I just read Al’s Patreon’s message on Facebook, and wondering if Al is broke. This is not a post to make fun of or judge him, because I have been in that situation. Going from riches to rags overnight with no one to help you and it’s horrifying as all hell.
I do have a heart for anyone that says they can’t pay the bills and that is exactly what Al said. is he talking rent, water, gas and electric? It makes me wonder if Al is trying to survive like most of us.
Before some of you tell him to go get a 9-5 job, Al is 57 years old and at this point making music is all he knows how to do…It’s almost like those strippers who have been in the life for years and can’t go back to a regular job like most of us can because the money, schedule was too good and they just don’t know what else to do
Seriously, is he broke? I mean he lives in Burbank and that ain’t cheap.
I wouldn’t mind signing up for Ministry’s Patreon project. Sounds like fun
If he wants my advice, which he doesn’t, he’d start taking production/engineering gigs as often as possible.
Yeah, he could be really marketing himself to all the “local opener” grade of industrial and metal bands who worship classic Ministry and think having that “FEATURING AL JOURGENSEN” sticker on their next CD will totally help them move hundreds or thousands of additional units. There are still bands like that out there, right? He should be on tons of remix albums, doing more little guest spots singing or playing instruments in other peoples’ songs, appearing on stage at the LA gigs of various unknown bands…
I think Al said in his book though, his goal is to eventually not have any job aside from being paid to be himself. So I can see why he might want to try the Patreon thing even if not as a last resort.
I think Al said in his book though, his goal is to eventually not have any job aside from being paid to be himself. So I can see why he might want to try the Patreon thing even if not as a last resort.
That makes sense. Maybe he’s trying to come as close to retirement as someone who blew 30 years of stardom on dope and who doesn’t have a career 401K can.
I’d pay him $150 to ditch the face jewelry and cut his hair.
See, in a funny way that’s how artistic patronage used to work: I pay you ‘x’ amount of money or other valuable resources, then I get to dictate the terms of your artwork, like having you paint me surrounded by seraphim blowing on golden trumpets and admiring my bronzed and perfectly sculpted abs. A real patron, it’d seem to me, would be someone telling Al “ok, I want you to record some new tracks in such-and-such style” and he would have to do it, no questions asked.
Which makes it amusing that Al’s using a patron-seeking website in the way he is using it: “give me some money, and you’ll continue to have no influence on what I actually do, but I’ll go even further down the rabbit hole of silliness that has gotten me to this point.”
All this said, I think artists should be free to pursue whatever creative avenue they want without worrying about how well it will be liked - there’s nothing wrong with trying to create the audience for what you do rather than just pandering to expectations. However, Al continually tries to play both the “I don’t give a fuck what you think” and “I really need your support” cards simultaneously, and that’s where he loses me.
That is along the same lines of my thinking which is, Al should have paid more attention to his fans when he was still relevant. Instead, he basically has the opposite of a fan club (prongs) where we just give him a hard time.
Is it possible he actually thinks that his whole contrarian “I’ll do whatever I want!!!” shtick is the thing that attracts fans to him? Rather than the moments of ingenuity that he put on record earlier?
How much are the tickets now?
I think they were about $100 at first sale (someone posted a picture of one on FB).
Pretty sad if he can’t sell out Chicago now.
The last tour seemed like a bit of a flop for sales/ attendance. At the Vegas show especially it seemed like everyone I met got free tickets. Anaheim wasn’t a whole lot different.
How much are the tickets now?
I think they were about $100 at first sale (someone posted a picture of one on FB).
Pretty sad if he can’t sell out Chicago now.
The last tour seemed like a bit of a flop for sales/ attendance. At the Vegas show especially it seemed like everyone I met got free tickets. Anaheim wasn’t a whole lot different.
Don’t know how much the tickets are or were. But if the ad is Sponsored, that means someone in the Ministry camp paid to have that ad in my feed. Can really only mean poor sales.
[reply]I’d pay him $150 to ditch the face jewelry and cut his hair.
, then I get to dictate the terms of your artwork, like having you paint me surrounded by seraphim blowing on golden trumpets and admiring my bronzed and perfectly sculpted abs
Not long ago I implied that Al isn’t looked upon very favorably here when I pointed out that his BD appearance happened in a Clark Street bro bar, if you remember.
He wasn’t invited to the Wax Trax Retrospectacle either and it seemed that nobody missed him.
I’d go so far as to say that he’s persona non grata among Chicago concert goers and event attendees these days.