Event

ELLNORA: The National
Resources

ELLNORA: The National

Saturday, September 12, 2009, at 10pm | Tryon Festival Theatre

ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival | You can’t ask for better exposure than The National has had lately. The band’s “Fake Empire” served as the backing track for the Obama campaign’s Signs of Hope and Change video at the Democratic National Convention, lit up the crowd at Grant Park on election night, and graced the television shows Chuck and One Tree Hill. For this group best known to the Pitchfork generation though New York City gigs and appearances at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, and the Montreux Jazz Festival, that spare and yet spacious tune led to a debut for a whole new audience when it jammed on Late Show with David Letterman.

Founded in Brooklyn by Cincinnati natives Matt Berninger and two sets of brothers, the Devendorfs and the Dessners, The National quickly moved beyond its heated small following to placement on “best of” lists from Billboard Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Paste Magazine. Their endearing melancholy resonates with fans of Arcade Fire and R.E.M., both of whom they’ve toured with, but the rugged voice and lean poetry of front man Berninger sets this group apart. Berninger counts Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen as among his favorite lyricists, and his own writing is somewhere adjacent to both as he spins out “a bruised, moody elegance that swells and crashes under [his] dreamy baritone” (Gothamist). Don’t miss the Dessner brothers on Friday night when they team up with Matthew Ritchie on The Long Count.

Go to the official ELLNORA web site
Corporate Power Train Engine:
Eastland Suites Hotel and Conference Center
Scanics

Corporate Power Train Sponsors:
WCIA 3
JSM Development

Patron Sponsor:
Anonymous

Corporate Gold Sponsor:
One Main Development

Patron Co-sponsors:
Frances and Marc Ansel
Jean Huddleston, Kelly Foster, and Paul Foster
A. Mark Neuman
Mary and George Perlstein
Carol and Ed Scharlau

Corporate Silver Sponsors:
Chief/Bauer Heating & Air Conditioning
Dean’s Graphic Division
Hendrick House
The Blind Man Hunter Douglas Gallery

Corporate Bronze Sponsors:
Bacca Cigar Company
Barham Benefit Group
Fluid Events LLC
Precision Graphics
Jeffrey Van Buren, Senior Vice President-Investments of Wells Fargo Advisors LLC, and Valerie Van Buren

Regional Grant:
Arts Midwest

Additional Support: Fluid Events, LLC