Fourth of July Fare: Music, Marathons and (Real) Football

Television and radio will help the nation celebrate its birthday today with some old, some new and some traditional programming, including a bonus--the World Cup soccer match between the United States and powerful Brazil at Stanford.

MUSIC: PBS puts a glow on the holiday with “A Capitol Fourth 1994,” a 15th-anniversary concert by the National Symphony Orchestra featuring the finest in American music. The 90-minute special, hosted by Joel Grey, offers performances by Faith Hill, Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers, John Raitt and Florence Henderson, and features a tribute to Thomas Jefferson. The conductor is Erich Kunzel and show time is 8 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15; 7 p.m. on KVCR-TV Channel 24, and 9 p.m. KOCE-TV Channel 50. Radio station KUSC-FM (91.5) will broadcast the concert at 8 p.m.

Arts & Entertainment lights up “Pops Goes the Fourth,” at 4:30 and 9 p.m., with composer Marvin Hamlisch conducting the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.

The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington will perform on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” at 11:35 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

MOVIES: It wouldn’t be the Fourth of July without “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and TNT has the musical starring James Cagney at 2 p.m.

Cable’s American Movie Classics gets patriotic with a John Wayne Festival, beginning at 3:30 a.m. The list of the Duke’s hits included “Fort Apache,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” and “The Sons of Katie Elder.”

The USA Network counters with the Oliver Stone film “Born on the Fourth of July,” starring Tom Cruise, at 3 p.m.

MARATHONS: KTLA-TV Channel 5 concludes it’s two-day trip through “The Twilight Zone Marathon” with 11 episodes of the Rod Serling series, beginning at 1 p.m.

Nickelodeon kicks off it’s “Block Party Summer” with seven installments of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” starting at 8 p.m.

SPORTS: The World Cup soccer tournament moves into single-elimination play with two second-round games on TV today. The Netherlands faces surprising Ireland at 9 a.m. on ESPN and KMEX-TV Channel 34; and the United States will need all the fireworks it can muster when it plays mighty Brazil at 12:30 p.m. on ABC (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) Channel 34.

In baseball, the Angels visit the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park at 10 a.m. on Channel 5, and the Dodgers play host to the hot Montreal Expos at Dodger Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 5.

RADIO: “Mario’s Many Worlds of Music” presents “Trumpet and Drum,” with Irving Bush and the Revolutionary Brass and Percussion performing at 9:30 a.m. on KPFK-FM (90.7).

At 10 a.m. KUSC-FM offers “From Sea to Shining Sea,” a holiday music tribute from different regions.

And humor takes a red, white and blue bow when “The Capitol Steps: Politics Takes a Holiday” is performed by the Washington-based satirical group, at 12:05 p.m. on KCRW-FM (89.9).