Caught Elvis Costello Twice Or Was It Four Times?

Jenny Leong, the producer of "The Time Machine", along with host Michael McCartney trekked across the ocean from Maui to Oahu (via an airline - they didn't swim) to catch Elvis Costello perform with The Honolulu Symphony.

Elvis Costello walked out onstage among the Hilo Hatties Aloha wear of the symphony in a tuxedo and quickly commented on how overdressed he was. It was the beginning of an evening filled with a lot of stage banter from Elvis who also had Steve Nieve along for the ride on the grand piano.

The entire performance was incredible with a set list that was nothing short of being perfect for a symphony to back up the talented artist. The concert began with the suite "Il Sogno" followed by "Upon A Veil Of Midnight Blue". Next was "Speak Darkly, My Angel" and an opportunity to hear a song from his upcoming release with Allen Toussaint titled "The River In Reverse". A powerful song that many Elvis fans will appreciate. One last song, "The Birds Will Still Be Singing", was performed before an intermission.

"Still" opened the second set of music followed by his collaboration with Burt Bacharach "Painted From Memory". Steve Nieve's piano playing along with the Honolulu Symphony truly served the sounds of Bacharach and Costello.

Elvis told the crowd about a song he wrote with Paul McCartney which was the introduction to his radio hit "Veronica". The audience went nuts. He then went into "Almost Blue" that he sent out as a dedication to his wife. He chatted with the audience about the last time that he was in Hawaii. He was with Diana Krall at her concert at the Waikiki Shell where she performed songs that the two of them collaborated on.

Then came the song that Mana'o Radio has been having a blast playing from his latest release. A fantastic big band, almost film noir soundtrack arrangement to his late seventies FM staple, "Watching The Detectives". Elvis then performed "My Flame Burns Blue (Blood Count)".

At this point in the concert, both Jenny Leong and Michael McCartney, were thrown thru a loop when Elvis performed "She". The song has been on "The Time Machine" playlist even since it's inclusion on the soundtrack to the motion picture "Notting Hill". Elvis even mentioned that his producer stated that he was going to ruin Elvis' reputation by having him record his first ever full fledged "love song". He joked that it was his biggest hit all over the world with the exception of Hawaii. Apparantly we were the only radio station in the entire state playing "She".

The film music continued with an emotional performance of "God Give Me Strength" (another song that remains on "The Time Machine" playlist with both Costello and the film version from Kristen Vigard who supplied the vocals lip-synched by actress Illeana Douglas).

The audience fell in love with the artist that night and begged him with "Hana-hou"
from their seats which lead to an encore of "I Still Have That Other Girl" and an unbelievably poignant rendition of "Alison". It's amazing how much emotion can be added to a stong song by a symphonic arrangement.

Elvis ended the show without the help of a microphone and performed "Couldn't Call It Unexpected". He invited the crowd to participate with a sing-a-long.

There was a show the following night with "She Handed Me A Mirror" replacing "Painted From Memory".

The Time Machine had picked up the tickets back in the summer of 2005. This was months before a concert was announced for Maui. So this turned out to be an all Elvis Costello weekend with a return flight home.

Upon entering the theater at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, local artist Makana was the opening act standing alone with his guitar and finishing up his last song. After he departed from the stage there was a sound similar to a muffled explosion which caused the electricity to go out in the theater with only the emergency lights on due to a back up generator. It was a very stormy weekend and one could only surmise if the lightning miles away had anything to do with a power grid in this one section of Kahului. It appeared that only the concert venue and the traffic light outside were without power as the surrounding neighborhoods, town and harbor all had lights.

Somewhere around fifteen minutes in the semi-darkness, Elvis Costello walked out on the stage and began an intimate performance without any help of modern technology which was a testament to both Elvis as a performer and the wonderful acoustics of the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. Tony Bennett, a few years earlier, had asked that all sound be shut off in the theater so that the audience could hear for themselves just how perfect this venue was. He claimed that of all of the theaters he performed in that he couldn't believe how superior the Castle Theater was to the top venues across the country.

Enough of our Maui pride, back to Elvis Costello who started under the emergency lights with "Accidents Will Happen". The show began with what appeared to be something special with Elvis winging it from stage. He had the audience sing along at the end with "I know..." refrains. Steve Nieve sat directly behind him at the piano while Elvis continued the performance with "(The Angels Wanna Wear My)Red Shoes" which had the audience really fired up with more participation. Elvis mentioned that he was told by the venue that due to a county ordinance that if the power didn't come on in the next few minutes that everyone would have to leave the music hall. The audience wasn't thrilled but Elvis won the crowd with screaming requests. He then whipped out an old chestnut, "Alison", which remains a classic song from this prolific songwriter after nearly thirty years. This show was beginning to beat his fantastic episode of VH-1's "Storytellers" because his performance felt so personal. After the song ended, he had to express his sorrow that everyone must vacate the theater. More groans from the crowd and more requests yelled out. He started "She" which most American filmgoers would know from the opening of Julia Roberts film "Notting Hill". As it was a song that Elvis didn't write, he paced the stage with the lyrics in his hand and a powerful vocal performace until he flubbed a lyric and tossed the music folder to the side of the stage. "I don't know the words", he chuckled. With his own body of work, how could he possibly find the time to memorise the composed works of others? The power knocked of the little light that stood perched atop his music stand.

A spokesperson came out onstage next to Elvis and stressed that the electric company was aware of the power outage and were hoping to have the power back on in thirty minutes. Everyone exited the premises, bummed but thrilled by the four, uhhh...three and a half songs that made it an evening to remember.

After hanging out in the courtyard outside the theater for roughly twenty minutes, both Elvis and Steve ventured thru the crowd with flashlights and a bullhorn. It was dark and cold like an overnight camping trip when the guitar is pulled out for singing. Someone from management held up the bullhorn while Elvis and Steve gave the audience "Watching The Detectives" without it's reggae feel. First the symphony two nights earlier with a big band approach and television theme incorporated and now this. Holy smokes. It was 1977 all over again.



The electricity was restored during the performance. Elvis and Steve were surrounded by a circle of thankful fans. A member of the crew stated how cool it was and that it was fine with the venue (with it being Maui and all - musical good vibes) if everyone wanted the show to continue outside. There would be no refunds if it continued outside so a vote was taken with the majority wanting to go inside. Even though there was quite an age range attending the show, most of the audience who were in their teens and early twenties when Elvis Costello arrived on the musical landscape, outnumbered the vote to go in due to the twenty-nine years that passed. Baby boomers and Brady boomers are at the low end are in their mid forties so one can truly understand the needs of this part of the crowd to sit down and enjoy a show.

So now began what appeared to be a third show. This time with electricity.

Jenny Leong had "Shot With His Own Gun" blasting in the car on the way to concert so you can imagine how both Jenny and Michael were blown away that Elvis performed that song. He even dug up what he called his first record "Radio Sweetheart". He covered the decades with an electric "Pump It Up" plus; "Green Shirt", "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding", "Indoor Fireworks", "Comedians", "Everyday I Write The Book" and "Veronica". He also worked in the music of others including Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said" and Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold Of Me". It was an interesting contrast in audience reaction to his latest song "The River In Reverse". Two nights earlier with the Honolulu Symphony, it was an emotional and intense song that got a round of applause from the "big city symphony conservative crowd" on the island of Oahu. On Maui, he performed the song fairly early in his set only to have a standing ovation which caught him offguard.

All in all, it was like seeing three shows in one night plus the lead in just two nights earlier with the Honolulu Symphony, it was a magical weekend that will never be forgotten.




From The Honolulu Advertiser's Derek Paiva:

Costello with symphony a mesmerizing night


A few of the favorites were there: "Veronica." "Watching the Detectives." "Alison."

All of them performed by Elvis Costello accompanied by the Honolulu Symphony Pops at the Blaisdell Concert Hall last night.

All longtime fans had to do was accept the fact that the chameleon-like musician who had composed these most elegant nuggets of pop and rock songwriting had long ago moved on to other musical realms and had taken a few of his beloved works with him.

"Alison" with its melancholy electric ax and sparest of snares? No more. "Watching the Detectives" with its delicious backbone of rude boy reggae? So 1977!

If you didn't accept it, you were a goner from the get-go. One who perhaps simply should have known before you bought a ticket that "accompanied by the Honolulu Symphony Pops" meant no sign of The Attractions/Impostors (save for Steve Nieve on piano) and no "Pump It Up" or "Girls Talk."

For the rest of us waiting years for his first-ever Honolulu concert, however, Costello's moodily jazzy 90-minute second set of symphony-friendly lesser-known gems, new material and old favorites was pretty much complicated nirvana.

Complicated, because in return for our long wait, we got Costello in full-on crooner-with-an-orchestra mode — singing pretty much ballads, and only ballads. Nirvana, because in spite of the dearth of more up-tempo faves we still got to hear Costello's stunning, inimitable voice at what truly seemed like the peak all of its live, tenderly ragged glory.

The evening opened with the Pops running through a 40-minute suite of music from Costello's inaugural orchestral work, "Il Sogno," composed as music for an Italian ballet of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Elvis introduced it, then let the symphony go to work.

Showy with various spirited scene-painting experiments in jazz and symphonic melody, the suite was pleasant enough. But cut to a fraction its original length , it seemed more unsatisfying truncation of an accomplished orchestral work best heard in full.

But, of course, "Il Sogno" wasn't what the bulk of very vocal fans in the concert hall came primarily to hear. And Costello seemed more than happy to oblige them.

Costello's vocal time included several arrangements of new and older material from his recently released jazz-infused live CD, "My Flame Burns Blue." The best of these was the first, a gorgeous reading of his own "Upon A Veil Of Midnight Blue" featuring Costello's warm croon wrapped in elegantly lush symphony pops orchestration.

Already one of Costello's most haunting jazz-perfect ballads, "Almost Blue" couldn't — and didn't — fail to amaze in a symphonic setting. Likewise, "God Give Me Strength" and "I Still Have That Other Girl" — from Costello's underrated Burt Bacharach collaboration "Painted From Memory" — proved perfect fits for the vocalist's lovesick crooner set list.

Sadly left out were last night were nearly all of the "My Flame" disc's best up-tempo big band moments. These included Costello's inventive vocal take on the Charles Mingus instrumental "Hora Decubitus," a way snazzy arrangement of '50s bandleader Dave Bartholomew's "That's How You Got Killed Before" and a defiantly love-it-or-hate-it "Clubland."

If you own "My Flame," you know why each was sorely missed last night.

Costello was wise, however, to keep the CD's kinetic new take on "Watching the Detectives" with its swinging 1950s television cop show instrumental punch. It won't replace the original in any Costello devotee's heart anytime soon. But it proved great fun last night.

A lovely reading of "Still" from Costello's disc of piano ballads "North" proved an audience favorite, as was a note perfect cover of Charles Aznavour's "She" — the latter a worldwide hit, "everywhere but in Hawai'i," he joked.

"I knew there was something I forgot when I came out here," said Costello, early in his vocal set, pretend searching the stage. "Let me go get it."

Exiting the stage briefly, he reemerged with his acoustic guitar, strapping it on to roars from the crowd.

"I'm gonna do this on my own if it's OK," he asked maestro Matt Catingub and the symphony pops, before sharing a menacingly powerful "The River in Reverse," the title track from his upcoming CD with New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint. It wound up one of the show's most mesmerizing moments.

Costello kept his guitar strapped and was joined by Nieve only on a pulsating, sweetly Buddy Holly-ish stab at "Veronica. Near show's end, "Alison" — with Costello on guitar, Nieve on piano and rich symphony strings accompanying it all — soothed an audience that had been eagerly waiting for it.

Between songs, Costello — looking smart as all heck in a dressy black suit and bow tie — turned impressive charmer, tempering what could have been an at times moody set with playful banter and a wicked sense of humor.

A friend and longtime Costello fan accompanying me last night giddily summed up the evening of Costello in peak form best.

"He's kind of like a kid in the symphony toy store tonight, isn't he?" he marveled.

Uh-huh. And we were all fortunate he was in the mood to play nice.


Before arriving in Hawaii, Elvis also spoke with The Honolulu Advertiser's Derek Paiva:

Musical flames burn in many hues for Costello


Thirty years of doing the same job will give you lots of perspective. It might also bore you to death.

Elvis Costello is a rock 'n' roll legend who's never allowed the former to lead to the latter.

With his first and most-famous band, The Attractions, Costello led the '70s punk and '80s new-wave explosion with a handful of albums that deftly combined snarly rock bravado with acerbic, witty and exceptionally sophisticated lyrics. But Costello also brought his considerable skills to experiments in country, soul, jazz, classical and pop vocalese that blended wicked ambition and undeniable passion, whether they hit or missed the mark.

His concerts with the Honolulu Symphony Pops this weekend are his first-ever shows in Hawai'i. On the phone to talk about them, a witty, talkative and every-bit-the-music-geek-you'd-expect Costello, 51, spoke about "My Flame Burns Blue" — his new, live CD of energetic, jazzed-up new works, obscurities and reworked old favorites — and went over some history.

"Hey there!"

Good morning, Elvis.

"That's right. Good morning to you, it is, I suppose. What time is it there?"

It's 11 a.m.

"How is it there?"

Uh, it is dreary, unfortunately.

"Oh, no! I don't want to hear that. I don't want to have that mental picture in my head."

We've been having dreary weather for weeks. Is it any better where you are? You're in New York, right?

"I am in New York. It's bright and cold here so, you know, be careful what you wish for."

Well, you're still a couple of weeks away from coming here. Maybe things will work out in your favor.

(Laughs.) "Yeah. ... It's unusual isn't it ... two weeks (of rain)?"

It is, a bit. It gets rainy here in the spring, but it hasn't been this bad for a few years. Anyway, at least your concert isn't outdoors. You escorted (wife, vocalist) Diana (Krall) out here last year when she did a show with the symphony at the Waikiki Shell ... which was rained on.

"And it rained all the way through the show, yeah."

Is she returning the favor?

"I don't know whether she's going to be able to come with me. She's currently in the studio. So hopefully, uh ... I just don't know. We're still trying to plan that. We try to make, obviously, the best of our time together. We've already been to Hawai'i once this year for a short holiday at the beginning of the year. It is a wonderful place. And, of course ... if we can travel there together, even better."

Correct me if I'm wrong. You've never done a show here, have you?

"No. No. The only performing I've ever done in Hawai'i is on the beach in 1978 when we shot some sequences for a video for one of my records back then."

That was the only thing I could find in our archives.

"That's right. I don't know how it's never happened before. It seems crazy. I mean, I've been working my way around the states, you know, and I figured, well, eventually I had to get to Hawai'i."

Well, 30 years can go by in a blur.

"No, not a blur. I remember every moment."

This symphonic tour you're doing isn't a big one ... 13 shows in just 10 cities. Honolulu, I have to say, is rarely one of the lucky few cities chosen by musicians like you for tours of this size. Why did you want to include Honolulu and Maui this time around?

"This tour is unusual in its nature in that I have a record out currently called 'My Flame Burns Blue,' which is a live album I recorded with the Metropole Orkest at the North Sea Jazz Festival two years ago. And I also have a record — that came out the same day as my last rock 'n' roll record (2004's) "The Delivery Man" — (of a) ballet suite that I wrote called 'Il Sogno.' It was music I wrote for an Italian (ballet) adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'

"So combining the two things, we had invitations from a number of symphony houses to perform in which a suite from 'Il Sogno' (would) be played (with) a repertoire of (my) songs that can be played with orchestra.

"Obviously, the Honolulu Symphony is not a big band. But the ballads, at least, adopt very easily. And I have other surprises in the show that come from other records (I've done) that have orchestral accompaniment.

"It is a short tour (as far) as the number of dates because, of course, in between those days you have to rehearse. It isn't like you're turning up with a band that already knows the songs. You have to rehearse in every city. So you see 10 or 12 dates, but there are at least 24 days involved in doing that so the tour is spread ... from the end of March until the middle of May."

You sound like you were having great fun on stage on "My Flame Burns Blue."

"I hope so. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was a great night. The Metropole Orkest is a wonderful orchestra. The material wasn't all just arranged for that night. I had adapted a lot of those songs over the previous 10 years, and this was an opportunity to play all of that music in one night with a band that could really do it.

"And, I have to be honest, I didn't listen to the (sound board) tape (of the concert) immediately. I was on to other things. I was playing with The Imposters and touring the songs from 'The Delivery Man.' So I didn't really listen to the tape for a number of months. And then when I did hear it finally, I was so shocked that we had caught so much of the music in one evening.

"Once Al Schmitt mixed it, it really came up sounding really vivid. And I'm really proud of the record. It's a lot of music (and) a lot of contrast even inside of this. But to have a group that can do all of this is quite a joy."

You write in the CD's liner notes, "This record may explain what I've been doing during the last 12 years when I haven't had an electric guitar in my hands." Take me back that far. What initially inspired you to begin exploring work with ensembles, chamber groups, jazz big bands and symphony orchestras?

"First of all, I was asked to write some music for a television drama (the British multi-part series 'G.B.H.' in 1990). And I was collaborating with a composer, Richard Harvey, who contributed the arrangement (heard on 'My Flame Is Blue') of the song 'Speak Darkly, My Angel.' That meant that I was composing themes at the piano, or on a keyboard, which somebody else had to write down because I couldn't write music down at that time.

"Although I'd written more than 200 songs — maybe 250 songs or something like that — I couldn't write music down on the page.

"Then I became friends with the Brodsky Quartet, and I wanted to work with them. And it became all the more embarrassing that I couldn't write music down, because I couldn't make my ideas clearly understood. So I got to grips with this strange mental block I'd had about notated music.

"I didn't really feel it changed me in any way as a writer. It just gave me the ability to write songs for different groupings of musicians. And then opportunities started to come my way to work with chamber groups, chamber orchestras, big bands.

"I worked with the Mingus Big Band, a jazz orchestra that plays Charles Mingus music mainly, and I was writing lyrics for Mingus compositions at (wife of the late jazz bassist) Sue Mingus' request. One of them is 'Hora Decubitis,' the opening track of 'My Flame Burns Blue.'

" 'Speak Darkly, My Angel' was written for the Brodsky Quartet and (mezzo soprano) Anne Sofie von Otter, who I later produced. 'Put Away Forbidden Playthings' was written for some friends of mine who played the viol, which is ... an Elizabethan-era instrument.

"So some things came from collaborations with classical musicians, some came from collaborations with jazz musicians ... and, of course, some of the songs on the record are ballads that I've written over the years like 'Favorite Hour' and 'Almost Blue,' ... one of my collaborations with Burt Bacharach 'God Give Me Strength,' and one of the songs that I'd written recently for the album of piano ballads (2003's) 'North.'

"It seemed like a pretty rich repertoire to take into this concert with the Metropole (Orkest). They are unique in being a big band with a string section. So they were able to play both the classically influenced things and also arrangements like 'Watching the Detectives' and 'Clubland' and 'Almost Ideal Eyes' and 'Episode of Blonde' ... (songs) that began with a rock 'n' roll sound augmented with horns that now have more of a big band feel."

"Almost Blue" seems tailor-made for a orchestra like Metropole, given that the song was written with the voice of Chet Baker in mind. But did you originally write any of the other early career songs on "My Flame Burns Blue" — like, say, "Watching the Detectives" or "Clubland" — with a jazz orchestra even a bit in mind?

No, obviously I didn't. But what I did have in mind when we made even the original record of 'Watching the Detectives' was television and film detective music. I really always loved Bernard Herrmann and Neal Hefti and ... those sort of arrangers and composers who wrote for film as well as for concert music or arrangements for big bands. So it seemed, to me, natural.

"Obviously, some people are going to be shocked with the transformation of 'Watching the Detectives' from a very sparse, tense record like the original recording to something with a swing band feel and a big band. But, I mean, when I was a kid growing up, detective shows had themes like this. And the song describes a woman looking at a detective show. So in my mind, it just became the music that was on the show, you know? (Laughs.)

"And also, you know, I think people can sometimes lose sight of a sense of mischief in music. And humor. That song has been repeated so many times I think that it's time to have some mischief with the song. So ... when the horns hit on some of those little stabs (Metropole) play, I do imagine, actually, (that a) big cartoon (balloon) should come up in the air that says, 'Biff! Bang! Pow!' like in 'Batman,' you know?"

"Detectives" does have sort of that vibe on "My Flame."

Absolutely! Absolutely, which is (influenced by) Neal Hefti. ... That's one of my favorite arrangements on the record — even though that sounds a little egotistical because I wrote it. But I've enjoyed opening up the songs to these new possibilities.

"In some cases, you give a song over to somebody else — like Sy Johnson's ('My Flame Burns Blue') arrangement of 'Clubland' — (and) he takes a lot of the things that are the original Attractions recording and he just transposes them and transcribes them for the big band.

"A song like 'Episode of Blonde' is (Metropole conductor) Vince Mendoza (adding) a whole layer of strings swirling around that sounds like a Bollywood movie. I love the fact that he had the imagination to do that.

"I had written lyrics for Billy Strayhorn's 'Blood Count,' which is a beautiful and very difficult composition, and imagined that it might be a vocal piece. And Vince brings this arrangement, which is so extraordinary. The actual writing of the arrangement — the close harmonization, which is in Strayhorn's original composition — (is) so richly orchestrated. I mean, you would be absolutely a fool not to enjoy the experience of singing these pieces.

"And I think the fact that we did (the CD) on the stage as opposed to in the studio gives it a little sort of danger and a little rough edge here and there, which I think makes it open to people rather than some very grand thing that people maybe can't find their way into."

Did you ever consider taking Metropole Orkest into the studio and re-recording these songs as opposed to releasing the live 2004 concert?

"I did at one point, after the recording of 'Il Sogno.'

"The suite from 'Il Sogno' is an added disc in this ('My Flame Burns Blue') package. But the original recording of 'Il Sogno' was ... written in two years, and in 2002, we recorded it.

"I knew that it was going to be difficult for people to accept an instrumental piece from me because I wasn't known for that, except for the music I'd written for television in England for which I'd actually won a British Academy Award. But it wasn't like something that I was celebrated for.

"I knew that people would be a little cautious about an instrumental work by me. So my original plan, actually, was to record much of the repertoire that ended up on 'My Flame Burns Blue' in the studio.

"But then what happened between the recording and release of (2002's) 'When I Was Cruel' and the release of 'Il Sogno' was that I wrote 'North.' As a consequence, 'North' really was a very different sort of thing. It was a very concentrated, very intimate, very personal record. And that, of course, was urgent to me in that it expressed something that I wanted to say right then.

"Though it did use orchestra, ('North') didn't really build the bridge for listeners from the rock 'n' roll sound of 'When I Was Cruel' to the sounds of orchestras I've used in 'Il Sogno.' I can understand why people would not follow the thread. If you see 'My Flame Burns Blue' as the record that lies in between, I think it's easier to understand.

"If you hear 'When I Was Cruel' and then you hear 'My Flame Burns Blue' — which contains 'Episode of Blonde,' but also contains 'Speak Darkly, My Angel' — you can hear the relationship between my thinking about orchestra in some of the ballads on this record. And then if you listen to 'Il Sogno' you can hear how those ideas are worked out in the telling of the tale of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' I mean, that's if you care to do that. ...

"Some people will just say, 'Where's the chorus? Where's the hook? I know him as a singer. I don't get it.' And obviously, 'Il Sogno' is presented to people that want to listen to instrumental music. I don't expect everybody who bought 'Pump It Up' to like this piece. That would be an idiotic conceit. But I know there are people out there who appreciate (it).

"The performances of 'Il Sogno' that have taken place so far, I think, again, once people see something in person, they connect with it much more. I think even people that are not used to hearing an orchestra. When they come ... (and) there's an orchestra right in front of them and this music is coming at them, it can be pretty overwhelming, whatever the music is.

"Having been to Diana's concert (at the Waikiki Shell) — and obviously outdoor concerts are a little bit different, because the sound is more diffuse — we're playing in a concert hall on our visit. And I know the symphony is really good.

"I'll be working with Matt (Catingub). We'll be putting together the program the day before (the shows). We have the suite from 'Il Sogno" ... (and) a really good program of songs. It's not exactly the same as (the tracks on) 'My Flame Burns Blue.' It has a couple of those titles and some other songs ... some very well-known songs and a couple of surprises. I think people will get a kick out of it if they come along.

Speaking of the fan base, do you still get a lot of gripes about the fact that you'll likely never do a "My Aim Is True, Too" or "Back in the Armed Forces" — or have they just accepted that, musically, you'll just do whatever you're interested in?

"Well, I don't know how you would possibly know that. Unless you actually go around and ask people personally, how would you know what anybody is thinking?

"I think the bland assumptions that record companies and radio-station programmers make — and even sometimes people that write in the press about music — (are) because they have a limited imagination and think that everybody else does. ...

"People come up to me all the time and say all sorts of things. They'll say, 'You know, I really listened to your music when I was in college.' I'm at that age now where I have people reminiscing about some experience where the music was particularly important to them at a certain time of life.

"I have people come up to me with their children — who are now adults themselves — who were named for the song 'Alison,' and younger kids that were named for the song 'Veronica.' Obviously, music is important, if you do something like that. But it's just as likely that somebody will come up to me and say, 'I really loved that record you made with Burt Bacharach.' ...

"Obviously, the people who are rigid in their thinking and believe that I should make 'Armed Forces, Too' don't want to hear this. But I have people come up to me all the time and say, 'I love "The Juliet Letters" or 'I really like the record that you did with Anne Sofie von Otter.' I know it's not a hugely popular record, but I think we all knew that it wouldn't be a massive success. In terms of classical-music sales, it was a big hit.

"I've now had two Top Five jazz albums, for what it's worth. (Chuckles.) I mean, it's a crazy thing. 'North' was a No. 1 (jazz) record. 'My Flame Burns Blue' was only kept (out of No. 1) by Michael Bublé. Whether you measure a success by those things or not, I know that I did things heart and soul (on) all of the records that I've made. I don't make records for idle reasons.

"I see sometimes a criticism — one that's expressed more stridently in England than it is in America — that I do things to make myself look important. I think that is a conceit of journalists, really. There's so much work that goes into everything that I do. ... I'm not thinking, 'How does this make me look?' I'm thinking, 'Am I enjoying this?' (and) 'Do I really want to do it?' (Laughs.) You don't do something like 'My Flame Burns Blue' to make yourself look clever. Or to write 'Il Sogno.' It's too much work! It's a lot of work. You do it because you love it. And that's why I did it.

"I loved writing ('Il Sogno'). It was a really different experience to hear the music played back for the first time in Bologna (and) to hear it played again by the London Symphony Orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas on the recording. (Also) to hear it performed in a concert hall by the Brooklyn Philharmonic and recently by the Sydney Symphony. And it will be just as exciting to hear the suite played by the Honolulu Symphony. I'll be sitting in the audience, because you hear a different interpretation each time. This music is there for those 50 or more musicians to bring to life.

"And that's something that people who are rigid in their thinking, that think the only sort-of authentic music is rock 'n' roll because it's sort of raw and primal ... they don't understand the raw and primal that's even in notated music.

"This is people breathing and moving their arms and using their physical being to bring a sound into the air that has been imagined by one person. Whether it's timeless or whether it's of huge value, only time will tell.

"I didn't (title) this piece, 'Symphony No. 1.' It is a series of episodes that reflect the scenes in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' so it's playful. It's comedic sometimes. I'm hopeful it's touching. There are some rhythmic surprises in it. And I'm just trying to present a piece of music that will engage people. And then for the rest of the concert I sing, which is what I'm more readily known for."

You mentioned that you've never made a decision on what to record that was half-hearted, that you've entered each project with a passion for it. Are you enjoying your work — both live and in the studio — more than you ever have?

"I'm having a ball! I mean, I tell you, you would not believe the work I've done in the last month.

"I'm here at Sirius Radio, where I've just done a radio taping of some of the songs from my next record 'The River In Reverse,' (which) I've (been recording) with (New Orleans R&B legend) Allen Toussaint since the end of last year. In the last couple of weeks, I've played up at Levon Helm's 'Midnight Ramble,' (live sessions where) Levon is having shows in his house and inviting people up to play. Allen and I went up and played with him.

"Diana and I went to Tony Bennett's studio and recorded a track each for his 80th (birthday) celebration record. Then I went and played two nights at the Grand Ole Opry. The following Monday, I played with Allen at Joe's Pub (in New York City) for a launch of 'The River In Reverse.' The following Saturday, I sat in with a band with Levon Helm, Jimmy Vivino and Hubert Sumlin playing Howlin' Wolf songs.

"Monday night, I played with Allen, Robbie Robertson, Buckwheat Zydeco and the Wild Magnolias closing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (induction ceremonies). And last night, I sang two Motown songs on a Motown colon cancer benefit organized by Katie Couric.

"I mean, I'm having a ball.

"That isn't my main job. These are things I get to do because, you know, I've been doing this for a while and people say, 'Give him a call. He might sing a song on this.'

"Pretty soon, I'll be on this tour with the orchestras. And as soon as that is finished, I go on the road with Allen playing with ... the Imposters, his horn section, his guitar player and Allen on piano. We're going to tour for a month and a half."

As a lifelong music fan, do you still get starstruck or a bit nervous playing with a legend like Toussaint?

"Well, I mean, yeah. I'd met Allen before in the '80s, so I did know him a little bit. But I have to say, when I was rehearsing yesterday at this big gala — and there's everybody from Tony Bennett to Sting to the Muppets on the bill and we're all singing Motown songs, and I'm there singing 'Bernadette' — and I look down at the audience and there's Smokey Robinson? Yeah! (Laughs.)

"But he could not have been nicer. And then to hear him sing and hear him rehearse, that's pretty magical."



In addition, there was an interview with Oahu's Midweek Magazine's Chad Pata. It was nice to see Elvis Costello as a cover story in a local publication:

Pops Goes Elvis

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello talks about filming music videos in Hawaii and his weekend appearances with the Honolulu Symphony Pops, his first island concerts


Elvis Costello and the Honolulu Pops? What’s next, Ozzy Osbourne and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

Yes, it’s true, London’s acerbic wit, anti-establishment icon and intellectual yin to the Sex Pistols’ emotional yang is playing the Blaisdell Concert Hall this weekend with the symphony.

It is the second stop on his tour promoting his new album, My Flame Burns Blue, which he recorded with the Dutch orchestra Metropole Orkest. It is a collection of not just classical jazz compositions, but remakes of some of his hits only with a 52-piece backing band.

He has turned Watching the Detectives into a ‘50s television theme song while the formerly innocuous Clubland has been turned into a psychedelic soundtrack for a Latin Merry-Go-Round.

But as fun as those songs are, he perhaps strikes home best with the opening track Hora Decubitus. The music belongs to Charles Mingus, but the lyrics were penned by Costello in the hours after the 9/11 attacks. His staccato delivery really captures the racing that all our minds and emotions endured as we processed the events of that day.

These tracks and others will be featured in the second half of his show, while the first half will be the symphony performing Costello’s classical composition Il Sogno, which he wrote for an Italian dance company’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He will follow up his two-day stint here with a Sunday show on Maui featuring just Costello and his pianist Steve Nieve, which he says will be much more free form than the stringent structure of the symphony.

Despite his new formal style, his ideals and thoughts on music and politics have not softened a bit. While in New York he took the time to talk with MidWeek about his new show and his thoughts on everything from Hurricane Katrina to American pop culture:

You have been playing music for over a quarter century and been to Hawaii countless times. Why is this the first show in the Islands?

To be honest, we’ve never had an invitation before. It is really unusual that the first opportunity I get to play here is with the symphony. I always imagined I would have gotten here with the rock ‘n’roll band before now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t come back and do that as well.

Yet you have filmed a couple of your earlier music videos here. Why Hawaii?

It chose itself. Hawaii was the stopover from a Canadian tour on the way to a Japanese tour, and it seemed like a golden opportunity. At a time when everyone was getting filmed against a wall or down an alley, we could get filmed on a beach. It was a tribute to health.

This concert is with the Honolulu Pops. How did you start getting into more classical and orchestral music?

I made a record a few years back with Burt Bacharach called Painted from Memory , which had some ballads with string accompaniments. So he really shepherded me in that direction, but I’ve always enjoyed orchestral sounds. Even a rock ‘n’roll group is a little orchestra of its own; you can make a surprising amount of sound with just four people.

The good thing about the concert is that some people will come see the symphony who don’t normally come see them play because

I am on the bill, so it will be something of a new experience for them.

How do you think your fans are going to react to this new style of music for you?

I think people tend to connect with instrumental music much more in person than they do on a record, ‘cause then you really get the feel of what’s going into it.

You see the personality of the individual players, you see how they are making this thing happen, this magical thing of all these people playing together. The emphasis of when it’s a quiet moment, it’s as quiet as it can be, and when the power of the orchestra is fully heard, it’s as strong as anything you can create with an electric guitar.

Will we be hearing anything off of Armed Forces, or will it all be more recent compositions?

You may get one tune that goes back further than that. Now obviously we don’t play with a drummer and an electric guitar. This isn’t one of those shows with a symphony backing a rock band. That ain’t what it is. It’s me singing with the orchestra.

So it’s not like Queen performing?

It ain’t Queen -Queen it ain’t. It’s not at all like those sort of concerts where you have the symphony somewhere in the middle distance and the rock band up front. This is all about the orchestra and the singer with the orchestra. There will be more ballads than rock ‘n’ roll because it would be foolish of me to try to make the orchestra do something that the orchestra is not meant to do.

I think people who come to the concert are very surprised by the immediacy of it. If your reference points for the music are with the rock ‘n’ roll band or pop music, sometimes people get a little fearful of the orchestra. They think it will be very serious and something that they cannot dig. But I think the reality is it is actually very easy to understand what is happening when you are there and it is all happening in front of you.

What I like about these concerts is you get half an audience that is new to me and half an audience that is new to the orchestra. If we bind the two audiences, there is quite a mix of things.

Are you going to be playing any instruments for the show?

I may play guitar on occasion. Steve Nieve will be with me, so he’ll be playing the piano. I don’t think anyone there to see the symphony orchestra needs to hear me play the piano. I can play some accompaniments, but I don’t play many piano concertos.

The new album (to be released in May), The River In Reverse, is a collaboration with legendary New Orleans artist Allen Toussaint about the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina. Is it a criticism of the present administration or is it a plea for the people who have been displaced?

Well, there are some words said; I ain’t going tell you what the songs say because you need to hear them with the music to get the real feeling of them. There are some songs he wrote 30 years ago, one he wrote for Lee Dorsey called Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further, that as you can tell by the title has something to say about what is going on. Inevitably some things that we wrote reflected some of the things that Al had been through and we’d all witnessed, and none of those things was particularly good. That wasn’t a lot to say that was good about many of the authorities that were supposed to help people, but this song of Allen’s, he says things with a wit that I really admire. The song says “What happened to the Liberty Bell I heard so much about/Did it really ding dong/It must have dinged wrong/It didn’t ding long.” He wrote that 30 years ago and it’s a shame that it seems to have found its moment now.

I’ve always enjoyed the social commentary in your songs - what is your take on present-day America with its obsession with celebrity and reality shows?

I don’t have a comment on it because I don’t even think about it. If you don’t like that sort of stuff then you are just adding to its power, if that’s the right word, or its ubiquity by talking about it all the time. If you go to any kind of event to do a record or show business event, whether it be a film premiere or a charity event, people will stop and ask you what you think about such-and-such a person who happens to be in the newspapers that week.

They are usually not in the newspapers for having cured a major disease or contributed a whole lot to society. It’s usually for falling out of their dress or getting divorced or getting married on top of an iceberg or something. It’s stuff that we spend a lot of time worrying about that doesn’t really matter, so let’s not talk about it.

With the benefit of time, do you wish you could have been more of a popular success, or do you kind of relish your underground rock god status?

I don’t know how you measure those things. Do you mean do I wish I had my own reality show, do I wish I had sold more records? Sometimes a record you made you wish could have reached a few more people that might have enjoyed it. But I toured with the Imposters last year, and we played a concert in Chicago to 14,000 people. That wasn’t a festival, just a regular gig. And that’s without a hit single or any radio play or anything.

If you measure by awards, I’ve won a bunch of awards. I was nominated for an Oscar (Cold Mountain) and a lot of Grammys. But I wasn’t nominated for anything for 20 years and they missed a lot of good records. But some people who have hits are solely associated with that one hit, and all anybody wants to hear is that one song. I have made all different kinds of records, so I don’t have that restriction. I feel that I am pretty lucky to be able to do whatever it is that takes my interest and follow it through with all of my heart.

Well, thanks for the time. You are kind of an urban fellow, what do you do while you are in Hawaii?

I lay in a hammock. It’s the only time I ever lay in a hammock, and that’s why no one recognizes me, cause I’m not moving. So I’ll see you under a palm tree.




Finally, after two days, Harry Eager of The Maui News reported on the power outage. It put a nice photo similar to one taken by "The Time Machine" on the front page. The paper used the photography of Mana'o Radio's own Tony Novak-Clifford:



Elvis Costello and keyboardist Steve Nieve (left) took their performance outside Sunday after the lights went out in Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Technicians improvised a sound system with a bullhorn.


POWER SHORTAGE: Generators go down so rolling blackouts used, fix due today
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

KAHULUI – Maui Electric Co. had to use rolling blackouts at times Saturday night, Sunday and Monday because of a series of mishaps that knocked out about a quarter of its generating capacity.

Stan Kiyonaga, the utility’s manger of power supply, said Monday afternoon that he expected to get a main unit back in action by about noon today, which should provide MECO with a comfortable but not extravagant reserve.

But the company asked large users to voluntarily curb their power use between the peak hours of 6 to 9 p.m. Monday night, and also asked residents to defer nonessential uses.

On Saturday night, a generating unit at the Maalaea power plant tripped offline and cut off power to most of East Maui, Waihee, Kahakuloa, Spreckelsville, Paia, Makawao, Pukalani and parts of Wailuku. Power was restored gradually, with the final customers getting electricity back in 84 minutes.

The Sunday outages put an unexpected spin on an Elvis Costello concert for about 1,200 people who paid between $38 and $58 each at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Costello and his keyboardist, Steve Nieve, went outside and performed with a jury-rigged microphone and a bullhorn until power was restored.

On Monday, the Sack ’N Save store in Wailuku closed when its turn came up in the rolling blackouts. Also, a blackout closed Foodland Super Market in Pukalani. According to MECO, the outages were spread around randomly to share the inconvenience.

“All of our efforts are focused on bringing needed units back into service. We appreciate the public’s help in conserving electricity this evening,” said Ed Reinhardt, president of Maui Electric, in a message sent out Monday afternoon.

And, he apologized for the inconvenience.

MECO’s problems really began last December, when a 12-megawatt diesel generator threw a connecting rod. The company decided it was worth repairing the considerable damage, but the huge engine won’t be back until the middle of next year.

The loss of a medium-size unit, in itself, is usually unnoticeable by consumers, because the company’s planning – as mandated by the Public Utilities Commission – allows for a total capacity equal to its highest annual peak demand, less its biggest generating unit.

This allows not only for accidents but for withdrawing any unit for maintenance without compromising the ability to supply all customers.

Starting Saturday, however, MECO ended up with four units out of service all at once, and by Sunday it also had lost the electricity it buys from Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.

Not counting the HC&S contribution – which is usually a minimum of 12 megawatts but can be more – MECO’s various generators at Maalaea and Kahului are rated at 234.1 megawatts.

Losing the 12-megawatt diesel knocked that down to 222.1 megawatts, still plenty.

But on Saturday, a failing bearing knocked out Unit M14 at Maalaea, one of MECO’s biggest units at 20 megawatts. M14 is part of a combined cycle unit that links two 20-megawatt turbines from which waste heat then drives a 9-megawatt steam generator.

So losing M14 cost Maui Electric 29 megawatts. (The companion turbine kept going.)

Almost simultaneously, a smaller unit at Kahului dropped off the grid, and another unit already was out of service for scheduled maintenance.

As a result, on Monday afternoon MECO had only 174.1 megawatts of generating capacity working, and estimates were that peak demand in the evening would perhaps reach 195 megawatts.

Even if HC&S had been able to supply its maximum – which it wasn’t – the utility was looking to fall short. Thus, Kiyonaga said, MECO “had to roll some circuits” – that is, deprive some areas of electricity in order to keep the whole system from crashing.

At least five circuits at a time have to be taken off line, to prevent frequency gyrations from destabilizing the whole power grid.

The circuits are chosen at random, although some circuits are exempt, like the one serving Maui Memorial Medical Center.

That meant that at about 8 p.m. Sunday the MACC crowd was suddenly watching the show in semidarkness.

Barbara Trecker, MACC director of marketing, said Makana, a Hawaiian slack key guitarist, had just completed his opening act.

The theater went to its emergency backup power. Costello and Nieve performed four songs, Trecker said. Then, not knowing how long the emergency lights would stay on and not wanting such a large number of people in complete darkness, the crowd was asked to go outside to the courtyard where center staff jury-rigged a microphone using a bullhorn, and Costello performed the song, “Watching the Detective.”

“The guy was such a trouper,” Trecker said. “He did it all.”

Then, the lights came back on in the middle of the song, or about 45 minutes after the initial blackout, she said.

“It was terrific,” Trecker said.

Costello then returned to the Castle Theater to finish the concert.

“Elvis left the building, but he came back,” she said. “The audience was stoked. . . . He was a consummate artist. The show went on, and he did an awesome job.”

On Monday afternoon, MECO was again “rolling” power off around the island.

Outages were typically short, although on Saturday some areas were without electricity for more than an hour.

Kiyonaga said Monday that it appeared that a bearing in M14 had started “flaking.” The bits of metal clogged a circulating oil strainer, and a sensor detected a pressure differential and shut the unit down Saturday evening.

MECO has four of the 20-megawatt units – similar in size and origin to the engine on a jet airliner – and for the past couple of years it has kept a spare on hand.

“It’s expensive,” says Kiyonaga, “but it’s worth it for the reliability.”

Ordinarily, the spare is installed when one of the regular units is removed for periodic overhaul, which is done at a certified depot on the Mainland.

M14 was the first of the turbines installed at Maalaea, in 1990.

Steve Holaday, general manager of HC&S, said Monday that his problems were independent of MECO’s. HC&S had equipment failures Sunday night and again Monday morning.

HC&S was able to start delivering its normal 12 megawatts shortly before 4 p.m. Monday and was preparing to deliver even more by the evening peak.

HC&S was in a position to deliver almost all its electricity to MECO, because the rains of the past few days had halted harvesting. As a result, the Puunene mill was shut down.

HC&S planned to resume harvesting and grinding today.






Elvis Costello's Official Website