Diana Krall talks about writing(&shopping) with Elvis

[johnfoyle]

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx ... faa9c6af66

Tears flow as Krall sings of her home
UVic honours star with arts doctorate

Kim Westad
Times Colonist


Jazz singer Diana Krall performs at convocation
ceremonies at the University of Victoria Wednesday.
Krall, a native of Nanaimo, was given an honorary
doctorate of fine arts. “It wasn’t about singing some
sultry, sexy tune,” she said. “It was about home.”

CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist

(Picture with this caption)
Darren Stone, Times Colonist / Elvis Costello sits
with Diana Krall's father Jim Krall at UVic Wednesday.






Becoming Dr. Diana Krall was far more nerve-wracking
than playing Carnegie Hall, the Nanaimo-born jazz
singer said Wednesday after receiving an honorary
doctorate in fine arts from the University of
Victoria.

"It's a lot more difficult than a performance," Krall
said in a later interview. "It wasn't about getting up
there and singing some sexy, sultry tune. It wasn't
about that. It was about home."

Krall, in the traditional black-and-red gown and
beefeater hat -- it looks like something from Harry
Potter -- that doctors of fine arts wear, mouthed "I'm
nervous" to university president David Turpin as she
was about to be given her degree.

But any nerves appeared gone when the Grammy- and
Juno-Award winning songwriter sat down behind a sleek
black Steinway on the stage.

The beeps from digital cameras in the audience were
steady as the lights dimmed and Krall played a piano
solo, The Gravy Waltz, written by one of her favourite
teachers, jazz bassist Ray Brown.

But it was her second and final song, from a new album
and a song that she's never performed in public
before, that had some in the packed University Centre
auditorium crying.

The deeply personal Departure Bay refers to many
Vancouver Island landmarks -- the Malahat, the ferry,
sea planes, salt air and sawmills -- as well as to her
mother who died of cancer, and to her fiancé, Elvis
Costello, with whom she wrote the song.

"I was on the fence about doing this new tune. I
thought, 'Can I go through with it?' because it's very
emotional," said Krall.

After her performance, Krall, her ears a bit plugged
from a cold, had photos taken in her grad gown with
her family, and drank iced tea.

Costello, a longtime icon on the music scene, sat
midway up the auditorium with Krall's family during
the ceremony. The 49-year-old singer-songwriter was
one of the last to stop clapping as the green cape
denoting a doctorate was draped over his fiancee's
shoulders.

"A degree from this university is particularly special
to her," said the gap-toothed Brit who has visited
Vancouver Island with Krall before. Krall's mother
Adella, who died in May 2002 of cancer, earned her
education degree from UVic.

"I love being here. People have made me very welcome.
They leave us be, you know," Costello said.

In Departure Bay, Krall sings, "Who knew when I
started that I'd find love and bring him home."

Krall, 38, has a home on Vancouver Island that she's
trying to keep private. And she's thrilled with her
recent purchase of a piece by the late First Nations
artist Bill Reid. She's learning about Canadian and
First Nations art; her only jewelry Wednesday was a
thick silver Haida bracelet -- and an engagement ring
with a diamond solitaire so large it made the band
look dainty.

She and Costello wrote six songs together for the new
album, a record she says deals a lot with "love, loss
and hope."

"It's nice to write about home. It is quite lovely to
step back from it and then come back," Krall said.

She's had a "bit of a tough year-and-a-half, with a
lot of loss."

Her mother, singer and friend Rosemary Clooney and Ray
Brown all died within six weeks of each other.

"I think this album is mostly about the things that
keep us on the straight and narrow," said Krall, who
calls it a "personal portrait of where I am now."

Coming home is a key part of that, she said. She and
Costello try to live a regular life here, she said,
although the two left right after the ceremony so
Costello could do several TV appearances in Los
Angeles, including Jay Leno on Friday night.

"We go to Thriftys and buy groceries," she said. "I
like to be at my place and wear my boots. It's about
family and being in a place where I grew up and am
comfortable . . . . I really love it and soak it up
when I come here."

Krall didn't attend university, but left home at 17 on
a music scholarship and then learned from some of the
top jazz musicians, slowly building her career. She
said she's still learning.

© Copyright 2003 Times Colonist (Victoria)

[verbal gymnastics]

Oh God - they've started writing together! "She and Costello wrote six songs together for the new album, a record she says deals a lot with "love, loss and hope." It's North Part 2 - "Norther" . They're turning into the same person!

So did Elvis or Diana write "Who knew when I started that I'd find love and bring him home."? Sounds like one of Elvis' lyrics

She must be sucking him dry financially. No wonder they go to Thriftys if she's got "an engagement ring with a diamond solitaire so large it made the [thick silver Haida] band look dainty".

[girl out of time]

it amazes me how elvis seems to be the kind of people who has other gravitating around him........this is not a bad thing i guess, but it seems to me he has that power over certain people......

[johnfoyle]

"We go to Thriftys and buy groceries," she said.

........and here`s proof -


http://www.rexfeatures.com/cgi-bin/r2sh ... eYM9rFz@w5

[Misha]

John!! My eyes!!!

Ok, new board rule......Elvis not in a suit?....Don't post that photo!!!!



It's amazing what a suit, some makeup, some product and a stylist can do.....

Hell, I'd probably look like Diana when they were done with me!

[pip_52]

That picture's not that bad. Small though.

[verbal gymnastics]

That picture's not that bad. Small though.

Pip - as any man will tell you - size is not important!

[Misha]

VG,

I'm sure we all know that Elvis planted that line.....unless someone else said it and Diana is covering their words... which she does wonderfully...