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

[Neil.]

So has anyone found out anything more about the Channel Four screenings of Spectacle? I've looked at the new Radio Times and there's diddly squat about it - and that goes up to Dec 5.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/u2- ... 4876.story

U2, Coldplay, Killers Help Launch (RED)WIRE

Some of the biggest names in music are contributing exclusive songs to RED(WIRE), a new digital music magazine launching on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1).

U2, Coldplay, the Killers, the Dixie Chicks, John Legend, R.E.M. and Bob Dylan are on board for the initiative, which is an outgrowth of the Bono-reared activist organization (RED). All proceeds from subscriptions will benefit HIV-infected people in Africa; MSN.com will host a kick-off party on Dec. 1.

For $5, users will receive a new issue of RED(WIRE) every Wednesday, featuring an exclusive song from a major artist, a song from an artist (RED) aims to showcase, a multimedia piece that could encompass video or photography and a look at how proceeds are directly benefiting Africans in need. The materials will be downloaded to a custom player and automatically loaded into iTunes.

Users can send two free issues to friends, and will be rewarded if they join RED(WIRE). "Artists are already saying, 'I want to give you a track for those people who brought friends in,'" (RED)WIRE founder Don MacKinnon tells Billboard.com. "That's the biggest idea: using social networking to actually change the world in a unique way."

U2's track was recorded just last Wednesday, while the Killers, Elton John and the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant teamed up for the Christmas song "Joseph, Better You Than Me," which MacKinnon describes as "like a power ballad." This is the third year in a row the Killers have penned a holiday song and donated proceeds to (RED).

Meanwhile, John Legend's take on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" finds him eschewing piano for a stripped-down arrangement with guitar, bass and backing vocalists, according to MacKinnon.

Also coming is the first new Dixie Chicks song since the group's Grammy sweep in 2007, "Lucky One," and Elvis Costello and the Police jamming on "Watching the Detectives" and "Walking From the Moon," taped during Costello's new Sundance Channel show "Spectacle." Additional (RED)WIRE offerings will be announced in the coming weeks.

MacKinnon is particularly enthused about the creative directions open to (RED)WIRE, especially with such high-profile artist participation.

"I had a meeting with Jay-Z, and he wants to talk about artists to be featured in that spotlight slot," he says. "Big artists may curate an issue. The whole goal was to create a creative platform. When somebody says, 'I do all this photography and I want to put it in as an extra,' That's when I go, this is going to be really cool."

[Otis Westinghouse]

'Walking From the Moon'!!! Long trek.

[scielle]

More clips (Clinton, Reed, Police) here:

http://uk.youtube.com/profile?user=very ... iew=videos

[BlueChair]

Anybody have any idea when this is going to air on CTV? As far as I can see it isn't on their broadcast schedule at all next week.

[bambooneedle]

If I see Elvis sing Walking On The Moon I'll never go see him again.

U2, Coldplay, Killers Help Launch (RED)WIRE

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin told the Daily Express that his band is planning to break up at the end of 2009, the NME reports. He told the paper, "I'm 31 now and I don't think that bands should keep going past 33," he said. "So, we're trying to pack in as much as possible. Up until the end of next year, we'll just go for it in every sense."

How dumb does he think people are?!

[scielle]

Musical guests open up to kindred host Elvis Costello
David Bauder
27 November 2008
The Toronto Star

NEW YORK -- During an interview with Elton John for the debut of his new television show Spectacle, Elvis Costello doesn't ask about stage costumes, boyfriends or "Island Girl." Instead, the conversation turns to Laura Nyro, Leon Russell and David Ackles.
The two men closed the show performing the obscure British songwriter Ackles' song "Down River."
"For all of his successes, people don't realize that he's a great fan of music," Costello said of John. "They assume that he's this flamboyant guy who has hit records. They don't know that it's grounded in a great love and tremendous knowledge about music."
Costello could as easily have been talking about himself. That background, his experience on the other side of interviews and a natural rapport with people in similar jobs more than make up for any deficits as a trained TV prober.
They give Spectacle, a mix of music and talk, heft along with entertainment value. Although conceived in Canada and airing at some point on CTV, Spectacle debuted last night on the American Sundance Channel. (Costello is married to Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall and they have a home on Vancouver Island.)
Besides John, who is an executive producer of the 13-episode series, future guests include Lou Reed, James Taylor, The Police, Rufus Wainwright, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming and Krall (interviewed by John).
As the first episode's interview reveals, Costello's goal is to get his guests talking about their enthusiasms, in hopes they'll reveal more of themselves in the process.
During his session with a clearly nervous Taylor, Costello mentions hearing a Gene Autry record recently that reminded him of Paul McCartney, and Taylor begins talking about his days at Apple Records.
Reed picks up a guitar to show the proper way of playing "Sweet Jane."
"It was funny because he wouldn't seem to be a guy who would do an instruction thing," Costello says. "He was in good humour throughout the show, contrary to a lot of people's expectations about him. Maybe they approach him through a lens of darkness, solely concentrating on the image that is projected through a very limited slice of his repertoire."
The Police show has an end-of-tour frankness and frivolity. It also illustrates another highlight of Spectacle - the music - as the band and Costello play a version of "Watching the Detectives" that morphs into "Walking on the Moon."
An amateur saxophone player who served two terms in the White House is on Dec. 17's show.
Former president Bill Clinton talks about music, not politics, saying how he gave up the dream of being a professional musician when he looked in the mirror and realized he'd never be good enough to be the best.

[verbal gymnastics]

So has anyone found out anything more about the Channel Four screenings of Spectacle? I've looked at the new Radio Times and there's diddly squat about it - and that goes up to Dec 5.

I got my Sky magazine yesterday so I'll see if there's anything in it this weekend.

Mind you, as I've not been on the Board for an eternity, the series will probably have finished by the time I get to post again!

[pophead2k]

If you have Time Warner digital cable in the States (or at least in my part of them), you can watch Spectacle for free on the Free on Demand channel. I just watched the first episode. It was enjoyable, but might have used a little tighter editing. I like hearing Elton the music fan talking about all of his early influences. Sexsmith also gets a shout out. Nice performances, but I am reminded that EC is not a great 'background' or harmony singer for other people. He sings too loudly for the support role!

[sweetest punch]

The spectacle show gets a lot of coverage:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... music.html

Elvis Costello puts serious eye on music in Sundance Channel's 'Spectacle'

Music on TV goes only so far. You can see a short performance with no interview from the star (on late-night talk shows or “SNL”), hear a full concert that likewise never stops for a single word from the musician (“Austin City Limits”) or gape at a bio-documentary geared more toward overdoses and breakups than sound and songs (“Behind the Music,” “A &E Biography”).

But what about a program that shows artists not just playing music but talking about it seriously — and at length?

That’s what we get in “Spectacle,” a new program on the Sundance Channel that manages to combine the informed probing of an NPR Terry Gross interview with the exploratory playing of a show like “Later With Jools Holland.” During its 13-week run (which kicks off Wednesday at 9 p.m.), guests range from stalwarts like Lou Reed, Rosanne Cash and the Police, to newer ones like She & Him and Jenny Lewis.

Its bespectacled host — Elvis Costello — has the right credits for the job. He’s articulate, boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of every musical genre and, unlike many big stars, knows how to listen when others talk. “I let the guest talk a little longer, to reveal more,” Costello says.

The show’s length helps. At a full hour, the pace seems downright leisurely by the standards of the instant-messaging era. Better, “Spectacle” avoids a setin-stone form. “The structure yields to the personality at hand,” Costello says.

That leaves room for the star to move into whatever areas he or she feels most passionate about. That was a prerequisite for Costello. “I didn’t want to have someone who was there just to promote a new product,” he says. “And I wasn’t there to get them to confess to something scandalous. I also didn’t want to have to tell their story chronologically.”

Instead his show rambles in fascinating ways. While each episode opens with a song from Elvis and his band, after that they move through interview segments of varying lengths, offer duets between Elvis and the guest star and stick in casual musical segments meant to illustrate a point. For instance, Reed shows us a “secret chord” many listeners miss in “Sweet Jane,” and Elton John demonstrates what he learned from the piano fingerings of a hero of his, Leon Russell.

Elton doubles as the show’s co- producer. It was he, and his people, who first approached Elvis with the idea. Though Elvis says various parties had approached him with notions for hosting music TV programs since the early ’90s, none took off. At one point, there was talk of him hosting a series of BBC shorts in which, each week, he and a guest would do a joint song, a cover and a song written specifically in that week.

Another proposed show would cover classical music. (Elvis has written a symphony, collaborated with a string quartet and performed in an opera.) But only “Spectacle,” as devised by the producers and Elvis, “had the freedom to explore music in a shape that was effective,” says the host.

One of the series’ main motifs is to allow guests to talk about the work of other, lesser-known artists. In Elton’s episode, he talks about cult figures like Tim Buckley, Captain Beefheart and David Ackles. Elton even performs an Ackles song with Elvis. “I don’t think a lot of people realize the depth of knowledge about music Elton has,” Elvis says. “He’s a huge fan of music you may not associate with the man who had all those hits.”

In an episode with Rufus Wainwright, the guest performs an obscure, gemlike song, written by his father, Loudon. (“New Paint”). A show featuring Jakob Dylan has him duet with Elvis on Joe Strummer’s “Straight to Hell.” In one with Norah Jones, she puts her own music to a Hank Williams lyric. The last episode features a round-robin of musicians playing their songs, from John Mellencamp to Kris Kristofferson to Rosanne Cash.

The installment with Reed includes a guest cameo from Reed’s friend, artist Julian Schnabel. “Julian talks about going to Lou’s house when his father died,” Elvis says. “It shows Lou as the man you would go to in a crisis. That isn’t everyone’s impression of Lou Reed.”

An episode with, of all people, ex-President Clinton not only reveals that his love of jazz is even deeper than many know, it has the politician talking about the effect of music on his speeches.

In one of Elvis’ favorite moments, the host gets lover man Smokey Robinson to talk about a rare subject for him: race. Also, the two sing a duet on “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” “I woke up the next day and thought, ‘Surely that didn’t happen,’” Elvis says.

It wasn’t easy to book the show’s guests: “It’s like asking Bigfoot to show up on a blue moon,” Elvis says. Yet there has been talk about bringing the show back for another run. Even if that doesn’t happen, Elvis takes pride in what already has been taped. “There’s so much more we have in the can than you see on the show,” he says.

Meaning there’s more good music on TV to come.
------------------

http://www.startribune.com/entertainmen ... c:_Yyc:aUU

Television: A night with Elvis

The theme music to "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..." sounds like a funky version of "Here Comes Santa Claus," an appropriate coincidence since this talk show, making its debut Wednesday on the Sundance Channel, is a gift for diehard music lovers.

Those with only a fleeting interest in the history of pop, jazz and blues are advised to skip the party. While the program boasts familiar guests, the conversation leans toward the obscure: Elton John mimicking Leon Russell's piano playing, Lou Reed revealing the "secret chord" in "Sweet Jane," former President Bill Clinton gushing over jazz artists who have about as big a public profile as Franklin Pierce does in the world of politics.

"It's not a show about trying to uncover a dark secret that somebody's got hidden," said Costello, who also serves as an executive producer. "Rather, it's an opportunity to talk about some things artists don't get to talk about in a regular show-biz interview."

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better tour guide than Costello, who burst onto the scene as an angry young punk, tearing into corporate radio and angels dying to wear his red shoes. But over the course of four decades, he has proven to be one of pop's most unpredictable and daring adventurers, exploring soul ("Get Happy!"), country ("Almost Blue"), classical ("The Juliet Letters"), Tin Pan Alley ("Painted From Memory") and New Orleans R&B ("The River in Reverse") with open-eyed enthusiasm.

He impressed on "The Late Show"

That curiosity serves him well on the new program, as it did in 2003 when he subbed for an ailing David Letterman on "The Late Show," flirting with guest Kim Cattrall and performing a parody version of "Alison." In retrospect, Costello felt the experience hit some flat notes.

"I learned one very crucial thing and that is you shouldn't take too much for granted in terms of having prior knowledge of the person," said Costello, who conducts "Spectacle" interviews with a stack of notes almost as high as James Lipton's pile on "Inside the Actors Studio." "Eddie Izzard was on that night, and I had met him a few times, so I made assumptions that that would get us through the interview. In fact, I felt I could have done better."

Despite Costello's less-than-glowing review of himself, the future producers of "Spectacle," who included Elton John, were impressed.

"The light bulb kind of went off, like, 'He can do that, too?' " said creator Stephen Warden, a former music journalist. "It was pretty impressive."

Not that Costello is ready to take Mike Wallace's place on "60 Minutes," but his stature as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member allows him to broach subjects, and get responses, that you'll never hear on a typical talk show. Clinton talks about his late-night hours in the makeshift "music room" in the White House; Tony Bennett shares a hilarious, revealing anecdote about his conversation with Hank Williams, and Reed, perhaps for the first time in his storied career, cracks a smile.

"I think there's a real difference in the way Elvis runs the show," said co-executive producer Martin Katz, who also worked on the movie "Hotel Rwanda." "The interviews are fantastically revealing because he's having a peer-to-peer discussion."

Those concerned that the program will come across as a highbrow college seminar should note that it's not all chit-chat; it's also a hootenanny.

Costello opens most shows with a song, usually by one of his guests. For the episode featuring Reed, he strums through a loving version of "Femme Fatale," accompanied by violin, accordion and mandolin. In the case of Clinton, he tears through the early Elvis Presley hit "Mystery Train" with the help of James Burton, Presley's guitarist. Costello and Elton John, duetting for the first time, deliver a haunting version of David Ackles' should-be classic "Down River."

Don't know Ackles, an Illinois-born songwriter of the 1960s and '70s? Well, that's kind of the point.

"This is a program that, in a way, eulogizes those people," John says in the maiden episode. "You've got to go out there and discover them."

And just what new artists should audiences be discovering? On that question, the loquacious Costello is surprisingly elusive.

"I've been listening to quite a few new artists, but I'm always a bit reluctant to name them," he said. "It's not because I can't recall their names. It's because they might not necessarily want my stamp of approval. It might make them unhip."

-------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/arts/ ... ?ref=music

Is It a Talk Show if the Host Sings?

ELVIS COSTELLO would be a natural on TV — or so people kept telling him. For years he believed it, entertaining meetings with the BBC and others as far back as the late 1980s about developing his own show. But nothing stuck, even after he filled in as a host of “Late Show” when David Letterman was recovering from shingles in 2003.

Cue Elton John. Mr. John and David Furnish, his partner, are friends of Mr. Costello’s through his wife, the jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall. (The two were married at Mr. John and Mr. Furnish’s English castle in 2003.) So last year, when Mr. Furnish was approached by a Canadian production company about creating a music-oriented program, one frontman came to mind.

“David and I were sitting in our house in France,” Mr. John said in a phone interview, “and we said, wouldn’t it be great to do a proper, full-length musical show, because we live in a sound-bite culture. Elvis has experience, he’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of music. We’re both completely anorak, as they say in Britain, geeks or nerds, on music. He’s the one.”

The result is “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ...,” an hourlong show set to debut on the Sundance Channel on Wednesday. It is a mix of music and talk and music-oriented talk, with Mr. Costello, 54, serving as host and musical director; he also performs for — or with — all his guests.

Stylistically it is a blend of “The Dick Cavett Show,” “Inside the Actors Studio” and “Charlie Rose,” with singers like Tony Bennett, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright and Smokey Robinson discussing their history and influences at length. (Mr. John is the guest on the premiere episode.)

While artists talking shop have long been a draw on cable — on Sundance’s “Iconoclasts” they come from different genres — the appeal of “Spectacle” has much to do with Mr. Costello’s intergenerational coolness.

“We got a lot of people to say yes straightaway because it was Elvis,” said Mr. John, an executive producer along with Mr. Furnish. “If we hadn’t had Elvis, we would not have been able to make this series, without question.”

Still, when Mr. Costello was approached, he didn’t bite at first. “Well, I could do it,” he recalled thinking. “But shall we?”

He was persuaded in part because there was “no compulsion to talk about the new product, the thing that’s coming out next week,” he said. “And nobody’s saying, ‘Wind it up after a couple seconds because we’ve got to get to the recipes.’ ”

Instead there are more likely to be call-outs to semi-obscure musicians and discussions of the origins of the singer-songwriter. Each show begins with Mr. Costello performing a song written by or inspired by his guest — “Bordertown” in Mr. John’s case; “If I Only Had a Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz” for Mr. Wainwright (“Rufus’s songs are too difficult for me to sing,” Mr. Costello said, so he referenced his re-creation of Judy Garland’s Carnegie Hall concert) and Elvis Presley’s “Mystery Train” for Bill Clinton, who will appear on the Dec. 17 episode. There are 13 episodes in all, taped in front of audiences at Studio 8H (the “Saturday Night Live” space) and the Apollo Theater. Guests with the house band have included the guitarist Bill Frisell and the bassist Charlie Haden.

“When I met him for our pitch, he said, ‘I want this be to a show about genres of music that may have been forgotten, about artists that haven’t been in the spotlight and people performing in a way they haven’t before,’ ” said Laura Michalchyshyn, the general manager of the Sundance Channel, who considered Mr. Costello’s Letterman gig a de facto audition. “His big, big point was ‘We are going to film for a much longer period than a conventional talk show. We’re going to jam.’ ”

Mr. Costello added: “The number doesn’t have to be three minutes long. It can be seven minutes long if it needs to be. We’ll just use less talking.”

Before this interview in his Midtown hotel suite, Mr. Costello gulped a bit of soup while standing up. It had been one of those mad days, he said. But he was as sharply dressed as ever, in a gray hat, stiff-shouldered dark suit, blue floral shirt, pointy patent-leather shoes, black scarf printed with red skulls and several silver bracelets. Everything about him seemed rakish, from the tilt of his hat to the angle at which he finally sat on the couch, caressing a furry brown pillow.

He’s an eager talker, though on the show he is equally — visibly — adept at listening. He keeps notes on a clipboard, à la David Frost, and, with a small staff, conducts research — he even visited Mr. Reed’s studio — scouts for video and writes questions. For Mr. Clinton’s appearance he uncovered other presidential musicians (Thomas Jefferson played the clavichord; John Quincy Adams, the flute), and asked him whether his speechifying was helped by the rhythm he learned as a saxophonist. (“Absolutely.”)

Mr. Costello came up with the name of the show and was particular about its look. “It’s not overlit,” he said. “That’s always bugged me about television. You feel like meat in a butcher’s.”

Making his guests comfortable enough to pierce the usual celebrity gabfest was paramount. As he tells Mr. John in the premiere episode, “It took me a while to work out whether this new identity was supposed to be a suit of armor or a Superman suit that I got into in a telephone box and sort of emerged out of.”

No one seems particularly concerned that the program has a definite baby-boomer slant. Though Sundance executives made suggestions about guests, along the lines of Beyoncé, in the end Mr. Costello, Mr. Furnish and Mr. John made most of the invitations themselves. “Not everybody that plays an instrument is actually that interesting,” Mr. Costello said.

Mr. John added, “I just wanted to make a deeply intelligent set of programs that, in years to come, people can look back on as a historical reference.”

Despite that shared interest in history, after more than three decades in the music business Mr. Costello was tiring of pop stardom himself; last year he was telling friends that he was done making records. “And I really believed it,” he said. “It wasn’t so much the making the record, it was all the other nonsense.” Instead he made guest appearances on albums by Lucinda Williams, Jenny Lewis — she’s also on the show — and Fall Out Boy. That last request came as a surprise: “I didn’t even know they existed,” he said. (He agreed, he said, because they seemed sincere.)

The collaboration with Ms. Lewis, an indie siren, spurred him to make another album with his band, the Imposters, and her as guest, called “Momofuku,” after Momofuku Ando, the inventor of ramen. “The record was made in secret,” he said, “and I didn’t want to have my name on the studio door, so I just gave it a code name, and it stuck, as noodles are wont to do.”

He chose not to promote the album at all but played five songs from it nightly on his recent tour. “So if people wanted to hear them they could go buy the record or steal it off the Internet — whatever makes them happy — and I can go do something else,” he said. He and Ms. Krall balance near-constant touring with 2-year-old twin sons. “Our life is not exactly conventional,” he said, “but that’s how we set out.”

Though Mr. John is already talking about another season of “Spectacle” — he has lined up Eminem as a guest — the executives at Sundance are more measured. The show is a co-production of four studios in three countries, including Channel Four in Britain and the international distributor Fremantle Media (“American Idol”). “It’s the four sets of financiers who will have a big post-mortem once the show goes on the air,” Ms. Michalchyshyn said.

In the meantime Mr. Costello is not giving up live music. “Singing in front of a band is like standing in front of a jet engine,” he said. “I’m not looking for a long-term career in television.”

He added, “I don’t watch television.” Especially when he’s on it: “How horrifying.”

----------------------------
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment ... 10828.html

Elvis Costello and friends, on stage to talk and make a ‘Spectacle’

I don’t know what it is about journalists interviewing people they idolized/heroized/admired in their youth, but the experience is rarely satisfying.

Such was the case when I had 20 minutes in person with rock ’n’ roll hall-of-famer Elvis Costello in Los Angeles this summer. He wasn’t giving many one-on-ones and the interview series he was promoting, “Spectacle With Elvis Costello” (premiering at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Sundance Channel), looked promising.

Only later, after I posted an account of my train wreck with Costello, would I learn from other journalists that it was perfectly natural to feel like I’d spent 20 minutes chasing a squirrel around a barn.

“He’s probably my favorite musician but also has the most breathtaking ego of any I’ve talked to, which is saying something,” wrote one veteran beat writer.

At one point I tried to ask Costello how “Spectacle” would or would not be like the HBO program “Off the Record,” another interview show hosted by a rocker (Dave Stewart). He said they weren’t alike at all and added, “Do you think we could have any programs about using forensics to solve crimes? We could do with a few more programs like that.”

OK, thanks for not being too sarcastic about it.

Costello went on to say that while HBO only puts snippets of musical performances on “Off the Record,” Sundance’s “Spectacle” features complete numbers, three per hour. That’s a major difference, and the one that makes “Spectacle” a show worth seeing even when a less than A-list guest is on. (Season 1 features such one-time luminaries as Smokey Robinson, Lou Reed and James Taylor.)

I’ve read reports that taping sessions for “Spectacle” were less than riveting. “Poor Elvis was out of his element,” wrote a blogger for New York Magazine after audience members filed out of a taping that just wouldn’t end. “You had to wonder who talked him into this.”

But the finished versions of “Spectacle” I’ve seen definitely stick to the screen.

Costello — who filled in wonderfully well for David Letterman during his sick leave a few years back — does no better than hold his own with guests. It’s the music that makes this show. Elvis accompanying Lou Reed on “Set the Twilight Reeling.” Elvis, Elton John (who’s a producer on “Spectacle”) and Allen Toussaint on “Working in a Coal Mine.”

And of course, Elvis being Elvis. He usually opens each hour with his own band, augmented by guest musicians — he and Toussaint do an inspired version of Elton’s “Border Song,” while guitarist James Burton (who once backed the other Elvis) is an MVP during the hour with Bill Clinton.

Costello’s wife, Diana Krall, is the guest on one of the 13 episodes this season, though she is actually interviewed by Sir Elton. But she also pops up during the Tony Bennett episode, where the songmeister announces she’ll be accompanying him on a number, an apparently unrehearsed moment — “I am?” says Krall.

I like the serious, gimmick-free approach of the show. For instance, Clinton spends most of an hour talking with Costello but isn’t asked to pick up his saxophone. He is on stage, however, when Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny perform a solemn instrumental with the politically charged title of “Is This America (Katrina 2005)?”

[Will kane]

Re: Channel Four (UK) showing.

It's on late Monday 15th December (00.05am on the 16th).
Police, then Elton, Rufus, Bill Clinton, Lou Reed.

(My flatmate works for a TV listings company).

[charliestumpy]

Thankyou - have written that into my paper diary and will put it on to record on Topfield/cable Virgin Media V+/probably get up in time and watch ...

Happy Christmas to all.

[Neil.]

Wow, that really is a rotten slot! Who the hell's going to be watching at that time on a Monday night. I was hoping for a Fri, Sat or Sunday night slot for our Elv. Fri or Sat night at 11.30pm when people get home from the pub, or 9pm on Sunday before the feature film. Aw well - obscurity remains, then!

[johnfoyle]

Elvis Costello (left) with Lou Reed on Costello's new music talk show, ''Spectacle,'' on the Sundance Channel. (Theo Wargo/Sundance Channel)


http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-el ... 8646.story

December 3, 2008

TELEVISION REVIEW
'Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . . '

The onetime angry young rocker proves a perfectly amiable host on his new Sundance Channel talk show.



By ROBERT LLOYD, Television Critic

Elvis Costello, the knock-kneed, gap-toothed Angry Thin Man of mid-'70s pub/punk/new wave rock who once identified his exclusive motivations as revenge and guilt, has settled into friendly middle age as the host of his own music-themed Sundance Channel talk show, "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . ."

Elton John, an executive producer, is the guest on tonight's premiere. Lou Reed, James Taylor, Rufus Wainwright, Smokey Robinson, Kris Kristofferson, Renée Fleming and others -- including former President Bill Clinton, introduced as "a little-known saxophone player from the little town of Hope, Ark." -- will follow over the next 12 weeks.


Fame attracts fame, and the guest list seems to have been drawn substantially from Costello's own Rolodex -- even Clinton is someone Elvis has met before. Costello got married at John's place. He's had Thanksgiving with Tony Bennett. Jenny Lewis sang on his last album and he sang on hers. He was just on tour with the Police. He's married to Diana Krall (who'll be interviewed by producer John instead). Certainly, the roster is a reflection of his own taste, which is both catholic and rooted in old-fashioned ideas of song craft and musicianship.

Not excluding Clinton, it's a matter of player meeting player. And though there is always the danger of a lay audience being cut out of that kind of conversation, it also leads the talk down roads less traveled in the context of a TV talk show. Musicians often fare poorly in that venue, either because interviewers are insufficiently schooled in how music is made or because they are overcome by their own fandom.

Costello (who has subbed for David Letterman) makes a fine host -- a bit reverential at times, but never as pious as, say, James Lipton can become over at the similarly configured "Inside the Actors Studio." He's interested, he listens and he doesn't particularly draw the spotlight to himself. The show's hour length leaves time for music -- performed by Elvis, his guest and possibly the two together -- while leaving the talk room to breathe.

Each of the four episodes I've seen has its own character. John's is the most fun, for his enthusiasm -- it is mostly about his roots and influences -- and for his vigorous from-the-piano lecture demonstrations. Talking to a peer, Reed is more comfortable than usual, admitting of songwriting, "I don't understand how it's done." Bennett gives Costello access to talk about the Great American Songbook and says of current music that there are "too many drums" and "too much screeching." But he approves of the iPod, which he believes frees audience choice from corporate tyranny.

Most interesting is the Clinton interview, which sticks pretty much to the subject of music. Costello takes Clinton's saxophone playing not as a novelty but as central to his being and part and parcel of his success as a communicator; Clinton does not disagree.

"When you play, you play to one person as if you were playing to a million," he says, "and if you play to a million, you play as if you were playing to one." He likens speech-making to jazz: "Sometimes I'll get into some kind of rhetorical riff," he says, but mostly he likes to speak from an outline or memory, "because you have to ad lib a little, you have to know where you are with the audience and in a moment in time."

Though Clinton says he still plays, he does not whip out his ax to jam with the host.

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/20 ... show_host/

Elvis Costello out of tune as talk-show host
By Randee Dawn
December 2, 2008

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - To warp a saying -- those who can do, and those who can't, interview them. The thing is, Elvis Costello, host of "Spectacle," can do and has done since 1977. Since then he's been a punk-pop icon, has played with Elvis Presley's sidemen and dabbled in both classical and jazz, among other things.

So who thought he could just leap in and start asking the questions? Because as an interviewer, Costello is a great musician.

"Spectacle's" premise is simple: Each episode focuses on one musician, who is interviewed by Costello, duets with Costello, hears Costello play his songs and occasionally gets to play solo -- all before a live audience. The lineup for the first shows includes The Police, Norah Jones, Julian Schnabel/Lou Reed and Bill Clinton (seriously).

Alas, the program has little direction and almost no flow. Segments leap from song to interview to video clip and back with nary a segue or logical progression. The stage is too dark, and a secondary proscenium flanked by velvet drapes hems everyone in.

Meanwhile, Costello doesn't exactly set things at ease; what should be a chatty, inside-rock gabfest rarely runs free, thanks to his overuse of cue cards and stiff stage presence (that is, when he's not holding a guitar). It's tough viewing, even for fans.

In the end, not everyone can be Jools Holland, the Squeeze co-founder who since 1992 has hosted his own talk/music show in England. Costello has some journalistic history writing for Vanity Fair, so at some point he might just tell the producers to back off and toss away his cards. Meanwhile, the real spectacle is the show itself, but not for the right reasons.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/20 ... p_Emailed7


As a talk-show host, Costello's aim is true

By Matthew Gilbert
Globe Staff / December 3, 2008

Sorry Sundance Channel, but the title "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With. . ." is off.

I know, I know, Costello has those trademark glasses. But the world "spectacle" connotes large-scaled arena shows, visual effects over music, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. And this enjoyable new music-interview series represents the antithesis of big, fat, production-heavy rock 'n' roll. "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With. . ." is an intimate weekly hour that finds host Costello and his guests turning away from the flash to talk about - and gush about, and play - good music.

The series, which premieres tonight at 9, is a kind of vacation from the wheels of commerce and promotion for Costello's guests, who will include Lou Reed, Bill Clinton, Tony Bennett, and Rufus Wainwright in the coming weeks. Interviewing his visitors on stage, Costello encourages them to celebrate their influences at length, no matter how obscure. The pace is leisurely, the subject matter loose.

Tonight, for instance, guest Elton John (one of the show's producers) looks back on little-known 1960s singer-songwriter David Ackles and Leon Russell, whom he calls "my biggest hero." He parses out the impact of the Band and Van Morrison on his 1970 album "Tumbleweed Connection," and he credits Laura Nyro for the tempo changes on the song "Burn Down the Mission." I can't think of many other places on music-oriented TV, which now ranges from "American Idol" to James Taylor on QVC, where host and guest can spend the better part of an hour geeking out about artists such as Nyro, who do not happen to have a new album in the marketplace.

Next week, Costello welcomes Lou Reed and director Julian Schnabel, who do have the "Berlin" concert DVD to push; but the pushing is ever so slight. Instead, the hour threatens to derail as the apparently drunk Schnabel recites by heart Reed's "Rock Minuet" and tells a remarkable vignette about his bond with Reed after the death of Schnabel's father. It's a compelling interview you would never see on late night. For his part, Reed talks about Doc Pomus and the "secret chord" in "Sweet Jane."

Costello opens each show, filmed before a live studio audience, by performing a song associated with his guest. Tonight, Costello plays John's "Border Song." Later in the episode, Costello and John noodle around with "Working in the Coalmine," the classic by Allen Toussaint, who just happens to be in the house band. And finally, they all do Ackles's "Down River." Next week, Costello opens with Reed's "Femme Fatale" and plays "Perfect Day" with Reed. For Clinton, who talks about the musical aspects of political speech-making and his affection for Elvis Presley, Costello starts off with "Mystery Train."

All the performances are rough and under-rehearsed, which makes them appealing. Costello also keeps the atmosphere relaxed during the interviews, never seeming too eager to interject his own commentary or jokes. His hosting skills are most evident with Clinton, who is engaging no matter how tired you might be of him after the endless election. "We're music crazy, both of us," John says about himself and Costello tonight, and "Spectacle" only confirms it.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.

[ReadyToHearTheWorst]

Elvis Costello out of tune as talk-show host
By Randee Dawn
December 2, 2008
...
...
In the end, not everyone can be Jools Holland, the Squeeze co-founder who since 1992 has hosted his own talk/music show in England.

Sorry, couldn't let that pass. Jools has a certain awkward charm but he's a rubbish interviewer. Thankfully, Later is about the music, so it doesn't matter.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Enjoyed the Elton John interview. The music not so much, if only because Elton's voice was a bit rough and the other bits and pieces, including the Ackles song at the end, sounded under-rehearsed.

[migdd]

Enjoyed the show quite a bit and actually liked the looseness of the musical performances (not nearly as loose as your average Imposters concert). The interview segments seemed a bit over-rehearsed and EC displayed a VERY laid-back (que-card reading) interview style. It'll be interesting to see how he grows into his role as "leader" of the proceedings. For the premiere episode, Elton was definitely in charge of the tone of the show. Maybe that's how it should be . . . EC taking a back seat to each of his guests. For me, it was an enjoyable and unique hour of television.

[johnfoyle]

The Radio Times for Dec.13th onwards is on sale ( earlier than usual in anticipation of festive schedules , if you must know) and tells us that , besides the Police/Spectacle show being on C4 on Mon. Dec.15, The Elton John/Spectacle show will be on the same station on Wednes. Dec. 17th. Well Thurs.Dec. 18th really ; the show starts at 12.25 , as in 25 minutes after midnight. The same magazine has a tiny piece of preview , with a single line on the Music highlights page, refering to the 'inimitable' Elvis Costello hosting the show.

So no one will see it, except for us saddos with recording machines. Big surprise!

[Lester Burnham]

Any chance of catching this online? I used to have digital cable but dropped it once it became too expensive. Naturally, Sundance Channel is digital-only...

[sweetest punch]

Elvis and The Police doing "Purple Haze" (a 30 second clip)
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=1j_NaVzyHgA

[migdd]

Rolling Stone has a long interview with Elvis on the series:

http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/smoki ... stello.php

[And No Coffee Table]

What was the Leon Russell song Elton did? Google is no help since Elton seemed to be making up his own lyrics.

[pophead2k]

Great read! I love reading about Elvis talking about music.

[FAVEHOUR]

What was the Leon Russell song Elton did? Google is no help since Elton seemed to be making up his own lyrics.

He WAS making it up. If you watch the Behind the Scenes clip, Elton tells Elvis he made it up as he went. Elvis was fooled, too.

Dave

[Neil.]

Hey, that's odd - in the Radio Times, the Channel Four listing in the UK has the first show being on at 12.05-1.35 on Monday night 15 Dec (actually Tuesday morning). The Elton one is on Weds night 17 Dec 12.25-1.55 (actually 18 Dec).

So are these shows 1-and-a-half hours long, then? I thought they were only meant to be an hour!

Cool though - fine by me!

Nx