No instrument has spoken in more voices to more people than the guitar, and over the past decade no festival has sought out the modulations in those voices and the range of the guitar's cultural expressions than the New York Guitar Festival.
Following its success since 1999 (with rave reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Jazz Times as well as sister festivals in Urbana, Illinois and Adelaide Australia), the New York Guitar Festival announces its tenth season of concert performances, January 8 though February 4, 2010.
The festival boasts over 30 exceptional guitarists of jazz, classical, rock, traditional, and avant garde styles. Participating venues include Merkin Concert Hall, The 92nd Street Y, The World Financial Center's Winter Garden, Le Poisson Rouge and Barbes. Concerts range from an all-day Guitar Marathon interpreting the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries, (featuring, among other internationally-famous musicians, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Paul O'Dette, Ana Vidovic, Eliot Fisk, Paul Galbraith and Nigel North) to the Hindustani slide guitar music of Debashish Bhattacharya.
The festival also has a history of commissioning remarkable original works, and the 2010 season breaks yet more new ground by presenting ten classic silent films (seven by Chaplin, one by Keaton and two by Harry Smith) accompanied by original scores performed live by a spectacularly rich and varied coterie of guitarists: Gyan Riley, Alex de Grassi, Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), Steve Kimock, James Blackshaw, Marc Ribot, David Bromberg and the members of Chicha Libre.
The New York Guitar Festival, a not-for-profit arts organization, was founded in 1999 by musician and producer David Spelman, who serves as its Artistic Director. The Festival's goal is to broaden the public's appreciation for the guitar by fostering emerging talent, supporting innovative collaborations among outstanding artists, and commissioning new works. In addition to producing eclectic concerts and radio broadcasts, its Guitar Harvest series of recordings supports outreach programs in New York City public schools.
CONCERT SCHEDULE:
World Financial Center's Winter Garden
Battery Park City, bordered by West Street, the Hudson River, Vesey and Liberty Streets. Tickets and information: (212) 417-7000 / www.worldfinancialcenter.com.
Friday, January 8, 8:00pm
FREE OPENING NIGHT CONCERT
Slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, and his tabla-playing brother Subashish will present an evening of Hindustani guitar music. This Grammy-nominated artist is one of India's most esteemed musicians and has performed with musicians such as Derek Trucks, Jerry Douglas and John McLaughlin. Debashish's music, spirit, and generosity have won him new admirers and devotees around the world and we are thrilled to have him open our tenth anniversary festival. www.debashishbhattacharya.com
Merkin Concert Hall
Goodman House, 129 West 67th Street
Tickets and information: 212-501-3330 • kaufman-center.org
Thursday, January 14, 8 p.m.
Silent Films/Live Guitars
Charlie Chaplin's The Immigrant + The Kid
Music by David Bromberg and Marc Ribot
2008 Grammy nominee David Bromberg is known for his eclectic combination of blues, bluegrass, jazz, folk, country, and rock. He's recorded and performed with Reverend Gary Davis, Jorma Kaukonen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan and George Harrison among others and is presenting the premiere of newly commissioned music for Charlie Chaplin's 1917 The Immigrant. Style-morphing icon Marc Ribot has lent his mercurial guitar sounds to collaborations including Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and John Zorn, and will improvise a score for Chaplin's 1921 classic, The Kid.
Merkin Concert Hall
Goodman House, 129 West 67th Street
Tickets and information: 212-501-3330 • kaufman-center.org
Thursday, January 21, 8 p.m.
Silent Films/Live Guitars
Charlie Chaplin's One A.M. and Easy Street + Buster Keaton's Cops
Music by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Steve Kimock
Bon Iver is the nom-de-guerre of musician Justin Vernon. His album For Emma, Forever Ago was a critical and commercial hit, making him one of the most talked-about indie artists of 2008. For his scores to One A.M. & Easy Street, he's joined by Chris Rosenau, of Collection of Colonies of Bees, whom Justin calls his "guitar mentor." Steve Kimock is best known as co-founder and guitarist for the San Francisco band Zero. He's recorded and performed with Bruce Hornsby and members of the Grateful Dead-Jerry Garcia once hailed him as his favorite guitarist. He performs music for Buster Keaton's Cops.
Merkin Concert Hall
Goodman House, 129 West 67th Street
Tickets and information: 212-501-3330 • kaufman-center.org
Thursday, January 28, 8 p.m.
Silent Films/Live Guitars
Charlie Chaplin's Shoulder Arms and The Fall of the House of Usher (directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber)
Music by Alex de Grassi + James Blackshaw
One of the top fingerstyle, steel-string guitarists, Grammy nominee Alex de Grassi is renowned for his impeccable technique and compelling compositions. He's explored a variety of world music influences and drawn acclaim for his 14 recordings on Windham Hill and other labels. He presents his original score for Chaplin's 1918 masterpiece Shoulder Arms. James Blackshaw is a London-based prodigy who's released seven albums of mesmerizing 12-string compositions. His style is often described as "American primitive" and incorporates elements of Indian raga, improvisation, and psychedelia.
92nd Street Y
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
Tickets and information: 212-415-5500 / www.92Y.org
Sunday, January 31, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., with a break at 5 p.m.
The Guitar Marathon: Bach
Music by Paul O'Dette, Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Eliot Fisk, Paul Galbraith, David Leisner, Nigel North, Gyan Riley, Benjamin Verdery, Ana Vidovic, Jason Vieaux, and additional artists to be announced.
Our 5th biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y's Kaufman Auditorium is co-curated by Paul O'Dette and the NYGF's David Spelman. Some of today's finest classical guitarists and lutenists will reveal the different facets of the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries. The event runs from 2-10pm, with a break at 5pm. "An epic event" is how the The Wall Street Journal classified our first Marathon, and Jazz Times called it "a veritable guitar orgy." Half and full-day tickets will be available in August. Presented in association with WNYC Radio and broadcast on 93.9 FM.
Merkin Concert Hall
Goodman House, 129 West 67th Street
Tickets and information: 212-501-3330 • kaufman-center.org
Thursday, February 4th, 8 p.m.
Silent Films/Live Guitars
Charlie Chaplin's The Pilgrim and shorts by Harry Smith
Music by Chicha Libre + Gyan Riley
The Peruvian-influenced psychedelic pop of Chicha Libre mixes Colombian cumbia, dreamy surf guitar, and Andean melodies. They present their score to Chaplin's 1923 The Pilgrim. Gyan Riley is an equally strong presence in the worlds of classical guitar and contemporary music. He's performed throughout Europe and the U.S., both as a soloist and in ensembles with Zakir Hussain, the San Francisco Symphony, the Falla Guitar Trio, and his father, the composer/pianist/vocalist Terry Riley.
On Tuesday, February 23, Yoko Ono will perform her first Bay Area concert of the 21st Century! Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band will include the prodigious artists Cornelius, Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon. They will be performing songs from The Plastic Ono Band's critically acclaimed new LP "Between My Head And The Sky" (Chimera Records), as well as songs spanning Ms. Ono's 40 year career. Very special guest, Deerhoof will also be performing on the bill.
Complete with a kitchen that included a refrigerator with a note and photo stuck on the door, dinner table with fruit bowl, blender and more, hutch filled with china and glassware, fireplace, couch, coffee table, rug, picture frames and more in the living room, a kid's room with a bed, desk, computer and mouse, pencil jar, trophy, Snoop Dogg poster, and a bathroom with a toilet, sink, shower and curtain, plus fake trees in the yard, and the table he uses to perform presented as a large rock, the detail and thought that went into each element was flawless. The lights constructed on the outside and inside of the house, including an LCD curtain surrounding the house to make it look like the night sky, and all over the venue, added to the insanity. When the house was first presented to the audience, all the lights that were on included a few lamps inside each room, however, as the night neared midnight, the house counted down from 9 to 0, and then once midnight hit, the house came alive as lights all over the house, inside and out, shown bright. This was the first of many secrets revealed throughout the show. Others include the kitchen floor which eventually lit up turning into a disco dance floor, the entire bathroom could strobe any color, the computer in the kid’s room had an LED light attached to it, and huge amounts of light came out of the fireplace. And that’s just inside the house! There were special lights strategically hidden all over the venue that were active and radiant throughout the night.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage return to Landmark for a benefit performance with all proceeds going to The Sass Foundation for Medical Research on Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 8 PM.
Known for well-crafted lyrics, outstanding musicianship and an un-matched dedication to their live performance, Railroad Earth is a musical anomaly. Not quite rock n’ roll and not quite Bluegrass; the band captures the flavor of American history by rolling intriguing narratives into traditional instrumentation. The end result is a rootsy, bouncy, sing-along that has fans clamoring for more.
ATO Records and 
Ad Explorata – the band’s third release of 2009 (following their iTunes LIVE Exclusive NYE.ATL.08 / May 2009 and Peaceblaster : The New Orleans Make It Right Remixes / June 2009) and tenth in their full discography - finds STS9 once again exploring new musical terrain never before heard.
December 29 June Swaner Gates Concert Hall Denver CO
Giving back to the communities they visit has always been a priority for STS9. For over a decade the band has rallied their community of fans around important causes, and to date has donated nearly $250,000.00 to a variety of causes including Rock Against Cancer, Make It Right Foundation, Yellow Ribbon Fund, Conscious Alliance, Global Education Fund, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, Mariposa’s Art, Headcount, Samaritan House, and others. For 2009, 100% of STS9’s charity work benefits the Make It Right Foundation, including the release of Peaceblaster: The New Orleans Make It Right Remixes in June of this year. The album - of which 100% of the profits go to benefit Make It Right - features 30 artists including Pretty Lights, The Glitch Mob, Count Bass D, Richard Devine, Eskmo, Alex B., Ronald Jenkees and many others remixing original material from STS9’s 2008 release Peaceblaster. The release is available at 
BoomBox will be performing the post-Phish celebration on Dec. 29th in Miami before heading up to their home stomping grounds of Muscle Shoals, Alabama on New Year’s Eve --- their first performance in the area in over a year.
24 hours and almost 1,000 miles later, BoomBox will return to their hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with a special New Year’s Eve celebration at the newly renovated Grand Shoals Theater. This special evening will not only mark their first area performance in over a year, it will pay tribute to all the local fans that helped launch the duo’s national career.
The album follows Marley’s Ghost’s 2006 album Spooked, which was produced by Van Dyke Parks and featured a cover by R. Crumb. Of Spooked, Clement remarked, “The band’s eighth full-length in 20 years glides with deadpan sincerity through sea chanteys, perverted mountain gospel, country-rock, vintage pre-WWII pop, Jazz Age vamps, Dylan, western campfire songs, and a rib-tickling salute to ‘the French Elvis,’ Johnny Hallyday. Brilliantly sung and played, Spooked is a heady, subversive treat.”
“Marley’s Ghost is very experienced, versatile and best of all, open-minded, and a fun bunch of guys,” says Clement. “I prefer to play with a great band rather than a bunch of great session players. And they are a great band. They understand that we are all in the fun business and if we’re not having fun, we’re not doing our jobs. And they can play just about anything they want to. Even polkas. I ain’t got ’em to do one yet, but I will.”
Herring and band play a series of shows to introduce the album to longtime fans and new listeners, starting with an in-store performance at Austin’s Waterloo Records & Video on the day of release.