In the Maysles Brothers’s 1968 documentary, “Salesman”, Paul Brennan aka The Badger, is sitting in the living room of a potential customer trying to convince her to buy one of his Bible packages. He tries to make small talk with the woman’s little daughter, Christine, who, bored by it all gets away from her mother’s lap, walks over to an upright piano and plays (more likes jabs with her forefinger) a series of notes from high to low – dum…dum…dum…duummmmm. The camera stayed on the little girl while we hear, offscreen, the mother saying, “I just couldn’t afford it right now, we’re swamped with bills.” The camera cuts to a close-up of Paul’s disheartened face while Christine, now offscreen, completes the soundtrack to Paul’s life with dum…dum…dum-dum…dummm-dummmmmmmm!

Our friend Tim Brookes, author of Guitar: An American Life, poses the question on every guitar fan’s mind. Who was, or is, the greatest guitarist of all time? Or can that question really be answered in a meaningful and thoughtful way? Inquiring minds want to know…

Over the years we’ve had the privilege of working with some terrific designers, including Jason Munn, Milton Glaser and Alex Coulter. Here are a few of our favorite posters. If you’d like to learn more about their work, please visit their websites:

On Sunday, September 8th, the New York Times published an article by Allan Kozinn about our upcoming all-Bach marathon concert taking place in January. You can read the full storyhere, and tickets are availablehere.

In September we wrapped ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival, our biennial “sister festival” previously known as Wall to Wall Guitar Festival, held at the University of Illinois’ acclaimed Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The three-day event included more than 30 world-class artists, including Bill Frisell, The National, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Alex De Grassi, Ani Di Franco, Junior Brown, and more, plus the world premiere of “The Long Count,” a multi-disciplinary piece featuring visual artist Matthew Ritchie and members of The National, the Pixies and My Brightest Diamond (which had its NYC debut this past week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music).

ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival (the biennial event previously known as Wall to Wall Guitar Festival), held September 10-12, 2009 at the University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, wrapped up its third successful event with more than 30 world-class guitarists - including 11 free performances - over three days.

Every other year, some of the world’s most distinctive guitar players gather in New York City to celebrate the New York Guitar Festival with a series of intimate concerts and one-of-a-kind collaborations. To open the 2008 New York Guitar Festival, more than 20 artists assembled at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden to honor the music of Bob Dylan by recreating his famed 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” concert. (The original Dylan show actually took place May 16, 1966, in Manchester, England, not at the Royal Albert Hall in London but has become known as such through many old mislabeled vinyl bootlegs.) From Belle and Sebastian frontman Stevie Jackson to vocal powerhouse Toshi Reagon, the concert featured an eclectic lineup of some of today’s most talented guitarists and vocal standouts. Performing the show in sequence as Dylan did more than 40 years ago, the musicians treated the at-capacity crowd to an unforgettable interpretation of one of music’s most known and storied concerts.

The first annual Adelaide International Guitar Festival, inspired and assisted by the New York Guitar Festival, concluded on Sunday, December 2nd with an homage to Jimi Hendrix with over 4,000 people packed into Elder Park. With a line-up of many of the worlds most distinctive guitarists, it was a fitting end to an extraordinary musical feast.