Get ready for the DTV Transition – and have your questions answered – at one of two informative free Brown Bag Lunch 'N Learn events.

WHO: Nashville Public Television

WHAT:  NPT Digital Television Open Houses

If you want to learn more about digital television and the DTV transition on February 17, 2009, bring a lunch (beverages will be provided) and come to one of two free NPT Digital Television Brown Bag Lunch 'n Learns and see DTV in action. Bring your questions and find out more about making the digital switch. Activities include demos of different DTV options (converter boxes, standard definition & high definition); a look at NPT’s digital channels; and answers to your DTV questions from NPT’s experts.

WHEN: Friday, January 16, 2009 and Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

WHERE: NPT, 161 Rains Ave. Nashville, TN 37203, (615) 259-9325

HOW: RSVP by using our online form here.

Dear NPT Viewer,

When I looked at the music lineup for this month, it was immediately clear that B.B. King's appearance on Soundstage on January 30 was the show to highlight. But then I realized there wasn't much I could write about it. What do you say about B.B. King? Is there any point in trying to convince you of the many reasons he's an American music icon? So I won't bother. I'll find some other show to highlight in the intro paragraph. Some show that needs a little nudge. Something I could write a few sentences about that won't seem gratuitous. In the meantime, pick up a copy of King's thoroughly entertaining autobiography Blues All Around Me, written with David Ritz. It's a blast from start to finish, and a book you'll be pressing into the hands of friends and fellow music fans. Just make sure you get it back. It took me a few years to recover mine.

Okay, here we are now still in the intro paragraph, not highlighting the B.B. King Soundstage performance, but another show instead. I was in college when Counting Crows' August and Everything After came out, and I've had a soft spot for the band ever since. The album was a post-grunge  revelation, instantly accessible and lacking in irony -- and for once, that was a good thing. Here was a band in 1994 channeling The Band, Van Morrison, Big Star and R.E.M. How could that be bad? I remember being bummed that I was unable to attend Woodstock '94, but finding great consolation in seeing the Rolling Stones with Counting Crows at Giants Stadium that same weekend. I can still vividly recall dashing through the stadium to get to my seats after hearing the Crows open with "Rain King." It's a fond, joyous memory. Counting Crows play a new Soundstage on Friday, January 9.

Wicked star Idina Menzel, who wowed Nashville a few months ago at TPAC, is on Soundstage on January 16. The Foo Fighters hit the Austin City Limits stage the next night, January 17. Nick Lowe, together with ONCE stars Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (as The Swell Season), make for must-see (or DVR) TV on January 31.

It's been a pleasure writing to you this year. I hope you enjoy reading the Music Monthly as much as I enjoy writing it. I'll be back in touch in '09.

Until then, it's another great month of music programming on NPT.