Miami Herald, August 3, 1984

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Elvis Costello — There's only one Elvis for me


Mike Wilson

True confessions of an Elvis Costellohead

The Attractions will play "Accidents Will Happen" (their usual opening number) at about 10 tonight at the Sunrise Musical Theatre, and I'll be there, undrugged but intoxicated, wearing $45 custom-made black-frame glasses and baying in animal appreciation for the band and its leader, the former computer programmer, the Cole Porter of the '80s, the King (God save him) of rock 'n' roll: Elvis Costello.

"Oh, I just don't know where to begin!," Elvis will cry in that inimitable British voice, and before the song is over I'll be hypnotized, transfixed, lost in the bass and the drums and the piano and the electric guitar and the lyrics.

"I don't want to hear it 'cause I know what I've done!," Elvis will yell, and I'll yell too: Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!

I'm obsessed with Elvis Costello, yes sir. I once spent $250 to fly to New York for an Elvis concert. The (expired) license plate on my (expired) 1974 Opel Manta reads ELVISC.

I have memorized virtually all the words to Elvis' 150 or so original songs. I would have named my Cocker Spaniel puppy Elvis, but I'm saving the name for my first-born son (or daughter).

More: A framed color photograph of Elvis sits atop one of my stereo speakers. I own each of Elvis' 10 Columbia albums and several more privately recorded "bootleg" discs. I wear custom-made Elvis-style sunglasses when I drive; they make me look hideous and feel fabulous. I became an Elvis Costellohead in 1979, when I was a college freshman. In early fall, my roommate (a short, stocky audiophile who owned a zillion records) played his copy of My Aim Is True, Elvis' first album.

"This album is great, great!" I cackled. In at least three songs on My Aim Is True, Elvis' lover dumps him for someone else. I was a recently jilted lover. The songs dizzied me, awed me.

And who wouldn't have been awed? Elvis — only 22 when My Aim Is True was released in 1977 — earned a reputation as a brilliant lyricist almost overnight. In "Watching the Detectives," he sings: "Nice girls, not one with a defect / cellophane shrink-wrapped so correct / Red dogs under illegal legs / She looks so good that he gets down and begs."

The line that hooked me was from "Red Shoes:" "I said 'I'm so happy I could die' / she said 'drop dead' then left with another guy." And in a later tune he would sing of love: "given away like motel matches."

His strange, intriguing, bitter imagery won him a small but loyal group of fans. (To this day, more listeners are captivated by his words than by his guitar licks.) Critics compared Elvis to Buddy Holly (whom he looked like) and Elvis Presley (from whom he borrowed a name) and awaited his first U.S. tour.

Elvis — born Declan Patrick MacManus, the son of British club musician Ross MacManus — toured the U.S. for the first time in the late '70s. He despised Americans. Once, at a concert in Princeton, N.J., he stopped playing after 20 minutes because the audience refused to sit down. He turned off half his amplifiers, played two or three more songs, waved his middle finger at the crowd and stalked off.

The Cole Porter of the '80s — the New York Times called him that — had warmed to U.S. audiences by February 1981 when I saw him perform at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. He played almost every song from his newly released album, Trust, and to our delight he played "Alison," which he had rarely performed in concert.

(I spent that afternoon phoning Boston hotels and asking for Mr. Costello's room. No luck.)

I have seen Elvis perform four times in four different arenas since the Boston concert. On Dec. 31, 1981, at the Palladium in New York City, my pal Bob and I paid $29.50 apiece to see him perform songs from his country music album, Almost Blue. We agree it was the best musical performance in the history of civilization.

(Three months later, I bought a $1,400 used Opel and named it Elvis. I had already named my guitar Oliver — after Elvis' 1979 song "Oliver's Army." "You can't name everything," a friend told me. Wrong. Last year, I named my Yamaha motorcycle Declan Patrick MacManus.)

In 1982, I saw Elvis perform twice in five days — once at the Cape Cod Coliseum and once at the Forest Hills Tennis Club in New York. For the latter show, Bob and I drove five hours in a beat-up Volare and paid an usher $10 apiece for (slightly) better seats. Elvis played almost every song from his newly released album, Imperial Bedroom. Bob and I agree it was the best musical performance in the history of civilization.

I last saw the King perform four months ago, in New York. Bob met me at the airport in Newark at 4 a.m. Saturday, April 14. The next evening, we drove uptown for the concert.

Bob's brother — bless him — had bought tickets for the sold-out performance from a New Jersey scalper. We paid $50 apiece to sit in the fifth row, and we considered it a bargain. Elvis — performing without the Attractions — played almost every song from Punch the Clock, a terribly under-appreciated album.

Tonight I will see Elvis perform for the sixth time, bound to be the best musical performance in the history of civilization. After the show, I'll try to talk my way backstage for an audience with the King. I probably won't make it. I won't have a press pass because The Herald — wisely, I think — has not assigned me to review the concert. It would be like assigning a 5-year-old to review Christmas.


Tags: Sunrise Musical TheatreSunriseFloridaThe AttractionsAccidents Will HappenCole PorterNew York TimesMy Aim Is TrueWatching The Detectives(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red ShoesMotel MatchesBuddy HollyElvis PresleyDeclan MacManusRoss MacManusOrpheum TheatreBostonTrustAlisonPalladiumNew YorkAlmost BlueOliver's ArmyCape Cod ColiseumForest Hills StadiumImperial BedroomPunch The Clock


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Miami Herald, August 3, 1984


Mike Wilson previews Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Friday, August 3, 1984, Sunrise Musical Theatre, Sunrise, Florida.

Images

1984-08-03 Miami Herald page 1C clipping 01.jpg
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1984-08-03 Miami Herald page 2C clipping 01.jpg


Page scans.
1984-08-03 Miami Herald page 1C.jpg 1984-08-03 Miami Herald page 2C.jpg 1984-08-03 Miami Herald page 12C.jpg



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