JAYHAWKS / On TV
These are all the TV appearances the Jayhawks have made that I am aware of . Unfortunately I don't have exact dates when most of these first aired.
1992
Showcase
This program was shown on the St. Paul PBS station. The Jayhawks are shown performing "Witchita", "Two Angels", "Settled Down Like Rain", "Waiting For The Sun" and "Crowded In The Wings" live in the studio. Short interview segments are interspersed between the live footage.
1993
In Concert
This promo was shown on ABC's In Concert. It is live footage from the 2/14/93 Metro show in Chicago plus short interview snippets with Mark, Gary, Marc and Ken shot at Metro. I was at this show (in fact you can see my brother in the first row in one shot) and they had the Hollywood Town Hall sign, couch, lamps and a flag set up on stage.
Farm Aid
The Jayhawks performed at Farm Aid VI in Ames, IA which was broadcast by TNN. The Jayhawks did 2 songs that were shown on TV, "Waiting For The Sun" and "Martin's Song".(4/24/93)
Late Night With David Letterman
The Jayhawks perform "Waiting For The Sun". Anton Fig plays drums (while Ken Callahan plays bongos and tamborine in the back) and Paul Shaffer plays keyboards. Letterman mentions after the break that "the album is terrific" and "very entertaining".
Later With Jools Holland
The Jayhawks performed "Waiting For The Sun", "Take Me With You (When You Go)" and with Maria McKee, "Precious Time" on this BBC program hosted by ex-Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland. (7/06/93)
1995
Late Show With David Letterman
The Jayhawks make another appearance on Letterman's show. Letterman holds up their new CD Tomorrow The Green Grass upside down and introduces them. Things get better after that, the Jayhawks do a beautiful performance of "Blue". This time Karen plays a grand piano and Paul Shaffer plays keyboards. After the song is finished Letterman almost gets smacked in the face by Marc's bass as he walks over to greet the band.(2/23/95)
MTV News
Hanging out with Tabitha Soren at SXSW. Tabitha and the Jayhawks talk a bit about how many of the bands playing at SXSW are established bands and not unknowns. Wilco is also featured in this SXSW report.
VH 1 Naked Cafe
This episode with the Jayhawks was titled "Live Bait". The Jayhawks are interviewed as they fish along the banks of a river. Mark Olson, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman are present along with Victoria Williams and Molly the dog.
Interviewer: "Does fishing have any correlation to your music?"
Marc Perlman: (laughing)"Yeah... I mean I play bass and then I fish for bass and it's spelled the same way so there's some relation."
Gary Louris: "A lot of similarities between fishing and songwriting now that I think about it. Sometimes the fish are there and sometimes they're not."
Interviewer: "You guys, how has fishing influenced your life?"
Mark Olson: "Well it hasn't that much because we never get to do it."
Other things that we learn about fishing-
Most of the best fisherman are bass players and vice versa (because they are at peace with themselves and the fish can sense that).
There are icefishing prostitutes that go around in snowmobiles up in northern Minnesota.
House Of Blues
The Jayhawks were featured along with Pete Droge and Graham Parker. They perform "Waiting For The Sun", "Blue", "I'd Run Away" and "Two Angels."
Best Buy commercial
"Some places are known for great music" which in this commercial includes First Avenue in Minneapolis and Best Buy. Featuring shots inside and out of First Avenue (including the stars that used to adorn the outside walls), posters and live footage of both the Jayhawks and Sugar plus names of Minneapolis bands in the voiceover. Unfortunately it has machine gun editing so that the images fly by so fast it's hard to know what you are seeing.
Jon Stewart Show
The Jayhawks performed "Blue" on Stewart's MTV show but I have never seen it.
VH1 Crossroads
Mark Olson, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman performed an acoustic version of "Blue" that was shown on Crossroads. In the opening credits for this video show they also used a snippet of "Blue" in the background music.
1997
MTV News
Another report from SXSW in Austin. This time the topic of conversation was the "slump in the record industry".
Gary: "I have one theory and that's the personal computer, the PC. A lot of people are spending more time with that than they are listening to music."
Marc: "Don't you think it's because the excesses of the music business has finally consumed itself? Don't you think that?"
Gary: "Jesus..."
Marc: "Or do you think maybe it's just because there's a lot of crappy music out there and nobody's buying records."
Gary: "That could be it, that could definitely be it."
Videos
Videos were made for the following songs-
Baltimore Sun
Waiting For The Sun
Settled Down Like Rain
Blue
Take Me (With You When You Go)
Go to Links to find websites that have Jayhawks videos.
Other Appearances
Mark Olson appeared on a segment of MTV's 120 Minutes when wife Victoria Williams hosted. He also appears in her video for "You R Loved"(1994).
The Jayhawks appear in the Soul Asylum video for the Victoria Williams song "Summer Of Drugs" which Soul Asylum covered on Sweet Relief (1994).