For the 6th time in as many years the Foundation's auction includes a section that directly benefits Rock the Earth.  Rock the Earth - the winner of the Jammy's 2008 Mimi Fishman Memorial Award for Community Service - is an organization that is dedicated to bringing about positive and beneficial environmental consequences on behalf of members of the music industry through the means of active litigation and negotiation.  The Foundation also continues its support of the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments.

The clock is ticking down the hours and minutes to MerleFest 2009, presented by Lowe's, which will begin its 22nd year of "Music, Moments and Memories" next Thursday, April 23, and wind up on Sunday, April 26, on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

The Starry Plough bar, on the corner of Shattuck and Ashby in Berkeley, stands out on the block as there is not much else around. I arrived a bit early and saw Dead Heads standing outside the bar smoking joints and cigarettes, making me think I was walking down the mythical “Shakedown Street.”

The Northwest's premier acoustic music festival returns for its eighth year to beautiful Horning's Hideout in North Plains, Oregon, on July 17-18-19.  The family friendly event boasts three days of nearly all-acoustic music, culminating each night with main stage performances from musical hosts Yonder Mountain String Band, this year joined by special guest Danny Barnes (Danny Barnes with Bad Livers, Tim O'Brien Band).  Yonder Mountain String Band has been called the fastest growing acoustic band in history.

In December of 2004 I saw Béla Fleck & the Flecktones at the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester.  At that show Béla made a mention of his plans which at that time included traveling to Africa to research the roots of the banjo.  This intrigued me as I had just been to Morocco and seen banjos being played out in the square, a sight I was not expecting, and as I also have a large amount of family in Africa.