Marco Benevento and Joe Russo, aka the Benevento/Russo Duo or heck, just the Duo for short, have announced some significant upcoming events. On April 5 the band will release Best Reason to Buy the Sun, its first major studio effort on Ropeadope Records, which was produced by Joey Waronker, with guest appearances by Mike Dillon, Smokey Hormel and Skerik. Six weeks earlier the band will perform in Japan for the first time, with three shows in support of the Dirt Dozen Brass Band on February 24-26. In the interim the two musicians will be gigging up and down the east coast, picking it up again on January 25 at Alley Katz in Richmond, VA