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May 2010
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In This Issue:

Not Liking The Doors Can Get You Into a Fight

An Oscar Winner on Austin City Limits

May Music Listings

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Someone told me in high school that there was one sure way to get into a bar fight. You could curse someone's family member, or even their favorite sports team, but criticize their favorite band and get ready to brawl. Now, of course, that's not true, as anyone who's a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox, or any number of college football teams, knows. But I remember in my late teens almost coming to blows with a guy who felt Jim Morrison was a better poet than Bob Dylan. Had people not stepped in, it might have gotten ugly.

It might seem weird to begin a Music Monthly promoting a documentary about a band that, well, has never really done it for me musically. I'm not even sure why, to be honest, because they've always held a fascination for me. There's no denying, though, the impact of the Doors on pop music and culture, and the iconic stature that its shaman-like frontman, Jim Morrison, holds in the history of that music and culture. American Masters: The Doors: When You're Strange, premiering on Wednesday, May 12, promises to delve deeper than any documentary has before into the story and aura of the band, using only original footage, much of it previously unseen. Johnny Depp narrates. I'll be watching, hoping to learn more and maybe, just maybe, come around to just what made the band so great. Maybe I'm the one that's strange?

Remember that humble guy that got up to accept the Oscar for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards? That was Ryan Bingham, and he's one half -- with Alabama's own Drive-By Truckers -- of an outstanding encore broadcast of Austin City Limits on Saturday May 1 at 11:00 p.m. Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma are Live From Lincoln Center on Wednesday, May 5; Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna host the annual National Memorial Day Concert from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capital on Sunday, May 30. Special music guests include Brad Paisley, Lionel Richie and Yolanda Adams.

It's another great month of music programming on NPT.