EC to appear on the Late Show With David Letterman one last time, April 23, 2015

[bronxapostle]

Just go to the theatre any day and name the date you would potentially like to be called for tb. And if they do not call, you can still try your luck by dialing the number at 11 a.m. morning of the show. Better still, if you are off and want to hang outside the theater a couple if hours, I get 10:45 lunch. I'll see you there ten to eleven. Meanwhile, it sure is looking like I will not be able to attend. :cry fbook me if you need to talk it out:

[johnfoyle]

Intriguing

https://twitter.com/Elana_la/status/591096006890127362

Elana Lanczi ‏@Elana_la

I'll be watching the David Letterman show on Thursday 4/23 to see @jwalkmusic sing with @ElvisCostello

http://www.jwalkmusic.com/

[Azmuda]

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news- ... /470868972

[MOJO]

Intriguing, indeed. Will it be a gospel shout out to the main man, DL? I was a huge Letterman back in high school and college. I am sorry to see him go .

[docinwestchester]

[johnfoyle]

A cover of this , I'm told

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPVWONJ ... e=youtu.be

When I Write The Book - Rockpile (1980)

[Azmuda]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8iFO_BYrxs

[charliestumpy]

Lovely - thanks for this St George's Day treat.

[johnfoyle]

Dave's introduction says Elvis is accompanied by, I think, The Quills. The Tweet from the other day identifies one of them as Jason Walker. Can anyone find any more information?

http://www.jwalkmusic.com/

[bronxapostle]

great cover of a fantastic song. wish E's voice was more up to the task, but a nice job all around. hope he plays it again here and there. did he do it at the Nick sings Elvis, Elvis sings Nick shows a few years back?

[verbal gymnastics]

Love this "When I write the everyday book about my life".

Thanks.

[cwr]

I really enjoyed this, although in some ways last year's Late Show appearance would have been a more fitting final farewell to Dave, whereas this seemed more like stage-setting for his upcoming memoir release.

As for wishing for his vocals being "more up to the task" perhaps if he books the hypothetical gig with Colbert, the less punishing schedule will allow him more time to rest his voice and make sure it's in top form for his Monday through Friday gig!

I was impressed that he so confidently nailed the falsetto here.

And I think this is exactly the type of thing that we'd be treated to all the time if he DID get asked to be the musical director for Colbert's Late Show-- even if it wasn't always something that would make the broadcast version, I'd bet that we'd see frequent and thrilling musical segments done as online extras, on a regular basis. It's fun to see Costello team up with new perfumers and see what happens!

[bronxapostle]

I really enjoyed this, although in some ways last year's Late Show appearance would have been a more fitting final farewell to Dave, whereas this seemed more like stage-setting for his upcoming memoir release.

As for wishing for his vocals being "more up to the task" perhaps if he books the hypothetical gig with Colbert, the less punishing schedule will allow him more time to rest his voice and make sure it's in top form for his Monday through Friday gig!

I was impressed that he so confidently nailed the falsetto here.

And I think this is exactly the type of thing that we'd be treated to all the time if he DID get asked to be the musical director for Colbert's Late Show-- even if it wasn't always something that would make the broadcast version, I'd bet that we'd see frequent and thrilling musical segments done as online extras, on a regular basis. It's fun to see Costello team up with new perfumers and see what happens!

gee cwr, i can't seem to say a thing without your disapproval these days. these forums are to say one's two cents here and there, no??? of course i loved the choice of song and his unabashed "ON THE MONEY" falsetto was indeed perfect! all i meant was to imply that there were a few VERY minor lapses, NOTHING HORRIBLE, in certain spots where we all know his voice COULD reach much more comfortably....especially if in proper tour mode. maybe, the choir-perfect gentlemen singing alongside him allowed the rock singer aspect of his voice to be highlighted more bluntly??? and yet again, i will accede to agree with YOU...of course many wild collabs could arise from a marriage to Colbert. if it is a SEMI-regular thing, i could welcome it. nonetheless, i remain staunchly a non-member in the Colbert fan club. so, i can not sit here comfotably HOPING for that, despite how much perfume might be offered up!!! LOL all the best, benny

[cwr]

Note the friendly smiling emoji used above, intended to indicate "good-natured teasing" more than anything approaching the level of "disapproval"!

[erey]

BA, did you get in to the show, or just see it on TV/YouTube?

[bronxapostle]

Note the friendly smiling emoji used above, intended to indicate "good-natured teasing" more than anything approaching the level of "disapproval"!

same here minus the emoji brother! i like the verbal competition.

BA, did you get in to the show, or just see it on TV/YouTube?

no, sadly i could not get out of prior commitment. & honestly, looked bleak to get in there also as i ventured there twice between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. i guess these last few weeks will be a very hard stand-by luck of the draw gaining admittance.

[MOJO]

Missed the show, but the YouTube vid clip is awesome. The Quills - probably impromptu back up vocal group for the show. They were awesome. Dug the gospel vibe.

I say no to Colbert band chief gig. Seems like it would hold him back from more creative work. Nothing sucks more than a steady - M-F gig.

peace!

MOJO

[stricttime81]

Our man is most certainly ABOVE being a band director on a late night chat show!!! A thousand times NO!

[cwr]

Again, I'm suggesting the upside of a totally hypothetical scenario, but I can't help but think that this would be a more attractive option for a 60-year old family man raising kids compared to being on the road all the time.

He's seen how much The Roots like it. He's seen how they have their own little studio built into the Tonight Show offices at 30 Rock, where they made Wise Up Ghost, and surely Costello could get his own sweet set-up in the Late Show building.

He loves collaborating. What could be more fun than a stream of musical guests, night after night? It boggles the mind to think of all the mischief Costello could get up to.

I don't think he's in ANY way "above" that!

I think if we assume that Costello would, upon taking the job, suddenly surrender every natural creative impulse that he's demonstrated over the course of his entire career, then YES, it would be bad. But I think the whole premise of him taking such a job would imply that he'd do it because it presented him with an opportunity, not that he'd just be doing it as a 9 to 5 steady job.

I think if anything is holding him back at this point, it's the grind of The Road. Just hearing Letterman saying last night that Costello will be in Seattle on Sunday night made me think of how much of Costello's time is spent traveling from one city to the next. Maybe he loves it, but to me that seems like kind of exhausting routine could easily be as draining as a Monday through Friday gig in his adopted home town.

The way I'd imagine it, it would be closer to an NYC residency, but with the freedom to come and go as he pleases, a la Fred Armisen's gig on Seth Meyers, and with access to talent and facilities a la The Roots. And at a time when Costello is well into the "elder statesmen" phase of his career, it would provide him with the kind of platform and exposure that he hasn't really enjoyed since Spectacle, and which is something that he seems to like. I mean, he's not going to be Paul Shaffer or Doc Severinsen, because he IS bigger than that. The only way they'd even ask him to do this would be because they want "Elvis Costello"-- if the offer came along, the implication is, we want this guy because he's Elvis Costello and we want him to do cool and exciting things with this.

OR: he could tour and tour and tour and tour and tour. That's also good, provided that his doctors' warnings a few years ago about damaging his voice don't hold up. But when I think of how much fun it was to see him on TV last night playing something I didn't expect, and imagined him doing stuff like that all the time, and showing up online with web exclusive performances, and who knows what kinds of actual records might even come out of it, it felt more exciting to me than the idea of yet another cycle of tour after tour with no new records.

Part of it is my admitted bias that I was always in it more for the records than the concerts, as much as I enjoy them. I know some people live for the concert experience, but for me, I like recordings and things that I can return to again and again. I saw several great concerts around the time of the 99 tour and shortly after for WIWC, but I return to that original Jay Leno Tonight Show performance of "45" again and again, and I would choose that performance over all the shows I saw during that time period, great as they were.

I get why people who primarily cherish the concert experience would bristle at the idea of him getting this gig, but I reject the idea that him doing it equals him somehow becoming Paul Shaffer, which seems to be a default assumption when it's said that he's somehow too big to be a bandleader on a network television show. I doubt that Costello himself would think of himself as above the job, given the respect he has for Questlove and The Roots. He threw himself into hosting his own show on basic cable, and this would be a much bigger platform than that was.

Of course, a lot of my enthusiasm for this idea is based in the theory that it would spark him back into the mode of making more records, because he would have a platform to draw attention to them, and a direct line to an audience of listeners. Back when Spectacle was on the air and Secret Profane & Sugarcane was at Starbucks, he got a little boost that gave that record a little bit of sales momentum, which he responded to by writing and recording more than a double album's worth of new material, the first time he'd actually done that in years. Since then, the only records he's really made have been projects that others have started-- The Roots sort of tricked him into making Wise Up Ghost, and T Bone lured him with Dylan lyrics. But having his own little domain at Late Show, with a constant stream of new potential collaborators visiting every weeknight, could be exactly the set up that would prime the pump and get him back into the mode of making new records.

All this could be moot, he might never be offered it, or he might reject it if they do. OR it could become the Worst Case Scenario-- Costello sidelined and reduced to playing snippets of hit songs as celebrity guests walk over to a couch for their interview. But I'd bet that if he DID do it, it would be a boon to his career and would lead to lots and lots of new recordings and performances to treasure.

[WindUpWorld]

My penny's worth: As he said in Mark Kidel's pretty excellent doc ' when I need some money I go out and tour'. And with record sales not being what they were...whatever the reason it's great to have him playing, though he's always punished his vocal chords too much on tours. A veritable little throat of concrete sometimes, I can think of several occasions over the years I wanted my money back, but most times he's been stunning.

In this clip he upped his game once he got to the Everyday segue - guess he was more confident with his own material. I didn't feel he'd quite found the vocal tone for When I Write The Book, no doubt it'll come if he keeps playing it on tour. I noted with interest that last year he performed Mose Allison's Everybody Cryin' Mercy a few times solo in the run up to playing it with Georgie Fame at the Albert Hall, presumably to work his way in to what was a real highlight of that gig.

[bronxapostle]

I understand your valid points and am in agreement on most regarding Elvis potential, value and probable output if placed in the position. However, as Letterman is winding down these coming weeks, I would surmise Colbert already has the ducks all in a row for the beginnings of his show, no? Surely with E bound for Europe for a month of shows and the summer Steely Dan and Imposters performances taking us deep into August, his availability seems non existent for now. But as the theater is a block and a half away from my work, I'll gladly accept a week residency here and there. LOL all the best, ba

[cwr]

Colbert is set to start up again in September. I'd imagine he's maybe saving any announcements until AFTER Dave is done, out of respect. Either way, I'd say we'll know sooner rather than later as to whether it's even a possibility!

[johnfoyle]

Thanks to Sheva for these -

[johnfoyle]

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/201 ... rospective

Get A Sneak Peek At David Letterman’s Life on Television Special

The retrospective airs on CBS on Monday, May 4 at 9:30 p.m.

BY MELISSA LOCKER


Soon, the late night landscape will be David Letterman-less for the first time in 33 years. Letterman’s last day on the job is May 20th, with Stephen Colbert taking over behind the desk of The Late Show in the fall. Before he goes, though, CBS is taking the world on a walk down Letterman memory lane with the special Life on Television, a retrospective look at Letterman’s life and career, which will air on CBS on Monday, May 4th at 9:30/8:30c.

The 90-minute special will look back at some of Letterman’s famous guests, including his first-ever Late Night and Late Show guest Bill Murray, Tom Cruise, and a memorable moment with Drew Barrymore, as well as musical memories with acts like Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber, Elvis Costello, and Beyoncé. The show will also feature highlights from Letterman’s trademark show segments, like his Top Ten List and Stupid Pet Tricks.

The special—and the trailer—are hosted by actor and comedian Ray Romano, who opens the teaser by saying: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for David Letterman.” Romano credits Letterman with his professional success after a 1995 stand-up appearance on the The Late Show, led to the development of his Emmy Award-winning TV show, Everybody Loves Raymond., which was produced for CBS by Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated.

When Letterman retires, he will have hosted 6,028 late night talk show broadcasts over 33 years, according to CBS, spanning his time on both Late Night and The Late Show. That’s more than any other late night talk show host, although we hope Stephen Colbert will be on TV just as long.

[docinwestchester]

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/201 ... rospective

Get A Sneak Peek At David Letterman’s Life on Television Special

The retrospective airs on CBS on Monday, May 4 at 9:30 p.m.

BY MELISSA LOCKER


Soon, the late night landscape will be David Letterman-less for the first time in 33 years. Letterman’s last day on the job is May 20th, with Stephen Colbert taking over behind the desk of The Late Show in the fall. Before he goes, though, CBS is taking the world on a walk down Letterman memory lane with the special Life on Television, a retrospective look at Letterman’s life and career, which will air on CBS on Monday, May 4th at 9:30/8:30c.

The 90-minute special will look back at some of Letterman’s famous guests, including his first-ever Late Night and Late Show guest Bill Murray, Tom Cruise, and a memorable moment with Drew Barrymore, as well as musical memories with acts like Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber, Elvis Costello, and Beyoncé. The show will also feature highlights from Letterman’s trademark show segments, like his Top Ten List and Stupid Pet Tricks.

The special—and the trailer—are hosted by actor and comedian Ray Romano, who opens the teaser by saying: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for David Letterman.” Romano credits Letterman with his professional success after a 1995 stand-up appearance on the The Late Show, led to the development of his Emmy Award-winning TV show, Everybody Loves Raymond., which was produced for CBS by Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated.

When Letterman retires, he will have hosted 6,028 late night talk show broadcasts over 33 years, according to CBS, spanning his time on both Late Night and The Late Show. That’s more than any other late night talk show host, although we hope Stephen Colbert will be on TV just as long.

I recorded this program and watched it later last night. Is the EC clip so brief that I missed it?