The Celtic Woman journey to international renown began in 2005. Now, with three hit specials on PBS, more than three million CDs and DVDs sold in the U.S. — including gold and platinum album certifications, a #4 debut on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, and #1 on the Billboard World Music Chart for more than 90 consecutive weeks — and concerts in front of more than 800,000 fans in the U.S. alone, Celtic Woman remains a major force in the contemporary music landscape.

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CELTIC WOMAN: THE GREATEST JOURNEY is the essential collection of Celtic Woman’s most beloved and memorable songs. The performance special gives new fans the chance to understand Celtic Woman’s success and old fans a chance to reminisce. Showcasing vocalists Lisa, Chloë, Órla, Méav and Hayley, and fiddler Máiréad, the special is a collection of memorable highlights taken from their acclaimed PBS specials: Celtic Woman — A New Journey and Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration. Performances include “Mo Ghile Mear,” “Spanish Lady,” “Christmas Pipes,” “You Raise Me Up” and many more. All of the songs are intertwined, using stunning scenic and landscape images of Ireland.

Song List

“Mo Ghile Mear”
“Someday”
“Newgrange”
“The Butterfly”
“Orinoco Flow”
“Walking in the Air”
“Danny Boy”
“The Voice”
“Isle of Inisfree”
“Sing Out”
“The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun”
“May It Be”
“One World”
“Dulaman”
“At the Ceili”
“Shenandoah/The Contradiction”
“Somewhere”
“The Soft Goodbye”
“Spanish Lady”
“You Raise Me Up”
Producer: Celtic Woman Ltd. Executive producers: Peter Brady and Dave Kavanaugh. Producer: Scott Porter. Director: Russell Thomas. Musical director/composer: David Downes. Underwriters: Public Television Viewers and PBS.

Dvds/cds of this program available when you support WLIW21.

One of music’s most prolific songwriters invites fans for an intimate, career-spanning concert. Filmed during Carole King’s sold-out, critically acclaimed 2005-2006 Living Room World Tour, the performance special follows the trajectory of her 40-plus year career: from her inauspicious beginnings as the self-described “lyrically challenged” member of Brooklyn high school girl group the Co-Sines to a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer whose songs have topped the charts for artists from an impressively wide range of genres. CAROLE KING: WELCOME TO MY LIVING ROOM premieres nationwide August 2008 on public television (check local listings).

The concert opens with King alone on a stage styled as a comfortable living room. Wearing a blue, beaded top – perhaps arriving “home” from a performance and now relaxing with friends – she sings, “I’m 63 and there’re so many songs by me…but I’ll try to do all I can in the time they give me,” and fans know they are in for a treat.

In a performance King proclaims will be “a night about songwriting,” public television viewers experience the full spectrum of her talent. Beginning in the 1960s as one-half of a famous Brill Building songwriting team, King co-wrote hits with Gerry Goffin for the Shirelles (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow”), the Chiffons (“One Fine Day”), the Drifters (“Up on the Roof”), Aretha Franklin (“(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman”) and many others. Then as a solo artist in the 1970s, King became a singer/songwriter icon with the genre-defining Tapestry, which yielded her four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year (“It’s Too Late”) and Song of the Year (“You’ve Got a Friend”), along with seminal hits “I Feel the Earth Move” and “So Far Away.”

WELCOME TO MY LIVING ROOM makes it clear that no one performs Carole King’s classic songs better than she does. Playing decades-old compositions with the exuberance of that Brooklyn teenage girl writing simple songs about boys, the joy she finds in making and playing music is evident, whether solo on piano or guitar, or with accompaniment. The personable singer/songwriter charms the audience with chatty banter, her mile-wide smile and earnest delivery of every lyric. And her audience is equally invested — even the men sing along on the chorus of “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman.”

Song List
“Welcome to My Living Room”
“Beautiful”
“Smackwater Jack”
Medley: “The Right Girl,” “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,” “Every Breath I Take,” “I’m Into Something Good,” “Go Away Little Girl,” “Hey Girl,” “One Fine Day,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”
“Up on the Roof”
“It’s Too Late”
“(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman”
“I Feel the Earth Move”
“So Far Away”
“You’ve Got a Friend”
“The Loco-Motion”

Band Members: Gary Burr (vocal, guitar, bass) and Rudy Guess (vocal, guitar, bass)

Directors: Carole King and Rudy Guess. Producers: Carole King, Rudy Guess and Lorna Guess. Associate Producers: Leah Reid and Brandon Miller. Filmed by Tim Pendergrass for Video Lounge Productions. Presented nationally by WLIW New York. ST and CC.

Dvds/cds of Carole King available when you support WLIW21.

On October 16, 2002, two months into “The Rising Tour,” Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band took the stage of the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain, to deliver a soul–stirring concert experience. The performance featured new songs “The Rising” and “Lonesome Day” – inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks – alongside classic hits “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” and a poignant solo version of “Spirit in the Night” featuring The Boss on piano. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: LIVE IN BARCELONA premieres nationwide March 2009 on public television (check local listings).

Song List
“The Rising”
“Lonesome Day”
“Prove it All Night”
“The Promised Land”
“Badlands”
“She’s the One”
“Spirit in the Night” (Bruce solo)
“Born to Run”
“Thunder Road”

Band Members
Roy Bittan (keyboards), Clarence Clemons (saxophone, percussion), Danny Federici (keyboards), Nils Lofgren (guitar, vocals), Patti Scialfa (guitar, vocals), Bruce Springsteen (guitar, vocals), Garry Tallent (bass), Soozie Tyrell (vocals/violin), Steven Van Zandt (guitar, vocals) and Max Weinberg (drums)

Presented nationally by WLIW21 in association with WNET.ORG. ST and CC.

Tickets to see Boyz II Men live!
May 7, 2009

Hailed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as the most commercially successful R&B group of all time, Boyz II Men return with their first public television special, BOYZ II MEN MOTOWN: A JOURNEY THROUGH HITSVILLE, USA. Recorded at The House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ during the trio’s 2008 World Tour in support of their album Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA (co–produced by Randy Jackson of “American Idol”), the concert features wall–to–wall hits, including Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” The Miracles’ “The Tracks of My Tears,” The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” and the Commodores’ “Easy.” The special also features Boyz II Men classics “End of the Road” and “Motownphilly.”

Down through the decades, the stars and songs of Motown Records have been the subject of countless tributes and cover versions recordings. But few of these homages have displayed the level of vocal artistry or the faithfulness to the sound and spirit of the originals that Boyz II Men capture on their new public TV special. “Our approach was not to taint or take away from the integrity of the original records,” explains Shawn Stockman, “but to add a little thing, here or there, and put our Boyz II Men flavor on it…We wanted to pay tribute to an era that had such a major influence on our sound.” The four–time Grammy Award–winning group was originally signed to Motown Records in 1991, and their first single — the million–selling “Motownphilly” (No. 4 R&B/No. 3 Pop) — was a tip of the musical hat to the soul music production centers of Detroit and Philadelphia. “We took everything from before and brought it up to now,” says Nathan Morris, “just to let everyone know that we haven’t forgotten it.”

Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman are the three unstoppable members of Boyz II Men. Having sold an estimated 60 million recordings in a spectacular career that enters its seventeenth year in 2008, Boyz II Men continue to energize audiences all over the world, and are sure to win over public television audiences nationwide with BOYZ II MEN MOTOWN: A JOURNEY THROUGH HITSVILLE, USA.

Song List
“The Tracks of My Tears” (originally performed by The Miracles)
“Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” (originally performed by The Temptations)
“Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” (originally performed by Marvin Gaye)
“War” (as performed by Edwin Starr)
“Money (That’s What I Want)” (originally performed by Barrett Strong)
“It’s The Same Old Song/Reach Out I’ll Be There” (originally performed by The Four Tops)
“It’s Only Make Believe” (originally performed by the Commodores)
“End of the Road”
“Motownphilly”
Presented nationally by WLIW New York. ST and CC.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Hicksville, New York native’s breakthrough album The Stranger, WLIW New York presents Billy Joel’s 1978 British concert debut, a live television performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. During the appearance, the legendary singer/songwriter played a set of now-classic hits, including “Only the Good Die Young,” “Movin’ Out,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Just the Way You Are,” which earned 1978 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Joel and his band also performed “New York State of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” off 1976’s Turnstiles as well as Piano Man stomper “Ain’t No Crime.” Now, 30 years later, the one-time UK broadcast finally premieres stateside. BILLY JOEL: THE STRANGER LIVE premieres nationwide August 2008 on public television (check local listings). The program also includes live performances from 1977 of “The Stranger” and “Just the Way You Are.”

Song List

Live Performance filmed March 14, 1978, The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC Television Theatre, Shepherd’s Bush, London, UK
“Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”
“Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”
“New York State of Mind”
“The Entertainer”
“She’s Always a Woman”
“Root Beer Rag”
“Just the Way You Are”
“Ain’t No Crime”
“Souvenir”
“Only the Good Die Young”

1977 Live performances
“The Stranger”
“Just the Way You Are”

Band Members: Liberty DeVitto (drums), Doug Stegmeyer (bass), Richie Cannata (saxophone/organ) and Russell Javors (guitar)

Presented nationally by WLIW New York. ST and CC.

A behind-the-scenes look at how composer/director Wayne Lytle marries cutting-edge computer animations with modern musical grooves to create one-of-a-kind “virtual concerts” for the entire family. Using custom developed, state-of-the-art computer animation software technology, Lytle invents unique self-playing graphical instruments, perfectly synchronized to the original digitally created soundtrack. Each note is performed in perfect precision by its instruments, some of which resemble real-world instruments, while others appear unlike any earthly object. Features the best music videos from Animusic and Animusic 2, including the robotic laser-precision of “Future Retro;” “Gyro Drums,” comprised of 150 drums and cymbals arranged in three concentric gyroscopic spheres; the serene acoustic beauty of “Aqua Harp;” and “Cathedral Pictures,” which plays Mussorgsky’s “Promenade” on a giant light-beam emitting pipe organ with drums, rock bass, pyrotechnics and more.

Song list
“Pipe Dream”
“Starship Groove”
“Pogo Sticks”
“Resonant Chamber”
“Future Retro”
“Cathedral Pictures”
“Drum Machine”
“Aqua Harp”
“Harmonic Voltage”
“Stick Figures”
“Gyro Drums”
“Acoustic Curves”
“Pipe Dream 2″
Presented nationally by WLIW New York. ST and CC.

Cutting edge computer animation and a new collection of modern musical grooves and soundscapes combine in the second “virtual concert” from composer/director Wayne Lytle. Using custom developed, state-of-the-art computer animation software technology, Lytle invents unique self-playing graphical instruments, perfectly synchronized to the original digitally created soundtrack. Each note is performed in perfect precision by its instruments, some of which resemble real-world instruments, and while others appear unlike any earthly object. The production team spent three years creating Animusic 2. The result is more complex instruments and inspired arrangements, as infectious as the original. Case in point: Gyro Drums, which is comprised of 150 drums and cymbals arranged in 3 concentric gyroscopic spheres; and “Cathedral Pictures” which plays Mussorgsky’s “Promenade” on a giant light-beam emitting pipe organ with drums, rock bass, and more with pyrotechnics.

Animusic 2 is a new genre of spectacular music entertainment for the entire family.

Presented nationally by WLIW New York. ST and CC.

Cutting edge computer animation and a diverse collection of modern musical grooves and soundscapes combine in a “virtual concert.” Using custom developed, state-of-the-art software technology, director Wayne Lytle invents self-playing graphical instruments, perfectly synchronized to the digitally created soundtrack. ANIMUSIC draws you in its reality like no place you have ever been – a new dimension of sight and sound.

From the robotic laser-precision of “Future Retro” and rapid-fire ball bearings of “Pipe Dream” to the serene acoustic beauty of “Aqua Harp,” each animation is an intricate melding of music and visuals.

Presented by WLIW New York.