The Black Keys have kicked off their sold-out headlining tour, performing the first of two consecutive shows at the Hollywood Palladium last night. LA Weekly says Dan "Auerbach's guitar grabbed the crowd by the throat and refused to let go." Pat Carney's drumming "danced nimbly about like a lion tamer lovingly controlling his beast." Together, they "tore through a set that pleased both the purists and the newcomers ... Just two men making hot, dirty blues tunes that growled and crawled up the hips of every person in that place."

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby will co-headline "Liner Notes," an event at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York City on Tuesday, October 12 to explore the cross-pollination of music and literature while raising funds for Housing Works, a New York-based HIV/AIDS service organization. Presented by SPIN and moderated by the magazine’s deputy editor, Steve Kandell, the event will be broadcast SIRIUS XM radio in November.

Carolina Chocolate Drops honor Mike Seeger ... Laurie Anderson does Delusion at BAM ... The Black Keys launch headlining tour ... Emmylou Harris plays Ventura Hillsides benefit ... Wanda Jackson talks music at Oklahoma State ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica perform in Italy ... Kronos Quartet kicks off Berkeley's Fall Free for All! ... Randy Newman joins Louisville Orchestra ... Fernando Otero plays in NYC ... Mandy Patinkin performs Mamaloshen in Queens ... Punch Brothers play two Virginia shows ... Allen Toussaint continues Gulf Coast benefits with Neil Young ... and more ... 

Punch Brothers kick off their fall tour tonight at the Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Tour highlights include performing with T Bone Burnett at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass; two shows with Burnett's The Speaking Clock Revue; a show in Los Angeles with support from Jon Brion; and opening slots with Dierks Bentley and Dave Matthews Band. The band will perform with Steve Martin on The Late Show with David Letterman in November.

Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Low Anthem will tour together for six dates over one week this December. The tour will begin December 4 at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, followed by stops in Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, before heading to the Drops' home state of North Carolina for shows in Asheville, Charlotte, and Raleigh. Ticket pre-sales for Chocolate Drops fans begin on Tuesday.

Laurie Anderson gave the New York premiere of her latest stage work, Delusion, last night at BAM's Harvey Theater, the first of 12 performances there. The New York Times says Delusion shows "the degree to which Ms. Anderson’s scores bring color and shape to her productions." The Village Voice says of Anderson's voice: "As an instrument, it's just perfect: wise and bewildered, cutting and soothing, deadly serious and profoundly amusing."

This fall, Ben Folds will participate in the National Geographic Live series Music on ... Photography at the National Geographic Society's Washington, DC, headquarters. Folds will discuss photos he took of the flooded streets of Nashville with his camera (and camera phone) to help spread the word of the devastation; photographer Mark Seliger will moderate. Also participating in the series are Neko Case, Andy Summers, and music photographer Danny Clinch.

Tonight marks the New York premiere of Laurie Anderson's Delusion at BAM's Harvey Theatre, launching BAM's Next Wave Festival. Time Out New York includes the concert among today's "must-see shows." The Wall Street Journal previews the festival with a look at Anderson's long history with BAM, having, over the years, "given audiences something profoundly rewarding: an ongoing emotional engagement that, like a good friendship, allows you to think about life from different perspectives."

Allen Toussaint kicks off fall with six solo sets supporting Neil Young. Four of these dates are Gulf Coast benefit shows, for which Young has teamed up with Tyson Foods to fight hunger in Gulf Coast communities affected by the oil spill. Young is asking concertgoers to bring non-perishable food items to the concerts. All donations will be given to the Bay Area Food Bank, which serves communities in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.

Kronos Quartet performs two sets at Monterey Jazz ... The Black Keys tour Florida with Kings of Leon ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play festivals in Alabama and Virginia ... Rhys Chatham is at Ontario's LOLA Fest ... Brad Mehldau has solo shows in Osaka ... Allen Toussaint plays Colorado festivals ... Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica are in Innsbruck ... Brussels' Bozar Center brings together music of the gamelan and Reich ... and more ...

Laurie Anderson will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET. Tune in to hear Anderson perform live in studio and discuss her latest stage work, Delusion. She will give the New York premiere of the piece at BAM's Harvey Theater in Brooklyn this Tuesday, September 21, kicking off BAM's Next Wave Festival with two weeks of Delusion performances. There's still time to win a pair of tickets at nonesuch.com.

Ben Folds is set to tour the US throughout November in support of Lonely Avenue, a collaboration between him and novelist Nick Hornby, due September 28. Folds’ 13 tour dates feature performances at a number of beloved venues including Chicago’s Riviera and Atlanta’s Tabernacle. The tour concludes with a Thanksgiving weekend homecoming performance at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center to benefit the Nashville Symphony. Members of the Ben Folds Fan Club will have advance access to pre-sale tickets and ticket bundle opportunities for Ben’s upcoming tour on September 15 at noon ET.