Shara sings Penelope: CD + NYC concert

photo by Murat Eyuboglu

On October 18th, at (le) Poisson Rouge in NYC, Shara will be performing the music of Sarah Kirkland Snider backed by yMusic, a six piece chamber ensemble with violinist Rob Moose at the helm (you remember the guy playing violin on every MBD album? yeah, that’s him!).

“This is What You’re Like” mp3

The album, entitled Penelope (which officially will be released on New Amsterdam Records on October 26th) is a 60-minute song cycle composed by Snider for Worden and the orchestral group, Signal, based on texts by playwright Ellen McLaughlin, derived from the music theater piece of the same name she and Snider wrote together in 2007-2008.

The songs loosely tell a story: A woman’s husband appears at her door after an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage. A veteran of a modern war, he doesn’t know who he is and she doesn’t know who he’s become. While they wait together for his return to himself, she reads him Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, and in the journey of that book, she finds a way into her former husband’s memory and the terror and trauma of war.

Yeah!

It’s a boy!

Constantine Jamesson Worden was born on 19 July 2010 at 10:58pm. He weighed a healthy 9lbs 4oz. (4.2kg) and was 21 inches (53.3cm) long. Mother and son are both happy and healthy!

During her long labor the first song Shara needed to hear was Clare and The Reasons song, “You Got Time”. She played the song on repeat… for a looooooooong time. Other artists on the labor playlist were The Living Sisters, Led Zepplin, and Renee Fleming. The lyric’s from Tim Fite’s sing along song “Burn it down” were changed to “baby come on down down down, down down down, please come on down!” and finally after the midwife told Shara that she had to push like she really wanted that baby to come, she cranked Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones” and sang “I want you!!! baby baby baby I want you! Yes I do!”. After 24 hours of labor, Shara and her midwives peacefully came to the conclusion that her big boy needed to be delivered by c-section. After the delivery, the surgeon asked Shara if she had anything to sing and from the operating table came a happy, though quiet refrain of the Hallelujah chorus.

Baby Constantine’s favorite band is, of course, The Constantines.

S-Dub wears a wig in the new Vinnie Paz video

MBD on the IFC- Dinner with the Band June 22

06.17.2010 – The new IFC Original Series DINNER WITH THE BAND is the first cooking show to combine culinary delights, musical performances and conversations with select acclaimed indie music artists. DINNER WITH THE BAND debuts April 27 at 10:30 pm ET/PT in IFC’s Tuesday night AUTOMAT programming block, following two new back-to-back 15-minute episodes of FOOD PARTY.

In each of the 30-minute episodes, celebrated NYC rock-n-roll chef Sam Mason (Tailor, WD-50), invites a band over to his Brooklyn loft where he teaches them how to add his signature culinary spin to their favorite “on-tour” food. Throughout the show, Chef Mason and the artists converse on food, music and life while cooking together. After they “chow down” they “get down” as each act takes to the loft’s living room to play a rockin’ musical set.

On June 22, DINNER WITH THE BAND will feature special guest band MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND. Shara Worden visits the loft with her string quartet and will play some of her beautiful tunes, and indulge in Sam’s cooking.

On the menu: Inspired by one of her songs, “Apples,” Sam is making a meal with apples in every dish. Dragonfly Tenderloin (Roast Pork Tenderloin stuffed with apples and plum paste), Gentleman Sprouts (brussel sprout salad with apples), and a side of charred cinnamon apple sauce. All this will be washed down with The Workhorse, which is Sam’s take on a Rum Old fashioned, garnished with apples. In between helping out with the meal, My Brightest Diamond graces Sam’s friends with the song, “Inside a Boy” and the song, “Apples.”

Appearances in Australia

MBD has been invited to be a part of the Vivid Live Festival in Sydney, Australia at the Sydney Opera House.  In addition to the MBD performances (in rock trio formation) on Sunday and Monday (6 & 7 June) , Shara will be a guest vocalist in the following shows:

1) Colin Stetson – 3 June at 1pm in the Playhouse

2) Blind Boys of Alabama – 3 June at 5:15pm on ABC Radio

3) Blind Boys of Alabama – 4 June at 8:50am on Channel 7′s Sunrise!

4) Slow Music Night – 4 June at 8pm in the Concert Hall of SOH (1 new song written by Shara especially for this night, accompanied by Colin Stetson, and 2 songs with the Blind Boys of Alabama)

5) Blind Boys of Alabama – 5 June at 8pm in the Concert Hall of SOH (3 songs)

Nico Tribute with John Cale in Rome, Italy April 11th

Shara will be performing

with a host of other performers

in a tribute to the Nico,

hosted by John Cale and his band,

on April 11th.

For more information you can go

HERE to download the press pdf

or get ticket info.

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Shara sings with Clogs

Please join Clogs on March 24th as we celebrate the release of their fifth album, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton, with a special concert at The Bell House in Brooklyn. After giving a sneak preview of the record this past month in Minneapolis at The Southern Theater, Shara will be joining Clogs again in Brooklyn for a rare performance of these songs by Padma Newsome.  Shara is the featured vocalist on three songs, and also duets with Padma and Sufjan Stevens on a few others.

4 Shark EP Remixes released today!

Friday January 22nd Bowery Ballroom

Happy New Year lovely people!

After a year long absence from the New York stage, My Brightest Diamond will be headlining a show at Bowery Ballroom on January 22nd. Shara had so much fun on the short European tour this last December that she, together with drummer Brian Wolfe and bassist Nathan Lithgow, decided to keep the glow alive by playing in New York and adding Butoh dancing and clowns for fun.

We hope you will join us to celebrate the limited physical release of the Shark Remixes collection. The hand numbered and signed Shark Remixes will be available at the show on the 22nd, or online on January 26th.  *If you are afraid of balloons, this is a warning that there will LOTS of balloons at this show.

Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey Street (between Chrystie and Bowery)
New York, NY 10002-2804
(212) 533-2111

tickets are $15 in advance, or $17 at the door

For those of you in the Minneapolis area, Shara will be collaborating with with Clogs on February 19th and 20th at The Southern Theater.

Clare and The Reasons and my family

Hello folks! The new Clare and The Reasons album entitled “Arrow” is out now and it is so beautiful and I hope you get it and enjoy it. I sang a little bit on the song, “This is the Story“.

This video for their song “All the wine”, directed by Ryan Foregger is rad!

Here is my uncle Donald Ryan and my cousin Barron performing at Barron’s senior recital. Wow, I should have kept taking lessons from my uncle for a lot longer.

Shark Demos as a present for you!

I’m getting out my advent calendar and counting the chocolate squares. Where are those candles for the window? As a holiday present to you, I would like to give you the Shark Demos in case you missed them in the A Thousand Shark’s Teeth pre-order.

The 6 demo recordings will be available for download on December 12th at Asthmatic Kitty. Happy Christmas!

We Were Sparkling; or surprises from a stranger

Hello dear!  I write to you today from my San Fransisco hotel room.   On my plane ride earlier today I was reading Proust’s Swann’s Way, famous for its tale of how the tasting of one tea soaked, petite madeleine brought a flood of childhood memories to mind in clear detail.  Well, with so much talk of memory and childhood, I began to reflect upon my own past, of how we erase certain things in our mind, and what causes us to remember again.    This first video was my own sort of “petite madeleine”, an experience that sneaks up on you when you least expect it; a bruise touched that you forgot you had, a stranger who seems at once familiar, a jack-in-the-box of grief.   I see that this video was made by a certain StrawberryBang and I have never spoken with this person, but when I first saw this video I began to remember.  I think it was a good thing to be surprised into feeling again.  Thank you StrawberryBang.

Here are some other voluntary videos which I recently discovered and I want to give a shout out of thanks to Federico Forlani & Alisonista for these beautiful videos!

Extra curricular activities- The Long Count, solo show & The Decemberists

It might appear that things are quiet in the world of My Brightest Diamond. Nay! There is lots of noise being made.  Shara is singing several songs in The Long Count, has a solo show at The Pygmalion Music Festival and is performing select shows with The Decemberists (see below for details).

The Long Count

In an inspired collision of creative worlds, three inexhaustibly original artists—brothers Bryce Dessner and Aaron Dessner of indie rock band The National and omnivorous visual art phenomenon Matthew Ritchie—combine talents to create a song-filled myth about the beginning of time. A feast of images, instrumentals, and songs thick with primordial mystery, The Long Count pairs Ritchie’s protean forms with a twelve-piece orchestra and the Dessners’ gothic mix of electric and orchestral sounds. Shara sings the roles of the Heart of the Sea, the Seven Macaw & the Mother of Light with performances on September 11th at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Champaign, Illinois & then later at BAM in Brooklyn, NY on Oct 28, 30 & 31. Other guest vocalists include Kim and Kelley Deal (The Breeders), and Matt Berninger (The National) to round out the line-up in this visionary collaboration between music and art.

Shara will sing some of her old MBD jams, accompanied by her pile of instruments, at 8:45pm on September 17th at the Krannert Center in Champaign, Illinois as part of the Pygmalion Music Festival.

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Shara will be performing in her role of The Queen with The Decemberists this fall.  This is it!  The final lap!  The final spell and blast of furious “repaaaaids!!” that will be heard throughout the Americas! As Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) and Shara say, this has been a delightful experience of magic, friendship & bliss. In our hearts we will be D’s fo-evuh.

September 20, 2009	Flynn Theatre	Burlington, VT	Buy Tickets Map
September 21, 2009	Wellmont Theatre	Montclair, NJ	Buy Tickets Map
September 23, 2009	Norva	Norfolk, VA	Buy Tickets Map
September 24, 2009	Charlottesville Pavilion	Charlottesville, VA	Buy Tickets Map
September 25, 2009	Thomas Wolfe Auditorium	Asheville, NC	Buy Tickets Map
September 26, 2009	The Classic Center	Athens, GA	Buy Tickets Map
September 27, 2009	Ryman Auditorium	Nashville, TN	Buy Tickets Map
September 29, 2009	St. Augustine Amphitheatre	St. Augustine, FL	Buy Tickets Map
September 30, 2009	Hard Rock Live	Orlando, FL	Buy Tickets Map
October 2, 2009	House of Blues Houston	Houston, TX	Buy Tickets Map
October 3, 2009	Austin City Limits Festival	Austin, TX	Buy Tickets Map
October 4, 2009	Cain’s Ballroom	Tulsa, OK	Buy Tickets Map
October 6, 2009	Singletary Center for the Arts	Lexington, KY	Buy Tickets Map
October 7, 2009	Ninth Street Fallfest	Columbia, MO	Buy Tickets Map
October 8, 2009	Riviera Theatre	Chicago, IL	Buy Tickets Map
October 9, 2009	State Theatre	Minneapolis, MN	Buy Tickets Map
October 18, 2009	Treasure Island Festival	San Francisco, CA	Buy Tickets Map
November 18, 2009	The Forum	London, (United Kingdom)	Buy Tickets Map
November 19, 2009	The Coronet	London, (United Kingdom)	Buy Tickets Map
November 21, 2009	Crossing Border Festival	The Hague, (Netherlands)	Buy Tickets Map

Ukrainian Sand Painter

Relevant Magazine MBD Article

Word. If you are inside on one of these hot August days and are sniffing for links whilst in front of your air conditioning unit, here is something for your perusal: Relevant Magazine

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