Relatively Insignificant EC Stuff. . .

[Otis Westinghouse]

If you're not able to appreciate it, clearly. Please liberate and send to a better home.

[Boy With A Problem]

Going of on a tanget a bit, but I'd be curious to know which record you have Moody. There is a lot of live dreck out there and at least a couple of really dire studio efforts.

Thought you would get a kick out of the Bowie thread on the Fall Website Otis:

http://z1.invisionfree.com/forums/thefa ... =8413&st=0




I had thought I was on fairly safe ground slagging off D.Bowie on the Fall website. How wrong I was. Every person other than myself who has mentioned Bowie on this forum has said that they liked and valued his music. Also, that they loved David and combed their hair in a special way to make themselves look more like him. Since making anti-Bowie comments here I have received death threats, nasty looks and most shockingly of all, my hot dog kart was overturned this tuesday by five yobs with bright orange hair. Eleven hot dog sausages were spilled onto the pavement and badly soiled during the attack. Three of them were rendered totally unsaleable. As they ran off one of the yobs yelled at me "Nail me to your car and I'll tell you who you are"! I attach no particular significance to this remark but include it here for the sake of completeness. I would just like to conclude by saying that these attempts to intimidate me have been unsuccessful and my hatred of D.Bowie is, if anything, greater than before.

[mood swung]

I remember thinking 'oh yes, they can.'

To be fair, I only listened to it once. I might try it again one day iffen I knew whar it were.

[Boy With A Problem]

That's like a "best-of" and the one I would recommend to people unfamiliar with the Fall.

[mood swung]

Clearly, it's a moral failure on my part.

[Otis Westinghouse]

That's how I would describe it. Find that CD and play loud without prejudice. Especially t-t-t-Totally Wired.

As for the Fall hot dog seller, serves him right!

The Fall are playing here end of the month, but I'll be away, dammit.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.countrystandardtime.com/news ... p?xid=2672

Del McCoury plans box set

Friday, March 6, 2009

A Del McCoury 5-CD box set, "Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury," will be out May 12 on his own label.

With more than 30 new recordings of songs from McCoury's first 40 years of performing and an additional 18 from the Del McCoury's Band most essential tracks of the last decade, this box set includes a 12-page full color booklet of photographs from the McCoury family archives.

The release includes High On A Mountain, Are You Teasing Me, Dark Hollow, Bluest Man In Town, Rain And Snow, Good Man Like Me, Rain Please Go Away, Nothin' Special and Never Grow Up Boy.

"Del gives hope to everybody - 50 years is a long time to be playing music in any field," said Elvis Costello. "But to keep the purity that you need to do this kind of music, and the drive and energy, that takes a special kind of guy."

"Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury" was recorded in a marathon session that lasted only a few days. "We went through the songs pretty quickly," says son Ronnie, who plays mandolin. "Take after take, it was just great. Dad sounds better than ever on here. We had a list of songs that the 3 of us made, with 15 or 20 songs from each of the decades and the albums that he made before he started owning his own recordings, and he would just pick some things to record on each session - and then we just went in and knocked them out. So they all have a real live feel to them."

McCoury will play at Bonnaroo in June and host the 2nd Annual Delfest in Cumberland, Md. in May.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.photographypress.co.uk/news/ ... roud.phtml

NEWS: 12 March 2009 11:47 GMT by Verity Burns

Proud Camden gallery has announced its latest exhibition entitled The Kodick Years, an exploration of Punk music and its stars through the lens of the very first punk photographer, Peter Kodick.

The exhibition is set to feature previously unseen images of The Damned, Billy Idol, Wilko, Generation X, Elvis Costello, Johnny Thunders and The Police.

The exhibition is set to run from 19 - 29 March, and will be exclusive to Proud Camden.

During the running time of the auction, a series of images will be available as signed limited edition prints for £113.85.

For more information on this or any other exhibitions at Proud Galleries, head over to their website.

http://www.proud.co.uk/exhibition-The-K ... rs_28.aspx

[martinfoyle]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/table/2 ... -must-hear

I’m in the Mood Again 2003
Recently parted from his second wife, in 2003 Costello recorded a clutch of sombre piano ballads detailing the split and his burgeoning relationship with jazz singer Diana Krall, now the third Mrs McManus. The final song on North is a lovely, Sinatra-esque thing, Costello wandering the streets of Manhattan at dawn, bewildered at stumbling upon amour once again. “You took the breath right out of me/ Now you’ll find it in the early hours in a lover’s song.” Bewitching. GT

Jack of All Parades 1986
The compelling sound of a middle-aged serial shagger – our Declan? Oh yes! Admitting that he has finally met his Waterloo, in the no-nonsense form of ex-Pogues bassist and second wife Cait O’Riordan. “When we first met/ I didn’t know what to do,” he concedes. A highlight of 1986’s King of America, Costello later described it as “a rarity: a love song without an escape clause”. The game is well and truly up. GT

Either Side of the Same Town 2004
A break-up ballad in the classic southern soul vernacular, the heartache seeping into the very bricks and mortar of a city. Now that it’s over, the territory that mapped the relationship is fraught with potential hazards: “There are still streets in this town marked with your shadow,” sings Costello. Some places are emotionally out of bounds, while if the ex-lovers accidentally meet they’re doomed to walk silently by. GT

I Hope You’re Happy Now 1986
Feelings don’t always die of natural causes; sometimes they have to be strangled. From Costello’s ferocious Blood and Chocolate album, this comically demonic song dismantles an ex and her new lover. Over a ringing Merseybeat melody, the intensity of the attack grows in proportion to the anguish, concluding: “I never loved you anyhow.” Oh, the delusion. GT

I Want You 1986
A song huge enough to put a full stop on Costello’s early career, I Want You begins with a gently romantic acoustic folk prelude before becoming a nightmare. Costello plays the cuckolded lover and defines the sado-masochistic self-laceration of a man driven insane by sexual jealousy, cruelly prodding the object of his desire for sexual details, torturing himself and her, abruptly switching between bullying and whining. The music’s slow blues crawls sickeningly until he pleads for her to “kill it”. GM

High Fidelity 1980
The trials and tribulations of a faithless marriage, the adulterer coming to face-to-face with his wife’s own infidelities. Tricky. Originally played live in the lumbering manner of David Bowie’s Station to Station, the song finally sprung to life over a pounding Motown beat – the opening line is a nod to the Supremes’ Some Things You Never Get Used To – laced with an inebriated punkish energy at odds with the underlying despair

I Want You 1986
An exercise in prolonged self-torture, in which Costello’s half-deranged protagonist sinks into obsessive desire and jealousy while replaying scenes of his lover with another man: “It’s the thought of him undressing you,” he sobs, “Or you undressing …” The music – recorded in one slow-burning take – has a similarly brutal simplicity: the discordant two-note guitar solo is as violently articulate as any of the words. GT

Tramp the Dirt Down 1989
Whether you feel it’s fair or not, when Margaret Thatcher finally dies, this bitter lament from Costello’s Spike album will find itself on every ageing leftie’s stereo. The former Declan MacManus taps into both his Irish folk roots and early Dylan to ask whether the former Conservative prime minister can live with every “tiny detail” of her crimes against the working class, before stating that he’s only living to be able to dance on her grave. Possibly the most personally vituperative song ever recorded. GM

My Three Sons 2008
It’s hard to imagine a less likely composer of sentimental odes to children than the man stereotyped as Mr Revenge and Guilt, but here is the inconvertible evidence: a simple fireside strum for his toddler twins and grown-up son, with a bittersweet lyric that expresses unbounded love and yet also hints at the lengthening shadows closing in: “I bless the day you came to be,” he sings, “with everything that is left in me.” GT

GT=Graeme Thompson

[johnfoyle]

http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot ... tello.html

'Award winning artist' Jason Seiler of Chicago, Illinois shares this work in progress -







I'm painting this with a darker value range than the references that I'm looking at . . . I like the mood, and I prefer to get rid of some of the orange, or at least ignore it . . . I'm feeling a bit dark and moody these days . . . nothing a good smack in the face couldn't fix! A ways to go before this is finished, I'll continue to share little bits here as I work.

posted by Jason Seiler at 2:06 PM

[Otis Westinghouse]

Wouldn't it be very tempting to help him out with that smack in the face if you were able?

That portrait is grotesque. Remarkably unflattering to Dec. Looks more like a bilious Eric Morecambe after going on a diet (when was Dec's face last so gaunt?).

[johnfoyle]

From my recent trip to England -


In Chocolate Town all the trains are painted brown
On the silver paper of the wrapper
There's a world of good intentions, and pity in their eyes,
The sedated homes of England, are theirs to vandalize.

- Little Palaces by Elvis Costello

[pophead2k]

An appreciation of Spike from the excellent site PopDose:

http://popdose.com/popdose-flashback-el ... llo-spike/

[johnfoyle]

http://everybody-stalking.blogspot.com/ ... eting.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Ian D.Matthews, Los Angeles blogs

(extract)



I don't remember going up to London much as a teenager, so I never experienced the buzz of going to a place like the Rough Trade shop in its formative years. Anyways, Croydon had it's own punk and new wave record shop - Bonaparte!

I remember well the giant Elvis Costello billboard, although back in the day it seemed somehow bigger! We used to hang out in the shop pretty much every Saturday around 1978/79, occasionally buying singles (everything we could afford by The Buzzcocks, The Clash and The Jam) and sometimes (funds permitting) an LP. I remember my friend Steve trying to persuade me to get Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' (released January 79) but I thought the cover was shit so I got the first PiL LP instead (released December 1978)...

[sheeptotheslaughter]

http://everybody-stalking.blogspot.com/ ... eting.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Ian D.Matthews, Los Angeles blogs

(extract)



I don't remember going up to London much as a teenager, so I never experienced the buzz of going to a place like the Rough Trade shop in its formative years. Anyways, Croydon had it's own punk and new wave record shop - Bonaparte!

I remember well the giant Elvis Costello billboard, although back in the day it seemed somehow bigger! We used to hang out in the shop pretty much every Saturday around 1978/79, occasionally buying singles (everything we could afford by The Buzzcocks, The Clash and The Jam) and sometimes (funds permitting) an LP. I remember my friend Steve trying to persuade me to get Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' (released January 79) but I thought the cover was shit so I got the first PiL LP instead (released December 1978)...

Happy days, I spent a good deal of these days in Croydon, my mate lived just down the road from here. I still bore my daughters to this day of the shop with a "big Elvis" outside. Now I have proof.

It did seem bigger at the time but I suppose it does take up nearly two stories of the flat above.

My other memory of this store is my mate showing me the cover of the first Blondie lp. It's been love ever since.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Great shopfront!

Re Debbie, for me it was the Denis video, and the song itself. Viewing it now, it's not hard to see why. The striped swimsuit and off the shoulder blazer combo is still hard to come to terms with, the blonde halo, the singing in French, and the kiss blown at 1'18". Did pop music ever get better than this?

[sheeptotheslaughter]

Denis was the first song that got me hooked, never did by that 1st album.

Saw her a few years back and try to wait at the stage door to meet her. She was rushed past a couple of us waiting to meet her and went straight to the band coach/bus where items were passed though a window to be signed by her. Bit of a poor show as the gig was called off 3/4 thru as the power went off. Made me realise how Great Elvis is when Im sure if the power went down he would just sing without it.

Clem Burke was different class though had time for everyone.

[verbal gymnastics]

Good to see discussion about Bonaparte records.

I used to go to their other store in Bromley, Kent which was a real treat. I used to pick up French imports of Sex Pistols singles and my pride and joy was the French 12" of Anarchy in the UK.

In case you think I'm going off track, I used to pick up Elvis stuff as well

[johnfoyle]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ ... 92049.html

The Italia job

By David Kelly

Tuesday March 31 2009

(extract)


'GOLAZZO!' How sweet the sound. In the weekends before satellite television made jaded experts on Stoke City of us all, 'Football Italia' on Channel 4 was a terrestrial jewel in football's crown.

The Art Of Noise cum Def Jam theme tune would beckon a welter of indecently good taste and chat and there was plenty of 'Golazzo' -- great goals -- in what was a golden age of Italian football before false economics skewed the European game.

Lombardo and Vialli, Zola and Lentini, Baggio and Van Basten, Capello and Sacchi. Oh, and Gascoigne, Ince and Platt.

James Richardson was the witty and urbane host of the must-see weekend festivities and, although he doesn't predict a return of the golden age, he does point out the creepy parallels between the implosion of Italian club football and the potential difficulties facing the English game.

But what japes when the show was at its peak. Gazza was supposed to be the show's presenter initially after his move from Spurs to Lazio. "His time-keeping wasn't the best," admits Richardson, then a mere lackey behind the camera.

Up stepped the lackey and TV's wittiest and most urbane figure was born. And what a life. He lived in Rome, from where he would sip espresso on a sun-dappled piazza while poring through the pink 'Gazetta Dello Sport' for transfer rumours, and thence up and down the country for the weekly live games.

"It was a great time in my life," he enthuses. "I think meeting Elvis Costello, at a Genoa match I suspect, was one of the biggest thrills for me. He's a huge football fan." Richardson paid homage to Mr McManus by linking an Elvis tune to each half-time score. Try that, Gary Lineker.

Like nearly everything, it's on YouTube -


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HQZnLqmqjM

[johnfoyle]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123872027544485035.html


Nancy Pastor for The Wall Street Journal

Jesse Dylan, in glasses, watches an in-progress video about innovation at Harvard University with a colleague.


APRIL 3, 2009

Jesse Dylan Experiments With Science

Bob Dylan's son, an accomplished director, turns his camera on medical research

By AMY DOCKSER MARCUS

(extract)

Jesse Dylan shot into public view last year when the celebrity-filled Barack Obama music video "Yes We Can" became an Internet sensation. Now, Mr. Dylan is emerging as a star in a more unusual field: catchy, MTV-style videos starring scientists and doctors discussing their research.

It's a personal crusade for the 43-year-old director (and eldest son of Bob Dylan) who's known for his music videos for Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, commercials for Nike and Nintendo, and mass-market movies like "American Wedding."

Mr. Costello first met Jesse Dylan after his father took the teenager to see a Costello show. Mr. Costello says he's watched Jesse grow up, and now considers him a friend; he particularly likes how Mr. Dylan handled a 2002 music video for "45," one of two Costello videos Mr. Dylan has made. They shot "45" outdoors in a town north of Boston, then stopped at an old-fashioned diner they both loved. On the spot, Mr. Dylan shot a totally new video set in the diner, with people who happened to be eating there playing small roles. Mr. Costello says, "He has an ability to adapt to whatever the subject is."

Mr. Costello, who's seen Mr. Dylan's recent science videos, said he makes them "with the same ruthlessness you need trying to follow the rhythm of a song.'' As for Mr. Dylan, he sees a further connection, realizing as he worked on the science-video projects that there is -- just like in music -- "lyricism and poetry to science."

[johnfoyle]

http://www.jasonseilerillustration.blogspot.com/

Jason Seiler's painting is completed.



See also -

http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot ... tello.html

And this -

http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot ... ketch.html




Jason responded to a e-mail I sent regarding the cost of a print -

Hello John, glad you like the painting. Well, I have a company that makes
giclee prints for me, high quality. They could make a print and ship it
to me to sign and then from there I could have it shipped to you. For an
11x14 it would be $350.00
--Jason

I'll think about it!

[johnfoyle]

Beyond bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYW-do7E ... r_embedded

Kids incorporated - The angels want to wear my red shoes

From the episode: 12.With a twinkle in his eye. Season 3.1986. Original artist: Elvis Costello. Martika, Renee Sands, Stacy Ferguson, Rahsaan Patterson, Ryan Lambert.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Easier to be disgusted than amused? Actually, it made me laugh quite a bit, it was so incongruous. If you can bear to get that far, the censor's scalpel excising 'She said drop dead and left with another guy' is bizarre. Just an awkward silence.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Review+Kra ... story.html

Review: Krall takes audience through jazz history

Calgary show kicks off Canadian tour

By Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald

April 15, 2009

(extract)

A Krall concert, like the one she played Tuesday night at the Jubilee Auditorium to kick off her Canadian tour, is the live equivalent of opening the doors under the stereo and stumbling across all those old, weathered records from 50 or 60 years ago, only Diana Krall is very much alive and playing well.

For the sedentary, but appreciative audience at the Tuesday show(she plays again tonight), the evening was awash in musical virtuosity--( even if Krall's famously musical husband Elvis Costello, who was in attendance, didn't make it onstage to play).

She recently had twin boys with Costello, all of whom are accompanying her on her tour across Canada.

"I may not know from the (NHL) playoffs, but I do know how to work a sippy cup in the airport," she said to the audience as a matter of introduction.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.ijamming.net/?p=1440

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Tony Fletcher writes -

(extract)


By one of those beautiful, unplanned coincidences that form the narrative for my life, I found myself attending the relatively new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in New York last week, only to discover that it is currently hosting a special exhibition on the Clash, entitled “Revolution Rock.” Coming just ten days after seeing Clash guitarist Mick Jones’ Rock’n'roll Public Library on display in London’s ChelseaSpace, it provided the perfect contrast in presentation.

For those who love their rock history, there are, indeed, some wonderful relics on display here. Pete Townshend’s Les Paul deluxe from 1972, Keith Moon’s blue platform shoes from the same era. Elvis Costello’s lyrics to “Red Shoes,” written on the timetable while taking a train from Liverpool-London. Dylan’s personal test-pressing of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, on which he crossed out two songs (the excellent “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” among them) and asked to replace them with “Girl from the North Country” and “Masters Of War.”


http://www.rockannex.com/home

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ANNEX NYC
76 Mercer Street
between Spring and Broome St.
New York, NY 10012