“Spectacle: Elvis Costello With”

Hooray!!

The new season of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With” debuted last night, and it was a dandy! Haven’t heard of it?? Well, if you’re beginning to tire of sitting through weekly pop music manglings on American Idol, tune in to THIS show, to enjoy some of the most amazing singers and songwriters that have hummed into a kazoo:

http://shows.ctv.ca/SpectacleElvisCostellowith.aspx

Elvis Costello may be the ringmaster of this musical variety show, but the guests make it worth viewing. This season opened last night with Canadian Ron Sexsmith, who I discovered far too late (but not too late) – who has penned some rather impressive hits.

Then there was the ageless Sheryl Crow, who played a couple of acoustic versions of her big hits. And Neko Case strummed out her cover version of a harry Nilsson tune. All darn enjoyable.

But bringing back the memories for me was Jesse Winchester, one of those “slipped- between-the-cracks” artists. I have several of his albums on cassette tape, never updating my digital files with his library of gentle story-telling gems. Man, he was amazing.

I actually saw him live, back in the heyday of his career. He was an ill-advised opening act for The Eagles’ “Hotel California” tour, when it rolled through Winnipeg back in the mid-70’s. Along with The Steve Miller Band (also at a peak in his career), Winchester was pretty much drowned out by a raucous crowd of rockers, waiting for the bigger names. If I remember correctly, he was also upstaged with a walk-on by Winnipeg’s favourite son, Burton Cummings of The Guess Who (again, another artist enjoying international success at that point in time).

Ah, the music biz. Peaks, valleys, and the odd gift of actual entertainment in a “reality TV” world. “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With” – check it out, and treat yourself.

Chow for now!