New TV show: "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with ..."

[always dancing]

Great shots. I am in the second row in fornt of Elvis. Can't you tell? That reminds me I have to add the Sundance channel to my TV.

[johnfoyle]

Relevant extracts -
( Words: Phil Sutcliffe )

On-stage, Costello is conducting a remarkably convivial rehearsal — spontaneous and, as will later emerge, only approximately connected with what’s played on the show itself. Costello is flanked by Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash and Norah Jones. Perched on stools, guitars on knees, they’re working up Johnny Cash’s I Still Miss Someone. “What key are we in, darlin’?” grizzled-as-God Kristofferson asks Rosanne. She tells him. “I just need to know what I’m doin’ and so far I don’t,” he guffaws. Within 15 minutes uncertainty, bum notes and squinting at the autocue have alchemised into a-harmony chorus of hair-raising loveliness.

Mellencamp appears, stage left. He sits restlessly, straining at the leash of the others’ after-you civility. At one point he declares he’s not much of a collaborator: " I'm from Indiana and there's nobody else there!” It shows. A good job they all know and understand his edgy ways — plain-speaking but a touch insecure at the same time.
The rehearsal closes with Mellencamp alone on-stage singing his 1986 American hit Rain On The Scarecrow, one take and fiercely: “The crops we grew last summer wern’t enough to pay the loans’/I Couldn’t buy the seed to plant this spring and the Farmers Bank foreclosed/...Blood on the scarecrow, blood on the plough.” Like his oldest hero Woody Guthrie, he doesn’t leave much to subtext.

IT’S SHOWTIME. THE CROWD’S IN NOW and Costello’s chatting away on his stool, no autocue. He explains the evening is modelled on a Nashville “guitar pull” where a bunch of guitar-strumming pals sit around and try out their new songs. Rosanne Cash adds, “I think they originated in my dad’s living room with Bob Dylan, Kris and WayIon Jennings. Kris sang Me And Bobby McGee for the first time there.”

They take their turns solo, trio and quintet, Costello offering his unrecorded road favourite Down Among The Wines And Spirits. Kristofferson the not entirely unknown Sunday Morning Coming Down, and Norah Jones a new song co-written with Ryan Adams called Light As A Feather. Then Mellencamp — not playing the TV-unfriendly acoustic with “Fuck Fascists” scrawled above the strings — sings Longest Days, from his new album, one of its gentler intimations of impermanence. He forgets the title, blurts it out when he gets to the chorus, makes a hit of a hash of it. When he finishes Rosanne reaches across to him and says a few words as if kindly consoling him...

But that wasn’t the case, he explains later. “There were tears welled up in her eyes and she said, ‘That’s something you mean.’ I sorta said, Oh come on, ‘cos my performance wasn’t great, but I saw her eyes it was quite, uh, I'm glad... “ he trails off.


ONSTAGE, THE GUITAR PULL PROCEEDS good-naturedly via Me And Bobby McGee and Mellencamp’s love-hate reflection on Indiana, Small Town. Closing, each of the quintet takes a verse of Johnny Cash’s Big River. Mellencamp tears into his, harsh and high, practically launching himself off the stool like a sprinter from the starting blocks. The crowd roars. Then does it again for a couple of retakes. The artists shake hands, hug and clap one another.

[migdd]

The Sundance Channel has begun to run 30-second spots for Spectacle. I caught one of the commercials during the premiere airing of the Tony Hawk/Jon Favreau segment of Iconoclasts. It looks really cool!

[johnfoyle]

Elsewhere in the Mojo feature on Mellencamp , it's mentioned that 'Spectacle...' will be on , in the U.K., 4music , the music specific Channel 4 station. There's no mention so far on their site -

http://4music.channel4.com/

[Otis Westinghouse]

Cool, I must have that channel...

[migdd]

Just caught the Spectacle promo spot again. The background music for the spot (could be the theme music for the show?) was the instrumental break of Stella Hurt.

The sponsors for the show are Dell and Infinity.

The clip showed a couple of seconds each of Bill Clinton and Norah Jones speaking as well as visual flashes of many other guests including Tony Bennett, Elton John, Jenny Lewis with Joey Deshanel and the "guitar pull" set-up with Rosanne Cash, Jones, Kris Kristofferson and John Mellencamp.

Clinton quote (paraphrased): "I don't think I could have been President without being exposed to music."

[verbal gymnastics]

...it's mentioned that 'Spectacle...' will be on , in the U.K., 4music , the music specific Channel 4 station. There's no mention so far on their site -

http://4music.channel4.com/

Shame - I hoped it would be more mainstream.

It's likely to attract even less viewers now.

[Neil.]

Yep, that's a real disappointment! Maybe it ain't all that good. I would've thought it was terrestrial Channel Four. Aw well - bang goes my dream of Elvis finally breaking through to millions of people who haven't got a clue who he is!

[johnfoyle]

From listserv-

According to this week's New York Magazine 'Intelligencer':

11/6 Elton John, Lou Reed, and more at Edison Theater to launch Elvis
Costello's Sundance Channel show, Spectacle. (with picture of Lou,
Elton, and EC)

[And No Coffee Table]

It looks like they've turned the Rufus Wainwright/Renée Fleming taping into separate episodes.

http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pr ... ase&o=2400

The schedule for Season 1 of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” is as follows:

Wednesday, December 3rd at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Sir Elton John” – Elvis welcomes the British pop-rock superstar John.

Wednesday, December 10th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Lou Reed + Julian Schnabel” – Elvis welcomes rock icon and Velvet Underground founder Reed and artist-filmmaker Schnabel.

Wednesday, December 17th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Bill Clinton” – Elvis welcomes former President Clinton.

Wednesday, December 24th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with James Taylor” – Elvis welcomes the iconic American singer-songwriter.

Wednesday, December 31st at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Tony Bennett” – Elvis welcomes the premier living interpreter of the Great American Songbook.

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with The Police” – Elvis welcomes the recently reunited rock trio of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland.

Wednesday, January 14th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Rufus Wainwright” – Elvis welcomes singer-songwriter Wainwright, one of the most acclaimed new artists of the past decade.

Wednesday, January 21st at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones, John Mellencamp” – Elvis welcomes actor/singer-songwriter Kristofferson; singer-songwriter Cash; international sensation Jones; and recent Rock & Roll Hall of fame inductee Mellencamp.

Wednesday, January 28th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Renée Fleming” – Elvis welcomes the great American soprano.
.
Wednesday, February 4th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Herbie Hancock” – Elvis welcomes the jazz legend, winner of this year’s Grammy® Award for Album of the Year

Wednesday, February 11th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with She & Him, Jenny Lewis, Jakob Dylan” – Elvis welcomes indie duo She & Him, comprised of actress Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, singer-songwriter Lewis; and singer-songwriter Dylan.

Wednesday, February 18th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Diana Krall” – Elvis welcomes his wife, international jazz sensation Krall; she is interviewed by the program’s executive producer, Elton John

Wednesday, February 25th at 9:00pm
“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Smokey Robinson” – Elvis welcomes the legendary Motown singer and songwriter.

[sweetest punch]

It looks like they've turned the Rufus Wainwright/Renée Fleming taping into separate episodes.

http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pr ... ase&o=2400

The schedule for Season 1 of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” is as follows:

So, there's hope for more than one season...!

[scielle]

Canada's CTV has a page for the show now. Am living in UK now so not sure if they're showing any promos for it yet.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... /20080730/

[verbal gymnastics]

There will probably be one 5 second TV ad on 4 Music on a week night at the much sought after 3.45am slot.

[sweetest punch]

Sundance Channel Celebrates the Debut of "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With…" on November 6, 2008 - Edison Ballroom
(New York, NY United States) with Jenny Lewis, Steve Buscemi, Isaiah Stokes and more.
http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing ... &PageNum=1

[scielle]

http://manhatin.blogspot.com/2008/11/elvis-and-me.html

[johnfoyle]

http://hot-newsz.blogspot.com/2008/11/9 ... l#243796_1

Elvis Costello Joins Jenny Lewis' Band At Spectacle Wrap Party

Elvis Costello's been hanging out with a diverse group of artists this year (Fall Out Boy, Lucinda Williams, the Police, a Jonas Brother), but he really seems to have hit it off with Jenny Lewis. (She contributed vocals to his Momofuku and he returned the favor on her Acid Tongue.) Seeing Elvis join Jenny's band on Letterman this week was a treat. The duo returned to Times Square last night to perform at the Edison Theater for a wrap party celebrating the Sundance Channel's new Spectacle: Elvis Costello With.... talk show. It was a short gig by Jenny and her band with Elvis joining for a few songs. The set was comprised mostly of Acid Tongue ("Fernando," "The Next Messiah," "Carpetbaggers"), though we also got Momofuku's "Go Away" and a song I couldn't identify that Elvis said wasn't on either of their records. The night ended with Jenny and boyfriend Johnathan Rice softly dueting on oldie "Love Hurts" for a chatty crowd more focused on the open bar. These corporate gigs are tough.

[FAVEHOUR]

The website for New York TV station NY 1 has a clip about the launch show and Elvis talking about the series:

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/8 ... fault.aspx


Dave

[migdd]

The Sundance Channel website now has detailed descriptions of each of the episodes in the series:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/spectacle

[migdd]

Lots of clips of the first series episode as well as interesting airbrushed images of the beautiful Elvis are now on view at the fantabulous Sundance Channel website for your amazement:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/spectacle/

[Otis Westinghouse]

http://manhatin.blogspot.com/2008/11/elvis-and-me.html

How youthful does ELvis look here? He's lost 20 lbs and had extensive help from Photoshop.

[johnfoyle]

'Spectacle' posters abound in NY-

http://web.me.com/stevetalkowski/EC/Elv ... where.html

[scielle]

Apparently Channel 4 will premiere this with the Police episode in the UK and Ireland on December 3 at 9pm.

[Neil.]

The video on the Sundance site crashes my brower! How's this stuff lookin'? Any good?

[Neil.]

Aha - it only crashes Firefox! Hmm - looking okay. Hope the shows can sustain a whole hour!

[migdd]

Rolling Stone has published an article on the series:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... _spectacle