Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo will perform a solo suspended guitar score for Buster Keaton’s 1922 silent film Cops at ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival at Krannert Center in Urbana, Illinois, on September 9, 2011.

Ranaldo’s score for Krannert Center will feature the suspended guitar phenomena of this American musician/record producer/visual artist who’s best known as a co-founder of Sonic Youth. Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo as #33 of its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, describing his music as “his own language of strange and blissful guitar noise.”

Style-morphing icon Marc Ribot, who has lent his mercurial guitar sounds to collaborations with Robert Plant, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and John Zorn, will share the bill, performing his score to Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, which was commissioned by the New York Guitar Festival. The opening titles to Chaplin’s 1921 masterpiece describe the story as “a picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear,” and the film is notable for its bittersweet combination of comedy and drama. Ribot returns to the festival later that evening for a set featuring his band Los Cubanos Postizos.

Other artists appearing at ELLNORA include Calexico, My Brightest Diamond, Richard Thompson, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, Sharon Isbin, Taj Mahal, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Adrian Belew, Robert Randolph, The Tony Rice Unit, Cindy Cashdollar, and many more.

More details on these film projects, the world premiere of Bill Frisell and Bill Morrison’s The Great Flood, and ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival at Krannert Center (September 8-10, 2011) will be released on June 15, 2011. Please visit EllnoraGuitarFestival.com for information on previous festivals and for announcements about the 2011 lineup.

Suzanna Choffel, whose dusky vocals are as intriguing as her indie-soul-pop originals and sultry stage presence, releases on Tuesday, May 24, her latest album, STEADY EYE SHAKY BOW, a collection of upbeat melodies and ballads that Choffel describes as “blues-colored dark grit” drawing from musical influences that include Stax-style jazz and Motown R&B.

Choffel and her band — Kyle Thompson on drums, Johnny Vogelsang on bass, Laura Scarborough on vibraphone and synthesizer, and Chris Gebhard on keys and guitar —will make numerous special appearances around the new release. The band recently performed at SXSW Music Festival, including a show at Auditorium Shores with Blue October.

Suzanna Choffel, whose dusky vocals are as intriguing as her indie-soul-pop originals and sultry stage presence, releases on Tuesday, May 24, her latest album, STEADY EYE SHAKY BOW, a collection of upbeat melodies and ballads that Choffel describes as “blues-colored dark grit” drawing from musical influences that include Stax-style jazz and Motown R&B.

Choffel and her band — Kyle Thompson on drums, Johnny Vogelsang on bass, Laura Scarborough on vibraphone and synthesizer, and Chris Gebhard on keys and guitar —will make numerous special appearances around the new release. The band recently performed at SXSW Music Festival, including a show at Auditorium Shores with Blue October.

Musicians from the elite Long Island/NYC/national jam band and rock and roll community are coming together for a one night effort to challenge small cell cancer and raise money for one of its own suffering from this disease.

“Band Together for Ally” will take place on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at The Homestead, 107 South Street in Oyster Bay, Long Island from 6pm till at least midnight.  Allyson Strong, after receiving her master’s degree last year, was stunningly diagnosed with small cell cervical cancer just before Labor Day.  Radiation and chemo treatments at Sloan Kettering in New York City have not yielded desired results. The community is rallying to assist with the financial needs of the family to fight this dreaded disease. Small cell cervical cancer is an extraordinarily rare diagnosis. There is much to be learned about this specific type of cancer.

This one night fundraising event will assist Allyson and her family offset an extraordinary financial burden and will feature an unprecedented- one time only lineup featuring Rob Barraco (Dark Star Orchestra/The Dead/Phil Lesh and Friends) an original founding member of Red Flannel Hash along with Ally’s dad John Strong, Jeff Mattson (Dark Star Orchestra), John Strong, Jim Kempster, Lee Finkelstein (Funk Filharmonik/Blues Brothers) Rob Barraco and Patrick “Jake” Cummings will reunite as the original Red Flannel Hash for the first time in over thirty years.

Along with the Red Flannel Hash reunion additional acts scheduled to appear include: The Jim Pin Band with Tom Bowes and members of Funk Filharmonik, Quick Draw, The Mike Nugent Band and The Folkadelics.  Red Flannel Hash will appear in its original entirety with Ally’s dad John playing bass in both the former 1970’s version of the band as well as with the current configuration acoustic for two separate sets.

Premium donations for raffles have been generously donated and include:  One Brian Moore Custom iGuitar with USB connectivity valued at $1,600, pendants from Tiffany & Co., a pair of 2011 season tickets to Bethel Woods, two separate pairs of camping passes with VIP tent access for Gathering of the Vibes Music, Camping and Arts Festival, July 24-28 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT featuring Bob Weir/Phil Lesh as Furthur, Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Jane’s Addiction, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Steve Kimock, Keller Williams as the Rhythm Devils along with an additional thirty five bands.  More Vibes info can be found at www.govibes.com.

Financial / goods and services donations continue to be gratefully accepted for this fundraising effort.  Media promotion and donations are being provided by WCBS-FM, 94 X Radio, WKJY, B-103, 103.9 WRCN, My Country 96.1 Radio.  Event hosts will include Tom Bowes from Funk Filharmonik, Jonathan Lobdell formally of WLIR-FM and Cande Roth of My Country 96.1 FM.  For those not attending but would like to participate, donations are being accepted in any amount, in the form of a check made out to BARRI GLICK and sent to DAP Agency, PO Box 3587, New Hyde Park, NY 11040.

For more information please go to: www.bandtogetherforally.com.

Held this July 14-17 at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, WV, the 15th Annual All Good Music Festival announces the addition of six new artists performing the event:

Warren Haynes Band
SOJA
Greensky Bluegrass
That 1 Guy
These United States
All Mighty Senators

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The complete list of artists confirmed and already announced for this year’s All God Festival include:

FURTHUR featuring PHIL LESH & BOB WEIR
Primus
Pretty Lights
moe.
Umphrey’s McGee
STS9
John Butler Trio
Dark Star Orchestra
Yonder Mountain String Band
Keller Williams
Galactic
Toots and the Maytals
JJ Grey & Mofro
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
The Bridge
Big Gigantic
Donna the Buffalo
The Infamous Stringdusters
Beats Antique
Papadosio
Toubab Krewe
Hot Buttered Rum
Marco Benevento
Zach Deputy
The Werks
Everyone Orchestra
J Roddy Ralston & The Business
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
Dana Fuchs
Orgone
The Rex Jam Hosted by Matt Butler & Everyone Orchestra

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With so many guaranteed unforgettable performances, attendees are spared from missing out on even a single song thanks to the All Good Festival’s unique model of no overlapping sets.  Two side-by-side stages host over 40 hours of music from a wide array of genres including the best of rock, bluegrass, electronic, jam, reggae, funk, and more.

With a record sold out crowd in 2010, patrons and media hailed the event. MTV noted the All Good Festival’s “perfect combination of great music, beautiful scenery, crisp mountain air and a friendly, laid back vibe” while the Pittsburgh City Paper called it “the best one yet.”

Taking place atop Marvin's Mountaintop, with over 650 acres of privately owned land, the All Good Festival offers picturesque rolling hills with a panoramic view of the surrounding Allegheny Mountains. Great camping is located throughout the mountaintop and on-site provisions include kids area, family camping, drum circles, food & craft vendors, quality microbrews, RV sections, ATMs, regularly serviced porta-johns, water stations, first aid medical unit, shower house and designated bonfire areas.

For the discerning festival-goer the All Good Festival offers the ‘Even Better VIP’ package. This elite festival option includes exclusive viewing and camping areas with premium site-lines, Thursday admission, private air-conditioned bathrooms, private showers, premium camping overlooking the Main Stage, Fest-taxi shuttles, exclusive All Good merchandise and much more.

A limited amount of Advance Tier 1 tickets are available now until they sell out at http://allgood.missiontix.com or charge by phone at 800-760-9008, at that time, ticket prices increase to Level 1 pricing. All Good Festival 2011 ticket prices are as follows:

Advance  Tier 1 3-Day Passes (Friday-Monday) available for $159, $40 off the gate price
Advance  Tier 1 4-Day Passes (Thursday-Monday) available for $189, $50 off the gate price
Advance  Tier 2 Even Better VIP Passes (Thursday-Monday) available for $480