If you could ask Elvis a few questions, what would you ask?

[Ypsilanti]

Reviving an old thread...didn't seem like it was fully explored back in the day.

I would never want to actually meet Elvis, or speak to him...kind of a shy person, but I am curious about some things.

Here are my questions. What are yours?

1. Do you believe in God?

2. Given your bleak & jaundiced worldview and less-than-sunny predictions for the future of humanity, what made you decide to bring children into the world, especially as an older father?

3. Why do you chew gum on stage, and how do you accomplish it without choking on it or spitting it into the audience?

4. How do you manage to have a fresh suit to perform in every night while you're on the road?

[wardo68]

"What's your favorite of your own albums?"

and while we're at it...

"What's your favorite of your own album covers?"

[Neil.]

I would ask him what the hell the phrase "Now I know that you're all king horse" means.

I think I asked it on here ages ago - horse is another term for heroin I think, but the song doesn't sound as though it's about that. Maybe he means "now I know you're all fulla (horse) shit". Really extreme ("king!") horse shit!

[bronxapostle]

how the hell,sir, do you keep the jacket on the entire night upon stage? or even the leather jacket at a sweltering afternoon festival set??? HOW DO YOU DO IT?

[Jeremy Dylan]

I've actually had the opportunity a couple of times and blanked, reverting to some slightly facile questions about how the SP&S tunes had been evolving on the road and his history with the Enmore Theatre. Next time, hopefully I'll have the presence of mind and memory to ask him: Where do you get your ties?

[jmm]

I've had the chance to talk with him 3 times and he's always been great

In the spirit of "old threads" here is the account I put up of the one that I'd call a "conversation" after NOLA Jazzfest in 2008. Sorry if it's too long and boring

OK, finally a little more about the time I got to spend with EC in the NOLA airport the day after the Jazzfest show with AT et al.

I'll try not to go on at length to avoid the friends rolling their eyes looks I've received in the last few weeks ala "Let Me Tell You About Her" or it / the conversation in this case. Also somehow No Hiding Place seems like a warning not to go on too much. None of my "quotes" below should be taken as such they are what I remember and that certainly isn't 100% accurate.

We started with the fact that my wife and I had been to the Spectacle taping with Tony Bennett. EC seemed quite interested in feedback on this front. He said he's still settling in and is looking forward to seeing how it edits down into a show. We talked about Diana being surprised on her blackberry when Tony was calling her to the stage. He said "at least it was clear it hadn't been set up, but you know with the boys that really is our line back and they were getting sick". He told us how terrified he was when he did the TV show with the Count Basie Orch and Tony back in the day that they showed a clip from during the show. He said the key to Spectacle will be getting good guests and the present plan is to film 13 episodes. He liked the suggestion that it might become a TV and Pop version of Piano Jazz and responded "I could do a lot worse"

This led the conversation to musical connections like those he was highlighting with Tony. He said "the jazz artists are very good at building on each other and giving credit but it doesn't happen as fluidly in rock n roll". I told him that I heard a bit of Hey Bulldog, that they had played back in May, in Stella Hurt. He gazed off for a few seconds like he was listening and then said "I can see why you might say that with the part that Steve plays." We specifically talked about Femme Fatale in the NOLA set. He seemed to doubt my estimate that at least 50% of the crowd wouldn't have known the song but "really liked the idea if it was true since they might look into the Velvets". This was a song they learned for Spectacle and decided to keep in the set. "That is the kind of connection that is great to make."

He was very interested in who else we'd seen at Jazzfest as he'd only arrived in time to prepare for the set with Allen et al. He was particularly interested in how much we liked the set from Big Sam's Funky Nation. Sam had given him their new CD titled Peace, Love and Understanding and he'd yet to listen to it. The mix they played of traditionally based funk built around trombone but fused with hip hop really was exciting. EC said "yeah, I think that's where some great stuff is happening these days". we also talked in particular about James Cotten and his band, Buckwheat Zydeco and Robert Plant / Alison Krauss with T-Bone among others.

RP / AK w/ TB was certainly a highlight of a great set of shows in the 3 days. I related that RP introduced one song with something like "When I was 12 and first starting to learn to sing there were a couple of songs that I just had to learn. Most of them, I later came to understand, came from NOLA. I can't pass up the opportunity to sing the one that was top of that list by you're native son Allen Toussiant here today" and than launching into Fortune Teller. EC said he'd heard that story, from AT who was in the wings at the time and very touched.

We then talked about the relative merits of the RP/AK version vs. the EC/AT & I, CCH version that he played the night before. I told him I preferred the his but he argued for RP/AK, we both agreed that the differences in the interpretation reinforce what a great song it is. I told him that although I didn't really expect it in that setting I still would have loved to hear her do Scarlet Tide. He said - not the right venue, and the same was true with him not doing Ascension Day in his set. He really would have liked to but it just didn't fit. Besides Jazzfest he highly recommended Merlefest and especially Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

However he was very happy Pete has suggested that they close the set with When the Saints Go Marching in. He'd never played it before and said it was the perfect end. He also talked about how he'd always been disappointed with playing Everyday IWtB since the initial tour with the back-up singers. Because of how they recorded it he never felt they could get it quite right. He said it was only in the rehearsals in the last couple of weeks that they came upon the new way of doing it and he was really happy with it now (after what 20 years!). He "really likes how the new stuff is sounding live" and intended to fill out the 50 minute Police opening shows by "starting and ending with something they know and the rest is mine". He said that he had resisted the opening slots but tried it out with the Dylan shows and liked that the audience "didn't really know his stuff and he could play what he wanted". We talked about those shows and in particular how Bedlam was such a different song during them.

He talked about how much fun it is to play with AT and the extended band. How he liked the two new songs AT played. He actually apologized for how bad his voice was at the Tower of London show last year when we told him we were there. Said he caught a cold and was really struggling. I told him how after he let go in Fortune Teller that night his voiced seemed to get out of the way and he responded "it's a great song to sing"

We talked about Momofuku at length. He wasn't to happy to hear that my vinyl copy arrived before the release date but it did mean that I'd heard it. He said "nobody is selling records these days and we have to find a new way to make it work". he was happy to hear that I enjoyed that old visceral feeling of opening the album. He said " they were able to record it so quickly because the folks in the session just clicked (and it just as easily might not have worked". He gave credit to the fact that the people in the studio ranged in age from 53 to 23 and the "young folks were full of new ideas about how to just try things and they all threw themselves into it". He smiled at my speculation that he sat down to write My 3 Sons after the magic numbers show with Rosanne Cash last year. He said "it's a good story but that's not how it happened". He talked about how great Rosanne is and how much he enjoys working with her

I asked when the new stuff recorded with T-Bone will be coming out. He smiled and said "don’t believe what you read on the internet even if I wrote it”. While he wouldn't confirm a release he did seem to indicate that a fall tour with T-Bone once he's finished with RP & AK might be a possibility. I guess we'll need to keep an eye out for more on The Coward Bros!

I feel like I've already gone on too long and will close except to add that he couldn't have been nicer and more accommodating. He closed by thanking us for the support through the years. Quite a thrill

[Jeremy Dylan]

Now that's a conversation! Beats most interviews with him.

[sheeptotheslaughter]

I would like to ask him is he embarassed by the strange London/ Liverpool accent of the early years.


I have met him a couple of times and found him a bit grumpy. Except one time when we got to the backstage party at the Royal Albert Hall in 99. I couldn't help myself when he came in I just exclaimed 'Elvis' like some teenage girl and he came over to say hello. It was the first time I'd seen him do 'Couldn't Call It Unexpected' without amplification. I told him it was worth the admission fee alone and we shook hands. We spoke for a little while and he went off to see his dad.

Met Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve a few times, Pete is always lovely. Steve was really pissed the first time, but I spoke to him at the above party and he was pretty decent to be fair.

[rsternb1]

I would ask him 2 questions:

1. Weren't you aware of the plight of the Palestinians when you initially booked the concerts in Ceaserea, Israel?

2. Why do you were those ridiculous hats?

[Jack of All Parades]

1--Who is your favorite poet?

2--What is your favorite lyric you did not compose?

3--Which comes first- the word or the note? And which is harder to create?