While you're stuck in grueling traffic this Labor Day Weekend, XM will be keeping the music in overdrive with a channel dedicated to nothing but songs about cars and driving: Car-B-Q.

"Car-B-Q" will air this Saturday, September 1st at Midnight ET throughout the weekend until Monday, September 3rd at 5PM ET on XM Live (ch 120).

It's all about cars and life on the road, mixing automobile music of every genre to make your drive a (somewhat) more pleasant one. You'll be sure to hear the songs you love including classics like "Hot Rod Lincoln," "Little Red Corvette," "Highway Star" and of course "Low Rider" - all so you don't have to hear the words "are there yet?"

[XM Car-B-Q]

Ludacris is kicking off a new season of his original XM show, "Disturbing Tha Peace Presents: Ludacris' Open Mic," on September 8th.

Hosted by Ludacris and long-time radio partner Poon Daddy, the new season of "Open Mic" will continue to feature music hand-selected by the artist, including songs from Ludacris' personal music collection, as well as special guests and interviews with other artists.

Luda's roots start off as a radio personality in Atlanta, Georgia as DJ Chris Lova Lova at the an urban radio station Hot 97 (which later became Hot 107.9). Following his short stint as a DJ, Ludacris (real name Chris Bridges) debuted his own album independently, and later went on to be signed by Def Jam.

The season premiere of "Ludacris' Open Mic" will air Saturday, September 8th at 6pm ET on XM's uncut hip-hop channel, RAW (ch 66) with encores airing at 10pm ET and Tuesdays at 8am ET.

XM has partnered with the Washington National Opera (WNO) to feature a new series aptly titled "Washington National Opera on XM" starting next week.

"Washington National Opera on XM" will debut on Tuesday, August 28th, with WNO's production of Norma, Bellini's bel canto drama about a Druid high priestess betrayed by her lover during the era of Roman occupation, which features two of opera’s most memorable tunes "Mira, O Norma" and "Casta Diva." Hasmik Papian sings the title role with Irina Mishura as Adalgisa and Richard Margison as Pollione.

Additional operas from WNO's recent seasons will premiere on XM's inaugural run of the program, including La Cenerentola, Die Walküre, A Streetcar Named Desire, Manon Lescaut, and La traviata.

"Washington National Opera on XM" will air Tuesdays at 12-noon ET on XM's opera/vocals channel VOX (ch 112), with encore broadcasts Fridays at 6pm ET and Saturdays at 12-midnight ET.

View a schedule of operas to air through early-October after the jump...

Elvis died 30 years ago this week (on August 16, 1977) and Elvis Presley fans from all over the world will descend on Graceland for this year's Elvis Week. And both Sirius and XM will be featuring a week of special programming honoring The King.

Sirius Satellite Radio's Elvis Radio (ch 13) will have full coverage of all the big events from Graceland. Programming includes the Elvis Tribute Artists semi-finals as well as interviews with the people who were closest to Elvis, like original trio drummer D.J. Fontana. There will also be backstage coverage of "Elvis: The 30th Anniversary Concert," and "The 3rd Annual Sirius Satellite Radio Candlelight Vigil" show hosted by long time Elvis friend George Klein

XM Satellite Radio's The 50s on 5 (ch 5) own resident Memphian, Alex Ward (host of XM’s "Pink & Black Days") will be all over Memphis all week covering Elvis Week. He"ll go from activities on Beale Street to the candle light vigil at Graceland and everywhere in-between.

Tune in to both satcasters this week for a full week of programs paying tribute to the most popular American Icon in history.

One of the biggest hip-hop/R&B tours of the summer, SCREAMFEST '07, started last Friday (August 3rd) and continues on through September 2nd. For those who can't get tickets, XM's broadcasts of SCREAMFEST opening night performances is the closest you can get to being there.

This Saturday, August 11th, XM's hip-hop hits channel The Heat (ch 68) will air multi-platinum selling artists T.I. and Ciara, as well as rising stars Yung Joc and T-Pain, recorded live from the SCREAMFEST ’07 opening night. Encores will air each Saturday until the tour ends (so that's 8/18, 8/25 and 9/1). All broadcast times are 9pm ET on The Heat.

XM also will air exclusive countdown shows hosted by T.I., Ciara and Lloyd during the month of August, as well as regular on-the-road, backstage reports from every stop during the tour.

Another cool thing to note: XM looks to be pushing some Mobile Marketing efforts with Screamfest, allowing cellphone users to text various messages to 46896. Each message sent will return something different, like Screamfest tour dates, to XM exclusive music, or XM free trials, etc. Check out on the Screamfest page for more info. It's good to see the marketing folks exploring newer angles of engaging potential audiences.

[SCREAMFEST '07 on XM]

Can't make it to Grant Park in Chicago for Lollapalooza 2007? Not a problem, because both Sirius and XM Satellite Radio have got you covered.

On XM, join Ethel (ch 47) for three days of live music direct from Lollapalooza. As one of the biggest music festivals around, over 150,000 fans will gather for an eclectic mix of music spanning alternative rock, pop, indie, and funk. And Ethel will bring the concerts to you with live broadcasts throughout the weekend.

Sirius Satellite Radio's Left of Center (ch 26) will also be bringing you live coverage from Lollapalooza. Pappy, joined by Alt Nation's Madison, will be on deck bringing interviews with artists, concert reviews, and all of the latest up-to-date information from Lollapalooza 2007. Left of Center will also spend the entire weekend highlighting the bands playing at the summer-time festival.

XM's coverage kicks off tomorrow, August 3rd at 7pm ET; then again on Saturday, August 4th at 3:30pm ET; and Sunday, August 5th at 1pm ET (Pearl Jam is live at 9pm ET on Sunday).

Sirius' Lollapalooza Weekend coverage begins tomorrow through Sunday, August 5th: from 3pm-5pm ET.

Check out the full festival lineup on the Lollapalooza website. Bands scheduled to appear include Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Satellite Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon and more.