"I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE ATHENS..."
Elvis Costello & The Imposters take time out from "The Monkey Speaks His Mind Tour" to play three unique dates, billed as "Elvis Costello and the Pick-Ups" with special guest Dave Hidalgo
*Rhino Records will reissue Costello's album KING OF AMERICA on April 26, featuring his first collaboration with Hidalgo*
Elvis Costello & The Imposters will take time out from "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" tour to play three special dates billed as "Elvis Costello and the Pick-Ups," featuring Pete Thomas, Dave Faragher and special guest Dave Hidalgo from Los Lobos. The dates are :
April 24th - ANNAPOLIS,MD, Rams Head Live
April 26th - NORFOLK, VA, The Norva
April 27th - ATHENS, GA, Classic Center
The Imposters' keyboard player Steve Nieve will be absent from these shows as he has to travel to London for the initial recording sessions of his opera, "Welcome to the Voice." Costello explains, "Steve was only able to schedule several key singers on these particular days and I know how tricky the process of realizing something like this can be. We wish him well with the sessions." Costello appeared in the World Premiere of "Welcome to the Voice" at Town Hall, New York in 2000.
Speaking of the shows with The Pick-Ups, Costello said, "Rather than stand the rest of the band and crew down for that week, I decided to have a little adventure. We were delighted when David accepted our invitation to join us for these three shows. I've always wanted to see Athens. I hear that they have some great ruins."
"It is the first time that I have played in a two-guitar line-up since 1980 and it will give us an opportunity to play some different songs. In addition to being a great guitar player, David is a terrific singer and songwriter. He also plays a number of other instruments, so the show should contain plenty of surprises".
David Hildalgo first collaborated with Costello, as a harmony vocalist, on the 1986 album, "King of America." On April 26, Rhino Records will release a two CD version of "King of America", containing many unreleased outtakes and alternate versions plus excerpts from a live concert.
In 2004, Costello contributed a version of the Hildago/Perez song, "Matter of Time" to Los Lobos' collaborative collection, "The Ride". The song has been in Costello's repertoire since 1985. Los Lobos recorded Costello's "Uncomplicated" on their recent "Ride This: The Covers" E.P.
Steve Nieve will return to the U.S for Elvis Costello and the Imposters appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 30 and the Beale St. Festival in Memphis on May 1.
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Elvis , you are SO witty - I bet no one has made that joke before...I've always wanted to see Athens. I hear that they have some great ruins."
Weclome To The Voice -
http://www.knittingfactory.com/articles/get_feature.cfm?
Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival: Steve Nieve talks about his new opera “Welcome to the Voice” feat. Elvis Costello
Welcome to the Voice, an opera written by Steve Nieve and Muriel Téodori with Elvis Costello singing the male lead and also featuring the Brodsky Quartet, will make its world premier June 9 at Town Hall.
“This desire, to tell a story in music, is eternal,” long-time Elvis Costello collaborator Steve Nieve explains.
“What is an opera? For some it’s a torture--men in white tights taking two hours to die in a language you won’t understand. When Muriel Téodori gave me this lyric to set to music, I had no idea I'd be even more interested by the subject five years on.
“We began to write Welcome to the Voice in 1995 at Huntsham Court, a hotel in Cornwall, with a composers name on each door and a harmonium in every room. We completed our work at the Colombe D'Or, a hotel in the south of France with a Miro in every room. "The simplicity of the story is that all the action occurs in one place, outside in the street, in front of an opera house that we never penetrate. There is no death at the end. There is a strong message of optimism. The story is concerned with the notion of the hybrid and this is reflected in the orchestration--classical string quartet chained to a score alongside a pianist and saxophonist who have freedom to improvise.
"With Welcome to the Voice, the female singers have classical opera voices and the male singers do not. This is an opera about unlikely encounters. Elvis is the ideal singer for the main character of this opera, because in spite of all the work he has made with his voice, it still contains the quality of authenticity. His voice is wild.”
