Well, it turns out that James Taylor won't be the headliner after all at Thursday's Democratic National Convention finale in Charlotte. The musical lineup at Bank of America Stadium is now:

Foo Fighters
Mary J. Blige
Earth, Wind & Fire
James Taylor
Delta Rae
Inspire the Fire
Marc Anthony (singing the national anthem)

Ledisi, DJ Cassidy and Durham resident Brandford Marsalis are among the acts performing earlier in the week. But what I want to know is this: Will there be an empty chair onstage?

Over the past year, the North Carolina Symphony has endured the same fiscal trauma as every other arts organization in America, struggling to weather the recession. And the symphony has had added incentive to earn money, a challenge from the state legislature: Earn $8 million in revenue contributions in the fiscal year that ended June 30, and get another $1.5 million in funding.

To that end, the symphony held special fund-raising events this year including a Joshua Bell house concert in January and a Branford Marsalis benefit concert last month -- and it worked. Just in time, the symphony passed the $8 million mark by the end of June (with $44,000 to spare, even). So that extra $1.5 million should help make things a little less financially dire for the symphony going into next season.
 

Time to check in again on Durham resident Branford Marsalis, who plays a benefit show for the NC Symphony next week. For details on that, plus interviews present as well as past, please do click on through.

More than two years after the regrouped dB's played a series of reunion shows, there's still no sign of a new dB's album. But here's the next best thing -- an official release date for the new album by dB's co-leaders Peter Holsapple/Chris Stamey, titled "hERE aND nOW," which is due out June 9 on Bar/None Records. It's a sequel of sorts to the duo's previous album, 1991's stellar "Mavericks" (which has one of my favorite songs ever). And it feels like this album has been in the works for decades.

"It does seem like we've been working on this forever," Holsapple says. "But it's only been a few years, although it has been through a lot of different areas to get to where it is now -- finished, mastered, with a cover -- all those things people do with records. Now we'll see if it sells, which is something else people do with records. Although I'm not so sure about that nowadays."

Guests on the album include the other two dB's, Gene Holder and Will Rigby; Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster; Chatham County Line's Greg Readling; and, most intriguingly, Durham resident Branford Marsalis, who contributes saxophone to two songs. There should be a live show around the time of the album's release, probably at Cat's Cradle. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: That Cradle show is on the schedule now for June 27.

Biff Henderson, left, Durham native and stage manager for "The Late Show With David Letterman," is headlining a Hayti Heritage Celebrity Golf Tournament April 24 at Falls Village Golf Club.

Jazz player Branford Marsalis, a Durham resident, joins Henderson in the celebrity field along with NCCU football coach Mose Rison, Duke football coach David Cutcliffe, Mayor Bill Bell and other Durham-area personalities.

The event is a benefit for the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation and Hayti Heritage Center.

See www.hayti.org.

I don't know the context of this clip, so take it for what it's worth, but this is jazz great Branford Marsalis commenting on today's college student.

Marsalis is currently an artist-in-residence at N.C. Central University. In this short clip, he has this to say about college students:

"The only thing they're interested in is you teling them how good they are and how smart they are."

Zing!

It isn't clear when this video was shot or if Marsalis was referring specifically to students he encounters at NCCU. It appears to come from a documentary entitled "Before the Music Dies."

Incoming governor Bev Perdue has a most impressive lineup of North Carolina acts set to play at her inaugural ball in Raleigh next month. The festivities kick off Jan. 8 at the Lincoln Theatre with pop bands old and new, Dillon Fence and Pico vs. Island Trees. Then on Jan. 9, the formal ball at the Raleigh Convention Center will have musicians including Durham jazzman Branford Marsalis, Granite Falls-born country singer Eric Church and two of the Triangle's best alternative-country acts, Tres Chicas and Chatham County Line.

For complete lineup and ticket details, check here.