Emily Richards: Blog

Emily loves the magic of the winter holidays! Christmas Hope is her favorite holiday album of the several she's released -- glowing with the light and warmth of the season. The thirteen uplifting songs featured on Christmas Hope reflect Emily's dedication to love this special time of year.  

Emily (aka Madam Snowflake) is excited to share two music videos from the album with you as a Christmas gift. The first, All Comes to Life is a beautiful winter love song -- opening the hearts of all who watch and listen.

The second video The Light, produced by Kara Square, explores the magic of candlelight, a warm hearth, winter stars, the northern lights, and the solstice.

Emily's album Christmas Hope is available on iTunes, Bandcamp, Jamendo and Spotify. 

Madam Snowflake (aka Emily Richards) delivers vocals that drip with sweet emotion in her new release Honey Valentine -- designed to spark and caress the souls of lovers.  Consistent with her dedication to collaboration and attention to production quality, Honey Valentine stays true to Snowflake's passionate artistry by seamlessly creating a soundscape that burns softly throughout the 15 track collection. By harnessing the production talent of remix artists from the global community at ccMixter.org, she once again showcases a culture that is truly fueled by love and gifting. 

The first single from the album, Our Whole World Circling (Loveshadow mix), features a beautiful lyric video featuring vast landscapes and moving imagery -- created by Kara Square. 

Honey Valentine features all original songs by M. Snowflake combined with the collaborative production work of remix artists Loveshadow (UK), Ghost Kollective (Poland, UK, Canada), Alex Beroza (Belgium), Zep Hurme (Finland), and many other talents from the ccMixter international community.

Madam Snowflake's album Honey Valentine is available on iTunes, Bandcamp, Jamendo and Spotify. To learn more, visit www.madamsnowflake.com. 

Emily Richards Launches First Music Video in 15 Year, Under Alias "Madam Snowflake"

Climb" is the Debut Music Video by Madam Snowflake (Emily Richards)

The dysfunction and depression in ourselves and our world are explored through the lens of awakening by Madam S. in her track "Climb."

The delicate yet powerful vocals of Madam Snowflake are heard in hundreds of thousands of remixes all over the world. Her high-quality vocal stems for "Climb" are available under CC license here: 

**http://beta.ccmixter.org/files/snowfl...

Madam Snowflake has teamed up with producer Nico Fyve for the single "Climb" -- and rumor has it they are working on an entire collection of tracks and videos to be released over the next year. 

 

Climb

I’m dysfunctional baby

And so are you
Clearly dysfunctional baby
There’s nothing to do but

AWAKEN
AWAKEN

Soul smothered by mental illness
Ego entertained by screen violence
So obviously flawed in our history books
What can we do?

Yea, I’m dysfunctional baby
And you’re dysfunctional baby
We’re all dysfunctional baby
There’s nothing to do but

AWAKEN (out of the madness)
AWAKEN (light in the darkness)
AWAKEN (out of the madness)
AWAKEN

(Climb out of this well of insanity
Climb out, climb out, climb!)

Call to arms and extermination 
How can we call ourselves human 
Witnessing species mutation
There’s nothing to do but

AWAKEN
AWAKEN
AWAKEN
AWAKEN

AWAKEN (out of the madness)
AWAKEN (light in the darkness)
AWAKEN (out of the madness)
AWAKEN

Climb, climb
Climb out of this of well of insanity
Pull me out of this cell of insanity
Climb out, climb out, climb out
Climb!

Copyright Emily Richards, RillRiver Publishing

LECTURE-RECITAL
Introduction to Music For Healing
University of Utah Campus Wide Collaboration
with Global Community ccMixter.org
January 27, 2015, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
David Gardner Hall Room 270

Presenter:  Emily Richards, CEO ccMixter.org
Alumna of U of U David Eccles School of Business
Professional Musician, 14 album releases

---

You are cordially invited to attend a unique lecture-recital hosted by the U of U School of Music on Tuesday, January 27. Alumna EmilyRichards will introduce a new campus-wide creation project entitled Music for Healing. All students and faculty are invited to learn how they can participate in this project focused on creating a new collection of Creative Commons licensed music to help others.

Whether you play an instrument, sing, write lyrics, compose, or read poetry, your participation will provide collaborative opportunities with the international community of 45,000 producers and musicians at ccMixter.org.  Your contribution could also be incorporated into Dr. Norman Foster’s Music and Memory program, film, video games, web videos, or future music album releases. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to express your creativity and be part of something being offered only by the University of Utah.

Organizing areas of the U of U:
School of Music
David Eccles School of Business
Lassonde Entrepreneurial Institute
School of Medicine
Marriott Library

After MP3.com, my music didn't have a home. For years I explored places like MySpace, GarageBand and ReverbNation. None of them had that interactive component that made MP3.com so magical. So when I finally found ccMixter.org, it felt like going home. Now I compose and record with musicians all around the world, and my artistry continues to develop and grow. ccMixter is my muse! Would you consider giving $1 to keep ccMixter running free? Please? :) Thank you!

 

Listen to Open Soul - it's Free!

I am so grateful to all of you for your encouargement and support over these many years! I was afraid to release this album because the production is so siimple. Open Soul is more like a live performance than a radio-ready album. I feel like I'm coming full circle, back to the simplicity of the start. 

I'd love to know what are your three favorite tracks -- that will help me know which songs to actually take the time and funds to produce with a full band and string section.

A special thanks to Kara Square for writing a beautiful press release about Open Soul. I'm honored by her thoughtfulness. The press release is available here. 

Of the 15 songs on Open Soul, stems for 13 of the tracks are available under Creative Commons license for remixing. If you click "Lyrics" next to each song, there is a link to the location of the stems on ccMixter.org. 

Two of the tracks on Open Soul feature the beautiful cello work of Wolf Sebastian and intricate string arrangement of Bevan Manson. All of the tracks were mastered by producer Brad Stanfield. The original paintings and artwork for Open Soul have been graciously contributed by Ken Tesoriere.

Open Soul is available for download for Green Room members. I so appreciate your support! Open Soul will be available on iTunes in early April. 

Thank you again! Namaste.

~Emily

First of Double CD Collection from Richards

It's been longer than we want to acknowledge...Emily Richards hasn't released an album under her own name since her greatest hits One or Ten in 2009. We are pleased to announce Emily will be releasing a double album of new acoustic songs.

Although seemingly silent under her given name, Emily has been in anything but a writer's slump! Under her alias Snowflake at ccMixter, Emily has composed and recorded over 100 new tracks since 2006, all under Creative Commons licenses, facilitating the expansion of Richards' music globally through remixes, YouTube videos and mobile apps.

We convinced Emily it was time she curated a selection of her new songs to share with you in album format. Open Soul and Open Heart are two albums that share her personal and spiritual journey over the past several years.

"My songs show the deepest and most personal parts of me," commented Richards. "I'm blessed to share much of these experiences with my fellow artists at ccMixter. They have buoyed me up and helped me develop every aspect of myself. I am grateful."

Emily's first of the two albums, Open Soul, features 15 songs penned and recorded by Richards, featuring her expressive vocal and piano work. Two of the tracks feature the beautiful cello work of Wolf Sebastian. All of the tracks were mastered by producer Brad Stanfield. The original paintings and artwork for Open Soul have been graciously contributed by Ken Tesoriere.

Given the stripped-down acoustic nature of this Song Collection, listeners can hear the true depth of soul Richards possesses. Turn the lights down, light some candles and swim in the sensory of music.

Open Soul will be available for download for Green Room members that support Emily Richards on March 4. Open Soul will be available on iTunes in late March.

For this Valentine's Day, Emily put together a playlist of some of her best love songs produced by her favorite artists on ccMixter.org. Light some candles, turn the lights down low and turn the music up. Enjoy!

 

 click album covers to stream for free!

 The Season of Graittude double album proves Emily has come a long way from her first holiday production work with Christmas Angel! With Peace of Winter and the Best Time of the Year A and B Sides under her belt, Season of Gratitude is Emily's favorite winter holiday album collection to date. 

Emily's lovely songs and vocals are featured on Winter Glow, Give It Away, Like Decembers Do and This Christmas on Side A and Shine and It's Cold Outside on Side B.

To get both albums support ccMixter as a Green Room Contributor for just $15 -- and get CD quality downloads of Season of Gratitude A Sides and B Sides. Blue Room Contributors will receive the physical double-CD via mail, printed with soy-inks on 100% recycled cardstock with biodegradable shrink-wrap. ccMixter.org is a nonprofit website run by ArtisTech Media, the company for which Emily is the CEO and a co-founder.

Season of Gratitude is available on iTunes and Amazon for digital download. Both albums make thoughtful, inspiring gifts this holiday season, embracing diverse cultures and traditions. 

iTunes Season of Gratitude A Sides           iTunes Season of Gratitude B Sides

Amazon Season of Gratitude A Sides          Amazon Season of Gratitude B Sides

The Season of Gratitude physical double-CD is available at select locations in the Los Angeles area.

Read the full press release here.

Emily's holiday music is soulful :)

Emily released the remastered Christmas Angel two ears ago. Including a delightful version of I Saw Three Ships, a beautiful rendition of Silent Night and a touching original Christmas Angel, this holiday album highlights some of the simple joys and emotions of the season. 

To download Christmas Angel in MP3 or lossless format, join Emily's Blue Room.

To support Emily Richards and her music, join one of her rooms and receive lossless downloads of her other albums as well!

Emily Releases 13th Album Under 'Snowflake' Persona

After seven years since releasing Valhalla, I'm so honored to finally release Open In The Garden!  I've been writing these songs since 2005 -- and although they've been afraid to be heard, they are now released to the world (eeks)!

To listen, just click the album cover. To discover more about the songs, click Lyrics by each song title for lyrics, credits and stems. I hope you'll check out the artbook with its intro and thank yous. And please feel free to post a comment with your impressions of the songs, production, song order, etc. To download in CD-quality, with the high-res artbook, become a Green Room member.

I was soo very lucky to work with the amazingly talented producer Loveshadow -- he did all of the production work in his studio in the UK -- we've never actually met in person. It has been an extraordinary process and I am soo grateful to him and everyone else at ccMixter and TuneTrack that helped make this possible!

• Open In The Garden Press Release
• Open In The Garden Note from Producer

I hope you enjoy the songs -- they come from the deepest, truest part of me.

Peace.

I'm happy to announce the release of Can't Take It With You as a TuneTrack-LP! I was very lucky to work with some talented stars on this album in Los Angeles.  Playing with Jason Brock, Al Linker, Toulouse Holliday, and John Jones is forever etched in my Soul!

Can't Take It With You is free to stream and view for everyone. The CD-quality tracks and high resolution artbook are available for download by the wonderfully supportive members of Purple Room - you make everything possible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

click to listen and view

Peace.

Merry Christmas! How quickly each year circles around. It's been extraordinarly cold here in San Diego - frost but no snow. The winter holiday season is my favorite -- there are so many cultural and spiritual sacred days this time of year to honor. And, I LOVE Christmas!

Last year we remastered Christmas Angel, the holiday album Jason and I produced. We tracked the songs in our Los Angeles apartment the first Christmas after Annie passed away, and John Jones mixed it (thank you John!).

The title track, Christmas Angel, brings back memories of longing and loss that first holiday. If any of you have lost someone close this year, I hope this song may give you some comfort.

"There is a new star, and a new angel, an empty place at the end of the table...."

Previewing my music and artwork is always free. If you feel like downloading CD-quality tracks, or just supporting my music (and my new album, Open), join my Blue Room. :)

It looks like I'll be skipping this ski season (but my LCL is recovering!). Oh, could you please send me pictures of your ski outings, so I can live through you?

Merry Christmas everyone! Peace.

Attribution

I stood tall and alone, pro se, before a federal judge on October 8, 2010. To my right sat a nervous lawyer for Wells Fargo. Jason, the only audience.  I pled my case of fraudulent foreclosure against Wells Fargo, the national bank where I've held my money, and that of my clients and companies, for two and a half decades.

I have no real experience in legal matters. I won.

The granting of a preliminary injunction in my favor against Wells Fargo Bank is the third 'win' in my column. Wells Fargo has a score of zero. I'm suing the Bank for 9 counts of fraud. I have an admittance from an employee of Wells Fargo -- supporting me, admitting to misrepresentation. Wells tried to publicly auction my home behind me, yet, while in front of me, they were pretending to finalize modification and reinstatement. There are too many series of lies to tell in this entry (part two or three). Some of you remember I was an auditor for PwC for over 10 years.

How did I get here (many good days go by...)? Well, even though I stood alone, I have not been fighting alone.  You could say I'm 'crowdsourcing' this lawsuit with friends, families, colleagues, and people I've never met, all across the country. These people are my source of knowledge, strength and energy. I am grateful, beyond words.

Creative Commons licenses have taught me the importance of attribution. I feel attribution is currency, perhaps worth more than money. This Part One of Crowdsourcing Lawsuits is dedicated to all that deserve Attribution for their contribution to my cause.

Emily Richards v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. -- made possible by (it's long, but important to remember everyone I can!)

Emily Richards, Plaintiff pro se. Aggregator of data and active force in legal system. Auditor. Fraud detector. Seeker of justice. Inspired by Gandhi.

Jason Brock, partner to plaintiff. Providing support in all centers. Pseudo para-legal. Gives meaning and celebration to existence. Creating contagious peace and harmony. True love.

Susan Joseph. Legal and 'jovial' source. Conducted and documented legal intake (for hours). Illuminated wrongs being done. Actively worked to find ways to make it right.  Friendship. Guidance. Access to templates. Para-legal in real life. Creative comrade. A gift.

Kate Gange. Legal and 'martial' force. Soul energy. Offered assistance without expectation. Managing Mike's involvement. A true friend. An angel.

Mom and Dad. Endless listening ears. Unconditional Love. Support. Belief. Proactively and endlesslessly exercising anything in their means to resolve outside legal system. Prayers.

Mike Cheatham. A lawyer in NYC that helped outline the steps. A guide for legal vocabulary and process. Available. Patient. Kind. Generous.

Thomas Bayard. A lawyer in Diamond Bar that's provided templates, complaint examples, case law, suggestions, guidance, kindness, support, flexibility, generosity.

Branden Butler. A lawyer for the San Diego Legal Aid society. Provided templates, suggested course of action, verification of fraud and possibility of success, stability, genuinely sincere.

Gil Cabrera. Legal eagle! Advice. Introductions. Assistance. Process and case references. Positive. Kind. Generous. Honest. An inspiration.

David Mollon. Attorney in NYC that helped me write my memo for preliminary injunction. Calming influence. Friend. Conscious Soul.

Karolina Ericsson. Attorney in San Diego that took time to meet. Gave great suggestions. Providing emotional support. Positive. Genuine. Kind.

Chris Barnette. Attorney in San Diego that also took time to meet. Honest. Realist. Strong.

Robert Dunally, Elise Seidman Salisbury, Don Hicks, Laura Maxwell, Flo Schuck, Talechia Principato, Judy Rowles. Support, references, proactive outreach, action, encouragement through legal and real estate perspective. Friendship.

ccMixter and the artists that remixed, reviewed and recommended Goodbye Wells Fargo. Kevin Carmony and John Raifsnider for listening to me sing the day I wrote it. TuneTrack and ArtisTech Media. You guys represent the positive connectivity of the Noosphere. Music can change the world.

Carol Riley. Soul sisterhood. Ideas for organizing/filing legal documents. Proofreading. Verifiable confirmation of wrong-doing. Dragonflies.

Rebecca Cannon. We call her St. Rebecca. Scanning more than 100 pages of legal docs. Listening. Feeding us food for our bodies and laughter for our spirits.

Jeane Archer. Banana bread. Pasta. Chocolate cake. Zucchini bread. Spinach puff pastries. Scarves. Hats. Sweetness. Strength.

Kirsten and Quincy Swartz-Morton. Love. Food. Trips to Staples. Lucky socks. Hope.

Keri, Natalie, Brad and family for support- in every way imaginable. Providing for our family - materially and spiritually. Annie for a quiet, constant spiritual presence. Giving faith and belief that with Divine assistance, all things are possible.

Nancy Shelmon, Jenny Christiansen, Lane Cannon, Jared and Luji Brock, Alex Goodwin, Nicole Tafralian, Amie Stahura, Shalayne Topham, Sarah Romeo, Wendy Haws, Eric Steur, Lauren Feder, Sabine Froliche, John Manning - for giving me the strengh to share my story and for understanding my frazzled fragility. Kindness. Sharing. Encouragement. Higher Love.

Cathryn Beeks, Todo Mundo, the musicians, friends, and audience at the Acoustic Alliance on 10/10/10. Your listening ear, our energy exchange and your hooting applause gave me a lot of strength.  More than you know. Again, music can change the world.

Monique Farantzos and everyone at doubleTwist who patiently watched me walk through this nightmare. And at the same time, still give me reasons to believe that formidable odds are no reason to quit.

My friends on Facebook that offered ideas, support and encouragement. Thank you!

Mahatmi Gandhi for refusing to be forced from first-class to the back of the train, having paid for a first-class ticket. It was this scene in the Gandhi movie that changed EVERYTHING for me.

Martin Luther King, Mervyn Brady, JR Sterling, John Hess, Scott Allen, and Timothy Drinan for being my angels. Annie too of course.

Jesus. God. For giving me a dark night of the Soul that forced me into my shadow.

Goobye Shadow. 46 and 2 - just ahead of me.

Namaste.

Coming Next (but not necessarily soon!) Part Two of Crowdsourcing Lawsuits: Wells Fargo Foreclosure Fraud. Source documents and procedure.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a predicament I'm facing with some of you.  I've been a member of ASCAP since 1995 - I joined when I was recording my first album 'I Should Be Flying' in Nashville.  Last October, our little company of artists celebrated as we took over operations of collaborative music site ccMixter.  ASCAP is attacking ccMixter saying "we're undermining copyright and artists livelihoods."  Those of you who know me well know this is totally the opposite of the truth!

Today, ccMixter announced the Freedom To Share Remix Event in response to ASCAP.  I hope this project, and the music bound to be created through the process, has a positive, educational impact on my friends at ASCAP -- that are clearly speaking untruths from a place of ignorance.

I'm encouraging my friends, fans and family to participate.  Write a poem or song about artistic expression, the collaborative process, freedom, inclusion, evolution -- and record it and upload it for the project.  If you don't have the ability to record your poem yourself, share it with me under Creatieve Commons non-commerical license -- and I just may record for you!  You will see yourself that collaborating doesn't diminish your copyright, but rather, increases partnership.

Peace.

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Finally - the digital-LP for Valhalla is done!   It's only taken me a year (but what a crazy year - sorry for the delay Alex!)......

Anyone can listen and preview for free so enjoy! If you want to download, join my Listening Lounge (Purple Room - it's dark with hot purple black lights in there-haha!).

The recording of each song on the album created such great memories for me. Like Fire of Lonely at DrumRoll Studios where John Jones recorded us all live (we added Clay's flute later). And recording Ralf's drums with Sean at Juscat.

If you join the Purple Room, you'll the download for all of my digital-LPs (11 albums). I know it might seem expensive at $69 bucks, but you get at least $110 worth of music and merch, and receive an Executive Producer Credit on 'One or Ten' CD (environmentally friendly CDs made from potato of course!) set for summer release.

Thank you for your continued support and for listening!

Here's a kiss for your love!

Peace....

Happy Holidays! I'm so happy about my new Peace of Winter album!

Peace of Winter was created by Snowflake (me) and some of my favorite international musicians: Loveshadow (UK), ditto ditto (France), @nop (Japan), RadioZero (Dominican Republic), SackJo22 (Los Angeles), and many more. 

Would you like to enjoy music that sends peace straight to your Soul? And also send a message of goodwill this holiday season with a gift to the Dalai Lama Foundation? Join Snowflake's Listening Lounge for only $5 and do just that!

Peace of Winter digital-LP

Joining Snowflake's Listening Lounge gives you the full Peace of Winter digital-LP (CD-quality download, artbook) and other neat treats. You can buy Peace of Winter at iTunes too!

Creating this album has moved me - musically and personally.  I feel closely connected to each of the musicians and artists that contributed their creation of goodwill in spirit of the season. I hope you feel that connection while you listen to the magical music and look at the beautiful art.

You can read the official press release here.

 

Thank you for supporting me and my music. This journey has been filled with turns and surprises, but at every turn, you've been there cheering me on.

Peace,

~Emily
(the artist also known as Snowflake!)

Happy Holidays! I can't believe it is already that time of year again.

I apologize to all of you that back when I released my album Christmas Angel in 2000 on MP3.com, it was only released in low quality (128k MP3). John Jones had the masters, and crazily, we never released a full CD quality version of it. I'm embarrassed Christmas Angel in its low quality form has been on iTunes all these years.

Thankfully, JJ gave me remastered song files earlier this year, and we sent the new and improved files to Big Fish Media and they released it on iTunes Tuesday - you can get it HERE.

In the spirit of Christmas, we've put together the Christmas Angel digital-LP, complete with original artwork, credits, lyrics and CD-quality downloads (iTunes only offers 256k MP3 to its listeners) - for the Emily Richards Indigo Circle members. You can preview it here!

Christmas Angel digital-LP

My favorite song on the album is the title track, written in honor of Annie. Listening back to it again these 9 years later, I'm reminded the holidays can be wrought with polarizing difficulty when you've just lost a loved one. "There is a new star, and a new angel, an empty place at the end of the table..." I hope Christmas Angel may give just a little bit of comfort to those who understand what I mean all too deeply. Thank you for your love and support these many years. May music fill your hearts this season, giving you peace and joy.

Always,
~Emily

Emily Richards Offers Free Download of Album 'You Give' with Artbook Enabled Music Player

Sep 09, 2009 – Emily Richards has just announced she will be offering her entire hit-album 'You Give' as a free download for fans (in full CD-quality), along with the record's album art, liner notes, lyrics, and other extras at TuneTrack.net on 9/9/09. A new interactive music player at TuneTrack.net allows fans to experience 'You Give' as they would the physical CD, with uninterrupted streaming while 'flipping' through 19 pages of album art and also perusing liner notes, credits and lyrics. You Give' is the second of Emily's 11 albums and was the most popular pop/rock album on MP3.com from 1998-2000. 'You Give' includes hit singles 'To Love You', 'Do You Remember', and 'Lie to Me', all written by Ms. Richards. 'To Love You' has been downloaded by more than 1 million listeners alone.

          

Richards offers her GreenClub and IndiClub Members the same high-quality audio and visually interactive experience with 'One or Ten', her best-of album, privately released on TuneTrack.net on 4/20/09. In addition to Emily's 10 best songs voted upon by her fans, 'One or Ten features two remixes (by Brad Stanfield and Jayson Haws) of her song 'Apologize' (about the North Pacific Gyre) from the ccMixter Earthday 2009 Remix Project. 'One or Ten's' 18 page artbook includes lyrics as well as personalized comments from Emily about the composition and recording of each song. Downloads are available in 128k, 156k, & 320k MP3, FLAC (lossless/full CD-quality) and OGG.  'One or Ten' will be available via standard iTunes release (without the extras offered through TuneTrack) in October '09.

ArtisTech Media's Co-Founder and Software Architect, Alex Goodwin, designed TuneTrack's new music player in a way that gives indie artists and their fans a more robust musical and visual experience. "We've heard iTunes and the Majors may be working on one or more new album formats that incorporate some similar elements, but they are likely to be proprietary with delayed or even outright denial of access to indie artists," stated Mr. Goodwin. iTunes does not include credits, lyrics and other liner notes provided by indie artists, and does not offer full CD-quality/lossless downloads at all.

Emily Richards is the CEO and co-founder of next-gen music label ArtisTech Media and is best known as the most downloaded indie-rock artist on MP3.com. She has self-released 11 albums and her songs have been downloaded more than 3 million times.  Ms. Richards is also the Chairman of AWAKE Community and Heal The Gyre.

Visit http://tunetrack.net/emilyrichards/releases/you-give/player/ to experience 'You Give' via the new TuneTrack music player. Visit http://tunetrack.net/emilyrichards and http://tunetrack.net for more information.

 

Join Emily's GreenClub and get her new album "One or Ten" along with three Living Room Live concerts, videos, private blog posts and more!

Namaste....

I'm getting excited for the john jones album release party on August 3 at Life on Wilshire!  I'm also feeling a little overwhelmed with so many songs to learn (and I'm not even sure which song of mine to do).  It is going to be an amazing night - like a reunion of all the LA music folks I haven't seen in years.  It is great to be involved with a record company that brings the creative collective together.

I'm excited to share the stage with so many super talented people at once - john, sean, brad, sebastian, jason, jayson, davinci....and more!

My GreenClub and Indigo Members can be put on the guestlist for free...let me know.

Cheers....

Annie, Keri, Natalie, Emily at Lake Powell

Today marks the nine year anniversary Annie's passing.  The efforts I make to understand this marked moment of my life have expanded my consciousness and opened my heart.  On this particular anniversary, I seem to have a deeper understanding of 'timelessness.' 

My memory of the event of Annie's death is timeless.  This morning, I allowed myself to relive it.  I was in Cleveland, OH on the MP3.com tour bus, with Jason, Barlow and my band.  My sister, Natalie, was the one who delivered the news of Annie's death to me. I can still feel that blast of shock and the ends of my nerves, suddenly ripped to sheer, raw exposure.  The days and weeks following felt much like wandering helplessly underwater.  The early years clouded in grief have folded into moments of change and perhaps even evolution.  And now today I reflect on how Annie's death has shaped my life perhaps more than any single event...thereby it is timeless, and so is the love wrapped around it all.

My dear friend Wendy said it best in a card she sent me yesterday (she sends me a card each year on this date without fail), "...what happened to Annie turned the world over...what happened to Annie has formed you."

Sunrise at Haleakala July 19 2007

I spoke at length with my mother this morning, reflecting on our memories of Annie and July 19th's past.  Two years ago, we watched the sunrise atop the volcano Haleakala...when the first glimpse of hot light appeared above the cloud line I felt the mysterious power of regeneration, and the universe outside this dimension called time.

I am grateful to all of you that have been part of this journey with me...for your love, support, and friendship.  AWAKE Community is  going to clean-up the canyon now in honor of Annie! 

Love,

~Em

It is a very hot Sunday here in San Diego. Jason has made us pomegranate mojitos and I'm enjoying Alex's guitar in the backyard with my solar-powered Roland Micro-Cube I got for Burning Man 2007.

So WHO made that hat???

Camille Wood of DigMyHat.com designed this 'Out of Africa' hat especially for me. She is awesome and has dozens of custom-made hats available...or she can design you your very own for a little extra!

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are :D

Hey ya'll! So Jason and I are kicking off our 2009 Tour in my home state of Utah...with a little press tour and private concert at the Hoopers in Bountiful on June 19. Ten percent of our merch sales will be donated to their nonprofit, Think Outside Children's Charity. I really can't think of a better way to begin, than where it all began!

Gary and Bonnie Hooper were my backdoor neighbors when I lived in Centerville and recorded my first album in Nashville with Mark Stepheson and Kevin Carmony. They sat-in on my basement rehearsals for the show with Martina McBride. Just after I started recording in Los Angeles with John Jones, I remember writing the song Let's Pretend late one night...Gary and Bonnie came over and listened in my front room in the dark and gave me honest feedback! Jason, Jayson and I performed at many rockin' Christmas Parties at the Hoopers.

After I moved to Los Angeles, Gary, Bonnie and their son Trevor attended a special show with my MP3.com touring band (Jason Brock, Geoff Hartman and Mike Nieland) for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Long Beach. Annie was there! The Hoopers and my entire family were at the third show of the 50-city Club.MP3.com Tour at the House of Blues in Vegas - what a crazy party! One month later after Annie died, the Hoopers were an integral part of a special all ages show we did at the legendary Zephyr Club. At the 50th show in San Francisco two weeks later, Bonnie was there with her energetic love and support that I will never forget. And after the tour was finished, Trevor spent a weekend with me in Los Angeles, taking all the beautiful photographs for my Tribute album, Folded Wings.

I am amazed at the time that has passed and all the life we've experienced since those early days. The Hoopers hold a most revered place in my heart and always will.

Information about this show, Living Room Live III featuring Emily Richards and Jason Brock with special guests Jayson Haws and Debbie Wesemann Siebert, can be found HERE!

Meet and Greet: 7:00-7:30
Concert begins: 7:30p
Intermission: 8:45-9:00pm
GreenClub After-Party: 10:30-Midnight
Charity: Think Outside Children's Charity
RSVP to reserve your place at this Guest List only event.  See you there!

I'm very happy to introduce you to one of my favorite musicians and producers, Brad Stanfield. I first met Brad when I played at the House of Blues Los Angeles back in 1999. We, along with Jason Brock and Periel Marr, were in a band called the Freedom People for a very magical period from 2004 to 2006. We will be releasing some of our mystical recordings from Kevin's house as Freedom People in the next couple of months.


Brad has been here in San Diego since late Thursday night and we are having a blast! We're nearly finished with creating his TuneTrack website and new release Wizard (he is giving away AWESOME source tracks to his GreenClub!!). For a limited period time, my GreenClub members can get his album, source tracks and GreenClub membership for only $4.20 (now you can't get that at iTunes!). I'm certain you will love his work as much as I do!

We are headed to the ocean for a quick, refreshing dip...then onto recording the tracks "The Noose", "Rise" and "Alabaster Dove"!!!! GreenClub members just might get early versions if you let me know you want them!

Peace! ~Emily