A few weeks ago I started seeing rave reviews for the then-upcoming season 2 of “Spectacle – Elvis Costello with …” Season 1 seems to have slipped by me and a whole lot of other people, but lots of fanfare for this year. I set my DVR to record the series, but did not get around to watching the first episode until a few days ago. I’m now a rabid fan. While I always respected Costello’s work, it never really moved me. But, in his role as a talented host with tons of lore to share with his guests, he is compelling.
The first show was with Bono and Edge from U2. I’ve been a U2 fan since I first saw then on the Live Aids world-wide telecast in the mid-eighties. I saw them live in San Francisco about 20 years ago and they blew me away – one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. (And on June 16th, I, Eileen and my son Jesse will be seeing them in Oakland!) Anyway, they were great with Elvis, all of them sharing stories from there respective beginnings and eventual “path-crossings.”
The second show cemented my new-found zeal: Jesse Winchester, Neko Case, Sheryl Crow, and Ron Sexsmith. As expected, the latter three were all wonderful, but I want to talk about Jesse Winchester, my own son being his namesake.
After getting his draft notice in 1967 he fled to Canada, refusing to take part in the Vietnam war. In 1969 he met Robbie Robertson of “The Band” who helped him record his first album released in 1970. Many consider that first album to be a masterpiece with songs like “Yankee Lady” and “Brand New Tennessee Waltz” among many great compositions. (Bernie Taupin once said that his big regret was that he did not write “Brand New Tennessee Waltz.”) Jesse lost a lot of his recording career because of his sojourn in Canada, but finally returned for concerts and recording sessions under the amnesty program. I consider Jesse Winchester to be one of the greatest songwriters alive today, and that is why is was a true joy to see and hear him on Elvis’ show.
They started the show with Elvis powering into “Payday” one of Jesse’s great upbeat compositions and eventually Jesse did a solo performance of a ballad from his new album that I had not heard yet. It was stunning, in fact so much so that Neko Case, who was sitting right next to him had tears running down her face near the end. Wow!
I could go on and on about Jesse and his songs, but let me just say that if you have not heard his work, by all means check it out. I’m so glad he is still on the planet with all of us, and still writing and singing fantastic songs. Oh, and check out the Spectacle show with Elvis on the Sundance Channel.
~ Tom
2 comments:
Here are some pretty cool videos from Spectacle Season 2. Really good stuff! http://www.sundancechannel.com/spectacle/
I've been digging this show since its inception (and feel the same about Costello as you do, though I met him once and he was so disarmingly regular it made me reconsider my general disinterest in much of his work despite close friends' loving it) and saw the Bono/Edge show but missed the other you talk about. You know I dig Winchester since that first LP was on all the time in our place in DC including when you came to visit. But surprisingly I don't have him on my iTunes in my computer, which is where I listen to music mostly these days, because I never replaced the LP with a CD for some reason so never downloaded it to iTunes. But I'll go get it now. Thanks for reminding me.
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