Ear on TV: Week of 02.09.09

Fresh off their Saturday Night Live appearance, TV on the Radio face off against Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report Monday night, both standing up playing ("Dancing Choose") and sitting down to get 'nailed' in an interview. (UPDATE: Scroll down for the interview -- lots of giggling and beard stroking, and here's the link for the live performance of "Dancing Choose".)

It's a pretty exclusive club that TV on the Radio joins with the appearance, joining Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, REM, Wilco and (uh...) Rush as musical guests that have come on the show. And given their leftist lyrics, we can expect Colbert to have cooked up something 'truthy' to spring on them (more than a 'wag of the finger,' to be sure). (UPDATE: scroll down to see the gigglefest of an interview.)

Meanwhile, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... keeps chugging out fascinating episodes. With Jenny Lewis, She & Him and Jakob Dylan appearing this week, the theme appears to be singer/songwriters who were known for something else before music. Lewis was a child actress (Troop Beverly Hills,) Zooey Deschanel (the 'she' of She & Him,) is of course still an actress and Jakob Dylan is a famous offspring of someone named Bob. Outside of that, I can't for the life of my figure out what Jakob Dylan is doing in this segment. Lewis enlisted Costello's help with a song ("Carpetbaggers") on her last album (Acid Tongue,) so it's pretty much cemented that the song is on the docket for the evening.

And finally, at my kids' behest, I have to mention that They Might Be Giants won a Grammy last night for Best Musical Album for Children (Here Come the 123's,) which my (almost) 4-year old had down as a lock. The transformation of the two Johns from quirky rock fave to quirky kid's music might seem cemented with their win in the category, but another feature of the genre might have already done that. "It's crazy money; those kids are loaded!" joked John Linnell backstage after receiving the award. While the Grammy win seems timely for their appearance on Conan Thursday night, they're likely playing their contribution to the film Coraline, "Other Father Song." But, since my son might be looking in, we've got to pimp The 123's

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, January 9
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Adele
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: TV on the Radio
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The So So Glos
FUEL: Check 1, 2: Against Me!
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Duffy
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Brett Dennen
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Sam Sparro
Tuesday, January 10
ABC: The View: Robin Thicke
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Little Ones
IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: Robyn Hitchcock (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Levon Helm
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Adele
Wednesday, January 11
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Henry Clay People
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Blind Pilot
SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, She & Him, Jakob Dylan
Thursday, January 12
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: They Might Be giants
Friday, January 13
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Glen Campbell
FUEL: The Daily Habit: ((Sounder))
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Dan Auerbach
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Flobots (REPEAT)
Saturday, January 14
PBS: Austin City Limits: Sarah McLachlan, Duffy

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