News

Josephine Decker worked magic once again! My god, her wildly strange and brilliant film, "Butter on the Latch," in which I played the lead actress, just received three absolutely glowing reviews from The New Yorker, Indie Wire, and The Film Stage. What started our of curiosity, as a terrifying experiment to try acting for the first time, turned into a dream come true. The collaboration was alive, scary, and deliciously challenging. And... now the product that was yielded is other-worldly. I so much love this film. It's like nothing I've ever seen before... and I praise Josephine for her persistence in doing what we all find most scary... making something that doesn't yet have a template anywhere... this film tells stories so unusually. I will keep you updated regarding our NY premiere. To stay updated about "Butter on the Latch" on Facebook, click here.

Tableau Music is here! … on Black Sea Hotel's new album! … 

Ibish Aga (the folk song that ends with sustained "umre's" from Tableau 2011 
is included on Black Sea Hotel's brand New Full-Length Album. 

Here is a sneak peak preview of the unmixed/un-mastered track, so you can remember the "Ibish Aga" moment in Tableau. 

Click to pre-order our new album! 

For those of you more adventurous… there are a wide range of enticing incentives available… including songbooks and bloopers, but our personally favorite incentive is this: we will come to your house, cook you banitsa, shopska and other Bulgarian dinner and dessert treats; we will drink honey liquor with you; we will sing for you, laugh with you, exchange stories, then sing you to sleep with lullabies, after which we will come downstairs, clean your kitchen, leave you a present on the table, and quietly let ourselves out…

Guys! Oh my God… I acted in a Horror Movie. Not Kidding….

It's called Butter on the Latch  -  World Premiere 5/9 and 5/11 in MD.

As an experiment, as prompted by Director Josephine Decker and her insatiable urge to create insanely chilling filmic stories, I acted, for the first time, in a movie!… It took place at Balkan Camp in Mendocino CA, where I go during the summers (in real life) to study Balkan singing. She decided to use Balkan Camp as a backdrop for the story of a young woman, played by me (aptly named Sarah), who looses her mind inside a folk song, Zhenish Me Mamo she's learning about dragons who intwine themselves in a woman's hair and carry them off through the forest, burning as they go. The film explores a friendship, a romance, and terrifying interplay between imagination and reality. The Eastern European Folklife Center was kind enough to allow Josephine and her crew in to create this film. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when we started shooting this movie together, but my god am I glad we did this… The story is brilliantly directed and edited Josephine Decker and hauntingly shot by Ashley Connor. For those Black Sea Hotel fans, an original arrangement of Zhenish Me Mamo will be included on Black Sea Hotel's new album, as well as in the soundtrack of Butter on the Latch.

Butter on the Latch premieres at the fifteenth annual Maryland Film Festival next month:
Click here for details.
Location: The Charles Theater, Windup Space, MICA Brown Center, Baltimore MD
Showtimes: Thursday, May 9th - 11:30pm + Saturday, May 11th, 12:30pm
Also featuring a special film selected and presented by legendary filmmaker John Waters and a silent classic shown with a live musical score presented by the Alloy Orchestra.

Black Sea Hotel will NOT be performing inside an 80K-Gallon Mayonnaise Container --- Tuesday 5/14

Instead, get ready for Shostakovich and Black Sea Hotel on Central Park West!

Black Sea Hotel was scheduled to perform inside an enormous metal tank in Brooklyn on May 14th. This show was canceled last minute unforeseen circumstances… and now, BSH has been invited, instead, to perform in a gorgeous apartment on Central Park West, overlooking the park. The event is hosted by Lenore Davis, both our host and a brilliant pianist, who will also be playing on the program. I attended a lovely house concert at this location last month. Lenore, on piano, was joined by violinist Judy Kang (adorable girl in pink just back from touring with Lady Gaga) and cellist Kathe Jarke, in a program of Beethoven chamber music.

May 14th's Program:

Dances by Shostakovich: Lenore Davis- solo piano (5 minutes)
Dvorak's Dumky Trio (mvts. 4,5,6):  Lenore Davis- piano, Matous Michal- violin, Patrick Hopkins -cello (14-minutes)
Black Sea Hotel (50-minute set)

Date: Tuesday, 5/14
Time: 7pm
Location: This is a private house concert on Central Park. Inquire within for location details.
Suggested Donation: sliding scale $15-$25 (pay what you can)
Facebook Invite

We are suggesting a $25 admission. Tickets can be purchased via our new album's KS campaign, by clicking here: www.blackseahotelusa.com/albumsupport. We want to make the event accessible to our student/ working musician friends, so for those of you who can pay only $15, then please pay $15… we want to include you too!
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HYDRA performs with Moon Fool's Titania and Special Guests

Dates:   Friday 4/26 and Saturday 4/27
Time:  7:30pm (doors)
Location:  The Hive - 20 Cook St, Brooklyn NY
Admission:  $15
Event on Facebook

Anna-Helena McLean is here visiting from London, on tour performing solo musical cabaret Titania and has invited Hydra and other special guests to open for her on both Friday and Saturday nights, this coming weekend. She was here last year, with the first incarnation of her innovative re-imagining of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She challenges her audience; she is enormously engaging… singing beautifully, but also screaming caustically, looping cello, laughing, drinking - her "performance" is some unknown breed of wild animal. Hydra and Anna-Helena will be joined by special guests, Willa Roberts (Saturday night only), Shelly Thomas and Jenny Luna.

Friday, April 19th 8pm  -  Washington, DC
Church of the Holy City
Un-mic'd - gorgeous church acoustics
1611 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
Red Line to Dupont Circle
www.churchoftheholycitydc.org

Thursday, April 18th Doors 9:00, BSH  9:45pm   -  Richmond, VA
Balliceaux
One-hour set – mic’d in club
203 N Lombardy Street, Richmond, VA
www.balliceauxrva.com

Thursday, April 18th 5:30-7:00pm  -  Richmond, VA
Balkan Singing Workshop
Illumination Studio
109 W. 15th Street, Suite 104, Richmond, VA
www.illuminationdancestudio.com
Admission and Reservations: Inquire within.
 

Wednesday, April 17th 8pm  -  Germantown, MD
House Concert
Relaxed hour-long set in intimate setting
Admission and Reservations: Inquire within.
 

Wednesday, April 17th 5:30-7pm  -  Washington, DC
Balkan Singing Workshop
The Field School
The Club Room
2301 Foxhall Rd NW  
Washington, DC 20007
Admission and Reservations: Inquire within.