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The most exciting shmooze this week is that Bob Dylan attended a recent X gig in California. He was so impressed by the show he hunted down the apartment room where X's songwriters Exene Cervenka and John Doe were staying. Apparently the three talked about songwriting for some time, and Dylan expressed how taken he was with X guitarist Billy Zoom's playing.
Couple that with Dylan's reported retreat from born-againdom and his interest in the Clash, and suddenly his future seems a lot more interesting.
Barring whatever might happen next for Dylan, there is nobody in pop music with as much open ground before him as Elvis Costello. Who can guess what his next album will sound like? It's not that Costello is particularly likely to vault in a new direction. But there is nobody making vital music right now who has taken advantage of so many possibilities — and left so many available doors open.
Playing just over a week ago at Rochester's Auditorium Theater, Costello and his back-up band, the Attractions, were indefatigably fierce. On his last tour Costello acted as if he was settling up old scores on stage. He was ferocious but also unfocused. His hostility didn't cut cleanly like a knife; it bludgeoned even the devotees. In Rochester he was wary, but deep-down he just wanted to deliver.
Costello is the most thrilling and farsighted pop music figure to come around in at least 10 years. I'd say he has become as indispensable to rock 'n' roll as Sly Stone or Buddy Holly or Bruce Springsteen. And it's indicative of the moment that someone with such a knack for writing knowing, irresistible songs relegates himself and is relegated if not to pop music's Siberia, at least far from the center of attention.
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