New TV show: "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with ..."

[johnfoyle]

Chris Isaak comments on the similarities between his new tv show and Spectacle

http://www.4vf.net/chris-isaak-is-a-lucky-new-man/

(extract)

CNN: Unlike Elvis Costello’s talk show on the Sundance Channel, you do yours without a live audience. Why is that ?
Isaak: We’re just like Elvis Costello’s show, actually. I do his mannerisms and everything. We’re just like Elvis’ show, only cheaper!
CNN: So that’s why there isn’t an audience?
Isaak: No. Elvis Costello is a genius. I think people would say musically, he’s a genius. And I think when the network hired me to do my show, we wanted to cover that other ground. So he’s got the genius area covered, and I do the other stuff.
CNN: The non-genius stuff.
Isaak: Yeah, I’d be the non-genius.

[bronxapostle]

any talk of continued filming for 2009 season in NYC once again? thanks, b

[sweetest punch]

Lots of Behind The Scenes on YouTube:
Behind The Scenes Week 1 (Elton John): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVBC2VVzsKA
Behind The Scenes Week 2 (Lou Reed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9TtA8Ce ... re=channel
Behind The Scenes Week 3 (Bill Clinton): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi85cqKXUaI
Behind The Scenes Week 4 (James Taylor): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkXSRMBBV4M
Behind The Scenes Week 5 (Tony Bennett): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb6YE3AW6gw
Behind The Scenes Week 6 (The Police): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Uwv8ECQC0
Behind The Scenes Week 7 (Rufus Wainwright): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCybBxHZdhA
Behind The Scenes Week 8 (Chris Kristofferson, Roseanne Cash, Norah Jones, John Mellencamp): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfxQCh2vWV4
Behind The Scenes Week 9 (Renee Fleming): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USPWqIYFf-o
Behind The Scenes Week 10 (Herbie Hancock): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Mtl_SUPTU

Behind The Scenes Week 11 (She & Him, Jenny Lewis, Jacob Dylan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWYxrx4K ... re=channel
Behind The Scenes Week 12 (Diana Krall): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vRomG2jwP0

Behind The Scenes Week 13 (Smokey Robinson): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyEqXnmZ ... annel_page

[johnfoyle]

Spectacle airs in Australia from next week , at 8.30 in the evening , so much better than the C4 schedule.


http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/200 ... 203000.htm

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... - Elton John

8:30pm Friday, 20 Mar 2009 Entertainment CC PG

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... is an exciting new music talk series hosted by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, Elvis Costello.

Conceived to provide a forum for in-depth discussion and performance with the most interesting artists and personalities of our time, this show fuses the best of talk and music television. Each one hour episode exposes the essence of iconic and influential figures including Sir Elton John, Tony Bennett, Lou Reed, President Bill Clinton and The Police.

Episode One's guest is Sir Elton John who talks candidly with Elvis Costello about his beginnings, his collaboration with lyricist/singer Bernie Taupin and some of the music icons who influenced his career such as Leon Russell, Laura Nyro and David Ackles.

Each artist not only talks but performs - demonstrating the development and creation of their music and playing new, stripped-down or solo versions of some of their best-loved songs. Elvis Costello also performs, starting each episode of Spectacle with an original, never before seen (or heard) interpretation of a song by the featured guest, or a song connected to them.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elton John will be repeated on ABC1 - Thursday, March 26 at 11:30pm

Also showing on ABC

Elton John - 11:30pm Thursday, March 26

[charliestumpy]

I/several others in UK thought that 13 Spectacles were jolly good all in all.

All are now available on SPOTIFY

http://www.spotify.com/en/

[MOJO]

Do have an extra invite token for the beta?

[charliestumpy]

Although 'Spectacle' is off when I looked today, there are still a fair few Costello songs to hear streaming on excellent SPOTIFY.

[johnfoyle]

This write-up has, besides all the usual comments , this welcome news -

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... nment/home

ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

March 27, 2009

(extract)


The first season will emerge in extended form on DVD. Most of the tapings ran for two to three hours, so there will be lots of outtakes on the discs, said Warden.

John's time on Spectacle has already provoked one spinoff. After talking with Costello about Leon Russell, and doing a little piano improvisation in Russell's distinctive style, John called up the venerable sideman and talked about more than old times.

“The upshot is that I'm going to be doing an album with Leon Russell next year, with T-Bone Burnett producing,” he said. Given the origin of the project, maybe they should call it Bifocals.

[And No Coffee Table]

This write-up has, besides all the usual comments , this welcome news -

And this:

"Discussions are under way about a second season, and about whether the guest list needs to include more prominent young talent."

[migdd]

Excellent news about the DVD set and what may actually be a great Elton John album.

Not so sure about the pressures being put on the potential 2nd season of the show, though. That scares me.

[bambooneedle]

Fallout Boy! The Jonas Bros!

[johnfoyle]

A few more new quotes from Elvis , with Channel 4 getting a deserved kicking.

http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/609551

Rocker makes Spectacle of pals

Elvis Costello isn't worried talk show will devalue his music cred

Mar 29, 2009

GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST

Even if you hadn't witnessed the creditable job Elvis Costello did sitting in as host on the Late Show with David Letterman back in 2003, it wouldn't be a big stretch to imagine the British rocker and songwriter running his own talk show.

That very idea occurred to music journalist and artist manager Steve Warden and his Toronto-based partners, entertainment lawyer Jordan Jacobs and movie producer Martin Katz. They're the creators of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ..., the TV series that re-casts Costello as a slightly tubby, unshaven, fedora-bedecked new-age version of David Frost, making its Canadian debut on CTV Friday night at 8 p.m. and on Bravo! Saturday at 8 p.m. (repeating Sunday at 6 p.m.).

"The idea has been proposed a number of times since I did Letterman, but what made this a reality is that Elton John and (John's Canadian partner) David Furnish got involved and connected with the broadcasters who put up the money to make it happen," Costello said during a recent phone interview from the home in New York he shares with Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall.

It was at Elton John's Surrey castle that the couple wed, you'll remember. It's not surprising, then, that Costello's first guest on Spectacle is his bespectacled knight-of-the realm chum and benefactor, who chats up a virtual storm, revealing his reverence for influential American composers, the late Laura Nyro and David Ackles, and pianist/songwriter Leon Russell, among others.

John pays tribute to them in several impromptu musical asides, and performs – with Costello in their first ever TV duet – "Border Song" and Ackles' "Down River," backed by guitarist James Burton and pianist Alain Toussaint, and Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher, the bassist and drummer in Costello's band, the Imposters.

Some shows, like the Bill Clinton episode, are music-centric conversations in which Costello gets to show off his keen curiosity and interviewing chops – he does his own research and writing, he said –— and some, like the "guitar pull" song-swap featuring Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, John Mellencamp, Rosanne Cash and Costello – are almost entirely performance-dominated.

Most, however, achieve a balance between artistic revelation in conversation and in musical deed, with Costello often setting the tone by opening or closing episodes with a performance of one of his guests' compositions, or by playing with them, as he does in the show featuring the Police's last live show. It was shot at the end of the band's recent reunion tour, on which Costello and the Imposters opened several dates.

"I never wanted to be a television program host five nights a week," Costello said. "But a show with high-quality and unique musical performances and interesting conversation – a variety show without the spinning plates – very much appealed to me."

The model has more in common with the ideas-and-character British TV and talk radio tradition than with the industry-driven celebrity-based model Americans are used to, he explained, and that made Spectacle a difficult sell. The premium U.S. cable service Sundance Channel has just finished running the first – and maybe the only – season.

Costello's guests are Lou Reed, filmmaker Julian Schnabel, James Taylor, Tony Bennett, Rufus Wainwright, soprano Renée Fleming, Herbie Hancock, She & Him (actress/singer Zooey Deschanel and guitarist/producer M. Ward), songwriters Jenny Lewis and Jakob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, and, of course, Krall, in addition to the Police, Elton John, and the American guitar pull crew.

Britain's Channel 4, which invested in the series, "just threw it away," Costello snarled. "They did no advertising whatsoever. The media commentary was pretty negative."

CTV is playing it up big in prime-time on its Canada-wide schedule, and the series has been sold in Australia and in most European countries, where it is enjoying positive reviews and solid ratings.

"If it were to proceed, we couldn't do it with fewer resources than we have now, Costello said. "For a second season we'd need another (committed) broadcaster. I don't want to do a rushed or cheaper version."

The series has been criticized for drawing largely from a pool of musical guests who've more or less passed their prime, but Costello is unapologetic.

"Smokey Robinson was a revelation to me. When you think of his contributions to American culture, to world culture ... why wouldn't you want to spend as much time with him as you could? Herbie Hancock – same thing.

"In the planning stages in New York I came up with a list of the hardest-to-pin-down people you can think of. We had discussions with artists of all ages, but there was no agenda. I wanted a broad palette – artists from the worlds of jazz, classical music, country music and Motown and pop – and we got them. But you have to understand young artists have less to reflect upon ... not that their ideas are less valid, but they have less history on which to draw.

"And they're in the hot moments of their careers ... they don't have spacious schedules. If we did another season, I think we'd go back to some of the younger artists on our original list, particularly those you can confidently predict will be around for a very long time. It's the nature of this program to be retrospective. Most young artists are too busy looking forward."

And unlike most young artists, Costello's not concerned that taking on the role of a TV talk show host will devalue his cachet as a progressive songwriter and musician.

"Thirty years ago that may have been the case. The amount of billboard space devoted to the program in America and Canada is a lot more than most big-name record albums get these days ... and more than I could get otherwise.

"Besides, people know I'm out there ... I'm touring constantly, and I'm in no danger of being redefined by television in an age when we can receive multiple formats on countless platforms. It's not as if I've changed my religion."

[cwr]

It would be such a shame if he didn't continue to do this show-- there are so many great guests he could get if he was allowed to keep doing it, as people's availability is different from year to year.

I'd love to see him sit down with Dylan, McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Aretha Franklin, Springsteen... And those people might not have been willing or available during the first series of shows, but who knows, 2009 or 2010 might be a different story...

[scielle]

Beverly Thomson from Canada AM interviews EC and David Furnish:

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/juno ... clip155380

[alexv]

Elvis and his new BFF David Furnish solemly addressing the...Juno awards. I love Elvis' take. Head resting pensively on hand, he tells the Great White North masses that what's great about the Junos is that it's a "national" awards show, as opposed to those other "international" awards show. You see, a "national" awards show allows a nation, like Canada, say, to reward its own, those acts that have not yet achieved "international" recognition, as well as those that have. Deep. That's part of what I've always loved about EC, that way he has of distilling the essence of things, right down to the whole national/international award show distinction. Unique, really.

And then the great David Furnish, a Canadian mind you, but one's who not lived in Canada for a while, graces us all in with his take on the Junos. He was moved by the "energy" of the whole Juno experience. Surely. But he had more for us. He quickly channeled the EC vibe, and zeroed in on another Juno dichotomy: the Junos allowed him to see acts he "never heard of" and... those he has heard of. He's been away for a while you see. Wonder what he's been up to?

Repeat after me kids, Junos equal national as opposed to international, and acts you know and those you never heard of. Awesome.

I wonder how EC feels about being introduced as part of the power couple of Canadian music? how he feels about sharing an interview with the great David Furnish? how he feels about digging down deep to capture the uniqueness of the Juno experience? Oh well, I guess the answer is that like any good talk show host he's able to improvise and rationalize.

Nick Lowe is a wise man.

[verbal gymnastics]

On Monday 11th August 2008 Mr VG wrote

Let's hope the accompanying DVD of the series (you know it's gonna happen) will show many if not all of these wonderful musical extravaganzas.

On Saturday 28th March 2009 johnfoyle reported

This write-up has, besides all the usual comments , this welcome news -

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... nment/home

ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

March 27, 2009

(extract)

The first season will emerge in extended form on DVD. Most of the tapings ran for two to three hours, so there will be lots of outtakes on the discs, said Warden.

I thank you.

Maybe I won't bother downloading the 5 episodes I've got clogging up the Sky+ box!

[johnfoyle]

A few slightly new quotes here -

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadi ... qrPxdxPtmw

The Canadian Press, April 1 '09

(extract)

Costello, meanwhile, hasn't actually had the chance to sit down to a broadcast of the show. Since finishing production of the first season in New York, he's either been in Canada or the U.K., where the show wasn't available yet.

He says he's looking forward to getting to watch it.

"It'll all be new to me," he said. "I'll be sitting there with my cup of tea when it airs on CTV."


Costello also has a new album coming out in June called "Secret, Profane and Sugarcane."

T-Bone Burnett produced the record and co-wrote two songs with Costello, who also collaborated with Loretta Lynn on a track.

Costello said they recorded the album in three days in Nashville.

"People say it's live - of course, everything you do is live," he said. "But it wasn't an overdub record, it was a recording of performances. That's the best way to play the music we were playing.

"It's a really beautiful sounding record, I'm really happy with the way it sounds."


-------


But he implies that they may need to put down roots more firmly in the coming years.

"It is a travelling life, you know," he said. "There might be some decisions to be made about our family in the next year or so because of having twin boys.

"Everybody tells you that the time goes quickly and here we are, they'll be two and a half very soon, and then the next thing you know you've got to put them down for university."

[scielle]

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=1444833

Elvis Costello: New attractions
Ben Kaplan, National Post
Published: Monday, March 30, 2009

In the background of the Vancouver home that Elvis Costello shares with his wife Diana Krall, you can hear the crying of one of his twin three-year-old sons. Costello, doing press for his new TV talk show Spectacle, tries his best to appease the boy.

"Daddy, will be off in a minute, love," says Costello, one of the most influential musicians of the past thirty years. "We want to make sure the good people of Canada watch daddy's show."

Daddy's show is certainly a curious hybrid. The hour-long program - think Inside the Actors Studio meets Fishing with John with a dollop of Storytellers thrown in - features Costello peppering guests such as Bill Clinton, Lou Reed and the Police with questions about music, before jamming with them at the conclusion of each show.

"They try to compare it to a talk show, but Letterman goes on five times a week with three people every night," Costello, 54, says. "I could never go on that often - there aren't that many witty people in the world."

Costello's wit (like his over-sized glasses and natty attire) has been his trademark since he released the album My Aim is True in 1977. The record featured the hit song Alison and established Costello as a bratty new post-punk pioneer. Accolades would follow, as well as a feud with James Brown and a banishment from Saturday Night Live.

"It was all a long-time ago," says Costello, who appeared with his wife Sunday night at the Juno Awards and now appears quite comfortable in his dignified new teacher role.

"It's comical, actually, after all you do, to wake up one day in your fifties and see your face again on one of those big Chairman Mao-type billboards in Times Square," says Costello, who shot Spectacle's 13 episodes at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. "Maybe it's fitting that this happens now. I haven't seen my face on a billboard since 1978."

The singer of Watching the Detectives and (What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding? may have spent a spell out of the spotlight, but everyone from Fall Out Boy to the Jonas Brothers touts Costello and his longtime band the Attractions as an influence. With his distinct patois of cool, Costello filled in for his pal David Letterman in 2003 and was a featured guest star on Stephen Colbert's recent TV special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.

"Any host, really, just has to set the scene," says Costello, who writes every show and draws upon his huge musical knowledge in talking with guests such as Herbie Hancock and Elton John. "I steer the conversation toward a subject I'm interested in – that's really all I'm suited to do."

Costello's onstage familiarity with jamming gives his show an improvised feel. What began with a dependence on a teleprompter gave way to playing with his guests by ear.

"The show really changed with Bill Clinton," says Costello, explaining how the former U.S. president's people informed him he'd only have 45 minutes to shoot. However, the famed raconteur and, according to Costello, quite able saxophonist, made it clear he was in no hurry to leave.

"I'd only written about 20 minutes of questions, but found the last part of our program was the best bit," says Costello. "I still spend loads of time researching, but perhaps I'm not the weak conversationalist I thought I was."

Although Costello's musical and conversational skills are on display throughout the 13 episodes of Spectacle, there are no plans to shoot a second season.

"I don't like being away from my wife for more than three weeks at a time, and already the calendar is getting pretty booked," says Costello, who has tour plans in the U.K. this summer and itches to get back into the studio. "I really enjoy doing this and I hope people will like it, but I'm not sitting around waiting for my phone to ring. I already have a job that I quite like to do."

[scielle]

Elton John asks old friend to collaborate on TV show

April 03, 2009
Cassandra Szklarski
The Canadian Press

Pop icon Elton John got the plan for his new album from the premiere episode of his new chat show, Spectacle, hosted by friend Elvis Costello, in which John discussed at length his admiration for Leon Russell, a largely forgotten but well-respected '60s session musician.

"That was a complete result of . . . Spectacle -- by me talking about Leon, playing Leon, seeing him (on video) and then phoning him up, saying, 'Listen, I haven't seen you for so long, I just want to tell you how much I loved you,' '' John said yesterday.

"And he loved the show, and then I said 'Let's do something together.' . . . I'm so excited about that.''The episode that inspired the collaboration airs tonight on CTV.

John says casting the spotlight on lesser-known but influential artists like Russell is a big part of why he decided to get behind Spectacle as executive producer. But he also bemoans a dearth of in-depth music shows on North American television.

"There's a gaping hole here for an . . . intelligent program to be made about musicians -- what they're passionate about, their background, who they loved,'' says John, who pays tribute in the debut to a string of diverse heroes including the Beatles, the Band, Laura Nyro and David Ackles.

"I wanted to put on tape a kind of history book in a way. I wanted people to have a reference point of view, in like 20 years' time, 30 years' time, for the James Taylors, the Police, the Lou Reeds, whatever, so they could look back and see some interesting things about these people.''

Each week the hour-long show -- a Canada/U.K. co-production shot in New York City -- will spotlight performances and conversations about music.

John credits Costello's encyclopedic music knowledge with being able to draw out unexpected anecdotes from guests and says he was a natural fit for the show.

"I really respect him as probably the biggest expert on great music that there is,'' says John, who persuaded Costello to accept the gig while on holiday together in the south of France.

"I said to him, 'Listen, you're the only person, really, that can make this kind of program.' ''

Guests on future episodes include the Police, Tony Bennett, Smokey Robinson and former U.S. president Bill Clinton. An episode with Costello's wife, jazz siren Diana Krall, sees John taking over interview duties.

"Me and Diana got on like a house on fire,'' John says of his interview with the B.C.-bred jazz crooner.

They're also friends offstage, and John says he pushed her into motherhood at the age of 39 by telling her that her biological clock was ticking. Krall and Costello now have two-year-old twin boys.

"She was great, she had two at once, so she was very clever about that,'' John says, chuckling.

"I'd known her for quite a long time and I'd known her through a succession of boyfriends where she had been unhappy,'' adds John, noting that he met Costello only when the singer-songwriter started dating Krall.

"We became really good friends and they got married at our house in Windsor (England) in privacy. They didn't want a big public thing so (my partner) David (Furnish) and I were able to do that for them and I adore them and I wanted them to have a family.''

As for his own love life, John credits his Toronto-born boyfriend with inspiring Spectacle. He says he and Furnish, who also serves as executive producer, will mark their 16th anniversary this year.

Spectacle will be repeated Saturday and Sunday on Bravo.

---------------------

Canada both first and last for Costello series

Fri, April 3, 2009
By BILL HARRIS

If it seems as if Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ... has been a "coming attraction" for a long time, you're right.

Spectacle, which makes its Canadian debut tonight on CTV, was the brainchild of Winnipeg music journalist Stephen Warden and was developed in Canada.

But the series already has aired both in the United States (on the Sundance Channel) and in England (on Channel 4).

To the knee-jerk Canadian patriot inside all of us, that's a tad irritating.

For CTV's part, it simply was a programming decision, and we accept that.

First of all, CTV doesn't have a heck of a lot of holes in its primetime schedule. The Sundance Channel -- which is a cable channel -- began running Spectacle late last year, and CTV didn't want to "waste" the series in December, when TV audiences always dip because of the holiday rush.

So the Canadian network reasoned that this was the best time to air the show. CTV found a reasonable primetime spot for it and could promote heavily, which has been occurring. Both Costello and his wife Diana Krall were front-and-centre at the Juno Awards (which aired on CTV) last weekend, for example.

So yes, we understand. CTV wants to give Spectacle the best chance to succeed. We don't blame CTV.

But still, we now live in a world where, if something has aired anywhere, you usually can find it easily enough on the Internet. There's just something in us that would have loved to see such a series, which was conceived and developed in Canada, airing in Canada first -- or, at least, not last.

Call us irrationally patriotic, but feelings are feelings, eh?

[johnfoyle]

http://www.winnipegsun.com/entertainmen ... 6-sun.html

Elvis Costello makes a Spectacle of himself

Legendary musician's 13-part talk/music series lands on CTV

By BILL HARRIS
Winnipeg Sun
3rd April 2009

The interviewee has become the interviewer.

So did legendary singer, musician and songwriter Elvis Costello absorb anything from the people who have interviewed him through the years, in terms of how to get it right and how to get it wrong?

"If I give that away, then you ALL will be able to get it right," Costello said, prompting laughter.

Well, anything Costello has learned about interviewing celebrities will be on display tonight, when Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ... makes its Canadian debut on CTV.

"It's not a pass and fail thing," Costello said of his interviewing skills. "I've been out of school a long time now. I'm not trying to pass or fail anything. I think it's kind of ludicrous to give 'out of 10' ratings. It's very juvenile.

"The conversation is edited from a longer conversation, so I'm hoping it will be entertaining and may reveal something we didn't know about the subject, and perhaps about myself in the nature of the questions I ask."

Costello's guest on opening night is Elton John, who also happens to be Spectacle's executive producer. The series, developed in Canada, was the brainchild of Winnipeg music journalist Stephen Warden.

As the 13-part talk/music series -- which was filmed in New York -- progresses, other guests will include Lou Reed, the Police, Tony Bennett, Kris Kristofferson, Herbie Hancock, Smokey Robinson, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash, Zooey Deschanel, Jakob Dylan, Costello's wife Diana Krall and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, among others.

Costello ventured into hosting in 2003, when he was one of a series of guest-hosts who filled in on The Late Show with David Letterman, when Letterman was sidelined with a case of shingles. Warden saw Costello's performance and that obviously played a role as Spectacle was being developed.

Costello was asked if, after his Late Show experience, he ever considered taking a job as a traditional talk-show host. Was the musical element in Spectacle at Costello's insistence?

"I wasn't about to start laying down conditions," Costello said. "This is the first thing I've done where it has been more than just a guest shot.

"I don't know why we would do (a non-musical show), really, unless I was interviewing an author who just never mentioned music, do you know what I mean? But why would you choose that person?"

As a musician himself, Costello has an innate ability to talk to other musicians, and to get them to try things they might not be comfortable trying with Jay Leno or Jimmy Fallon.

"Elton (John) made the suggestion that he would go to the piano and actually physically illustrate," Costello said. "You have to have a degree of confidence as a writer to not think that somebody, not just with a lawsuit, is going to diminish you in some way if you go, 'I actually got the idea for this type of voicing from another artist.' I thought it was very generous of Elton to do that, particularly.

"And Lou (Reed) was illustrating the correct way to play Sweet Jane. It's a handful of chords but people still get it wrong."

Costello's cleverness has been evident for decades in the wordplay of his songs, but Spectacle provides him with a unique venue to connect with other famous people. And we get to eavesdrop on the conversation.

In its simplicity, Spectacle is both old-school and ground-breaking at the same time.

So if Elvis Costello could change one thing about the modern music industry, what would it be?

"I never, ever think about it," he said. "I try never to utter the words music and industry -- oh, I just did it, sorry -- together."

And why would that be?

"Because I abhor blasphemy."

BILL.HARRIS@SUNMEDIA.CA

[scielle]

His Aim Has Never Been More True; With a little help from his friends, including Elton John, Sting and Lou Reed, Elvis Costello proves why music still matters on Spectacle.
Shelley Youngblut
Calgary Herald
3 April 2009
Calgary Herald

If the other Elvis were still alive, he'd be the first to agree that his name was not taken in vain by Declan MacManus. Throughout his 39-year career, which began with him singing backing vocals for his father on "I'm a Secret Lemonade Drinker" in a TV commercial, Elvis Costello has been both a student and a master of every musical genre. He's his medium's Zelig, but there's nothing hollow about the quintessential new wave artist's explorations of country (Almost Blue), soul (Punch the Clock), classical (The Juliet Letters), the ballad (Painted From Memory), bluegrass ("Scarlet Tide"), blues (The Delivery Man) and jazz (North). Music is Costello's passion, his obsession, his salvation. It has brought him to this time, this place, this mission, which is to host and guide Spectacle, quite simply the tastiest showcase of quality music ever created.

Yes, that statement sounds grandiose, especially when you realize that we're talking about a 13-part television series (whose first season debuts on CTV at 10 p.m. on April 3, with encore presentations airing Saturdays and Sundays on Bravo!). But we're also talking about the lone Elvis left standing, who has chosen to use his hard-earned credibility, rigorous perfectionism and limitless black book to prove that neither popular music nor television has to be dominated by commercial crap. The resulting program, which should prove to be as seminal as VH1 Storytellers and MTV Unplugged, is a revelation for those of us who still believe that music, like The Clash, matters.

It was another music-crazy Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Elton John, and his husband David Furnish who approached Costello with the idea of hosting the show that eventually became Spectacle. "There is simply no one else who has Elvis's fantastic depth of knowledge, or who is as quick-witted, charismatic and opinionated," says Furnish, one of the show's executive producers. "We were sitting around the table after breakfast in our house in the south of France, having one of those coffees that lasts for four hours," he recalls. "Elton, Diana Krall and Elvis were having another one of their conversations about music that left me with my jaw dropping. "

That relaxed intimacy has been recreated in the hour-long shows, in which seemingly random groupings of musicians come together to play each other's songs, talk about music with a true insider's perspective, and pay tribute to artists who have influenced them. "Most people don't feel like going on television and talking about themselves," says Furnish, who watched old episodes of The Dick Cavett Show to get the right vibe. "We knew that artists find it easier to open up to other artists. There's a trust, a common vocation, an appreciation for each other's journey."

Watching the premiere episode, in which Elton John makes compelling cases for artists he believes to be woefully unappreciated, is like taking part in a master class. You'll want to immediately download songs by Leon Russell, Laura Nyro, R&B singer Billy Stewart and

David Ackles--Elton and Elvis chose to end the show with Ackles' haunting "Down River," granting the American songwriter who passed away in 1999 a second life with a new audience.

It's a gift, and also a sign of the good things to come on Spectacle. Lou Reed, notoriously reticent, is relaxed, forthcoming and very, very funny in the second episode. Toronto entertainment lawyer Jordan Jacobs, one of the show's Canadian executive producers, says, "Elton thought that this could be a forum for artists to speak intelligently and in more than very short sound bites promoting a product on a late-night talk show."

Jacobs adds that Costello was adamant it would be impossible to do a show this creative on a commercial network in the U.S. "By Episode 2, they'll want whoever the biggest celebrity is on the cover of US magazine that week." (There's already a video on YouTube posted by fans of the Jonas Brothers pleading for the trio to be booked on Spectacle.) Instead of the latest pop sensation, the invited guests were chosen from a sublime, and sometimes surprising, wish list created by the host and the producers. Where else could you hear Rufus Wainwright, his mother Kate McGarrigle and soprano Renée Fleming do a version of the 19th-century folk standard "In the Pines" that rivals that of Nirvana on Unplugged? Or Jakob Dylan and Costello capping off a tribute to The Clash with a mind-blowing cover of "Straight to Hell," featuring the transcendent pedal-steel guitar of Farmer Dave Scher, a member of The Imposters, Costello's current band.

While big-name guests like the Police, James Taylor and Bill Clinton deservedly take centre stage at the Apollo Theatre and Saturday Night Live studio in New York, the supporting musicians are given their fair share of the spotlight. Music geeks will get chills watching Allen Touissant, Bill Frissell, John Leventhal, James Burton and Larry Campbell do their thing--Costello demanded that the best of the best provide the backbone of the show's live sound. "In the Bill Clinton episode, we had Elvis Presley's guitar player because Clinton is a huge Presley fan," Jacobs says. Jazz legend Charlie Hayden also appears on that episode, along with Pat Metheny, a last-minute fill-in for 90-year-old pianist Hank Jones. "We heard the news that Hank's wife was ill two hours before the taping," Jacobs recalls. "Elvis, knowing Pat lived in New York and had played with Charlie before, just opened his black book and gave him a call. Pat jumped in a cab with his guitar."

When you consider the logistics involved--from scheduling the artists to clearing the musical rights and producing 13 live concerts on a shoestring budget--it's no wonder no one has been able to create a show like this before. "You couldn't have better bookers than Elvis and Elton calling their friends," says Jacobs, who came up with his own unorthodox strategy of negotiating minimal flat fees with music publishers. "Once the publishers, the artists and, in some cases, the artists' estates understood and bought into the concept of the show, they realized that it wasn't their last chance to cash in but rather an opportunity to be profiled in a way they might not otherwise be."

In April, he found himself having to get permission to air a song so fresh that it hadn't yet been copyrighted by its composers. Roseanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Costello had co-written the tune via e-mail on April 5, 2008, which became their spontaneous name for the song they performed for the first time together on the so-called "Guitar Pull" episode, which also features Norah Jones and John Mellencamp.

Recordings of the first season's most memorable performances--and what a playlist to have to choose from--are in the works, as is a second season of Spectacle. "Since it's been done, we've had some pretty big superstars asking, 'Can I be on the show?' " Jacobs says. So what would be his dream lineup? "I could get into big trouble, but we'd love to have Paul McCartney, U2... And there are a lot of new artists that we're interested in--M&M, for example, would be great."

The list goes on and on. "The recording industry is so transient, but there is still all this quality music out there," Furnish says. "The series is a fantastic primer. It demonstrates the richness of the musical fabric and all the places you can go for inspiration. If you're serious, it's an ongoing journey." This applies to everyone out there who is authentically music-mad, whether it's the fan desperate for concert tickets or established artists such as Elton John, who still buys stacks of new releases every Tuesday to stay plugged in.

Furnish says that the premiere episode inspired him to download Leon Russell's greatest hits to his iPod. When Elton heard the songs, he started to sob. He later contacted Russell and asked him to join him in the studio with T-Bone Burnett, yet another unappreciated great given his due on Spectacle. "The circle," Furnish says, "is complete."

[scielle]

Canada loves Elvis!

Also, CTV site has added a 'Producer's Blog'

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... 1/20090325


SPECTACLE Debut Wins Timeslot with 861,000 Viewers on CTV

- Biggest premiere for Canadian series since SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA -
- More than one million viewers engaged overall throughout weekend on TV and Bravo! -

"SPECTACLE might just be the best talk program about music ever made."
- Canwest News Service

TORONTO, April 6 /CNW/ - After drawing rave reviews from critics,
SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH... is a hit with audiences as well. CTV's new
talk/music series drew 861,000 viewers for its premiere episode last Friday on
CTV, featuring a musical tête-à-tête with host Elvis Costello and special
guest Sir Elton John. The episode marked the most-watched series premiere for
a homegrown program on Canadian television since SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
CANADA.

The one-hour premiere won its timeslot at 10 p.m., drawing 36% more
viewers than NUMB3RS (Global/CBS; 634,000) and improving the average audience
for CTV's previous time period occupant (RAISING THE BAR) by 40%. The audience
grew throughout the broadcast, peaking at nearly one million viewers. On
Bravo!, the series premiere garnered 59,000 viewers at 8 p.m. on Saturday
along with 44,000 viewers at 1:15 a.m. and 64,000 viewers at 6 p.m. on Sunday,
for a total audience engagement of 1,028,000 viewers.

[...]

Conceived and developed in Canada with CTV, SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO
WITH... has been acclaimed by critics across the country. "SPECTACLE is a show
that lives up to its hype," wrote the National Post. "(T)he new
interview/concert series SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH... is exactly that:
spectacular, absolutely spectacular," said Winnipeg Free Press. "(Q)uite
simply the tastiest showcase of quality music ever created," remarked Calgary
Herald.


http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/arch ... c7853.html

[sweetest punch]

Interview with Elvis, Diana and David Furnisch about Spectacle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bur6K6SE ... re=related

[johnfoyle]

Another Canadian rave -

http://www.mikesanddislikes.com/music_g ... tello_with

Attention All Music Fans! The Best Talk Show Ever: "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..."

[Otis Westinghouse]

My prayers may be answered. This from the official source on the Ron Sexsmith forum:

"Ron was supposed to tape an episode of Spectacle (with Ry Cooder and Mavis Staples) but they cut the season short - maybe to see how it would test before filming more. Perhaps he will be on next season if there is one."