Ear on TV: Week of 04.27.09 - The Decemberists

It was nearly three years ago that The Colbert Report put the Decemberists on notice for coat-tailing on Colbert's green screen challenge. The resulting mock feud led to one of the more entertaining half-hours in the short history of the show, with a 'ShredDown' duel between Colbert and Decemberist guitarist Chris Funk. With some controversy, Colbert declared himself, and his stand-in Peter Frampton, the victor. As such, when The Decemberists return on Monday to the scene of the (perfect) crime, they might enact some revenge while also promoting their latest album, Hazards of Love.

It's all in good fun, of course, and it's good thing that Colin Meloy and co. don't take themselves too seriously, given that their latest finds their theatrics knee deep in a prog-folk-rock opera. And considering three of the four identifiers in that genre (that I just made up) would/should made The Colbert Report's Threat Down list, is it any wonder that The Decemberists are Stephen Colbert's musical nemesis?

For those that missed, forgotten, or just want to relive "Rock and Awe: The Countdown to Guitarmageddon" from the last Decemberists/Colbert showdown, here's the 'controversial' hand off from Colbert to Frampton, featuring Henry Kissinger and a 5-necked guitar (borrowed from Cheap Trick's NickRick Nielsen:



Meanwhile, I don't much know what to make of this Asher Roth phenomenon, other than it seems like the inevitable step in the suburbanization of hip-hop. He performs his ode to beer pong and weed, "I Love College", on Kimmel Wednesday, which served as a theme for Spring Break '09. Roth's album Asleep in the Bread Aisle is reminiscent of the party rap of the late eighties (Licensed To Ill, Loc-ed After Dark, etc). His willing embodiment of Stuff White People Like and Don Imus references feel a bit dated if we've truly moved into a 'post-race' Obama era, but perhaps the inevitably of Roth proves we really haven't.

Finally, as if there wasn't enough to watch Monday night (Chuck finale, folks!) you really need to see/record Prince on PBS where he begins the first of a two-night appearance/interview with Tavis Smiley. It's rare we get to hear the Purple One talk much at all, and Smiley actually gets him to open up a bit about childhood and his battles with the record industry, both subjects he has shied away from talking about in the past. Here's a preview clip of him talking about his childhood:



Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, April 27
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Franz Ferdinand (REPEAT)
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: The Decemberists
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Michael Franti
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Morrissey (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (REPEAT)
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Prince
Tuesday, April 28
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Asher Roth
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Duke Spirit (REPEAT)
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Prince, Bria Valente
Wednesday, April 29
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Manchester Orchestra
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Antony and the Johnsons
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Whip
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Gomez (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ben Harper And Relentless7 (REPEAT)
SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elvis Costello, Renee Fleming (REPEAT)
Thursday, April 30
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Starsailor
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Santigold (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Adele (REPEAT)
Friday, May 1
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Hold Steady
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Ziggy Marley
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Cold War Kids (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Duke Spirit (REPEAT)
SUNDANCE: Monks: Transatlantic Feedback: The Monks
Saturday, May 2
PBS: Austin City Limits: Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Joe Ely, Guy Clark (REPEAT)

Ear on TV: The Week of July 28

Back in 2006, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunited for a tour called "Freedom of Speech," which served not only as old rock nostalgia, but also as a tour of political action, featuring many songs from the Neil Young album of Anti-Bush sentiment, Living with War, which was released that same year. Bernard Shakey (Young's alias) brought a camera crew along and directed the documentary CSNY: Deja Vu, which, along with the accompanying soundtrack, was released last week.

In the film, there's a funny segment featuring Neil Young's appearance on The Colbert Report that year, where he 'tricks' Colbert into playing along to "Let's Impeach the President." I bring that up because Crosby, Stills and Nash (sans Young) make an appearance Tuesday with the Colbert Nation, promoting the album and film (and current tour). That CSNY are back is testament to the tide turning again to protest, and while it's a shame that there's no Neil this time around, we at least still have the video from his last visit (see video below).

Elsewhere, if you missed my urging of two weeks ago to see The Hold Steady (video,) you have another chance as they take their hyper-literate classic rock to the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on Friday. I just saw them live again Saturday night, and have yet to come down from that Stay Positive, straight-edge-for-the-post-prom-set high. Craig Finn is one front man who doesn't bother to hold in his geek moves in check and his enthusiasm for whatever song he's singing is hard to resist.



Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, July 28
ABC: The View: Katy Perry
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Minus The Bear (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: We Are Scientists
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Perry Farrell
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Gnarls Barkley
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Ting Tings
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Akon<
Tuesday, July 29
ABC: The View: Nils Lofgren
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Low vs Diamond
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: Crosby Stills and Nash
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Chuck Prophet (REPEAT)
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Rick Springfield
Wednesday, July 30
ABC: The View: Aimee Mann
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Atmosphere
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Innerpartysystem
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sergio Mendes
Thursday, July 31
CBC: The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos: Joan Jett
CBS: The Early Show: Rick Springfield
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Submarines
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Robin Thicke
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Sean Kingston (REPEAT)
OVATION: John Cale: John Cale
Friday, August 1
CBC: The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos: Foo Fighters
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: The Hold Steady
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Heavy (REPEAT)
Saturday, August 2
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Robyn (REPEAT)
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Spoon (REPEAT)
OVATION: Later... with Jools Holland: All day marathon of artists
Sunday, August 3
OVATION: Later... with Jools Holland: All day marathon of artists

Guitarmageddon it

Last night, "Rock and Awe: The Countdown to Guitarmageddon" went down on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert met (and subsequently ducked) the challenge from The Decemberists in a guitar solo duel. It was a night that saw Morley Safer of 60 Minutes, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, New York governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo, Peter Frampton, and none other then Henry Kissinger, who beckoned Colbert to shred with a call to "crank it up."

(View the episode here.)

The whole thing began with a green screen challenge that Colbert made for his viewers (involving him jumping around with a light saber.) When The Decemberists followed suit with their own green screen challenge ("Re-animate The Decemberists,") Colbert called the band out as 'coat-tail riders,' and counter-challenged his viewers to infultrate The Decemberists challenge with his light saber antics (the best of the Colbert-Decemberist mashup here.) The Decemberists then counter-challenged Colbert's counter-challenge by proposing a guitar duel, to which Colbert replied "you walked right into my trap."

And so the stage was set for last night... and what a night it was. Before they even got to introducing the judges, Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo came out and performed a bouncy Beatlesque ode to the challenge called "Oh Stephen," with lyrics like "who's the television host who understands what matters most?" It might be some time before I'm able to get that tune out of my head.



Chris Funk, lead guitarist for The Decemberists led off with some favorable riffage (for a hyper-literate college act,) enough so that Colbert looked nervous. But Colbert had some tricks (make that friends) up his sleeve (even though he pulled off those sleeves.) First he called upon Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick (who wrote and performed the Colbert theme song,) borrowing his five-necked guitar ("I might shred so hard tonight that I'll blowout the first four necks.") Then, after faking a finger injury after the first few notes, he called on Peter Frampton to finish the solo.



Needless to say, the fix was in (there was even rumored to be a bribe to Spitzer,) and Colbert crowned himself (and Frampton) the winner(s.) And what did he win? A copy of The Decemberists' The Crane Wife. They then ended the program with Rick Neilsen leading them on an all-star jam to The Colbert Report theme song.



Colbert may have walked away with the... uh... er... spoils, but, as Kissinger so aptly put it, "tonight, I think the American People won." Truly one of the most hilarious (and oddest) 30 minutes of television I've ever witnessed.

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, colbert report, stephen colbert, the decemberists, peter frampton, henry kissinger, apples in stereo, elliott spitzer, comedy central