http://www.observer.com/20061016/200610 ... onsays.asp
This column ran on page 8 in the 10/16/2006 edition of The New York Observer.
Simon Doonan
( extract)
Elvis Costello? ZZZZZZ!
Last Tuesday night, during the Elton John AIDS Foundation dinner at the Waldorf, I found myself praying that Elvis Costello would stop singing. Though clearly a really nice bloke and undeniably talented, Mr. Costello and his oeuvre—all those hetero songs with girls’ names like Allison, Veronica, whatever!—have zero appeal for we members of the GLBT (gravy, lettuce, bacon and tomato) community.
Given the predominance of Judy Garland fans in the audience, Mr. Costello was an odd choice. (I guess Melissa Manchester was busy that night.) Ditto Neil Young, who followed Mr. Costello and sang and sang and sang. But guess what? Neil Young is so bizarre and talented and such a wacky poet that he was able to reel in the gays. The entire audience became transfixed by the painful melancholy of that whining voice. Nobody talked. You could have heard a David Yurman earring drop. By the time he did “Harvest Moon,â€