Memoirs of a Music Man

[johnfoyle]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 229_2.html

Washington Post Magazine

Memoirs of a Music Man

He got to see all the biggest pop stars from the best seats in the house. But what he was really looking for was the spirit that made rock-and-roll so unpredictable in the first place

By David Segal

Sunday, August 28, 2005

( extracts)

For me, the pop critic job was a cheap way to feed an old habit. I'd been buying records and "wooooo"-ing at concerts ever since I laid eyes on Elvis Costello in 1977, when he sang on "Saturday Night Live." Pigeon-toed and decked out in a cheap suit and twerpy glasses, he started a song called "Less Than Zero," then, after a moment or two, very dramatically halted the band, shouted some weird apology to the crowd and then launched into "Radio, Radio."



I was a goner. I loved the sound, the song, the drama, the sense that this excitable nerd had taken control of the show and seemed ready to run it into a ditch. He looked like the future of music, a guy who could crash a very dull party and turn it into something that would scare your parents. I wanted to meet him, even though I had the sense that he wouldn't like me, that he wouldn't like anyone, himself included. When I bought his debut album, "My Aim Is True," it wouldn't leave me alone. For a while, my friend J.P. and I were so reverently attached to Costello that we instituted a rule: No leaving the room when Elvis Costello is playing. That would be disrespectful.

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One exception was an interview with Nick Lowe, a huge hero of mine. He's best known for "Cruel to Be Kind," a semi-hit in the '80s, and for producing the early classics of Elvis Costello. His solo albums never caught on huge in the United States, but they are amazing -- smart and catchy pop with a sly naughty streak. He had come to town in 2001 to support a superb album called "The Convincer," and, while we talked over lunch in Chinatown, he said that if he hadn't become a musician he would have liked to become a journalist.

"Have you ever seen a newsroom?" I asked him.

He had not. So after the fortune cookies we walked to The Post. The only problem was that to get into the building you have to show some sort of identification to a guard in the lobby. Lowe had nothing on him, not even a wallet. For a moment I thought I would miss my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impress my colleagues by walking around saying, "I'd like you to meet Nick Lowe." Then I remembered that I had a copy of his CD in my bag -- and I remembered that the cover of "The Convincer" is a close-up of Lowe's face. I showed it to the guard.

"Wow," he said, looking at Lowe, then the CD, then Lowe. "Go on up."

[SweetPear]

That is one of the greatest homages I've ever read to the Man. He definately captured a feeling that I've never been able to put into words.

The Nick Lowe story was pretty cool too.

[verena]

Great piece, witty and well written.

Sweet Pear, I hope for EC that he got other good reviews. This one is focussed on what seems to be the "little angry period" of his music and perhaps life.

I think he became and by far, much better later in time. Precisely after he shot himself in the face with the drunken nonsense he spat out, down in some shabby bar in Memphis I don't remember when. The guy who is described here is perhaps a crack up, but not the writer/singer/musician I respect, and like.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be here, men !

[LittleFoole]

Sweet Pear, I hope for EC that he got other good reviews. This one is focussed on what seems to be the "little angry period" of his music and perhaps life.

I think he became and by far, much better later in time. Precisely after he shot himself in the face with the drunken nonsense he spat out, down in some shabby bar in Memphis I don't remember when. The guy who is described here is perhaps a crack up, but not the writer/singer/musician I respect, and like.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be here, men !

I dunno, I like all the incarnations of EC...and my wife has taken to having his Girls Girls Girls 2 disc set played in her car cd player with aplomb....Elvis is Elvis, he can actually "grow on you," as my mrs. is living proof. LOL...She hated him and his music since we met (1989), yet bought us tickets for our 14th anniversary to see him in Knoxville, and now she listens with interest, surprisingly enough.....the live show really changed her (narrow) mind.

[verena]

Listen, I did not say that I like only the "post - let's fuck up big time in Memphis" Costello. Let me put this straight, I like all the lyrics he wrote.

OK almost all, I may have reservations here and there with respect to the meaning .

LOL !


PS : if you are happy to let the music "grow on" your wife then that's your decision, LF, good for her !

[SweetPear]

Verena~
I like the review for what it was. It captured a feeling and a moment (I said a moment) in time and I thought it was expressed very well.
I know you wouldn't know this but I'll just throw it in anyway.....I loved EC then and I still do after all these years. I think he's better than ever.

I think if I ever had the chance to meet him again, I'd tell him just that. He's aged well.

[lostdog]

let's fuck up big time in Memphis

Maybe you're thinking of another Elvis.....

[verena]

No, but I had the town wrong.

Apology.