(reprinted from ilyAIMY upDates 4/12/20)
… and just like that… I deleted everything I’d been working on for the last hour or so. Truly, I labour over these things more than I ought to. Honestly, looking at our stats only 1/5 of the mailing list regularly opens these things anymore so I’m REALLY only writing to about 2 thousand people… but we Love you. We MISS you. My urge to communicate overrides the logic of it all, but after this email mayhaps I’ll be researching ways to increase my open rate because that’s an average average, and I’ve always aimed for an above-average average.
But I’m not gonna get there by deleting all my work.
Today is the first month since our last gig. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it, and to the rest of us, mayhaps a message of rebirth and the conquering of death should still be welcome. Generally my springtime is rife with allergies, both vicious and viscous, but this year I’m trying to hold all of that in as coughing and sneezing might get me crucified by the neighbours, no matter that this would be seasonally inappropriate.
Yes, the trees are blooming, the grasses are blooming, Baltimore is blooming – and we’ve all broken out in webcasts, Livecasts, broadcasts… our eyes and ears are streaming. This week I’ll run an open mic, we’ll go Live from the Lair, AND we’ll premier set II from my birthday show – a little full band action while the full band is FULLY immobilized. Heather did her first webcast last night and if you missed it you can catch back up with it here : https://www.facebook.com/halloyd/videos/10157264395308481/
On top of everything else, the neighbours have all somehow acquired puppies. Seriously dawg, where’d you get yer dog?
Our Awkward Plea : ilyAIMY hath lost all their gigs. If you’ve got some digital currency burning holes in your digital pockets, we’ve got physical merch at https://ilyaimy.square.site/ and digital merch at https://ilyaimy.bandcamp.com/ – and of course we’ll happily accept donations at https://www.paypal.me/ilyaimy and Venmo @ilytips.
Speaking o’ merch : Mayhaps you’ve heard rumours that new merch is in the works…we were hoping to announce two new items together. One is still in the pipeline, but we now have the other one available: yup, ilyAIMY Hands Sanitizer! Each custom-printed 0.5-oz bottle comes with a download card for our song “Hands,” plus a printed handwashing chart with lyrics (’cause it’s always better to wash with soap & water when you can!).
If you are an essential worker who is not being provided with adequate sanitizer supplies, please contact us at rob@ilyaimy.com for a special arrangement. Admittedly these are tiny bottles and we don’t have a huge quantity, but if a small amount helps, we’ll help you.
While you’re in our online store, you can also pick up CDs, cookbooks (you need new recipes, right?) or even add a tip. We are doing flat-rate priority mail shipping for $8 so that we can print postage online without a post office visit. Order more to maximize shipping costs!
Up there’s all the pleas and stuff. Please. Come watch. Purchase, tip, etc. But here are the thank yous. Thank you ALL so much for tipping, for supporting – thank you for the comments and the outreach, for tuning in. When we first started touring all those years ago, we were struck again and again and again by people being KIND. YOU are kind.
Today is the first month since our last gig and it’s almost 20 years since our first one. We are STILL being newly struck by your belief in us – by your willingness to dream with Heather and I as we Lived off luck and fumes and spit and Love. We are struck by your generosity and faith as now that dream encompasses Heather and her step children, Rowan and his family, Sharif and his wife and his two kids, Joey and Kristen and I with our family unit of 1 oversized cat. Our family has grown and we’ve all grown up together. We’ve never faced anything like this, but together we’re passing through it.
Thank you to our first responders, thank you to our innovators. Thank you to the scientists who are sometimes wrong but who will keep on keepin’ on till they get it right. Thank you to people who help us test our webstreams and thank you to those of you who tune in even when it’s not perfect.
This list doesn’t do enough but thank you to those who’ve given or even just given us WORK in the meantime. This list is no doubt incomplete. But I started compiling it when I was feeling down… and it helps me feel up. Thank you…
Alisa Hoyt
Amanda Odum
Amy Horgan
Amy Law
Arlene Farrier
Austin Stahl
Brightwire Music
Chris Cohoon
Daniel Gage
Daniel Ogden
Dave Godbey
Dave Mallen
David Dittman
David Weaver
Debra St Charles
Denise Woods
Edward Sabol
Elena Huang
Elizabeth Reed
Elizabeth Riley
Emily Conrad
Gillian Carney
Gwen Morton
Jason Baretsky
Jason Shimshi
Jay Keating
Jeffrey Hahn
Jesse Moody
John Roberts
Joshua Verbeke
Katheryn Phillips
Katie Graybeal
Kayak Instructions and Tours
Kimberly Shires
Kirsten Hankinson
Laura Baron
Lesley Covington
Martin Seeboth
Maura Parrott
Melva Brown
Michael Cohen
Nien-Chie Wu
Patrick Peyton
Paul Freitag
Paul Mischler
QueenEarth
Rebecca Derry
Robert Huestis
Robert Schwartz
Robustiano Fernandez
Ross Martin
Sarah Milliman
Sayeeda Powers
Sean Morse
Steve Wilson
Susan Schneider
Thom Duggan
Tommy Carroll
Triple Oak Bakery
Von Collins
Zev Goldstein
