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Spinal Tap

A slightly condensed version this week, but it does go up to 11.

Palladia is showing This is Spinal Tap 5pm Fri and 11am Sat.  So is VH1 Classic (9pm Fri & 2pm Sat).

VH1 CL is showing the amazing The Strat Pack Live at Wembley Arena 11am & 11pm Fri and 8am Sat.

HDNET Highlights: Satriani Live (1pm Thu) and Peter Frampton Live in Detroit (8pm Sun).

Palladia is  airing Soundstage with Matchbox Twenty, John Mayer, Counting Crowes, and Robert Plant.

PBS is showing Soundstage with Stevie Nicks & Foreigner.

Classic Albums (on VH1 Classic) includes: Cream Disraeli Gears, Nirvana Nevermind, Metallica Metallica, Judas Priest British Steel, & Def Leppard Hysteria.  VH1 CL is showing Led Zeppelin’s the Song Remains the Same on Sunday.

Austin City Limits (PBS) this week is John Mayer (4pm Sun).

Biography will feature Cat Stevens, Duran Duran, Weird Al Yankovic, & Bob Geldof and Band Aid this week.

TALK SHOWS:

Jay Leno: Smokey Robinson & Joss Stone Thu.

Conan O’Brien (M-F): Lynyrd Skynyrd, Monsters of Folk, Wynonna, India Arie, Rodrigo Y Gabriela.

Carson Daly (M-F): Franz Ferdinand, Mat Kearney, Amazing Baby, Paolo Nutini, Ladyhawke.

Jimmy Fallon: Living Colour (Mon), Phoenix (Thu).

Saturday Night Live: U2.

Dave Matthews

Tavis Smiley will interview Dave Matthews on his show Monday night (PBS – Check local listings).  DMB will also perform on the Late Show with Conan O’Brien Monday night (11:35pm), and perform on Ellen DeGeneres Wednesday (2pm).  HDNET is featuring Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall - The duo performs in New York City, including songs never recorded by the two (1pm Fri).

The Science Channel is showing Big Electric Guitar – Rock musician Peter Frampton joins the team for a public exposition of the 30-foot guitar (8am Mon).

VH1 Classic is airing BBC Crown Jewels: Chuck Berry (11am & 11pm Mon).

Ovation is airing Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll – James Brown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard perform the songs that made them famous. (3pm & 6pm Mon, 3am Tue)

VH1 Classic is showing Classic in Concert: Motley Crue Carnival of Sins (6:30pm Mon).  Biography will also highlight Tommy Lee (10am Sun) and Motley Crue (11am Sun).

VH1 Classic is also showing Iron Maiden: Flight 666 – Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere Back in Time” world tour takes them around the globe in their own specially appointed airplane, piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson (8:30 Mon, 3:30 Tue, 5:30 Sun).

PBS is showing Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 – Filmmaker Ben Niles shows the painstaking process of constructing a concert grand piano (Tue, Wed & Sun at multiple times, check local listings).

Palladia is showing Bowie’s classic Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars – David Bowie performs 17 songs as his androgynous alter ego in a 1973 London concert (12pm Tue).

Ovation is showing a cool history of the Montreux Jazz Festival: Claude Nobs: The Montreux Dream – A history of the jazz festival (2pm Tue).

Palladia is airing Soundstage – Michael McDonald pays tribute to Motown with guests Billy Preston, Toni Braxton, Take 6 and India.Arie (5pm Tue).

Palladia is showing Make It Funky! – Bonnie Raitt and the Neville Brothers are among those featured in a tribute to the music of New Orleans (9pm Thu & 12am Fri).

VH1 Classic will air Classic in Concert Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds: Live in London (11am & 11pm Fri, 10am Sat).

FUSE is showing Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey – Musicians Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Dee Snider, Vince Neil and others discuss heavy metal and its impact on culture (10pm Fri).

On Sunday, HDNET is featuring concerts by the Pretenders (1pm), The Cult (3:30 pm), Doobie Brothers (5pm), Fall Out Boy (6:35pm), and the Goo Goo Dolls (10pm), among others.

The Chris Isaak Show (Biography) features: Michael Buble (8am & 2pm Th, 8am Sa), Jewel (9am Sa), and Smashing Pumpkins (7am Su) this week.

Austin City Limits (PBS) features Drive-By Truckers & Ryan Bingham, and Sarah McLachlan & Duffy this week.

In addition to Motley Crue, Biography will feature Genesis (9am & 3pm Thu), Pete Townshend (10am & 4pm Thu, 4am Fri), Kurt Cobain (8pm Thu & 12am Fri), Bret Michaels (8am Sun), Ozzy Osbourne (9am Sun), and Guns N’ Roses (12pm Sun).

Jay Leno Show: Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West (Mon), Miley Cyrus (Wed), Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers with Eric Clapton (Th),

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien: Dave Matthews Band (Mon), Phoenix (Tu), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Wed), Nelly Furtado (Fri).

Late Show with David Letterman: Cage the Elephant (Mon), Care Bears on Fire (Tu), John Fogerty (Wed).

Last Call with Carson Daly: Franz Ferdinand (Mon), Metric (Tue), Pete Yorn (Wed), Emily Wells (Thu)

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Maxwell (Mon), Kelly Clarkson (Tue), Pink (Wed), Kid Cudi (Thu), Shakira (Fri).

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Rufus Wainwright (Mon), Ghostface (Tue), Megadeath (Thu), Keri Hilson (Fri).

Saturday Night Live: Green Day

VH1 Classic is featuring George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh (Mon 8pm, Tue 10am & 10pm, Wed 6am, 8am, & 2pm, Th 12am) and the Concert for George organized by Eric Clapton on the first anniversary of George’s death in 2002 (Mon 9pm & 10pm, Tue 2pm, Wed 12pm). They’re also showing Blind Faith in Hyde Park (Fri 11am & 11pm),

PBS is airing Voces Tito Puente: The King of Latin Music this week, check local listings.

Palladia is highlighting V Fest 2009 this week, which features The Killers, Snow Patrol, MGMT, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and The Ting Tings (Mon 9pm, Tue 12am & 1pm, Th 5:30pm).

The Wealth Channel is visiting the Taylor Guitars factory on Made in the USA (Mon 5pm , Th 1:30pm).

HDNET and VH1 Classic are showing One With Everything: Styx & the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland (HDNET: Mon 1:55am, VH1CL: Fri 2am).

Ovation is airing Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey about Leon Theremin, the inventor of the world’s first electronic musical instrument (Th 2pm & 5pm).  Ovation is also showing the movie Bird (Th 8pm & 11:30pm), and Johnny Cash: Half Mile a Day (Tue 2pm & 5pm).

VH1 Classic’s BBC Crown Jewels will feature AC/DC (Tue 2am), The Faces (Th 11am & 11pm), and Tom Petty (Sun 11am & 11pm).

VH1 Classic is showing Storytellers: Ringo Starr (Tu 11am, 9pm & 11pm, Wed 5am & 9am), while Palladia is showing Storytellers with ZZ Top (Th 2am) and Bruce Springsteen (Th 11pm).

More Palladia Concerts: Elvis Costello and the Imposters: Club Date (Wed 5:30pm), Peace One Day- including John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Bryan Adams, Annie Lennox, and Peter Gabriel (Wed 8pm), Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott’s (Th 12am), Foo Fighters Live from Wembley (Th 4pm), Keith Urban Invitation Only (Fri 9am), MTV Live Coldplay (Fri 1pm).

More VH1CL Goodness: Thin Lizzy (Th 3pm), Classic Albums Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks (Th 5pm), Woodstock Now & Then (Th 6pm), Pink Floyd: The Wall (Th 9pm), Pink Floyd Dark Side Concert (Sa 12am), Tom Petty on the Old Grey Whistle Test (Su 11am & 11pm).  VH1CL is also airing their Seven Ages of Rock series on Sunday, beginning at 1pm.

Fuse Highlights: Wayne’s World! (Sa 7pm & 9pm), 2008 Mile High Music Festival (Sa 11pm), Dave Matthews Band Live from the Beacon Theatre (Su 12am).

Otis Redding

The Science Channel is running a How It’s Made marathon Sunday 9/6, which includes electric guitars (8am) and guitar amplifiers (9:30am).  They’re also showing vinyl records (7am), drum heads (9am), drum shells & drums (10am), steel drums (12:30), carbon fibre cellos (1:30pm), and violins (5pm).

PBS is showing Austin City Limits “Tribute to Bluesman Jimmy Reed” – James Cotton, Delbert McClinton, Lou Ann Barton and others join guitarist Jimmie Vaughan to pay tribute to composer Jimmy Reed (check local listings).

Ovation is airing several episodes of the show Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs related to music, including the Invention of Musical Notation (8am & 11am Wed), Development of Equal Temperament (10am & 1pm Wed), History of the Piano (10am & 1pm Thu), & Development of Instruments to Record Sound (10am & 1pm Fri).

VH1 Classic is airing Rock City – Performances and interviews from London between 1964 and 1973; artists include the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens, Jimi Hendrix and Ike and Tina Turner (11am & 11pm Thu).

Speaking of Otis Redding (whose birthday is coming up on Sep 9), one of the PBS affiliates here is showing Sweet Soul: Stax/Volt Revue — Live in Norway 1967 – Live performance footage from the Stax/Volt Revue’s European tour features Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Booker T. and the MG’s (check local listings).

Ovation is showing Eric Clapton’s bio Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads (3pm & 6pm Thu).

Biography features Ray Charles (10am & 4pm Thu, 4am Fri), Stevie Wonder (9pm Thu & 1am Fri), and Aretha Franklin (7am Sun).

VH1 Classic is showing Classic in Concert: Paul McCartney: St. Petersburg Live (11am & 11pm Fri) and John Lennon: Live in NYC ‘72 (11am & 11pm Sat, 5pm Sun).  They’re also airing The Making of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (9pm Fri, 6pm Sat, 8pm Sun).

A local PBS station is airing The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll – The musical genre of rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll begins in Depression Era cotton fields of Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas (check local listings).

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Here’s my take on the music highlights on cable this week, August 23-30.  Yep, it’s subjective.  But I try to be pretty inclusive.  A glitch last week left PBS out of the schedule (including one of my favorite shows Austin City Limits), so it is back in this week.  I extended the schedule thru Sunday.  Next week, I’m adding in movies by and about bands.  If I’m missing stuff, especially channels or regular shows, please let me know in the comments and I’ll consider adding them in.

FRETS’ PICKS:

Les Paul: Chasing Sound (PBS), documentary about the legendary guitarist and innovator who died last week at 94.  Times vary, check your local PBS schedule.  If you see nothing else, catch this one!

The Road to Big Whiskey (FUSE), 4-part documentary on the recording of Dave Matthews latest album.  Sunday, Aug 23 beginning at 8pm.

Ramones Raw (VH1CL), with concert footage & interviews from the legendary punk rockers. Monday at 12am.

Festival Express (IFC), the amazing documentary about the 1970 train tour across Canada by bands including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and The Band. 9am Tuesday.

Remember the fire in that nightclub in Rhode Island that killed 100 people, including Great White guitarist Ty Longley?  VH1CL is re-airing Aftermath: The Station Fire Five Years Later, the benefit concert for survivors and families of the tragedy.  11am & 11pm Wednesday.

The Beatles Anthology (VH1CL), documentary on the Beatles. 12am & 7pm Thursday, 5pm Friday, 7pm Sunday.

Home Transformations: Music Room Soundproofing (DIY), Two closets are converted into a mixing room and voice recording booth, new walls are framed out to provide better soundproofing and a floating floor is installed. Thursday at 11:30am.

A Reggae Session (Ovation), Rita Marley, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Bunny Wailer join reggae-influenced musicians Stevie Wonder and the Neville Brothers to honor Bob Marley. 4pm & 7pm Thursday, 2am Friday.

Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (VH1CL), Stewart Copeland’s homemade documentary about the Police. 8pm & 11pm Thursday.

Impact Beatles (Ovation), Artists including Peter Asher, Mike Love, Joe Perry, Peter Noone and Mickey Dolenz discuss the role The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays in the history of music and pop culture. 1:30am Saturday.

Private Sessions: Chicago (BIO), Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walter Parazaider talk about their career as the rock band Chicago. 7am Saturday.

Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (FUSE), Recording engineer Tom Dowd works with music legends, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton. 11:30pm Sunday, Aug 30.

Metallica is getting some love this week. Time Warp: Metallica (Discovery) airs at 1am Sunday Aug 23. Biography: Metallica (BIO) airs 9pm Wed & 1am Thurs.  MTV Live: Metallica (VH1CL) airs 1am Saturday.  FUSE is showing Metallica in Their Own Words and The Metallica Chronicles at 9pm & 9:30pm Sunday, Aug 30.

And if classic metal is your thing, don’t miss Iron Maiden: Somewhere Back In Time Live (PLDHD), from their 2008 tour.  12am Thursday.

NON-MUSIC SHOW I’M MOST LIKELY TO WATCH:

Biography: Sam Kinison (BIO), Renegade comic Sam Kinison started his professional life as a Pentecostal minister. 3pm Sunday, Aug 30.

Keep reading to see the entire schedule…

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