How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice...

On May 5, 2011, Carnegie Hall will celebrate its 120th anniversary with a gala concert by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert. The concert repertoire is currently planned to include Beethoven's Triple Concerto performed by Gil Shaham (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Emanuel Ax (piano); a selection of songs by Duke Ellington and a complete performance of George Gershwin's An American in Paris...Great Performances...7pm

Watch the full episode. See more Great Performances.

Then we look at the life of pioneering American entertainer, Jack Soo, an Oakland native who became the first Asian American to be cast in the lead role in a regular television series, "Valentine's Day" (1963), and later starred in the popular comedy show "Barney Miller" (1975-1978). Featuring rare footage and interviews with Soo's co-stars and friends, including actors George Takei, Nancy Kwan and Max Gail, comedians Steve Landesberg and Gary Austin, and producer Hal Kanter, the film traces Soo's early beginnings as a nightclub singer and comedian, to his breakthrough role as Sammy Fong in Rogers and Hammerstein's Broadway play and film version of "The Flower Drum Song". The film shows how Soo's work laid the groundwork for a new generation of Asian American actors and comedians...8:30pm

Robert Plant trades Alison Kraus for Patty Griffith...

A rare snowy day in Nashville, Tennessee, sets the stage...an intimate concert by rock icon Robert Plant at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville. Performing with his new, Grammy-nominated group Band of Joy - Plant plays both Led Zeppelin classics and new songs that continue to have an impact on the music scene today...Live From the Artist's Den...Sat at 8pm

Bluegrass is the order of the night with Steve Martin and Sarah Jarosz. Comedian Martin picks up his banjo with the Steep Canyon Rangers for new tunes in the old tradition. Young Texan Jarosz rewrites the bluegrass rules with her original songs and style..Austin City Limits...10pm

And a Memorial Day tradition, this multi award-winning broadcast features an all-star line-up in performance with the National Symphony Orchestra and is co-hosted for the sixth time by Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise and Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna, two acclaimed actors who have dedicated themselves to veterans' causes and supporting the troops in active service. The event has become the nation's memorial service offering viewers a time to remember, to heal and bring the country together...Sunday at 7pm

Watch the full episode. See more National Memorial Day Concert.

To cap off Memorial Day, this collection of personal correspondence brings to life the deepest,most human side of war, from the American Revolution to the Gulf War. This one-hour film transcends the subject of war by exploring the love, passion, pain, horror and hope of the men and women who fought and those who waited at home...Monday at 8pm

Sarah McLachlan AND Duffy??? Sweet...

Two of my favorite singers...one an established star, the other a rising new talent...and both with incredible voices and style. Austin City Limits...7pm

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Then at 8, discover the facts and legends behind the wildflowers that captivate us every spring. Why do we always see picturesque cattle among bluebonnets? Where did Indian blanket get its name? How did Native Americans and settling pioneers use wildflowers for food, medicinal cures, and to create distinctive tattoos? How are they being used today to cure cancer? Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson narrates...Wildflowers: Seeds of History...8pm

The Parthenon has served as a church, a fortress, an ammunition dump and the model for countless banks, courthouses and museums across the world...

It has been shot at, exploded, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, looted for its magnificent sculptures and subjected to restorations that have been termed "catastrophic." Despite so much abuse and renown as an icon of Western civilization, the question of how the Parthenon was built has been largely ignored until recently. NOVA presents SOME intriguing questions...how did the ancient Athenians build their great temple with incredible precision in a mere eight years? How did they manage to incorporate subtle, eye-pleasing distortions into the Parthenon's layout, such that there are few straight lines or right angles to be seen? And, most baffling of all, how did they accomplish all this without an overall building plan or blueprint, which would be indispensable to a modern architect? NOVA: SECRETS OF THE PARTHENON...8pm





In 2009 a team of marine archeologists, carrying out a sonar survey of the seabed around the remote Italian island of Ventotene, made an astonishing discovery. The wrecks of five ancient Roman ships were found in pristine condition, each one fully laden with exotic goods. Remarkably, much of the cargo remained exactly as the ancient Roman crews had loaded it, suggesting that these ships had not capsized but had gone to the bottom of the sea intact and upright. What happened to these ancient ships? What were they carrying and why had they traveled to this remote, rocky island in the first place? "Lost Ships of Rome" follows the team as they explore the sites in detail, salvage artifacts and piece together the history of the ships and why they were lost at Ventotene 2,000 years ago.

It's the biggest intelligence breach in U.S. history...

--the leaking of more than half-a-million classified documents on the Wikileaks website in the Spring of 2010. Behind it all, stand two very different men: Julian Assange, the Internet activist and hacker who published the documents, and an Army intelligence analyst named Bradley E. Manning, who's currently charged with handing them over. Through in-depth interviews with Manning's father, Assange and others close to the case, veteran FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith tells the full story behind the leaks. He also reports on the U.S. government's struggle to protect national security information in a post 9/11 world...9pm

From the Revolutionary War, to Secretary of Treasury, to a duel with the Vice President...

"Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton" focuses on Hamilton's character --his strengths and weaknesse -- and what made him a great man. The film examines the six primary themes of Hamilton's life -- origins, war, law, finance, politics and death. Traditional documentary techniques are combined with Richard Brookhiser's exploration of Hamilton's legacy and life in contemporary America. In the 1780's and 90's, Hamilton pushed for a series of reforms that made the United States a legally and financially adult nation. We live in the still unfolding two-century-long boom that he began. Hamilton's life was colorful and dramatic. Beginning life as an illegitimate immigrant from the West Indies, Hamilton was a self-made man. His life ended in the most famous duel in American history...8pm

After watching this film, I sat in stunned disbelief…

For seven long months in 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives -- and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment -- for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism. Veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson's documentary is the first feature-length film about this courageous band of civil-rights activists...

not to be missed...FREEDOM RIDERS: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE...8pm

Amarillo didn’t get any Freedom Riders, but we did have citizens who experienced segregation…check out OUR VOICES on our website for a local perspective of those days.

Straight2Jackie is out of the office this week…we return on Friday the 20th

Exiled, imprisoned, elected and assassinated...BHUTTO

If you missed Garrison Keillor on OVERHEARD WITH EVAN SMITH, you get a second chance tonight at 1am...

Saturday on INDEPENDENT LENS we get another dose of the "Pakistani problem"...As the first Muslim woman to lead an Islamic nation, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto evolved from a pampered princess to a polarizing politician in one of the most dangerous countries on Earth.
Exiled, imprisoned, elected and assassinated...BHUTTO at 11pm

And on Sunday, Masterpiece Classic wraps up a very good series about a depression-era heroine rocking the boat at a Yorkshire school for girls...SOUTH RIDING part 3...8pm

I'm convinced it's "Construction of the Third Kind"...

During the 20th century, excavations at Stonehenge revealed that the structure was built in stages and that it dates back some 5,000 years,to the late Stone Age. The meaning of the monument, however, was anyone's guess -- until recently. Who built Stonehenge? What was its purpose? How did prehistoric people quarry, transport, sculpt and erect the giant stones? A new generation of researchers is tackling these questions, finding important clues in the landscape surrounding Stonehenge --prehistoric structures we can actually touch...NOVA 8pm

The Power of Song...

Two-time Oscar winning director Bill Guttentag presents SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE...the story of the American civil rights movement through music -- the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. The music enabled African-Americans to sing words they could not say and it was crucial in helping protesters as they faced down brutal aggression with dignity and non-violence. This documentary is a blend of heart-wrenching interviews, dramatic images and contemporary performances by top artists, including John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean and The Roots...8pm

American Masters: Marvin Gaye explaining "What's Goin' On"...9pm

His aim is still unerringly true...

Tonight our Britcom ARE YOU BEING SERVED moves to it's new home on Friday at 9pm, making room for another great music show on Saturday...LIVE FROM THE ARTISTS DEN...featuring Elvis Costello. His musical eclecticism and fiercely literate lyrics have earned him recognition as one of the most innovative and influential songwriters since Bob Dylan...9pm

And later at 10pm, Independent Lens asks the question "what was life really like in a Warsaw ghetto during Hitler's reign?" This documentary examines a classic Nazi propaganda film used by historians for decades to provide insight into the realities of life in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. The recent discovery of a second reel in an East German archive has thrown the veracity and intent of the Ghetto footage into question. It becomes clear as film and war historians examine the outtakes reel that Nazi propagandists staged elaborate scenes to mislead the general public about what was really happening in Warsaw.

...and he had the best line in "Aliens"...

Bill Paxton landed his first movie role in 1975's Crazy Mama, and spent the '80s playing small roles in a series of big movies. His first big lead was in One False Move, and a series of successful roles in movies and on TV has followed. His current projects include the hit HBO series Big Love and the Steven Soderbergh movie Haywire, scheduled for release later this year. Tonight, Evan Smith sits him down and gets him to talk on Overheard with Evan Smith...8pm.

Oh, and the best line from "Aliens"...after a jaw dropping - machine gunning run-in with the indestructible creatures, Bill's character exclaims..."I don't know if you've been keeping up with current events, man, but we just got our asses kicked!"

Watch the full episode. See more Overheard with Evan Smith.

It's good to be Emperor...but it's hard to come up with decrees...

The extraordinary story of China's 8,000 terracotta warriors begins two centuries before the birth of Christ. The First Emperor of China was preparing an extravagant tomb for his journey into the afterlife -- and decreed that he be protected forever by a monumental army...how was a terracotta army of this size made in less than two years using the technology of 2200 years ago? Secrets of the Dead's investigation shows that the Chinese may have Henry Ford beat by more than 2,000 years with their own assembly line...7pm

And at 8-m NOVA investigates the "Lost City of the Incas," the most famous archeological ruin in the Western Hemisphere. Why did the Incas build it on such an inaccessible site, clinging to the steep face of a mountain? Who lived among its stone buildings, farmed its emerald green terraces, and drank from its sophisticated aqueduct system? NOVA joins a new generation of archeologists as they probe areas of Machu Picchu that haven't been touched since the time of the Incas...

Hiding in plain sight...for a while...

In the aftermath of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, FRONTLINE presents two inside views of the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. First, Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi--who reported last year's award-winning FRONTLINE film Behind Taliban Lines--once again journeys deep inside enemy territory. This time, he gains extraordinary access to a band of militants and foreign fighters in Afghanistan who say they're loyal to bin Laden and are readying a Spring offensive against the U.S. Then, FRONTLINE crosses the border into Pakistan, where correspondents Stephen Grey and Martin Smith go inside "The Secret War" against the militants. They uncover new details of a CIA "private army" of militiamen launching kill raids against al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan. They also find new evidence of covert support for elements of the Taliban by the Pakistani military and its intelligence service, the ISI. At a safe-house not far from where bin Laden was killed, they make contact with one mid-level Taliban commander who tells FRONTLINE, "If they really wanted to, [the Pakistanis] could arrest us all in an hour."

He's right...this is when he's "so pretty"...

"MUHAMMAD ALI: MADE IN MIAMI" chronicles Cassius Clay's arrival in Miami in the fall of 1960 (fresh from earning a gold medal in the Rome Olympics), his life in Overtown -- a neighborhood that was considered "Harlem South" and a vibrant center of black entertainment and commerce -- and his affiliation with the famed Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach. Over the course of the next few years Clay evolved both professionally and politically, piling up victories in the ring and adopting the black separatist teachings of the Nation of Islam. As "MUHAMMAD ALI: MADE IN MIAMI" makes clear, it was in this period that Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and the boxing world was never the same again...9pm