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m n say that 2004 was a banner year for vet-
1U eran rocker Elvis Costello would be no
understatement Fresh ofF of touring behind his
stirring 2002 rock album When I Was Cruet in
September of 2004, Costello released two
acclaimed but very different albums, the rocking The
Delivery Man and H Sogno, a classical work.
Then last December, Costello capped off his
impressive year with three Grammy nominations—
including one for best Rock Performance by a Duo or
Group with Vocals for the song "Monkey To Man" and best
Rock Album for The Delivery Han.
When the winners were announced this past February,
the veteran rocker was nowhere to be seen. To Costello,
who was up against U2 in the song category and Green
Da/s American Idiot for the best album honor, there was
no point in attending the Grammys. Costello knew, he said
during an interview at last month's South by Southwest Music
Conference in Austin, TX, that he had no chance to beat that
competition. "From where I was standing," he said, "I was
to be in a dub with the Killers or the Gorilla* or whoever they
and [skip] the madness for noble reasons, while the monolith
is U? crushed us under their jack boot"
That sort of practical outlook, laced with
Flanagan, a veteran music journalist and senior vice president at
MTV, for about 75 minutes.
Mutual Attraction
Forging 1 New Nostalgia
During the wide-ranging interview, Costello, perhaps the most
talented member of the first crest of punk/ New Wave artists of the
late 1970s, remarked that he no longer harbors any great hopas of
having hit records. Instead, he said, he's pleased that a core audi
ence buys his records and enables him to tour as a headliner world
wide playing the kinds of shows he wishes—rather than being rele
gated to some nostalgia circuit trotting out a few hits as part of
some package tour.
And for all the respect Costello has gained, not only for making
some of the most memorable, intelligent—and downright enter
taining-rock of the past 28 years, but for his non-rock collabora
tions with such luminaries as the Brodsky Quartet and Burt
Bacharach, he also remarked at one point that he is fully aware
there are millions of people who have no idea who he is or what his
albums are named.
As Costello explained, he still loves the art of live performance,
something his plans to play 200 shows this year would seem to
prove. That enjoyment of the concert stage was also evident during
Costello's headlining set at La Zona Rosa in Austin. Joined by his
stellar backing bano the Imposters, Costello rollicked through a
two-hours-plus set that featured most of the songs from The
Delivery Man, a number of fan favorites ("Mystery Dance," "Radio
Radio," "Pump It Up"), as well as a few songs that haven't been
regular parts of his live set in years—including "Blame It On Cain"
from his debut album My Aim Is True and a fevered take on "Why
Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?" from his country album
Almost Blue.
This sort of stirring performance is nothing new to fans who
have seen Costello perform—either with his original backing band,
the Attractions, or with The Imposters, which he formed during the
making of When I Was Cruel.
The two backing bands share a pair of musicians—keyboardist
Steve Nieve and drummer Bruce Thomas. The bassist in the
Attractions was Bruce Thomas (no relation to current bassist Pete
Thomas), while Davey Faragher (ex-Cracker) handles those duties in
the Imposters. For the Athens show and only two others, David
Hidalgo, the talented Los Lobos guitarist/ multi-instrumentalist, will
replace Nieve, who's in London for the initial recording sessions of
his opera Welcome to the Voice. Costello is billing the unique group
as the Pick-Ups.
The opening act is Sondre Lerche, a singer-songwriter from
Norway recently relocated to New York. He released his second
album Two-Way Monologue last year; he said that he's busy writing
material for a new album and plans to play a few of the new songs
during his opening set at the Classic Center.
Costello discussed the Attractions and Imposters, explaining
why, in spite of shared members, he considers each a very different
unit "I really do want to say straight out I understand people being
sentimental about the Attractions," he said. "The Attractions, I
think, were far and away musically the best group of '77 by a
country mile. I'm not saying we made the best records, by any
stretch of the imagination. There were some great records made
quite often by people who couldn't play at alL But that group was
very, very good, it was extremely good right up until about 1982.
Then it became tough."
The toughness largely involved Costello's rocky relationship with
Druce Thomas. And while the Attractions, which disbanded after the
1986 album Blood and Chocolate, did reunite eight years later to
make two more albums, the disagreements with Thomas became the
undoing of the band.
When Faragher joined Nie\e and Pete Thomas on When I Was
Cruel, Costello knew it was a far different unit than the Attractions.
"The nine years in which we didn't work together, that period of
time between All This Useless Beauty and When I Was Cruel," said
Costello, "these guys are not sitting by the phone waiting for me to
call They're doing other stuff. And the reason why the Imposters
and the Attractions are different bands is because this vast amount
of experience of the other members.
"The other key difference between the Imposters and the
Attractions is the kind of player, the kind of musician that Davey
Faragher is," continued Costello. "And listen, this is not going to be
an exercise in talking down somebody I'm well on the record of not
getting along with, Bruce Thomas, the Attractions' bass player. But
he simply can't play a groove. He's a great inventive, melodic bass
player in a kind of style, but you cannot find a solid groove on an
Attractions record.
"The Attractions rhythm section was Pete Thomas and me on
rhythm guitar. You listen to the Attractions records, there were like
three guitar solos (total). Since we've come up with a conventional
rhythm section, obviously that relationship changes. It gives Steve
more freedom to do different things and me to do different things.
Davey also is a great singer."
Alan Sculley
— — \
WHO: Ehrts Costello & the Pick-Ups, Sondre lerche
WHERE: Classic Center Theater
WHEN: Wednesday, April 27
HOW MUCH: $35
EVERY THURSDAY MATH 101
LITE DRAFTS
LIQUOR DRINKS
Guys with colags I.D.fe = $5.00 cower
+ 6 Liquor drinks = $6.50!
2 drinks somewhere else = $8.00
Total savings = $1.50
Oris with coMsgs I.D.’s = $3.00 cower j
+ 4 Liquor drinks = $4.00!
1 drink somewhere else = $4.00
Total savings = 3 “free” drinks
Getting down w/ D. J. BUGGOUT - priceless
FRIDAY 4/29
EULE
Happy $2.00 Lite Pitchers
Hour $1.00 Liquor Drinks]
9-11 Free Pool
No cover w/ college ID 21
SATURDAY 4/30
During the race
(9pm until 11 pm)
UQUORDRINKS
PITCHERS OF LITE
After the race
(11pm till close)
EHJ0ES27
$ 2.°° Beers
APRIL 27, 2005 • FLAGPOLE.COM 31