Music on TV - Week of January 30: Bon Iver, Fishbone

Bon Iver is this week's musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

2011 turned out to be quite a year for Justin Vernon. Besides his eponymous sophomore release under the moniker Bon Iver being a critical success and debuting at #2 on the Billboard Charts, Bon Iver's also since been nominated for four Grammys (even if the awards show is a waste of time) and has been given his own imprint (Chigliak) on Jagjaguwar to release records that have fallen through the cracks. 2012 hasn't been so bad either, with his first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live slated this week, while also being an odds on favorite to win at least one Grammy award the following week.

Meanwhile, the legendary Los Angeles Ska/Punk/Funk Freakie Deakie outfit Fishbone makes their first national television appearance in... man, FOREVER! Not that they haven't been in the Late Night talk show news, what with The Roots famously playing Fishbone's "Lying Ass Bitch" as Michelle Bachmann's walk in music and Paul Shaffer playing it later during a commercial break in solidarity. The band was the focus of the recently aired documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, which we profiled here and here (with playlists). In honor of February being Black History Month, the documentary will be available via iTunes starting February 1.

Elsewhere, HBO has the Cameron Crowe directed documentary on the making of Union, the collaboration between legends Elton John and Leon Russell; Wilco takes over Austin City Limits; Ringo Starr hits both Conan and Craig Ferguson; and Lana Del Rey gets a second chance to not bomb on national tv, this time with Letterman.

Picks for the week
Monday, January 30
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Fishbone
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Madonna, Joe Perry
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Nada Surf
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Tom Morello, Bear Hands (REPEAT)
TBS: Conan: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Tuesday, January 31
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Girls Generation
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Ringo Starr
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: Björk
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Imelda May
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: J Cole
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Horrors
Wednesday, February 1
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Gotye
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Airborne Toxic Event
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: William Shatner
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Evanescence
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: We Were Promised Jetpacks
SYNDICATION: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Flo Rida
TBS: Conan: Ringo Starr
Thursday, February 2
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Tim and Eric
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Lana Del Rey
HBO: The Union: Elton John, Leon Russell, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Booker T. Jones, Robert Randolph
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Bush
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Nas
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: White Denim
TBS: Conan: Evanescence
Friday, February 3
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Ziggy Marley
NBC: The Today Show: Gym Class Heroes
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Fitz and the Tantrums
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: M83
Saturday, February 4
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Bon Iver
PBS: Austin City Limits: Wilco
Sunday, February 5
HDNET: HDNET Concert Series: Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones
NBC: Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show: Madonna, Nicki Minaj, MIA

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With - Season 1 on DVD

One of the surprise debuts of last year had to be Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..., a talk show featuring Costello pulling off the rare triple threat: host, performer and bandleader. Equal parts interview and jam session, the Sundance series relies upon Costello putting the artists at ease, getting even the prickliest of artists to open up and speak warmly about their influences.

But, as Martin Mull once famously quipped, "talking about music is like dancing about architecture," and so it's the tremendous musical performances sprinkled throughout that add beautiful flesh to the meat and bones discussion. Guests on the first season include Elton John (who also served as Executive Producer), Lou Reed, The Police, Rufus Wainwright, Kris Kristofferson, Jenny Lewis, She & Him and Smokey Robinson. And for not being a musician at all, Bill Clinton still held his own talking about his love of Elvis and jazz musicians growing up in Arkansas.


Highlights from the sessions -- recorded at both the famed Apollo Theater and 30 Rockefeller Center in NYC -- include Rufus Wainwright's discussion of meth use; artist Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) recounting personal tragedy involving Lou Reed and the death of his father; and the edge-of-seat uncomfortable interaction between Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland. It's naked moments like these that you never see on television anymore, and even if you have to suffer through paint-drying moments (James Taylor, Tony Bennett) to get to them, they're worth the effort.

Bonus features include four exclusive performances from Costello that didn't make the original telecasts. "Ballad of a Well Known Gun" (from the Elton John episode), "Beginning to See the Light" (Velvet Underground/Lou Reed), "Purple Haze" (with The Police) and the Smokey Robinson written classic for the Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, "No More Tearstained Makeup" (see video below). Plus, plenty of backstage interviews with Sir Elton John, Sting, Smokey Robinson, Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash and even Elvis Costello himself.

Life on Mars: Ground Control to Major Tom

So in the end, Life on Mars was all just one big gene hunt? Or, better yet, it was an April Fools day joke with an elaborate six-month long setup. (You know the drill, spoilers to follow.)

Figures that the uncreative minds that brought you the horrible October Road would think a literal interpretation of the show's title would be clever. You see, this is all a mental simulation for an astronaut who's part of a search for life on mars, get it? Going on a gene hunt, get it? Groan. All season long, there was back and forth between hokey and inspired work, and I'd almost forgotten about the terrible OR, but with the last Oz reference ("I'm going to miss you most of all, Scarecrow,") the show jumped us to hokey town. Even the last minute literary reference of Gulliver's Travels turned out to be a red herring. I'm still steaming mad that I followed this the whole season, even after cancellation, to come to an ending so moronic. It's slap in the face. Fittingly enough, today comes news that the original series will finally get a region appropriate DVD release here in the US (July 28, available today for pre-order). Silver lining, small favors, blah blah blah.

One saving grace of the finale was the inspired scenes that used Elton John's "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters." It was pretty much the whole song running along the scenes, like a classic Cameron Crowe montage or something, where our protagonist contemplates and makes a decition, leading to our Sam and Annie moment ("And I thank the Lord for the people I have found"). But that was just the drive up to the scenic cliff, and what followed drove us off it, passing the finales for St. Elsewhere and Dallas on our descent. At least it was unforgettable, I'll give them that much

Life on Mars - 1.17
1. "Life is a Rock" - Reunion - intro
2. "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" - Elton John

Previously: There's No Place Like Home (Episode 1.16)

Spectacle: Music lover's delight

Ok, the music geek love fest Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... premiered with Elton John and there was a ton of great music discussion. Leon Russell, Laura Nyro and David Ackles were great artists championed by Elton, and so of course, that's what we'll have cued up the next day to listen as we work. For instance, I did not know that Laura Nyro's Gonna Take a Miracle was backed by LaBelle... now that album moves up my must hear list.

The story of Nyro at the Monterey Pop Festival in '67, along with several nods to Carol King, remind me again that I need to get my act together on a post about a recent good read of mine, Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation, where Nyro gets mention as well. But that's for another post.

For those keeping score at home, here's the songs that we heard in this episode:

Playlist: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... - Episode 1.01 "Elton John"
1. "Border Song" - Elton John - sung by Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
2. "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell - live clip
3. "Wedding Bell Blues" - Laura Nyro - live clip from Monterey Pop Festival
4. "Burn Down the Mission" - Elton John - demonstrating Nyro influence
5. "Sitting in the Park" - Billy Stewart
6. "Working in the Coal Mine" - Lee Dorsey - sung by Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
7. "Amoreena" - Elton John - talking about songwriting with Bernie Taupin
8. "Road to Cairo" - David Ackles - clip
9. "A Song for You" - Leon Russell
10. "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" - Ray Charles with Elton John
11. "Down River" - David Ackles - sung by Elton John and Elvis Costello
12. "Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun" - Elton John - sung by Elvis Costello (credits)

Ear on TV: Week of December 1

People have been telling Elvis Costello that he should host his own show for many years now it seems, but it took the last one, Elton John, for it to finally stick. Premiering this Wednesday on Sundance is Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..., a talk show with music as both it's subject and it's highlight. The first guest, fittingly enough, is Elton John, who performs double duty here as executive producer of the show, and who's mostly responsible for Costello taking on the project. Spectacle is like no other talk show before it in that nearly equal time is given to talking about music as there is to performing it, and the depths in which the discussions venture tread into the realm of true music geekdom (be still my beating heart).

Future guests include the varied talents of Tony Bennett, The Police, Smokey Robinson, President Bill Clinton (that's right, Bubba,) Jenny Lewis, She & Him and next week's guest Lou Reed -- who actually cracks a smile. The format is loose and comfortable, putting even the most prickly of artists (Reed) completely at ease. The performances are generally covers, as Costello starts the night by performing a favorite song by that night's feature artists (for the premiere, it's John's "Border Song,") and later Costello and guest will play another artist's song. It's essentially fans of music who just happened to be famous, getting together and talking about what they love (and, since there's all these instruments nearby, they play some music as well). For real fans of music, it's a real treat.



Costello picked a great week to launch Spectacle, since most talk shows are on vacation this week, that is save for Leno and Jimmy Kimmel. Tom Jones, who we profiled last week, manages to hit both (Leno on Wednesday, and Kimmel on Thursday).

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, December 1
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: T.I. (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Charlie Haden (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: X (REPEAT)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Bishop Allen
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Young Jeezy, Nas (REPEAT)
Tuesday, December 2
ABC: Good Morning America: Britney Spears
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Akon
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Sia (REPEAT)
IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: Chris Cornell (REPEAT)
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Lady GaGa
Wednesday, December 3
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ice Cube
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Jenny Lewis, Elvis Costello (REPEAT)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: 3OH!3
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Tom Jones
SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elvis Costello, Elton John
Thursday, December 4
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Tom Jones
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Little Jackie (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Common
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Airborne Toxic Event (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Sounds (REPEAT)
Friday, December 5
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ludacris
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The International Noise Conspiracy
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Adele (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Yelle (REPEAT)
Saturday, December 6
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: The Ting Tings