k.d. lang received an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of Alberta in her native Canadian home province. In her acceptance speech during the university's commencement ceremonies in Edmonton, k.d. exhorted the university's graduates to dedicate their lives to helping others.

"Mr. DJ, can you play another song?" With those five words, David Byrne accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award from label mate and friend Laurie Anderson at the 12th annual Webby Awards ceremony Tuesday night in New York City. The Webbys, honoring the best of the internet, limit speeches for all recipients to just five words, making for some fittingly creative efforts on the part of award winners.

Congratulations to Punch Brothers' Chris Thile has been nominated for a 2008 Americana Award by the Americana Music Association. Chris joins an esteemed group of nominees in the Instrumentalist of the Year category, which also includes Sam Bush, Gurf Morlix, and Buddy Miller, who appears on Emmylou Harris's new album, All I Intended to Be.

In celebration of this week's release of Emmylou Harris's new album, All I Intended to Be, Epiphone guitars and Nonesuch Records are teaming up to offer fans the chance to win a new Epiphone EJ-200 acoustic guitar and a copy of the new CD.

The 62nd Ojai Music festival came to a close Sunday night as it began the Thursday before, with the music of featured composer, Steve Reich. It was Reich's first time at the event since he gave the West Coast premiere of his Four Organs there in 1973. This time around, it was So Percussion that performed the piece, and there was plenty more of the composer's work to be heard throughout the event's four days.

David Byrne will receive a special Webby Lifetime Achievement Award tonight at the 12th annual Webby Awards Gala at New York's Cipriani Wall Street, hosted by master of ceremonies Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live. The Webbys are the leading international award recognizing excellence on the Internet. Byrne's Playing the Building, a special, site-specific sound installation at New York City's Maritime Building, has been the talk of the town since it opened on May 31 ...

k.d. lang's extensive tour of Canada with songs from her latest Nonesuch release, Watershed, continues this week, after several stops across the expanse of her native land, which recently announced that she would be among the newest inductees to Canada's Walk of Fame. "Still thrills, this voice," says the StarPhoenix's Joanne Paulson, after last week's show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

David Byrne's latest project, Playing the Building, is set to open this Saturday in downtown New York City. Byrne has created a sound installation in which he's turned an entire building, the early 20th-century Battery Maritime Building, into a working instrument that visitors can play. Admission is free, with an opening reception Saturday evening at 6 PM and the exhibit open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through August 10. 

Tune in to the Sundance Channel tonight at 9 PM to catch David Byrne on the latest episode of the show Big Ideas for a Small Planet, titled "Transport." Byrne, a longtime advocate of urban bike use, will be part of a segment focusing on efforts to make cities more bike friendly. There's also word on his collaboration with Dirty Projectors for the forthcoming edition of the Red Hot compilation album to benefit AIDS research. Also on the album are Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Jones, The Decemberists, and The National, whose Bryce Dessner is producing the collection.

Steve Reich selected Japanese composer Yuichi Matsumoto as the first-prize winner in this year's Toru Takemitsu Composition Award this past Sunday. It was the culminating event in Composium 2008, a several day affair at Tokyo Opera City featuring works by Reich, including the Japanese premiere of Daniel Variations and a performance of Music for 18 Musicians with the composer as guest artist.

Fresh off a three-day swing in the Punch Brothers' Punch tour that brought the band to the first-ever Delfest on Sunday, celebrating the musical legacy of the legendary Del McCoury, Chris Thile is back in New York City to perform in The Unnamed Music and Comedy Show at the 13th Street Repertory theater. The show is written, directed, and hosted by New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee and will feature live music from Chris, stand-up comedy from Roger Hailes, and some as-yet-undisclosed special extras.