Reporters Without Borders, an organization established to protect freedom of the press around the world, just announced that Youssou N'Dour was among the first to sign its petition calling for the release of Moussa Kaka, the Niger correspondent for Radio France Internationale and Reporters Without Borders. Kaka was arrested on September 20 for being in contact with members of a minority rebel group in Niger and could face life in prison.

The closing night of New York City Center's 2007 Fall for Dance festival, on October 6, featured the Elisa Monte Dance company's signature work, Treading (1979), set to Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. This was the fourth annual festival, which kicks off City Center's season with low-priced tickets to see some of the world's greatest dance companies.

On October 27, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles opens La Vida Lowrider: Cruising the City of Angels, a special exhibit celebrating the cultural history of lowrider cars in a city synonymous with car culture. A standout in the exhibit is El Chavez Ravine—a custom-built ice cream truck commissioned by Ry Cooder. Built off the foundation of a '53 Chevy, the truck was painted in painstaking detail by artist Vincent Valdez to tell the story, as Cooder does in his 2005 album Chavez Ravine, of the largely Mexican-American Los Angeles neighborhood destroyed to make way for Dodgers Stadium in the 1950s.

Apple announced today a reduction in the price of its iTunes Plus tracks to 99 cents, matching the price of  its standard downloads. The higher-quality iTunes Plus files—compressed at 256 kbps rather than the 128 kbps of other iTunes tracks—are sold free of DRM (digital-rights management) restrictions, making them accessible on any number of digital players. Apple also announced that the number of tracks available as iTunes Plus files has expanded to more than two million. 

To coincide with the reissue of David Byrne's The Knee Plays—due out November 6—comes the launch of kneeplays.com. The site contains pages of never-before-released materials on the piece, including an essay by David Byrne on its origins as a collaboration with director Robert Wilson, sketches from the theatrical production, and a slideshow of stills from the premiere, as well as audio clips from the new CD. On the CD are the 13 tracks from the original score plus seven previously unavailable bonus tracks.

In the October 22 issue of the New Yorker, the magazine's music critic Alex Ross weighs in on the internet's impact on the classical music market—broadening its reach through fan blogs, artist sites, and online stores that offer a wider range of records than traditional outlets can. "The web allows people looking for a souvenir of Pavarotti," he writes, to "end up with the Kronos Quartet playing pieces by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós." 

The New York Times, in its list of must-sees on a short trip to São Paolo, Brazil, includes Bar Brahma, because "as everyone will tell you, this is where Caetano Veloso's soulful song 'Sampa' starts out. Legend has it that Caetano wrote the song from there." 

In a recent conversation with gothamist.com, Jonny Greenwood discusses a wide range of topics, from the environmental impact of touring to his score for the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood. The soundtrack is due out on Nonesuch this December.

On Saturday, October 6, David Byrne presented “How New Yorkers Ride Bikes” at New York's Town Hall as part of the weekend-long New Yorker festival. Watch the video feed from his bike, complete with audio commentary, as he rode through the streets of midtown on his way to the event.

Nonesuch President Bob Hurwitz responds to Senior Vice President David Bither's previous entry on being a Cubs fan.

Mandolinist and member of Punch Brothers Chris Thile, Nonesuch President Bob Hurwitz, and Senior Vice President David Bither talk baseball.

The guys of Punch Brothers celebrate the end of a successful day's photo shoot for their upcoming Nonesuch Records debut. The shoot took place in and around Nashville with photographer Autumn de Wilde, who took this one last pic over dinner at East Nashville's Margot Cafe and Bar.