Elvis Costello: An appreciation

"Just play for the people who are listening."
~ Elvis Costello, as told to Nick Paumgarten
"Brilliant Mistakes: Elvis Costello's boundless career.
The New Yorker, Nov. 8, 2010 issue

I am an unabashed fan of Elvis Costello and have been for a very, very long time.

The first time I saw Costello perform live, he was still with his old band, The Attractions, and Jimmy Carter was in the waning days of his presidency.  The night was Jan. 16, 1981 and the Costello show was in the Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.  Tickets cost less than $10, even then big money for a college sophomore attending nearby Macalester.  I was merely enjoying a nice, platonic evening out with a classmate.  Who knew that I would fall for Costello's music?  As it happened, Costello and his long-time keyboardist, Steve Nieve, began the evening playing "Just a Memory."  The 19-song set list included favorites like "Accidents Will Happen," "Radio Radio," and "Alison." The show's encore was "Pump It Up."

Since that snowy winter's evening 29 years ago, I have seen Costello perform live eight other times.  For the record, I've seen Elvis twice in Minneapolis, twice in Seattle, and five times in the Bay Area.  In Art Deco auditoriums (Oakland's Paramount Theatre), in outdoor stadiums (the old Parade Stadium in Minneapolis and at Seattle's Bumbershoot), in the Lindley Meadow of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.  Solo, with The Attractions, with The Imposters, with The Sugarcubes, with Steve Nieve, with the San Francisco Symphony.  It's always a spectacle, always a great show.  Best of the best was probably the night I saw Costello perform during the "River in Reverse Tour" with Allen Toussaint, the Imposters and the Crescent City Horns on June 20, 2006 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, Calif.  The set list that night included two long encores and a grand total of 33 songs!

Some musical artists I never grow tired of seeing perform live or listening to their albums.  Elvis Costello is one such musical artist.

Thus, I'm very excited about National Ransom, the ambitious new release by the acclaimed singer/songwriter that Costello is, which hit both iTunes and Amazon.com ~ and let's not forget record stores, too ~ in the United States on Nov. 2. While the album's title isn't necessarily a reflection on last week's nationwide Election Day outcome, it can be said that these new tunes are songs for these bankrupt times.

Elvis Costello / National Ransom
Album illustration ~ Tony Millionaire

Last Tuesday, I was very pleasantly surprised to find National Ransom available for mp3 download on Amazon.com at the very affordable ~ and excellent ~ price of $3.99.  Desperate economic times or not, I wasted little time in purchasing the 16-song download of National Ransom, which also included a digital booklet, and by dinner time, I had listened to the entire album twice.  (Since then, I've listened to National Ransom in its entirety two more times.)  Now, Amazon.com is selling the download for $7.99.  Meanwhile, iTunes is offering National Ransom for $9.99 and has sweetened the deal by adding an additional track ("I Hope") that's not on the Amazon.com download.

On National Ransom, Costello continues his association with the bluegrass and American roots-influenced Sugarcanes, whom he worked with on his 2009 release, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane.  Costello and the Sugarcanes recorded National Ransom in only 11 days, shuttling between Los Angeles and Nashville, and the album crosses many music genres and borders, including:  rock ("National Ransom"), jazz (Jimmie Standing in the Rain"), country ("That's Not a Part of Him You're Leaving"), bluegrass ("I Lost You"), blues ("My Lovely Jezebel") and American roots ("Bullets for the New-Born King").  There's even room for a ballad ("You Hung the Moon"), too.  T Bone Burnett, who previously worked with Costello on his under-appreciated 1986 album, King of America, produced National Ransom, and guest artists pop up throughout the album, including:  country singer Vince Gill, legendary rock pianist Leon Russell and the esteemed session guitarist Buddy Miller.

Far and above, Costello remains a truly brilliant lyricist and arranger, and his liner notes on the digital booklet accompanying National Ransom detail the period and setting that bore influence on him in each of the album's tunes, such as: 1929 to the Present Day to describe the album's title cut, "National Ransom."  On another tune, "One Bell Ringing," it's The London Underground, 22nd of July 2005.

Costello gave up on the idea of playing arduous tours in big halls long ago in favor of smaller tours in more intimate surroundings.  It's given him the flexibility to perform with his rock-n-roll ensemble, The Imposters, one night; engage in country and bluegrass with the Sugarcubes the next night, even perform an occasional gig with a symphony orchestra.  At this stage of his career, the ability to reinvent and reinterpret his vast catalog of material is what has enabled Costello to remain fresh and vibrant.  One of my favorite Costello experiences was seeing him perform a very lively and brassy Henry Mancini-esque arrangement of "Watching the Detectives" with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 2006.  It was hot and did it swing!

While devoting much of October to a musical residency in the Bay Area, Costello played the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park ~ his set list included several tunes from National Ransom ~ as well as some San Francisco club benefits with his long-time friend Nick Lowe at the Great American Music Hall.  Then, he performed a few weeks later for Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, Calif.

Last week, Costello shifted coasts and made the rounds of late-night, New York City talk shows, including: Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.  Also, Costello and the Sugarcanes played a show at The Greene Space in New York City, sponsored by public radio station WNYC, and he guested last weekend on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me in the "Not My Job" segment.  There, he correctly guessed two of three questions about another Elvis ~ no not that Elvis ~ the Canadian Olympic figure skater Elvis Stojko.  It's worth a listen because Costello came off as quite the witty conversationalist.

Finally, the always articulate and often outspoken Costello (he's also host of the Sundance Channel's Spectacle: Elvis Costello with ... ) was the subject of an extensive profile written by Nick Paumgarten in the Nov. 8 issue of The New Yorker, "Brilliant Mistakes: Elvis Costello's boundless career," that is as revealing an article about Costello that I've ever read.

So, in making the rounds of the media to promote National Ransom, Costello assumed the role that Joni Mitchell lyrically described in her 1973 song, "Free Man in Paris" as: "stoking the star maker machinery behind the popular song."  That's okay with me because it's always entertaining when Costello pops up all dapper and properly-attired on TV, whether performing solo or with the Sugarcubes, or even surprising us with a lovely duet of the Everly Brothers ballad, "All I Have to Do is Dream" with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.

Elvis Costello just plays for the people who are listening.  I'm listening.

Elvis Costello: It's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Last weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, philanthropist Warren Hellman's million-dollar bash of a gift to the city of San Francisco. Hardly Strictly has turned into one of the country's premiere music events. This year, I finally took the opportunity to check it out.

About 600,000 music fans, including an estimated 350,000 fans alone on Sunday, flocked to the western end of Golden Gate Park over three days, spread out over six stages, and saw more than 60 music acts celebrating music that was hardly strictly bluegrass.  In fact, not only was bluegrass showcased, but also traditional folk, blues and rock, even jazz.

Gridlock at the Star Stage:
Elvis Costello and the Sugarcubes perform Sunday afternoon
during the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park.

This year's stellar line-up of performers, many of them annual invitees, included:  Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, Patti Smith, Steve Earle, Boz Scaggs, Roseanne Cash, the Avett Brothers, Nick Lowe, Earl Scruggs, Buddy Miller, the Del McCoury Band, Ralph Stanley and Trombone Shorty.  (A complete line-up for the 2010 festival can be found at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival website.)

It was Sunday afternoon's main event, Elvis Costello on the Star Stage, which drew my interest and got me out of the house on a day that I easily could have stayed put in front of the TV watching the Giants clinch the National League West title with their 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.  However, I had endured too much baseball torture ~ a pair of agonizing Giants losses ~ over the previous 48 hours and needed a change of scenery.

Setting out late Sunday morning via BART and the Muni Metro N-Judah train, my wife and I arrived at Golden Gate Park about two hours before the start of Elvis Costello's set.  We meandered through the festival grounds, catching portions of sets by Hazel Dickens on the Banjo Stage and the Indigo Girls on the Rooster Stage, before descending upon Lindley Meadow, site of the Costello get-together.  Overhead, morning fog lingered and a slight breeze blew in from the nearby Pacific Ocean.

The scene at Lindley Meadow:
There was plenty of green space to spread out and enjoy
the set by jam band Umphrey's McGee.

We packed a mini picnic of snacks, including cheese curds, grapes and cookies.  We checked out a variety of food vendors and settled on baked potatoes with all of the trimmings and, later, grabbed a bag of caramel corn to snack on.  Much to our surprise, there was a flock of cafe tables and folding chairs nearby, and we found an empty one that became ours for the rest of our afternoon at the festival.  As we settled in and enjoyed our lunch, the jam band Umphrey's McGee began their 50-minute set.  We listened with casual interest. Across town, the Giants were taking the field at AT&T Park to face the Padres in the final game of the regular season. The fog started to lift and the sun, finally, made an appearance. Good omen of things to come?

Not surprisingly, there would be about an hour's break after Umphrey's McGee completed their set before Elvis Costello and the Sugarcubes would settle in on the Star Stage, giving ample time for the meadow to fill up.  The stage stood in close proximity to the Towers of Gold Stage, where Randy Newman performed.  His set would bridge the gap until 3:05 p.m., when it was Costello's time to entertain the masses.

As a favor, the audio from Newman's set, which started with the ever-popular "Short People," was piped over the Star Stage sound system, so there was no need for us to leave.  It's a good thing we didn't because the green grass of the Lindley Meadow filled in quickly during the two o'clock hour. We perused sections of the Sunday New York Times that we packed and periodically checked the Giants score on the radio to pass time. They had taken an early 2-0 lead against the Padres.

The Lindley Meadow scene changed during the 2 o'clock hour as
the crowd began filling in the green space in anticipation
of seeing Elvis Costello and the Sugarcubes.

I'm not sure what it is about Elvis Costello that draws the biggest crowds year after year at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. However, his set caused a major gridlock around the Star Stage area, and Costello was, arguably, the day's biggest single draw.  A few brave fans even climbed nearby trees in search of a prime view afforded by sitting on sturdy limbs.  A portion of the sloping meadow near the stage also was jammed with eager fans.

Although we sat at least 100 yards from the stage, we packed a decent pair of binoculars and the nicely-amplified sound system enabled us to hear with clarity what we could always see clearly.

The Star Stage's nicely-amplified sound system enabled us
to hear Elvis Costello and the Sugarcubes with clarity what
our eyes couldn't always see clearly.

The dapper and cheery Costello and the Sugarcubes, his seven-piece backing band that featured Jim Lauderdale on guitar and backing vocals and Jerry Douglas on dobro, took the stage on time, and from 3:05 to 4:10 p.m., they played a nicely-crafted, 15-song set that included some of Costello's new, recent and classic material as well as songs by the other Elvis (Presley), the Beatles, Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones.  

Costello's newest album, "National Ransom" hits U.S. stores and iTunes on November 2, and several songs from it were prominently displayed during his set, including: "National Ransom," "Jimmy Standing in the Rain," and "A Slow Drag with Josephine."  The set started with the classic "Mystery Train," and included a nice medley of his "New Amsterdam" that segued into the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," as well as one of my favorites, "Brilliant Mistake." It concluded with an encore of the Stones' "Happy" that left everyone feeling, well, happy.  The Giants game ended at about the same time, and as the 3-0 final score was announced from the stage as Costello and the Sugarcubes took their final bows, more happy cheers echoed throughout the meadow.

Patti Smith performing Sunday afternoon on the
Towers of Gold Stage at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

As we walked around the perimeter of the Towers of Gold Stage on our way out of the festival, we could see (and hear) Patti Smith performing before a gathering of thousands down in the meadow as the late afternoon sunshine segued to fog, again.  The weather had gone full circle.

Beyond, as we circled the old polo field heading toward the park's exit, we could hear an echo in the distance. It was coming from the Del McCoury Band.  We paused for a moment to enjoy sweet music to our ears.

Bluegrass fiddles, banjos, guitars and mandolins.  We had come to the right place for the afternoon.

The set list for Elvis Costello and the Sugarcubes:
Mystery Train

Blame It On Cain
I Lost You
Medley: New Amsterdam/You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
(The Angels Want to Wear Your) Red Shoes
Brilliant Mistake
The Delivery Man
Jimmie Standing in the Rain
A Slow Drag with Josephine
Friend of the Devil
Sulphur to Sugarcane
Don't Lie to Me
National Ransom
Encore: Happy


All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010.