You might’ve noticed that our website has been acting a little odd the last few days.  We’re having some server problems, but the fine folks at PBS Interactive are on it and hopefully we’ll be back up and running very soon. Thank you for your patience!

**Update: Things seem to be working properly now.

We have so much going on here at ACL TV, that we’ve decided to split the ACL Festival and TV newsletters. The ACL TV newsletter will keep you up-to-date on recent tapings, sneak peeks of episodes, and ticket and contest announcements. Oh, and speaking of contests…when you sign up in May, you’ll be entered to win one of three trips to Austin* and tickets to see My Morning Jacket’s ACL TV taping on Monday, August 25th! Additionally three runners-up will win a collection of ACL TV DVDs and CDs. So get on the list!

*Air transportation provided by American Airlines. For contest rules and details, click here.

Leonard Cohen, who has made two unforgettable appearances on Austin City Limits, has just played his first show in something like fifteen years! His tour officially begins in June. Our friends over at Stereogum had a great write-up of his first show and several videos from the performance. Cohen appears to be in fine form and judging from these videos has certainly retained his charm. And congratulations, Leonard on your recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mark Richardson’s Resonant Frequency column on Pitchfork this week has a fascinating treatise on the idea of “perfect” songs - not necessarily one’s favorites, but tunes that are crafted and performed so well within their own space that they embody their own creative aspirations and need no improvement. Richardson then goes on to list what are, to him, a dozen perfect songs.

This is the sort of thing a music geek like myself ponders all the time, but I confess that I probably couldn’t come up with more than a handful of songs that would fit the bill of perfection, however I’d define it. But I see his point.

Click here to read the column.

Be sure and check out the Decemberists/Explosions in the Sky encore tomorrow night (check your local listings, of course). It’s one of my favorites. Between the Decemberists’ panoramic blend of folk storytelling, indie rock melody and complex arrangements and Explosions’ widescreen compositional theatrics, this episode is the closest ACL has ever come to showcasing progressive rock.