By Nicole Villeneuve

This year (June 17–21) marks the fifteenth run for the world-renowned North by Northeast Music, Film and Conference festival, and with that milestone comes…really late bar hours. Last night at the NXNE 2009 preview press conference, a swift-moving line-up of announcers, the most excited and audible being festival Managing Director Andy McLean, announced highlights from all parts of the five-day festival. Key conference guests will include GZA (yes, that GZA) and Jake Gold, and the film festival will host the Canadian premiere of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The usual dizzying five hundred bands will be playing as well, with Montreal’s Melissa Auf der Maur and Atlanta’s Black Lips getting lots of special mention. And the seemingly most crowd-pleasing of all news is that, indeed, most venues will extend their serving hours to keep the bleary-eyed parties going until 4 a.m. Once again Yonge-Dundas Square, Pearson Airport, and a slew of public parks will also be used as alternative daytime music venues. Full lists and schedules will be available at the NXNE website soon (where pass and wristband info is already up). Torontoist will of course be providing planning assistance and extensive coverage leading up to and during NXNE, including tips for effective napping strategy in order to maximize your (and our) festival intake.