Mandolins On TV - Advance Notice

[journeybear]

Well, the only mandolinizing I expect to see this week is a repeat of the 5/14 appearance by Operation Aloha on Carson Daly, late Thursday night. This is a project by sme rock 'n' roll buddies, members of bands like Gomez and Maroon 5 and others, who hung out in Hawaii for a couple of weeks, jammed, wrote some songs, and recorded them. If my memory serves me well, there was a mandolin and a ukulele involved.

That's it, unless your local PBS station is running John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. His utility guy, Pete Huttlinger (never heard of him), plays guitar, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin - this on "Calypso" and "Annie's Song," though I couldn't hear it.

[onassis]

Pete Huttlinger has done a few instructional DVD's for Homespun, but they were mostlt fingerstyle guitar. Never heard him play a mando.

[journeybear]

No mandolin content this week, that I can see ...

[journeybear]

Inasmuch as I missed the boat on Gloriana's appearance on GMA last Friday (in my defense that was added sometime mid-week), it looks pretty bad for the home team again this week.

M 8/31 CBS 8 - 11 CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock
In alphabetical order: Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Julianne Hough, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Sugarland and Taylor Swift

If you have the patience for this kind of show there might be something wothwhile in there. And pretty much a guaranteed mandolin appearance with Sugarland on the bill ... and surely others.

Also, my local PBS stations reran REM's appearance on Austin City Limits from last season, so check your local listings in case your station follows a different schedule.

[Mike Bunting]

I have no patience or time for this kind of show.

[journeybear]

Maybe I should have said IF ... My approach is usually to tape them and scan later, especially if I'm only interested in a few performers, in this case Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, and Brad Paisley, and there's no telling when their time slot will be. Furthermore, when they're broadcast at the same time as a show I like such as "History Detectives," my attention will be elsewhere. Bless videotape for making this possible. Curse videotape for making this possible!

[journeybear]

Not much for mandolins this week or next. John Fogerty has mandolin on five cuts on his new album, but whether there will be one in his appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show Thursday is anyone's guess.

Also apearing Thursday on Conan's show is Dhani Harrison, George's son. That's for all you Beatles and George fans, who surely have been indulging yourselves with all the Beatles and related offerings on VH1 Classics the last few days. That culminates with The Beatles Anthology Wednesday 5-11 PM EDT (severely edited, I'm sure). The Concert For George does include a mandolin - when Joe Brown (a contemporary in the early days) comes on stage to sing "Here Comes The Sun" (just after Monty Python), he brings a guitar and a nice black top F2 or F4 (looks like) which he places in a stand - but dosn't play. He probably did, but it was cut out of this broadcast.

If anyone likes Diane Birch (I do) she is on three days this week, twice in repeats. Coincidence? Fate? Check her out.

9/7
Letterman: Diane Birch 7/22
9/8
Conan: Dhani Harrison
Fallon: John Fogerty
9/9
Carson Daly: Diane Birch 6/16 (two songs)
9/11
Today: Diane Birch

[journeybear]

Slim pickin's again - two possibilities, both on Wednesday night. Letterman is repeating the 9/3 show featuring John Fogerty. Although he has mandolin on five cuts on his new album, I haven't heard whether one showed up for this. There wasn't one in his appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show last Tuesday. And Carson Daly has Pete Yorn, who has featured a mandolin in his last few TV appearances.

9/16
Letterman: John Fogerty (repeat from 9/3)
Carson Daly: Pete Yorn

[journeybear]

A little late with this week's notice. I was hoping some late addition would appear that I could report, but such is not the case. I suppose that's part of the nature of this project - I can't just leave it at nothing; I have to say there's nothing. That's right nothing, nada, zero mandolin content this week. I don't really expect one to show up in U2's appearance on the SNL season opener ...

I will say this, though - Pete Yorn's appearance on Carson Daly featured mandolin more prominently than any other in recent memory - visually at least. It was blended well into the total sound so it wasn't that prominent in audio, but several times they zoomed in real close, filling half the screen, so there is that.

[journeybear]

The drought continues ... As I gaze at the weather map and the atmospheric patterns and meteorological trends, I see ill winds blowing no mandolin tones our way this week. Some out of the ordinary appearances, though, and then there's next week ...

9/30
Jay Leno: Vince Gill & Emmylou Harris - nuff said
10/1
The View: Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon - scheduled to perform; don't know what to expect
10/2
Conan O'Brien: Joshua Bell and Tiempo Libre - his name pops up here, virtuoso that he is; don't know the context
10/3
New season of Austin City Limits begins, with The Dave Matthews Band

10/5
Carson Daly: Pete Yorn, repeat from 9/16 - 100% positive MC
10/9
Regis: Mark Knopfler
Conan O'Brien: Lady Antebellum

[JeffD]

It is awful nice of you to provide this service, in the face of constant disappointment.

My magic eight ball predicts, for the next several weeks:

[Rob Gerety]

I canceled the TV 6 months ago so it doesn't do much for me - unless it comes out on DVD.

[journeybear]

Well, I'm kind of keeping an eye on this stuff anyway, and then paring down the list of upcoming appearances to be suitable for us'ns here, sort of, to use a chess term, en passant. Plus every now and then someone tells me about something I didn't know.

[GVD]

The drought continues ... As I gaze at the weather map and the atmospheric patterns and meteorological trends, I see ill winds blowing no mandolin tones our way this week. Some out of the ordinary appearances, though, and then there's next week ...

9/30
Jay Leno: Vince Gill & Emmylou Harris - nuff said
10/1

Don't be surprised if Vince plays mandolin during that appearance.

[GVD]

Pete Huttlinger has done a few instructional DVD's for Homespun, but they were mostlt fingerstyle guitar. Never heard him play a mando.

Pete's a monster fingerstyle guitarist but can pick pretty much anything with strings exceedingly well. He usually hangs out in the KBA camp quite a bit at Winfield and if you come by at the right time you'll see him playing his Collings mando.

[journeybear]

Don't be surprised if Vince plays mandolin during that appearance.

I wouldn't be too surprised, but I rather expect him to do some twangin' on the geetar. I must say, I'm suitably impressed with his ability there, and also Brad Paisley and Keith Urban, as it's much more commonplace for country singers to play acoustic rhythm guitar. In fact, I saw Brad on the tube the other day and he was the only electric guitar player in the band. Take that, Kentucky Thunder!

[journeybear]

The crystal ball, back from vacation, once again casts a weary eye toward the future, and ... books another four-day cruise, hoping to lift its spirits ... Now, no one could have predicted that last Wednesday Carson Daly would have featured a live acoustic performance from Joe Firstman, his former house band's leader (it was not in the schedule), which included a poorly mixed mandolin being strummed rather vehemently and still barely heard, nor that Tim McGraw's appearance on Letterman last night would include a mandolin - not that it could be heard over five guitars anyway. These things are just unpredictable. But the crystal ball depends on some prior knowledge or at least a hint or two. So when Pete Yorn - who has been featuring mandolin lately - showed up on the Ellen Degeneres Show yesterday with Scarlett Johansson and no mandolin - well, it's just par for the course. Not that it wasn't a fine performance by all, but one hopes to see a mandolin on the tube once in a while!

In other words, nothing in the foreseeable future for mandolin buffs. But for Monty Python fans, go figure ...

10/14
Jimmy Fallon

10/15
The Today Show
Begis & Kelly

[Dan Hoover]

. So when Pete Yorn - who has been featuring mandolin lately - showed up on the Ellen Degeneres Show yesterday with Scarlett Johansson and no mandolin - well, it's just par for the course.

Scarlett Johansson and no mandolin??your kidding??she sings AND plays the mando???wow..

[journeybear]

Ummm, no ... actually, neither of them plays mandolin, as far as I know. I suppose I should have said "no mandolinist" instead ... though I think both his guitarist and keyboardist play mandolin - though did not on this occasion. Apparently the album he recorded with Scarlett is a project dating back three years that is just now seeing the light of day - something to do with both of them having room in their schedules to do some gigs and promote it. My guess is that his latest album, which has occasioned a few TV appearances, includes some mandolin on it, hence its appearance on these TV gigs. That doesn't necessarily imply there is any on their album, recorded three years ago. I haven't seen the liner notes nor credits for either of these releases. I hope that clears this up.

Nice catch, Mr. Eagle Eye. Is there any chance you are related to J. Edgar? You seem to display some of the powers of observation of a trained professional.

[Dan Hoover]

nahhh..you just made me sit up when i read that...Scarlett Johansson,mandolin,paints a pretty picture...i know she made a album of tom waits covers a couple years ago..dismissed pretty much,but from what i heard, i kinda liked...sort of a Nico feel??
as for uncle john and his crazy band, i ain't talk'in...I never wore a dress,well maybe once ..and i look nothing like this...cheers..

[journeybear]

Just had to share this - I saw a Mandola on TV last night - in a commercial for Carrabba's Italian Grill. Apparently, the restaurant chain was founded by Johnny Carrabba and Damian Mandola.

[Miked]

This PBS program might be of interest:

The Queen Family
Wednesday, October 14 — 9:30pm
23.1 - WKAR-HD
Profiling 92-year-old Mary Jane Queen and her family, natives of rugged Jackson County, N.C., who perform traditional Appalachian mountain music passed from generation to generation. Included: the Queens discuss their music and rural life.

It's airing on PBS stations during October.

[journeybear]

Haven't seen that listed - could be a regional thing. Reminds me, though, fans of folk music should find this fascinating ... this week on American Masters -

Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound 90 min
Joan Baez begins singing and writing songs as a teenager playing in Cambridge, Mass., coffeehouses and becomes a conscience of a generation.

It just started here, and I'm already astounded that they've found footage of her while still a college student playing in coffeehouses. What a glorious voice. And she always has had exquisite taste in material, too.

[Miked]

We do have a mandolin with Joan Baez! A very small portion of mandolin but Dirk Powell plays in Joan's current band. I didn't realize that John Doyle and Todd Phillips are also in her band.

Her current lineup is just a sliver of the program. Great footage of Joan with Dr. King, her trip to N. Vietnam, Dylan, etc. Definitely worth watching!

[journeybear]

Yes, it's true, it's true! There's a mandolin, and also an octave mandolin, I think. But don't watch this with that being your goal, as their inclusion is rather insignificant. They also show up way at the end.