talks about how on socials, it looks like art just ... appears! Fully formed! Packaged and ready to go, without any of the (actual, real) struggle, roadblocks, and persistence in the art-making itself — 

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Why was I up until 2 last night? 🤔

Well, if you know me well, you know that seeing that hour is typical around here — late nights suit us and our work. (Also, I think I was probably a cat in a previous life 🐈⬛)

But even so, as I was finally showering and getting ready for bed (in the wee hours!) last night, I realized that we had worked (another!) 12-hour day. 😅

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So ... can I ask you for a simple favor? If you a) already know about our upcoming tour (🎉), and you b) are planning to come to a show near you (⚡️), will you think of 4 friends who you think would enjoy this experience with you and text them *right now* to ask them to come with you? 👯

And then ... will you go get your tickets today? 🎟️ (Early ticket sales help us so, so, so much, I can't underscore it enough! Thank you!) You can find links to all 21 shows (so far!) at https://shannoncurtis.net/tour

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But actually cutting through the noise — of social media, of people's understandably busy lives, of tapped-out attention spans, of democracy straining under the weight of a fascistic takeover (😬) — to simply let people know about the opportunities we're busy creating for us all to share in some JOY with each other on our tour this spring ... it can feel near impossible some days.

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All that said, can I tell you the ONE SINGLE THING that is THE HARDEST thing on our list to accomplish successfully? 👉🏻 It's the act of making sure people know about what we're doing.

It can be so frustrating, honestly, because we have this AMAZINGLY FUN & JOYOUS thing we're doing with 80s kids — I mean, you should have *seen* the excitement during every single one of the "80s kids encores" we did on our tour last fall — when people get a taste of this thing, they are PUMPED.

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So yeah: today, my to-do list will grow, like it seems to grow every day these days, to prepare for our 80s kids album release and tour. It's just a mountain of THINGS TO DO! 😆 But it's good work, and it feels like important work, and I'm grateful to be doing it. And OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS it's going to be WORTH IT, and SO DANG FUN, you don't even know. 🤩

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❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷🤎🖤 Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone who knows that LOVE is for EVERYBODY, inclusive of all expressions of humanity, and that LOVE doesn’t ever try to control, marginalize, target, or dehumanize any person because of who they are, how they love, what they look like, or what their immigration status is.
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*And to anyone who doesn’t understand and act and vote with a love like that: a very unhappy day to you, be better.

The world is on fire.

The future’s uncertain.

But it’s Friday and you can do something good for yourself like getting concert tickets for the most joyful tour of the year. 👇🏻

Let’s look forward to THIS together!!! 👉🏻 https://shannoncurtis.net/tour-dates/

@hilljam #music #synthpop #80s #80smusic

Y’all. This is just unbelievably cool: DURING our #fedithon today, you all helped us get OVER Goal 3 in our 80s kids campaign! We are amazed and grateful and feeling so supported. Because of you. THANK YOU. ♥️

(We’ll be closing up the campaign portal tonight [Tuesday] at midnight pacific, so there’s still time to get over there and participate if you want — https://shannoncurtis.net 👾)

MASSIVE THANK YOU to @radiofreefedi for hosting us, and thank you everyone who joined in. 🦄

I've been through many periods in my life now — after 50 years of living here on planet Earth — when I have been faced with a sort of opportunity, let’s say, to confront old patterns, old ways of thinking about myself or the world, old beliefs … and it’s never easy or comfortable or even inevitable that I will choose to take up that opportunity.

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Some thoughts n stuff, from someone consistently grappling with how to be a person / artist / woman / member of society, that I wonder if maybe some of you here can relate to.

1/15 (it's kind of a long-y ... thanks for reading 🖤)

And the rut for me in the last week or so — the old pattern, the old belief — is this: it is not ok for you, Shannon, to ask for help.

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But even with all of that strong conviction within me, I've found myself being given an opportunity to confront some patterns that I know do not serve me. I know that they don’t serve me, because they exist as, like, a low-volume hum in the background of my days, that will wake me up at night & raise my blood pressure & not let me get back to sleep. I can literally, physically feel myself fighting to keep my thoughts out of those old, worn-out ruts, those old beliefs … & man, it is SO HARD.

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And, as you may know, we’ve been doing a campaign for the last week to ask for help in raising the funds to bring our new album and live show to the world in 2025. And, this is a project that I totally believe in, am so excited for, and really know in my bones is precisely what we need and want to be doing in the world, especially in the context of all of the scary and uncertain times we have ahead of us.

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But I do feel like each time that I have taken it up when the opportunity comes to shed old ways, that choice always ends up being The Thing that opens up for me a new, more grounded, more centered, more authentic and joyful way of being me.

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And that is stressful for someone who learned in her life (the, completely bullshit belief) that controlling the outcome of any situation is the only way to remain emotionally safe.

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I also know that it’s partially rooted in my own co-dependent desire to do everything in my power to control my experience. And, guess what: there is absolutely no way to control the outcome of how other people will respond when we ask for help. You’re just out there in no-mans land, hands open, vulnerable as fuck, waiting to see what other people will do. There's no way to control the outcome!

8/

And, y’all … I am the master of intellectualizing my feelings. And so I know, precisely, what is fueling that old belief. I know it’s partially rooted in that old bullshit american individualism ideal that I grew up with. And that, if I’m not able to do something completely on my own, then there’s probably something wrong with me, or I’m not trying hard enough, or I’m just being lazy, or that I’m not good enough … and man, there is so much shame in that narrative.

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So, I’m not, like, cured, or anything. But I’m working on it. I’m choosing it — over and over and again and again — and I hope that eventually, a new pattern will become stronger than the old one, and that it’ll overcome that old rut that I’ve gotten stuck in too many times.

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