Ovation TV FTW
If you asked me a month ago what my favorite cable channel was, I’d have told you it was Ovation TV. If you ask me today, I’d shout that answer at you.
On July 1st, Ovation kicked off a series called American Revolutionaries Rock and Soul that runs through the 18th. Normally I don’t get to watch much TV, but since I was already keeping tabs on Ovation I saw this coming in their promos and gave the DVR some appropriate pokes and prods well in advance. Today I was able to watch two exceptional shows:
Electric Purgatory is a thought-provoking look at how black musicians have had a more-than-challenging time making it as pure rock musicians. Footage and interviews with folks from Living Colour and Fishbone and Bad Brains brought back a lot of memories of the 1980s for me.
Welcome to Death Row is a thorough history of Death Row Records – the notorious gangsta rap label created by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight (and maybe Harry O).
Neither of these are brand new documentaries. EP dates from 2006 and WtDR from 2001 (though with some updates at the end). Regardless, Ovation has done a stellar job of pulling all sorts of amazing such shows together for this series. Thanks Ovation – keep ’em comin’.
Myriad Missives 
FOLLOWUP: Another stellar documentary in the series: “Electric Miles – A different kind of blue” covering Miles Davis’s musical transition via Bitches Brew. GREAT interviews and footage, including the 1970 Isle of Wight performance.