Relatively Insignificant EC Stuff. . .

[martinfoyle]

http://www.neilmccormick.co.uk/?p=713

extract:

And Williams certainly does sound good, there’s a soulful, manly confidence to his singing, while his lyrics are crammed to bursting with ideas. Oddly reminiscent of both Bono and Elvis Costello (two songwriting names you might not expect to find linked to a former boy band pin up), Williams has a tendency to both verbosity and aphorism– he can never resist a punchy couplet and almost overloads his lyrics with slogans and concepts. One track, ‘Blasphemy’, boasts the sweet melody and structure of a heartbreaking ballad but turns out to be a song about sibling hatred, with personal and political dimensions, peppered with catchphrases like “What’s so great about the great depression?’.

[johnfoyle]

http://a-joyfulnoise.blogspot.com/2009/ ... -fall.html

'For me, fall doesn't start without "North."'

[johnfoyle]

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/114 ... ler-parks/



(extract)

Punk Rock and Trailer Parks is about the music scene in Akron, Ohio in 1979, where punk rock is booming. Early on, one of the characters lays the groundwork for understanding the setting by saying this: “It started a few years ago… with Devo… So they make it big. Then some other Akron bands get signed. Rubber City Rebels… Tin Huey… Chrissie Hynde pops up with the Pretenders. Suddenly… Akron is this breeding ground for Punk and New Wave.” “My point… is that this is one of the places to be! New York… London… and fuckin’ Akron, Ohio!”

The first thing worth mentioning is the recommended playlist on the inside cover. Instantly, we see that this is not merely a graphic novel that takes place in a music-enriched environment. Instead, it is intertwined with the music, relying on it to help tell the story. The soundtrack is filled with great punk and new wave artists, such as; Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Clash, Rubber City Rebels, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Dead Boys, Richard Hell, New York Dolls, Saints, the Jam, and many other great bands from an era long passed. Lyrics from these songs are injected throughout the book. Some of the artists mentioned in the soundtrack even make guest appearances in the story.

http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Rock-Trailer ... 227&sr=8-1

[martinfoyle]

http://twitter.com/neil_mccormick/status/5025422917

#Robbie's new song Blasphemy is full of Costello-like couplets but elvis wouldn't follow by winking at the crowd and saying "Clever, eh?"

[martinfoyle]

Judge for yourself

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zoznnoynorm/Blasphemy.mp3

[johnfoyle]

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_13645938

City, Rose Bowl officials call U2 concert a smashing success

By Janette Williams, Staff Writer

Posted: 10/26/2009 04:55:59 PM PDT

(extract)

PASADENA - As the mammoth stage was dismantled Monday and 96,000 U2 fans recovered their hearing after Sunday's show, the largest concert in Rose Bowl history was being hailed by officials as an all-around musical, financial and logistical triumph.

Not everyone used shuttles or public transportation - there were plenty of limos delivering celebrity fans.

Among those spotted by U2 fan Courtney Saavedra - in the VIP section courtesy of a friend's husband in U2's entourage - were Barbra Streisand, Demi Moore, Ewan McGregor, Hilary Swank, Elvis Costello, Winona Ryder, and Cindy Crawford.

[johnfoyle]

A Gary Numan fan has dug up this -

http://thequietus.com/articles/03127-ga ... maker-1994

In the early Nineties, Melody Maker magazine used to run a regular Desert Island Discs-type section called Rebellious Jukebox, in which musicians would choose the twelve songs which had a special personal meaning for them, and explain their reasons.

Melody Maker June 11 1994


REBELLIOUS JUKEBOX

GARY NUMAN - the Aphex Twin of 1979 and the man who invented techno pop (allegedly) - talks about the records he plays here, in his car

(extract)

10. JESUS JONES: 'The Devil You Know'

"They get a bad press? Hmm, I finally understand rock critics, actually, because I've been writing for Pilot magazine. I don't care if they call me a fat ugly bastard. It was when they said my mum and dad should've been doctored so as not to give birth to me - that's going too far. My mum is the loveliest person you could ever hope to meet. It's not like I've raped somebody. If they're jealous, say it: 'He's a cunt, but I would like his car, his house and probably his girlfriend.' D'you know, Elvis Costello's manager hit the man who signed me, for signing me?! Now, that is very unnecessary. Like you're so great, Elvis."

[The imposter]

A Gary Numan fan has dug up this -

" If they're jealous, say it: 'He's a cunt, but I would like his car, his house and probably his girlfriend.' D'you know, Elvis Costello's manager hit the man who signed me, for signing me?! Now, that is very unnecessary. Like you're so great, Elvis."

Gary Numan Melody Maker 1994

That´s right Gary. I´m jealous. .. If that entitles me to call you a cunt.

However I don´t want your car, your house and probably not your girlfriend if she´s anywhere near as shallow as you. Just as not everyone wants a million pounds and a yacht as you once said you found so incredulous.

I agree it was “unnecessary” to hit the man who signed you, but Jake Riviera has gone up in my estimations for that. He probably had it coming. Why am I picturing a Simon Cowell type character?

Come to think of it I can´t think of anyone I dislike in popular music more than Gary Numan, with the possible exeption of Phil Collins. Thank god Numan hardly makes any records these days..

[Otis Westinghouse]

How can you diss Phil Collins? One of the best drummers of our time. Check out his sublime work on John Martyn's magnificent Grace and Danger.


I love 'Are Friends Electric?' too.

[The imposter]

How can you diss Phil Collins? One of the best drummers of our time.

You're right he isn´t as offensive as Numan, and speaking as a drummer myself, he´s pretty good though I prefer Dave Weckl, Vinnie Coliauta, Chad Wackerman or even Chester Thompson, just to name a few.

But does he really have to sing?

"Su,su,su,su psuedio...???"

"Another day in paradise" (yawn). I liked "Easy Lover" though

Numan had an innovative sound although for me it epitomises 80's pop production values, the birth of new romantic posturing and the cold, soulless days of Thatcherism.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=45175

2009-11-06

Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

BJURecords to Release New Recordings From: Andy Cotton, Rob Garcia, Randy Ingram + ACT

Digital Release Date - November 10, In Stores - November 17

(extract)

ACT - Act (BJUR 011): The debut recording from ACT brings together the minds and music of saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Ben Wendel (Ignacio Berroa, Tigran Hamasyan, Snoop Dogg, Daedelus, Kneebody), bassist Harish Raghavan (Ambrose Akinmusire, Eric Harland, Mark Turner, Aaron Parks, Greg Osby, Vijay Iyer, Billy Childs, Kurt Elling, Benny Green, Terrell Stafford, Mike Moreno, Gerald Clayton) and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood (Chaka Khan, Richard Stekol, Wayne Krantz, John Tesh, Billy Childs, Tigran Hamasyan, Taylor Eigsti, The Black Plums featuring Richard Stekol and Adam Benjamin, with whom Nate plays drums and bass simultaneously).

Ben Wendel explains the making of ACT: “the three of us have known each other for quite some time - we've played in a lot of different groups together but always gravitated towards the trio, so making this album has been something we've wanted to do for quite a while. We ended up with two free days last year and tracked the music down at Steve Wood's private studio (Steve is Nate's father and one of the best engineers on the West Coast)." The title track “Act" was composed quickly by Wendel in the studio just prior to recording, and finds Wood and Raghavan burning underneath Wendel's ominous melody line. “What Was", a meditative, introspective piece, is based on a sketch that has eventually turned into a movement of a jazz suite that Wendel is writing for the Chamber Music of America “New Works Grant." On Raghavan's “Break" this trio reaches the pinnacle of interplay, sounding like a three-headed, conservatory-trained musician, who also happens to be a really great improviser. The “standards" they chose (Sonny Rollins' “Pentup House" and Elvis Costello's “Shamed Into Love") came naturally out of a few warm up gigs leading to the recording.

With the release of their debut recording, ACT, this trio instantly moves to the front of the line as one of the most creative and fascinating new bands on the Brooklyn scene. Actfeatures Ben Wendel (saxophone, bassoon, piano), Harish Raghavan (bass), Nate Wood (drums)

http://bjurecords.com/Store.html

http://www.amazon.com/Shamed-Into-Love/ ... -3-catcorr

[johnfoyle]

Sad as the context is, it seems fitting that a fabricated , cover band should think a Elvis Costello cover is a Costello song, if you know what I mean. Factor in that Elvis' version was inspired by the Zoot Money's Big Roll Band cover and not The Drifters original of a Bacharach/Hilliard song and it seems even more apt. To complicate things further the recent version by Duffy for the soundtrack of a film, Telstar, about producer Joe Meek was inspired by the Meek production of a version by The Crying' Shames ( a group from the Wirral) who based their version on the Zoot Money take also. O.K. , I'll stop now.


http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 37116.html

Westlife's Nicky in final farewell to his 'hero' dad
Singer gets to grant his father's last wish


By NIAMH HORAN

Sunday November 08 2009

(extract)

IT was his only regret from a long and happy relationship with a father he called "his hero".

For seven years, Nicky Byrne's dad had begged him to perform Elvis Costello's hit song Please Stay alongside Westlife.
Yesterday at the end of an emotional ceremony at St Laurence O'Toole Church in Baldoyle, the heartbroken singer granted his father's long-held wish.

His voice shaking, Nicky sang the poignant words 'please stay, please don't go' before breaking down at the immensity of his loss.

The love he and his family felt for Nicky Senior, a man he called "a legend" and "the coolest dad in the world", was marked throughout the moving tribute.

[johnfoyle]

http://guestofaguest.com/events/parties ... lebrities/


Elvis Costello, Bill Flanagan
Photo. by Marc Dimov


CHIARA ATIK
November 13, 2009

Yesterday evening, a completely random group of celebrities gathered to celebrate the launch of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, including Elizabeth Berkley, Bobby Flay, Elvis Costello, Sandra Bernhard, Katie Lee, and Liev Schreiber. (Ok, that last one is not so random–Schreiber starred in the movie adaptation of Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated.)-

The event was held at the home of Tom and Kathy Freston, who hosted the event. The book, called Eating Animals, is definitely having quite the effect on the celeb world. On a recent episode of Top Chef, Natalie Portman claimed to eat anything, as long as it isn’t meat. Well, apparently she’s changed her mind: Portman recently proclaimed that the book is what finally pushed her to becoming a vegan. So basically, I’m afraid to read it. Will chefs Katie Lee and Bobby Flay turn Vegan too, once they finish reading? Stay tuned to find out…


http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jo ... 567&sr=1-1

[ShipBuilder]

Elvis is looking fantastic- fit and fetching!
The jacket is very cool.

[johnfoyle]

Crikey - Elvis is getting out a lot!

http://inklines.blogspot.com/2009/11/stay-with-me.html

Friday, November 13, 2009
Stay With Me

Ian McLagan at Joe's Pub last night.

by Michael Arthur

It was one of those nights.

I'd been looking forward to this show for a while. I'm a big fan of McLagan's and I admire him. He's played on some monstrous tracks in some tremendous bands with some hugely talented people and seems to have gone through his life living it precisely the way he has wanted to, with abandon and a healthy recklessness that you can practically hear when he plays and sings. He was in the Small Faces and then The Faces, he's played with the Stones and the Who and Dylan and continues to tour frequently with Billy Bragg and with his own Bump Band. And every week he plays a free show in Austin for tips and has a grand time doing it.

As I took my place in the back and the lights went down, I began to smile with expectation. Soon after the show started, Elvis Costello snuck in and took a seat in the booth next to mine. "I didn't tell him you were coming," said a friend of McLagan's to Costello and Costello just smiled and watched from the dark this unassuming legend of the keyboard, continuing to do things his way.

[johnfoyle]

Someone on listserv has spotted Elvis' sartorial hero-



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bonner

[johnfoyle]

On ebay -

[Otis Westinghouse]

What's the story with those?!?

[johnfoyle]

Surprise, surprise ; from an account of a Bob Dylan show in New York -

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2 ... aye_1.html

November 19, 2009

Bob Dylan played United Palace Theater again -night 2 setlist

E. Costello was in attendance.

[johnfoyle]

Elvis on a million seller - how odd!

http://www.californiachronicle.com/arti ... /137995137


20 November 2009

Jonathan Shalit: the Best Address Book in England


Hard work, initiative and relentless drive are all ingredients in Jonathan Shalit's recipe for success which has seen him named as one of the Top 100 most powerful men in media - but he admits having a contacts book to die for also helps him stay at the top of his game

By Adam Woods

(extract)

So where did this man come from? He is happy to tell you. In 1993, Shalit was a Saatchi & Saatchi graduate running a graphic- design company when he heard, through a family connection, that harmonica virtuoso Adler was looking for duet partners. He decided to cold-call Sir George Martin to ask if he would produce an album.

"I was a nobody when I called up Sir George," says Shalit. "He agreed to see me, I took him for lunch at The Ivy, he heard what I had to say, he was complete civility, he insisted on paying for lunch because he is richer than me, and he agreed to do the record on a handshake."

The Glory of Gershwin, a collection featuring Adler with Elton John, Sting, Cher, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello and others, sold 2m copies and gave Shalit a self-taught lesson in what was possible, given hard work and a bit of front.

[verbal gymnastics]

I love the jacket Elvis is wearing. And he looks less gaunt than he does in some of the other more recent pictures.

[johnfoyle]

http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=386

Bigger is better.

Paula Scher relates ‘A series of strange circumstances’ for her D&AD talk

18 November, 2009

Paula Scher started her talk in London last week with examples of her work from her first job at CBS records, where she had to design more than a hundred LP covers a year, writes Sara Martin. It allowed her to experiment with design and she showed the ones that shaped her style.

(extract)

One point she made was that no one could predict the effect design has on the culture, which can often never be intended or planned by the designer. She showed a poster she created (below) to promote the US release of Elvis Costello’s Trust.



Costello’s manager hated it, and thought the red and blue glasses made him look like a clown. Yet the poster became an icon of 1980s youth culture.

[johnfoyle]

Elvis/Kim Alexis?

http://wiresandwaves.com/2009/11/title- ... -inch.html

Friday, November 20, 2009
Title Fight: "Inch by Inch"

Posted by Nathan

Elvis Costello and the Attractions' 1984 album Goodbye Cruel World is not considered a high point of their early '80s discography, as it was preceded and followed by far superior albums (Punch the Clock and King of America), but it's not without its points of interest. And no, I'm not talking about Daryl Hall's guest vocals on "The Only Flame in Town" - I'm talking about the slinky stalker ballad "Inch By Inch" - it's a more stylish and concise version of what Costello would do with "I Want You" a couple years later. The latter song is much better-known, but I think I might like "Inch by Inch" better. Some of the questionable production touches that mar Goodbye Cruel World pop up here - a little tasteful saxophone turns into '80s TV theme ugliness on the second verse, but the organ and keyboard elements work well, and the lyric is just pervy enough.

It's obvious what Costello was singing about on his "Inch by Inch" (stalking '80s supermodel Kim Alexis), but I'm not sure what the Plimsouls are on about in their song of the same name. The LA power-poppers are best known for their single "A Million Miles Away", which was featured on the Valley Girl soundtrack - the single also appeared on the 1983 Everywhere at Once album with ten other really solid power-pop songs. One of them, "Inch by Inch", was co-written with the Go-Gos' Charlotte Caffey, and it starts off with a nice, Byrds-y guitar intro. However, the arrangement becomes bloated as the song goes on and the chorus hook isn't really that strong. Listened to side by side with "A Million Miles Away", it becomes apparent that "Inch by Inch" is using all the same tricks and just not pulling them off as well. The Plimsouls have a few great songs that stand up to Elvis Costello's output from the same period, but "Inch by Inch" isn't one of them.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Why is it obvious that it's about Kim Alexis? Can't see any reason for that to be said at all.

[johnfoyle]

Now what (who?) could Elvis 'n Steve find to talk about....?

http://aeronewsdaily.com/blog/2009/11/2 ... 9-benefit/


(L-R) Musicians Gregg Allman, Elvis Costello, and Steven Tyler attend The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s 2009 Benefit, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s’ at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel on November 21, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/MJF/WireImage for The Michael J. Fox Foundation)

Loads more here -

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Searc ... %20tyler#1



http://community.livejournal.com/ohnoth ... 54850.html