Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Pretty self-explanatory
Post Reply
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.s ... try_t.html

Q&A with Elvis Costello: 'I try to find the story in one song to lead me to the next one'

By Lawrence Specker | ker@al.com

February 24, 2015 at 6:30 AM


Elvis Costello is a man of many songs, and a big part of the buzz around his ongoing solo tour is that few if any of them seem to be off limits.
That tour brings Costello to the Mobile Saenger Theatre in March, and he recently took time to answer a few questions about the upcoming show. The appearance in Mobile might be a first, but Costello is no stranger to the region: In 2004 he released "The Delivery Man," a full-band studio album recorded in Mississippi. Two years later, he and New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint put their voices together on "The River in Reverse," a project motivated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Costello's career spans everything from New Wave and punk to country to straight-ahead adult pop to folk and American roots music, including solo work, band recordings and various collaborations. His most recent release is "Wise Up Ghost and Other Songs," a 2013 project in which he worked with equally eclectic hip-hop band The Roots.

Costello plays the Saenger at 8 p.m. Friday, March 13. Tickets are $47.50 and $82.50 plus fees. Advance tickets are available through Ticketmaster and at the Saenger box office. "I hear that's a beautiful place," he said of the Saenger. Such old theaters are "my absolute favorite places to play," he added.


Q: You've worked in Mississippi and New Orleans, two places that are culturally close to Alabama and Mobile in some ways. And you'll hit Mobile the night after a sold-out show in New Orleans. Do those experiences create any particular expectations for you?


Costello: "I suppose it would be 10 years ago now, since that work, it seems impossible to think that it's that long ago. But of course we made one record in Oxford and Clarksdale, Mississippi, and then after that, of course, my collaboration with Allen Toussaint. That picked up from a beginning that actually came in the mid-'80s, I mean, we actually first worked together then, and then he contributed to the album 'Spike' in 1989. And although I had seen him over the years, we hadn't actually been on stage -- well, we'd never been on stage together until after he was forced to relocate after Katrina ... You think about it, he lived and worked based around a studio for his entire career, and then completely remade himself as a touring musician. As a number of people were obliged to do. A lot of people relocated, of course. And Allen of course is back in New Orleans now, and is much essential to things down there as he's ever been.

"But it's my great fortune that out of the terrible sadnesses of all the losses of that time, that we got to work together again, and write songs, and go back to the songs of his that I'd loved and recorded, and go back to New Orleans, as soon as we were allowed. You know, while the place was still actually under curfew [we had to] get home from the studio every night early, we had to get off the streets and there was only one hotel open. It gave it a special atmosphere, of course, to make the record in such circumstances. He could say better than I what it meant to go back and get back to work. Because it's what you have to do after a catastrophe. There's nothing really better than breathing in and out and singing and being all together and trying to put out something for people to listen to that -- You know, the songs that he'd written had already told the tale, really, and it was 'Who's Gonna Help a Brother Get Further?' and songs like that, he'd already said everything that needed to be said. And the few little things that I said after that, from my own point of view, such as the lyrics of 'Ascension Day' and 'The River in Reverse,' they were not just specific to those events. It's an everyday matter of, you know, not passing by, always, the person that needs your help. We all do it, but we know we shouldn't."




Q: A solo tour can present a challenge, in that listeners might have a hard time imagining how some songs can work in that context, while to the songwriter they might well have started out that way before developing into full-band recordings. Are conflicting expectations an issue?


Costello: "No songs of mine that I can think of ever began as full-band performances ... We definitely, with The Attractions and latterly with The Imposters, we expand with different arrangements of songs, and when I worked with The Roots we did a lot of cut and paste because that was the record where we began with beats, you know, and then built arrangements around them, and then erased a bunch of stuff and then moved it around and created new structures.

"All of those ways to work are all valid, but in the main, I could sit down and play you 98, 99 percent of the songs I've written, and just play them to you ... I could play you drafts of them that I haven't released, earlier versions where you can see where they've traveled. Different rhythms, different lyrics, different melodies even. So which is the more truthful rendition -- I suppose that's a matter for the heart, isn't it? Peoples' memory of the song is their first acquaintance, which is likely to be the recording. It's been my experience that people are curious to hear the song, to see whether the song will lose anything without all of that paraphernalia around it, without all those decorations. And sometimes you can take a song down to its essentials and it will actually have a more emotional core than the recording will suggest. That would be true of 'Everyday I Write the Book' [from the 1983 album 'Punch the Clock'], which is actually very light on record but sounds a lot more emotional when you play it solo. It's not a trick that I'm trying to pull with every song -- I'm just calling it a trick -- but I do sort of hear the possibility of the song to reveal itself in the moment of the performance."

Q: I'd venture to guess that at this point, your audiences are mainly made up of people who appreciate your career, not just a single or two. Does that hold true?


Costello: "Anybody that's bought a ticket has got a different reason for coming. For some it's just a Friday night show or whatever night of the week show, and they just fancy going out. Other people have every record you've ever made. Some people just like that one song and are really kind of maybe, [they] have a very sketchy or even slightly, you know, incorrect idea of what you do. But hopefully they'll hear something they're there to hear, or they're in the theater long enough to find out if they like it.
"I've had some songs that have ended up being hits overseas that don't really represent what I do, but they're sort of my calling card and they've got me the invitation to go and play in that country, like in Korea or Turkey or somewhere, and then you get there and they get a surprise when you turn up with a repertoire of 300 or 400 songs that are completely different than the one they knew you for. And then it's my job to persuade them that it's worth their time.
"It's a little bit different in America, where a lot of people have seen me over a lot of years, 35 or 37 years now. There are some people that have been in there from the git-go, and they've got their opinions about which time and place in my career they like best. Some people go along with you, some people wish you'd stayed the same, it's all possible. And I'm aware of that."

Q: The audience is there to be entertained and you're there to entertain them. Beyond that, is there anything you hope they take away from the experience?

Costello: "You won't likely see something like this any day of the week. That's the truth of it. I'm not blowing my own trumpet. I guess I am. You won't. I have a lot of songs, I try to make the best of them, I try to find the story in one song to lead me to the next one. I don't come on with a set plan that I'm going to do the same show every night for the whole tour. I try to look at the theater and try and think about what that summons up to me, look at my own songs and say, 'What's the tack I want to take tonight?' I've got some beautiful instruments so I can change the sound of the way I play the song. So I might sit down at the piano for a couple of numbers and I sit down and hunch over a guitar, because you sort of feel differently when you sit down.

"I'm not sitting down because I'm tired, I'm sitting down because I want people to lean forward in their seats, and listen in for maybe those few more quiet songs. So then when I get up, we can have some fun. And I've got a few surprises that I don't want to give away. You'll have to trust me that we've got a few new tricks in this show, which I hope people will like. And we're just going to have a big time."


© 2015 AL.com. All rights reserved.
Last edited by johnfoyle on Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
verbal gymnastics
Posts: 13637
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:44 am
Location: Magic lantern land

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015 - promo interview

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Surprises and fancy tricks...

8)
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015 - promo interview

Post by johnfoyle »

Who's going?
Azmuda
Posts: 846
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015 - promo interview

Post by Azmuda »

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.s ... rings.html


Oh, Mama! Elvis Costello brings personal touch to Mobile show

Image

By Lawrence Specker
on March 14, 2015 at 6:45 AM, updated March 14, 2015 at 6:46 AM

Word on Elvis Costello's solo tour is that he tends to roam freely through his extensive catalog, mixing hits and obscurities to come up with something fresh every night. And that's what he did, Friday night at the Mobile Saenger Theatre - but that wasn't the half of it.

A few moments before the performance started, one might have wondered how Costello, or any solo performer for that matter, might stand up to a crowd whose pre-show chatter was so deafeningly loud. But Costello bounded onto the stage without benefit of any fanfare or introduction, radiating confidence and energy, and when he heard the first screech of "we love you," he shot back, "I love you too."

Then he set to work making it stick. Five things that made the performance a very special night:

1. Did he make it personal? Yes, and to a degree that few, if any could have expected. Early in the show, Costello began referring to the fact that he'd played Mobile once before, in 1979. It's true: He played Mobile's Municipal Auditorium (now the Mobile Civic Center) on March 2, 1979, backed by The Attractions. But he didn't end it there. After playing a double handful of songs on guitar he switched to piano for a poignant "Shipbuilding," a song that resonated strongly in the room, given Mobile's history as a World War II boom town with so many hopes pinned on new waterfront industry: "It's just a rumor that was spread around town/ A telegram or a picture postcard/ Within weeks, they'll be re-opening the shipyards/ And notifying the next of kin, once again/ It's all we're skilled in/ We will be shipbuilding/ With all the will in the world/ Diving for dear life/ When we could be diving for pearls ..."

It was a moment that could have served as the climax of a satisfying show, but Costello was barely half done at that point. Nor was he through making it personal. A while later he took up a 12-string guitar for one song and one song only: A full-length, full-bore rendition of Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again." You had to wonder: Does Elvis Costello just routinely know this song for some reason? Or did he sit down and learn this very wordy Dylan epic just to impress a theater full of folks in one Deep South port town? No, you didn't really have to wonder that. All you had to do was belt out the "Oh, Mama, can this really be the end" line every time it came around. So that's what pretty much everybody did.

He still wasn't done. He gave a shout-out to Ward Swingle, the Mobile native who went on to international fame as the founder of The Swingle Singers. Ward Swingle died in January in England. And in March, Elvis Costello came to his hometown and paid tribute to him on the Saenger stage. That is simply incredible. And incredibly classy.

2. He didn't just play the hits, but he definitely played the hits. Maybe he didn't hit everybody's personal favorite. But he did "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," "Alison," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Watching the Detectives," "Veronica," "Pump It Up," "Every Day I Write the Book" and more.

3. He brought a unique command of dynamics to the stage. Some performers simply try to drown out the audience. Some masters - Buddy Guy being a case in point - know how to draw an audience in by dialing things so far down that people have to shut up and listen, then cranking up the volume again. Costello did that and more, keeping the audience on its toes (often literally) by subverting their expectations of the show's structure. About an hour in, he waved and stepped offstage as if for an intermission, or as if this was going to be a short show with a long encore. But instead of milking it, he quickly returned to the stage. For the rest of the evening, the pattern was for him to play two or three songs, then step off very briefly - long enough for a drink of water - then bound back out for more. It didn't feel like a tease, and after a while it started to feel like he was never going to run out of songs or enthusiasm.

4. Costello didn't fall into the typical singer-songwriter mode of storytelling, explaining where songs came from, and he didn't get overly conversational. But he did share quite a bit, including some revealing thoughts about his musical relationship with his father. His famously sharp sense of humor also was on display now and then, including a jab at "America's Got Talent," and a gleeful description of the way he uses the wicked lyrics of "Wave a White Flag" as a litmus test on his audiences. After playing it, he told Mobile, "I'm thoroughly ashamed of you." That probably means we passed.

5. The last peak was the highest. Costello had gradually escalated his game as guitarist through the course of the evening, alternating between acoustic and electric, between country-tinged fingerpicking and rock strumming. For his final song of the night, he pulled out all the stops, thrashing a battered six-string acoustic on "I Want You." Here in the space of one song he went from fully amplified roar to natural whisper and back, even stepping away from the mic so that the audience heard his voice straight from the stage. Here on one cleverly amplified instrument he produced clean acoustic tones and nasty, reverb-soaked distortion not just in the same song, but at the same time.

Near the end of the show, Costello thanked the audience for its enthusiasm and said "I'm not waiting another 38 years or whatever" to come back. We might not know when he'll make good on that, but after Friday's show we do know one thing: It'll be worth the wait.
FAVEHOUR
Posts: 1118
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:41 pm

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015 - promo interview

Post by FAVEHOUR »

Part of "Stuck Inside of Mobile...."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wTiO8eQJw


Dave
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by johnfoyle »

Lea Ann Coffey's photos , via f/book


Image

Image

Image

Image


Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
verbal gymnastics
Posts: 13637
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:44 am
Location: Magic lantern land

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Wow - there's not many artists that could have a go at a song that wordy. I think that was a one off. To those that were there - you lucky lucky people :mrgreen:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
sweetest punch
Posts: 5963
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by sweetest punch »

The in-ear monitors are gone, so it seems.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5963
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
docinwestchester
Posts: 2321
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:58 pm
Location: Westchester County, NY

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by docinwestchester »

charliestumpy
Posts: 710
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:33 am

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by charliestumpy »

Thanks for the links to SIOMWTMBA and SBS.
'Sometimes via the senses, mostly in the mind (or pocket)'.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5963
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by sweetest punch »

Setlist:

01. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
02. Cheap Reward
03. I Hope You're Happy Now
04. Accidents Will Happen
05. Ascension Day
06. Church Underground
07. 45
08. Party Girl
09. Green Shirt
10. Shipbuilding - on piano
11. Side By Side - on piano
12. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - on piano
13. Walkin' My Baby Back Home - seated
14. Ghost Train - seated
15. Wave A White Flag - seated
16. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - seated

Encore 1
17. Watching The Detectives
18. Less Than Zero
19. Veronica

Encore 2- from inside the Big Television
20. Alison
21. Pump It Up

Encore 3
22. Who's The Meanest Gal In Town Josephine - seated
23. Everyday I Write The Book
24. TV Is The Thing (This Year)
25. The Only Flame In Town (slow version)
26. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
27. I Want You
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Elvis , solo, plays Mobile, Al, March 13 2015

Post by johnfoyle »

Image

Richard Dean Humphreys is photographed with a concert poster he designed and hand screen printed for Elvis Costello for a show at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile. Photo by Ben Twingley/btwingley@pnj.com



http://www.pnj.com/story/entertainment/ ... 260d1e4960



Local designer captures music in print

Troy Moon, pnj.com 4:35 p.m. CDT August 8, 2015


In 1983, Elvis Costello told Musician Magazine that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”

After all, how do you capture the fluid beauty and essence of a sound by using a combination of 26 letters?

Costello doesn’t apply that philosophy to every medium. Because, apparently, he’s quite happy with the way Pensacola artist Richard Dean Humphreys uses color and image to convey at least a bit of the spirit of music. Earlier this year, Humphreys was commissioned by the Costello team to create a collectible concert poster for the musician’s March 11 concert at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile.

And last week, he delivered 700 hand-crafted posters to Atlanta for the current Faith No More/Refused tour — with Humphreys’ posters being sold at each stop of the tour, including New York City, Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Previously, he had been commissioned to create concert posters for artists from Wilco to Of Montreal — all out of his one-man WorkWeek Design and Print Studio in Pace.


“I used to do fliers for shows when I was in a band (Carolina) in high school,” said Humphreys, 28. “We’d do gigs at Sluggo’s and the Handlebar and I would do all the gig fliers. My friends liked them and asked me to do them for their shows.”

From there, Humphreys’ art flourished and a few years later he opened a professional studio, Dog on Fire, which then became The Workweek Studio, where he creates a variety of poster designs, though his primary aim is the music market, if only because music is a passion.

“I found out that people actually did this for a living and they did it for a lot of the bands I idolized,” said Humphreys, whose non-musical clients have included the University of West Florida, the Pensacola Museum of Art and Independent News.

“I do other work because (concert posters) are such a narrow market,” Humphreys said. “But my interest is on the gig side of things.”


Humphreys usually contacts an artist’s management to see if there is interest in a collectible tour poster, also submitting his resume and portfolio. Management and the artist approve designs, with Humphreys keeping all rights to the original design.

He usually creates at least 50 hand-printed posters, each signed and numbered. For the Costello poster, he used the artist’s song “A Voice in the Dark” as inspiration, creating a vibrant red, white, blue and black design featuring images of an umbrella, a watch, glasses and a crown. Sample lyrics: “You can laugh in the face of watches but time will only break your heart” and “kings reign beneath umbrellas, hide pennies down in cellars.”

The Wilco poster was designed for the band’s Cincinnati show during the acclaimed group’s 20th anniversary tour, and was inspired by the band-favorite “Via Chicago.” Like most of Humphreys’ posters, it is 18 inches by 24 inches and printed on French paper. Humphrey created 175 Wilco posters, and what is left can be purchased online at Humphreys’ website http://www.wrkweek.com. Posters are also available for past shows by Tame Impala, Costello, the Givers and more.

There are dozens of artists that Humphreys would love to design for, and he’s hoping his growing reputation might lead to some dream jobs.

“Yo La Tengo, of course,” he said — Humphreys was wearing a band T-shirt. “The Pixies would be great. Kurt Vile, the Men. I could go on forever.”

See and buy concert posters and more from Richard Dean Humphreys at http://www.wrkweek.com
Post Reply