Set against boom mics and a brighter-than-usual lighting schematic, Living Colour hit World Café Live with the dizzying ferocity of kids on Ritalin—giddy, rowdy, fast. Maybe they're just happy to be here. Or maybe it's because they're on television.

The cameras and lights? Blame Stephanie Bennett of Delilah Films. She's capturing the onetime cult-of-personality band for On Stage at World Cafe Live!—a weekly show headed to Mark Cuban's HDNet.

COLOUR TV: "U2 and Madonna and 50 Cent -- they have no problem getting exposure on television. But what do great musicians like these guys have?" says On Stage at World Cafe Live!'s Stephanie Bennett of Living Colour.

HDNet is a hi-def competitor here in Comcast country.

Cuban? He's the Leno-chinned Dallas Mavericks owner and streaming Internet pioneer (Broadcast.com) whose three-million-plus subscription-based HDNet appears on DIRECTV.

And Bennett? She's the journeywoman rockumentarian who produced The Complete Beatles, Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll and Roy Orbison and Friends: Black & White Night.

World Café Live is the West Philadelphia venue sharing a roof with WXPN 88.5 FM, but you knew that already.

But Living Colour? Bands with a greater level of chart currency or relevancy couldn't have played harder. It's as if guitarist Vernon Reid had something to prove.

Maybe he did.

"U2 and Madonna and 50 Cent—they have no problem getting exposure on television," says Bennett. "But what do great musicians like these guys have?"

Then again, before On Stage at World Cafe Live!, what did HDNet have in the way of music programming?

OK. A lot actually: a couple shows called True Music and Sound Off with Matt Pinfield, and a long-form concert every Sunday. But the network's looking to get branded—turn itself into a necessary viewing experience beyond the clarity of sight and sound.

"We wanted a club-style music series to fit into HDNet Sunday music night," says Evan Haiman, executive producer of entertainment programming for the network.

"And we wanted it to look classier than a Hard Rock Cafe thing," says Bennett.

Oh, snap. That's the cattiest thing to come out of WCL since Spank Rock rapped about pussy from the stage.

When Hal Real, the pianist and real estate finance lawyer, built WCL he added one special component: wiring and structuring for sound, vision and sightlines. And not just for hi-def. WCL's MusicLab series, produced by Tom Emmi, is an educational program put together in-house; 10 episodes—with Michael McDonald, Chick Corea, Joe Sample, Béla Fleck—looking for a network. Once they find a home, the proceeds will fund their distribution in schools.

Bennett, whose husband works in Philly bio-tech venture investment circles, befriended WXPN's Roger LeMay, who, in turn, introduced her to Real six months before WCL's 2004 opening.

After all agreed WCL would make a cool setting for a series, Bennett mentioned it to friend Haiman—its diverse, adult-music palette, its roots in the David Dye program of the same name.

"Haiman liked the idea of that brand and that new venue and the artists coming through there," says Bennett. In an ideal world, the still-burgeoning HDNet would love to be as branded as World Café Live and its mix of established and up-and-coming artists.

"This was definitely a 'new world' music from my point of view. And hi-def is the future. We should be filming everything in high-definition."

Voila. HDNet comes to shoot usually two bands per night over a two-night production with six-to-eight robocams, jibs and handhelds for full coverage.

But who?

Along with Living Colour, they've filmed WCL's usual cache of singer-songwriters like Daniella Cotton and Rhett Miller. "But classic rockers and the offbeat as well," says Real, mentioning The Knack, Marshall Crenshaw, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Steve Forbert, Naked Eyes and saxophonist Joshua Redman.

Certainly these are sturdy players. Even if some aren't necessarily at the peak of their careers, this mixed bag points at the level of diversity WCL's show will display. "It's a complex process of getting act, management and label to get involved in such a new venture," says Real, pragmatically.

Bennett is annoyed at some of the hurdles she's met. "Don't get me started on management," she says, half-grumbling, half-giggling. "James Blunt? Amazing, right? A hit-maker. His very first U.S. performance was at World Café Live and his management wouldn't do it because he didn't have his whole band. He was very into it. And to have that show filmed for posterity! People of that caliber are who we want."

Posterity is big for Bennett. These are the sort of artists who get lost in the TV shuffle, a tragedy what with iPods becoming a more reliable outlet for music videos than MTV and VH1. On Stage at World Cafe Live! has a niche to fill. "MTV isn't playing Josh Redman or even Rhett Miller are they? PBS has no money. We're documenting these people."

There's also something in it for the record companies. "We're giving labels opportunities to get footage they couldn't or wouldn't pay for," said Bennett. "Joshua's been nominated for Grammys and his label hasn't ever recorded a full-length show of his. And he's on Warners."

On Stage at World Cafe Live! launches March 19, on HDNet at 10:30 p.m. in a half-hour version. Full-hour versions will be repeated throughout the week.