Sam Smith, Ben’s drummer, is also a poster artist and has done art for movies and events including last spring’s benefit concert to aid Nashville flood relief efforts. Sam has designed a poster for the current tour, which will be sold at shows. Â Check out Sam’s blog for some of his other designs.
Tour poster to be sold at shows
Ben on Bob Edwards Weekend
Ben will be one of the guests on the syndicated radio show Bob Edwards Weekend this weekend (November 6-7). The veteran public radio host discusses Lonely Avenue and other topics with Ben. The program can be heard in a variety of ways: local public radio stations (times vary by station), Sirius/XM Radio at 7AM Eastern time on Saturday, and online via iTunes podcast.
Spin posts videos from Liner Notes gig
Spin Magazine has posted six videos from the Folds/Hornby performance in the magazine’s  Liner Notes series from October. The event raised over $10,000 for Housing Works, a New York City program that provides housing assistance for people living with AIDS. See our earlier story about the event. Also noted is that Sirius/XM satellite radio will be broadcasting an audio recording of the entire event on its Book Radio channel (Sirius 117; XM 163) on the following dates and times:
- Monday, 11/15 at 7 P.M. EST
- Wednesday, 11/17 at 8 P.M. EST
- Friday, 11/19 at 5 A.M. EST & 2 P.M. EST
- Saturday, 11/20 at 5 P.M. EST
“The Sing-Off” contestants, schedule, extras announced
NBC-TV’s a cappella competition show The Sing-Off, now in its second season, has announced the lineup of a cappella groups that will compete for the $100,000 prize and a Sony Music recording contract:
- Committed from Huntsville, Alabama
- Eleventh Hour, a high-school group from Kettering, Ohio
- Pitch Slapped from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts
- Groove for Thought from Seattle, Washington
- Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town from Oakland, California
- Men of Note, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
- The Backbeats from USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, California
- On the Rocks from University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon
- Street Corner Symphony from Nashville, Tennessee
- The Whiffenpoofs from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut
In addition, last year’s winner Nota returns for a special performance.  The show’s premiere night is Monday, December 6, from 8-10 PM, with subsequent episodes on December 8, 13 and 15, with a live finale on Monday, December 20.  (Other than the finale, the episodes were recorded in August.)
As previously reported, Ben returns as a judge, along with the rest of last year’s panel, Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls) and Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men). The show is hosted by Nick Lachey.
New this year, Epic Records will be releasing digital tracks of each group’s performance immediately following each episode. In addition, an album by all ten groups titled The Sing-Off: Harmonies for the Holidays will be released on Epic November 30.
Ben is a People’s Choice Award nominee
Ben Folds is one of the nominees in the Favorite Web Celeb category of the People’s Choice awards. You can cast your vote here. Online balloting continues until November 9 and the awards show is January 5, 2011 on CBS Television.
