ALPOCALYPSE NOW!!

Well, hey there.

It seems like just yesterday (but actually it was two months ago) that I got the news Lady Gaga had officially approved my parody of “Born This Way.” Ever since that moment, things have been absolutely insane (in a good way).

For starters, we were able to immediately begin work on the “Perform This Way” music video (which is now done… you can see it HERE). This is the first music video I’ve directed since “White & Nerdy,” and it marks the very first time that I have performed in drag (as far as you know). I want to send out a huge thank you to the other cast members: Vlada Gorbaneva (the body), Marissa Heart (the contortionist), Holly Beavon (the Madonna), Josuè De La Vega & Phil Collins (the dancers) and particularly all the wonderful Twitter followers, band members, friends and relatives who showed up on the set to be paparazzi. The crew was awesome as well – I think this might have been my most fun shoot ever.

Also, in the last month, the band and I did 20 live shows in 20 cities – thanks to everybody who came out to see them. The official Alpocalypse Tour will start in July – we’ll be doing a week’s worth of shows leading up to two performances at Massey Hall in Toronto (where we’ll be recording the concert for a TV special airing later this year!) – and then we’ll do a couple more months’ worth of touring in the fall.

So anyway, the album is out TODAY. (Or, if you’re reading this after June 21, 2011… just do the math.) It’s available at myplaydirect, iTunes, Amazon, Amazon MP3 and if you can find one, even at actual record stores!! If you bought Internet Leaks and/or “Perform This Way” on iTunes, as promised, you will be able to use their “Complete My Album” function to get the full album without re-purchasing the tracks you already own. If you order through myplaydirect, you’ll have the option to get some super-fancy-deluxe album packages.

The physical album is available in two configurations – as a regular CD in a standard plastic jewel case with a 20-page color booklet, or (for just slightly more) as a deluxe version with both a CD and DVD in a digipak (also with the color 20-page booklet) as well a cool embossed cover with gold foil lettering. The DVD includes music videos for ten (TEN!!) of the songs on the new album.

The “Perform This Way” video is unfortunately not on the new album’s DVD (we just finished it a couple days ago, for crying out loud) but it’s available on iTunes right now. And I tweeted a while back that we were doing a video for every single song on the new album. I wasn’t lying! That means I’m also doing a video for “Polka Face” – the first time I’ve ever done an “official” video for one of my polka medleys. 10 separate directors are currently working on this… it will be mostly animated, but there’s a tiny bit of live action as well. It’ll be out in about a month.

I announced that Alpocalypse is being released on vinyl in July, and I’m very excited about that… I was thrilled to get my very first feature piece in the New York Times… what else? Oh yeah… my children’s book When I Grow Up just got released at the iTunes store as an app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch! It’s a really cool, fun, interactive version of the book – and if you have kids (or even if you don’t) I think you’ll have a blast with it.

That’s all the updates I can think of right now. Thanks, everybody, for your continued support and for your wonderful reviews of the new album – I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!

Your pal,
Al