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Jazz couldn't do this without being accused of descending into lounge music. But Elvis Costello can wallow in cheese, and somehow the rock and roll maintains its integrity.
Elvis Costello & the Imposters arrived at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival in a retro mood. At selected stops on this tour, including Friday's sold-out show at Eastman Theatre, the band has been using the "Spectacular Spinning Songbook," a gimmick seemingly drawn from an underfunded local TV show of years ago.
Cheesy? Yes, but forgivably so. The set was a collision of tenuously related '60s pop culture. A two-stool family-room bar, compete with a pair of cocktail glasses filled with a bright blue drink. A giant television backdrop with a color test pattern. A small TV with static on the bar. (Do today's cable-ready kids even recognize a test pattern or static?) Completing the ensemble, a go-go girl dancing cage. Despite the rumor we were circulating that it was for Diana Krall, it was actually for a woman sporting peace-sign earrings.
The set was dominated by the wheel, with slots for 36 song titles and four Jokers. Spin the wheel, and the band plays the song that it lands on. After a short introductory set of work-up-a-sweat rock that included "Mystery Dance," Costello went to work as the carnival barker, setting aside his straw fedora in favor of a top hat and cane. "My name is Napoleon Dynamite!" he lied.
Costello turned a spotlight on the audience, searching for a volunteer. Up came a barefoot woman named Susie. "These people's enjoyment of the next five minutes is entirely in your hands," Costello announced as she spun the wheel. It stopped on a Joker. That meant Susie got to pick any of the songs; she wisely chose "Everyday I Write the Book," and was prompted to dance in the cage while the band played. Sorry, Susie, but you looked like you've been in that cage before.
Next up, a couple of guys from the local band Sports, who had brought a gift for Costello: a vinyl copy of their record. Their spin landed on a slot mysteriously labeled "King's Ransom," and Costello instructed them to spin again. Costello returned to that one a few minutes later. "King's Ransom" turned out to be a righteously rocking, cynical set of songs from his latest album, National Ransom. He may be an Englishman living in Canada — he's married to Krall — but he's really worried about the health of our nation.
Back to the Sports men. They spun again, and Costello gave the wheel a few nudges. "If I can't cheat in Rochester, where can I cheat?" he explained. This slot was labeled "Detectives vs. Hoover Factory," audience-participation time. How many people wanted the band to play "Hoover Factory?" Big cheer, including the Sports guys. How about "Watching the Detectives?" HUGE cheer. "Let's play both," Costello said. And they did.
The Sports guys sat at the bar for "Hoover Factory," sipping the blue drinks and singing along. But for "Watching the Detectives" they were sent to the cage to dance together, which this morning they may find very difficult to live down. Or maybe not. It's the 21st century.
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