Every year, this is a great concert.  It is well worth watching for all Americans.   

Putting the Memory Back in Memorial Day

PBS's National Memorial Day Concert Remembers the Sacrifices of America's Veterans

The 2006 National Memorial Day Concert will be broadcast live on PBS from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, May 28, 2006 from 8:00 to 9:30 pm ET (check local listings).

The multi-award winning NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT is the premier memorial service for the United States, honoring the service and sacrifice that so many American servicemen and women have made for their country. In this concert, we remember the thousands who have given their lives as well as the wounded and their families - from Iraq to Vietnam, Korea and World War II.

This year's concert will focus on two major themes: honoring the contributions of the "citizen soldiers" serving in the National Guard, and paying a tribute to the brave pilots who flew with the Air Force during World War II - including the more than 90,000 combat casualties and more than 30,000 men who lost their lives.

Co-hosted by acclaimed actors Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna, the concert will also feature performances by country music sensation Lee Ann Womack, Academy Award-winning actress Dianne Wiest, distinguished actor Charles Durning, country music sensations Big & Rich and beloved opera singer Frederica von Stade, who'll be joined by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Erich Kunzel. General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) will will lead the nation in reminding us all of the true meaning of Memorial Day. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff will also play a special role in the concert along with a Joint Armed Forces Color Guard and color guard teams from each branch of the armed services provided by the Military District of Washington, the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, U.S. Army Chorus and U.S. Army Chorale, the U.S. Navy Sea Chanters, the U.S. Air Force Ceremonial Brass and the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants.

The National Memorial Day Concert is sponsored by Disabled American Veterans and Golden Corral Restaurants is made possible by grants from the National Park Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting , the Department of the Army, the National Endowment for the Arts and public television stations nationwide. All travel is provided by American Airlines.

The Concert can also be heard in stereo over National Public Radio and can be seen overseas by U.S. military personnel in more than 135 countries on American Forces Radio and Television Network

The Making of...

Producing the live National Memorial Day Concert requires more than nine months of advance planning, writing, and coordinating of countless details. The following is some background on the making of this annual television event.

• Coordination among 22 government entities including: the Military District of Washington; the National Park Service; the Office of the Architect of the United States Capitol; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Pentagon; and because of its unique location at the Capitol, three law enforcement agencies — the Capitol, National Park Service and District of Columbia police.
• With a crew of more than 300 people, the production team includes industry veterans who've worked on such prestigious live programs as the Grammy Awards, Country Music Awards, People's Choice Awards and the Tony Awards.
• Extensive meetings with clergy, psychiatrists, military and veterans' organizations are scheduled each year by executive producer Jerry Colbert to take the nation's pulse on the issues affecting our veterans and service members. Since current news events dictate the content of the event, Colbert has to remain flexible to accommodate last minute programming changes.
• It takes several months to pull the actual concert together from booking the stars, to researching footage for the documentary sequences to finding the personal stories to tell and integrate it all into a compelling program.
• Forty-eight hours before broadcast, the frenzied pace kicks in with a musical run-through at the Kennedy Center with top pops conductor Erich Kunzel and the National Symphony Orchestra; blocking rehearsals on-site on the West Lawn of the Capitol; only one full dress-rehearsal the night before the show; and late night production meetings to tweak the script and even change entire musical numbers.
• Nine different cameras are needed for the broadcast to cover every angle.
• Since September 11, security at the Capitol has been unprecedented. The massive police presence is responsible for installing a double fence around the West Lawn of the Capitol, the site of the concert, with checkpoints for searches of bags and parcels, as well as screenings by metal detectors.
• The weather is always a factor for an outdoor concert but the concert has never been cancelled due to inclement weather no matter how bad it gets. If it's damp, the National Symphony Orchestra musicians may have trouble keeping their instruments particularly winds and strings in tune.
• The new 10,000 square foot amphitheater band shell created for the National Symphony Orchestra was unveiled in 2002. It is a temporary structure that requires no permanent foundations and is supported at the front by two 60-foot columns attached to base plates that are anchored to the ground with 40-inch long steel stakes. The membrane of the band shell is further supported with cables that are also anchored with additional stakes — 120 in total. It can sustain winds of up to 90 miles per hour.

Concert Biographies

Jerry Colbert
In 1981, executive producer Jerry Colbert presented the first PBS Fourth of July concert with the National Symphony Orchestra and guest artists performing live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. In 1990, he introduced the National Memorial Day Concert. Since then, both holiday specials have become among the highest-rated performance programs on PBS. In addition to his annual work on these concerts, Colbert has produced Mr.Justice Brennan, Sister Adrian, the Mother Teresa of Scranton, The Regulators: Our Invisible Government and H.R. 6161: An Act of Congress. Colbert was previously deputy director of the Center for Understanding Media in New York. A native of Worcester, MA, he graduated from Holy Cross College in 1964.

Walter Miller
Producer Walter Miller is recognized as America's leading live director and producer with credits that include television's top awards shows, such as the Grammy Awards, Country Music Awards, People's Choice Awards, Tony Awards, American Comedy Awards, Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. In 1999, he won an Emmy for producing the Tony Awards. For Liberty Weekend: Americana Music Concert, Miller received the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Director. He has won additional Emmys for S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous, S'Gershwin, a special with Jack Lemmon and Fred Astaire and Annie, The Women In A Life Of A Man. His live musical concert credits include Concert of the Americas with Frank Sinatra in addition to A Capitol Fourth and the National Memorial Day Concert.

Paul Miller
Paul Miller has been directing television since 1982, with credits that include three seasons each as director of both Saturday Night Live and In Living Color. In 1999, he won an Emmy for directing the Tony Awards and received the Outstanding Television Director of the Year Award from the Directors Guild of America. Miller has directed the Country Music Awards for the last ten years. He is currently working as director of the second season of Blue Collar TV with Jeff Foxworthy. This year is his sixth year as director of An American Celebration at Ford's Theatre. Miller has also directed Sunday at the Oscars and the half-time show of the Super Bowl (twice). On July 4, 1993, Paul teamed professionally with his father, Walter Miller, for A Capitol Fourth and has directed both the National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth. Paul Miller is a partner in RickMill Productions, a Hollywood-based entertainment company that has produced numerous series for Comedy Central as well as specials for HBO and Showtime.

Joan Meyerson
Writer Joan Meyerson has received numerous nominations and awards for her work as a writer, producer and director. Her PBS credits include the recent top-rated miniseries Walking the Bible; the three-hour special Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire, nominated for best limited series by the International Documentary Association; and the special Pete Peterson: Assignment Hanoi. In addition, she produced an episode of the Emmy Award-winning series Life and Times for KCET Public Television and was associate producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Say Goodbye. She has written, produced and/or directed programs for many well-known series premiering on TLC (The Learning Channel), Discovery Health Channel and The History Channel, including the David L. Wolper series Legends, Icons & Superstars. Meyerson has written the National Memorial Day Concert since 1996.