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Benefit

New David Lynch project includes Ben video

The David Lynch Foundation is embarking on a six-week project through PledgeMusic, an organization that works with fans and artists to raise money for charitable causes. Lynch’s foundation, which raises money and awareness for victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome and inner-city youth by introducing them to transcendental meditation, is participating with a 17-track release over the coming weeks. Included in the mix is an exclusive video that Ben Folds did with Detroit soul singer Bettye LaVette at David’s Change Begins Within charity event at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2010. Download of the tracks is available to those who pledge to the project.  Others featured in the set are Iggy Pop, Moby, Arrested Development, Maroon 5, and Tom Waits. More about the project in this press release. In case you missed it, Ben posted a short comical video with the filmmaker “introducing” him a few weeks ago.

Nashville Symphony Benefit

It’s been on the calendar for a while, but the promotion is kicking in (and so are ticket sales) for the Nashville Symphony show Keys to Music City, a benefit for the Nashville Symphony and for two volunteer firefighting companies.  The show, on  Saturday, November 27, is Folds’ only appearance in Nashville this year. Tickets, at $50-175, are now on sale. Item from WSMV.com (Original post Sep 25th 2010)

Louis Folds & Ethan Bortnick

Louis Folds and Ethan Bortnick

Update: Ben adds that Jason Sudeikis from Saturday Night Live is coming down to lend moral support, and  one of Ben’s favorite conductors, Francisco Noya, is also planning to be there. Noya is an associate professor of composition at Boston’s famed Berklee College of Music and is the resident conductor of the Rhode Island Symphony. He’ll also be joined on stage by nine-year-old piano sensation Ethan Bortnick (pictured at right with Ben’s son Louis), who has appeared on many national TV shows, at public events, and has his own YouTube channel.

Update 2: Drummer Sam Smith designed a poster for the event. Sam toKeys to Music City posterld me the good news that they sold out, raising money for flood relief in Nashville.

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

Ben on Nashville morning TV

Ben’s appearing today (October 7) on WTVF-TV Nashville Channel 5’s morning show, Talk of the Town.  In between the recipe for wild rice with sausage dressing and Ms. Cheap’s moneysaving tips, Ben will discuss the upcoming benefit concert with the Nashville Symphony.  Nashvillevanians can catch replays of the show on cable channel 250 Thursday at noon, 4pm and 9am Friday. Update: A clip from the interview is now up on the show’s website.

Folds concert proceeds benefit American Cancer Society

The University of Dayton Charity Concert Committee has announced that the $7,000 proceeds of the April 2010  charity concert, which was on the spring Ben Folds and a Piano tour,  have been donated to the American Cancer Society.  According to the story in the Flyer News, U-D’s student paper, proceeds from the annual charity concert goes to support a charity jointly selected by the CCC and the student groups they work with, and the students themselves vote on the musical group they’d like to see.  Dayton, a Marian institution and the largest private university in Ohio, encourages service to others and leadership among its students.