Wilfrid Laurier University Cord, March 16, 1978

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Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Cord

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Elvis Costello: more than punk;
no less than dangerous


Matt Murphy

"Why don't you tell me about the Mystery Dance
I've tried and I've tried
But I'm still mystified
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied"

It was about 5:00 pm, outside the elite "El Mocambo" on a Monday afternoon, about six hours before anyone would even catch a quick glimpse of the "latest craze," Elvis Costello. The lineup was long; long as a freight train to Vancouver carrying every type of goods imaginable. People murmured that hardly anyone would get in, no matter how long or short the line (even if there was an estimated 1000 people waiting). It was so cold that after an hour and a half, toes started crunching as people jumped around, trying to get some red stuff flowin' in their feet. A gorilla (maninasoot) walks up and down the line, dancin' and playing a mock "Elvis" guitar, while his partner hands out brochures telling one and all to "Catch the heat" and catch "Max Mouse and the Gorillas" latest '45. "Surely," suggests a middle aged gentleman standing on the streetcar bay in the middle of College Street, "The whole world has no sanity left." We didn't get in on Monday night, but after seeing what I did outside of the El Mo. that night, I had to try the next night.

So we walked into the downstairs portion of the bar the following day, at around 1:00 p.m. It looked slightly like the bar scene out of Star Wars: all sorts of creatures of all existences. There were the long haired "Gee, isn't life great" university students with a book pryed into one hand and a beer greased into the other; there were the Toronto freaks who call themselves "punk rock fans": you know, safety pins in the ears, plastic stretch pants on the legs, garbage bags (appropriately) wrapping the torso, as they struggled for a glimpse at their glass to see if they were doing it right or not (Alas, the reflection could not tell). By 3:00 p.m, the place was packed, and the two types of creatures mentioned, laughed at each other and then exchanged dangerous looks back and forth; others just idly talked and tried to ignore the whole situation. None of these people would realize what was really dangerous until they would be ushered upstairs -- in portions, as if seeing Christ himself.

Upstairs, the classiness of the atmosphere and the presence of the stage (as if it was a cross on a hill) spread the atmosphere downstairs into a more subdued, "in waiting" mood. No one could excessively drink, due to the impossible prices.

Elvis and his band ran on to the stage (on time) and broke into the popular "Mystery Dance." Elvis twitched, spat unintentionally, mechanically jerked and glared at the audience as if he was an orangutan in a zoo. The crowd stood in awe, staring back at him not knowing what to do; it was not as they expected: no pins, no real swearing, no blood, no damage ...no punk. Elvis was beyond it. He doesn't recognize the media as a "usable" thing, therefore, what's punk? When asked by the infamous (unfortunately) Ingrid on CHUM-FM, if he was really "up" about playing the place where the Stones had played, he replied without emotion or humour, "Who...?"

Elvis is a young boy who is angry and disgusted about everything he sees around him. He will take no more bullshit, but he won't he violent: he's much too clever for that. Instead, he means to undermine all your taboos and built in brainwashers so that you can put the screws back into your head cleanly, without all that. In the meantime, Elvis brings us back to the roots of rock 'n' roll and what it used to mean to control a bar-room for an hour; no-one would have noticed a raging fire, burning the pub down to the ground. Near the end, there was rarely a table or chair empty and Elvis loved it. He said it was his best show and he'd be back next month at Massey Hall. But never does Elvis Costello smile; some people realize he's quite hysterically broken inside, but to others, Elvis is a very dangerous person.

Five or six, multi-breasted, non-bra-ed, hair swingithed mindlessly discoed wimin dance in front of Elvis buying for his attention, as they know everyone behind them can see them. Elvis never notices them; even when one gorgeous blonde kisses him, he doesn't even register her presence, BUT... when it comes time to use this girl, he does. He belts out his finest reggae tune, "Watching the Detectives" (about housewives living their life in a T.V. until there is little or nothing left of their brain) "She files her nails as they're draggin' the lake." Elvis cast his glare upon her.. "They can't be wounded because they got no heart." He then, without physical action, strikes her to the ground by pointing to her.. "you got no heart." The girl goes on dancing, but vaguely feels that she has been insulted. She mindlessly prances over to Elvis and gives him a push, but he is again no longer in her world. The slight glimmer he has pulled from her destroyed head, is to Elvis, fitting to another song which states, "Sometimes I feel almost like a human being should."

As Jay Scott mentioned in his Monday review of the show, "His lyrics call reality to task for failing to come up with the promised goods. He has come along at exactly the right time to remind us all why we started listening to rock and roll in the first place: because it was honest, and pure, and uncompromising, and defiant and ...dangerous. Not to you of course, but to the people who don't want to understand it."

So he tore the El Mocambo into a shambles: some people understood his album a little more. It was the longest show he had ever done (an hour and five minutes) and the energy was enough to keep my ears, and especially my head buzzing for days afterwards ...still is. "We'd just like to tell you Canada, that we're from England, and we're here to take the country back."

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The Cord Weekly, March 16, 1978


Matt Murphy reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Tuesday, March 7, 1978, El Mocambo, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Images

1978-03-16 Wilfrid Laurier University Cord page 14 clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.


Photographer unknown.
1978-03-16 Wilfrid Laurier University Cord photo 01.jpg


1978-03-16 Wilfrid Laurier University Cord photo 02.jpg


1978-03-16 Wilfrid Laurier University Cord page 14.jpg
Page scan.

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