Randy Newman makes his Austin City Limits TV debut Saturday night on PBS ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Alabama ... Shawn Colvin is in Albany ... Philip Glass's Satyagraha continues at the Met ... Emmylou Harris joins Rodney Crowell for Nashville benefit ... k.d. lang continues Australia tour ... Jessica Lea Mayfield has two shows in Georgia ... Audra McDonald heads South ... Natalie Merchant joins the Nashville Symphony ... Pat Metheny Trio takes its European tour to Italy ... Punch Brothers play Wisconsin; Chris Thile goes solo in North Carolina ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman launch European duo tour in Spain ... Sara Watkins joins Blind Boys of Alabama in Kansas City ... and more ...
What better way to celebrate 11/11/11, Nigel Tufnel Day, than to enjoy some live music? Even if the amps don't go to 11 where you are, you're welcome to don your finest corduroy and celebrate 11/11/11 as the day of vertical wales at any of the performances listed below.
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As noted yesterday in the Nonesuch Journal, Randy Newman, whose new live performance CD+DVD Live in London was released this week, makes his Austin City Limits television debut Saturday night on PBS stations across the US. The set, dedicated exclusively to Newman's work, features 17 songs from throughout his career, including "Short People," "Political Science," and "You Can Leave Your Hat On." Read the complete set list and watch Newman's ACL performance of "You've Got a Friend in Me" here.
To pick up a copy of Live in London, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the music at checkout.
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John Adams's A Flowering Tree will receive its local premiere in California's Inland Empire when the Riverside Lyric Opera performs the composer's latest opera at the University of California, Riverside's Culver Center of the Arts tonight and Sunday.
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Carolina Chocolate Drops have resumed their US tour and perform at Crossroads Café in Huntsville, Alabama, tonight, following a five-night run at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago—where the group debuted the show Keep a Song in Your Soul: The Black Roots of Vaudeville—and an appearance on the PBS documentary Give Me the Banjo, which charts the history of the banjo, bringing together artists like Pete Seeger, Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn and Taj Mahal. You can watch the film at pbs.org.
The band has also launched a cookie recipe contest with proceeds from sales of the winning cookies donated to the Food Bank of North Carolina. For more information, read the Nonesuch Journal article from earlier this week.
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Shawn Colvin is in Albany, New York, where she performs at The Egg's Swyer Theatre tonight, with Melissa Ferrick opening. Colvin makes her way to Chatham, New Jersey, tomorrow to perform at the Presbyterian Church there as part of its Sanctuary Concerts series. Singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky opens that show.
Colvin recently made news when she joined Taylor Swift onstage for a performance of Colvin's hit "Sunny Came Home" in Austin, Texas, that made this week's Approval Matrix from New York magazine. You can hear Colvin's own live solo recording of the song on her aptly titled 2009 Nonesuch release, Live.
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Performances of Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha continue at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City this weekend with a Saturday night show. The New York Post calls the Met's production of Satyagraha "a masterpiece of musical and visual art." The AP calls it "spectacular."
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Richard Goode performs an intimate solo recital at Washington Irving High School in New York City tomorrow night as part of the People's Symphony Concerts series. On the program for the sold-out concert are works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, composers whose works can also be heard throughout Goode's Nonesuch catalog in the Nonesuch Store.
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Emmylou Harris joins Rodney Crowell for a special benefit concert at Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, Tennessee, with proceeds going to support the Epilepsy Foundation Middle & West Tennessee.
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k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang continue their Australian tour this weekend with two performances: the first at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, with opener Shane Nicholson, Saturday night; the second at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide.
lang and the band continue their fully sold-out six-night residency at the State Theatre in Sydney next week, followed by a tour-closing performance at the Brisbane Riverstage on November 22.
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Jessica Lea Mayfield's headlining tour makes its way to Georgia this weekend for two shows: at the 40 Watt Club in Athens tonight and Sky City in Augusta on Saturday. Opening both shows is Ri¢hie.
Between additional headlining dates ahead, Mayfield also supports Drive-By Truckers for three performances next week. She launches a two-week tour supporting Ryan Adams next month.
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Audra McDonald performs at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina, tonight to for An Evening of Broadway: From Gershwin to Sondheim. "With McDonald on stage," says the Spartanburg Herald-Journal's Jeremy Jones, "it's sure to be a grand evening." She tells the Greenville News to listen for "Summertime," from Porgy and Bess, in tonight's program, a nod to South Carolina, the state in which the play is set. McDonald will star as Bess when The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess begins its Broadway run in January.
McDonald continues south with a show at Clayton State University's Spivey Hall in Morrow, Georgia, Saturday night and at the Alys Robinson Stephens Center in Birmingham Alabama, on Sunday, where she joins the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
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Natalie Merchant joins the Nashville Symphony at its home in Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Sunday for a performance of songs from her debut Nonesuch album, Leave Your Sleep, as well as favorites from throughout her career.
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Pat Metheny Trio, featuring bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart, continue their European tour with an appearance at Kino SC for the Zagreb Jazz Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, tonight. They make their way to Italy next for two shows: at the Europauditorium in Bologna on Saturday, as part of the Bologna Jazz Festival, and the Auditorum Parco Della Musica in Rome on Sunday.
Metheny's acclaimed 1999 duo album with fellow guitarist Jim Hall was reissued for the first time on Nonesuch earlier this week and is available in the Nonesuch Store.
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Punch Brothers have been on tour with Paul Simon all week long and continue the tour this weekend with a performance at the Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tonight. Before picking up with Simon again next week, the band plays a one-night-only headlining performance at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, Wisconsin, Saturday night.
On Sunday, Punch Brothers mandolinist Chris Thile will make a solo appearance at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, North Carolina. "There will be quite a bit of Bach," Thile tells the Raleigh News & Observer in an article previewing the show, "and I may try some of the new Punch Brothers stuff out. I may even dip into the Nickel Creek catalog." Find out more at newsobserver.com.
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As noted earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman head out for a duo tour of Europe, starting with two shows in Spain this weekend at the Teatro Central in Sevilla tonight and Teatro Fernán Gómez in Madrid on Saturday as part of the Madrid Jazz Festival. On Sunday, they head to Switzerland for a performance at Victoria Hall in Geneva. The two-week tour includes additional stops in Switzerland as well as the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg, with a return to Spain for a final tour stop at the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival.
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Philip Selway made a rare solo appearance last night, performing a benefit concert at the Pegasus Theatre in his hometown of Oxford, England, celebrating the venue's 50th anniversary and supporting its work with young people. He returns to Pegasus tonight for a sold-out encore performance.
“I’ve been really impressed by the inclusive nature of Pegasus Theatre, and how it gives access for all young people to professional facilities and training,” Selway says. “Pegasus nurtures poise and self-belief at such an important stage of life.”
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Sara Watkins continues her tour with brother Sean Watkins supporting the Blind Boys of Alabama, with a concert at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri.
As the Daily Eastern News reports, Blind Boys lead singer Jimmy Carter told the crowd at the Eastern Illinois University last Sunday: "I've enjoyed working with [the Watkins siblings]. We fit perfectly together and gel; every day it gets better."
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