I cannot, I repeat, can NOT get enough of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with” on the Sundance channel. Seriously. Some of the greatest artists and songwriters of the past one hundred years talking about what gets them off? Who inspires them? How they write? Why they write? What makes them get up everyday and pour themselves out onto everything from lined paper to cocktail napkins to old postcards? Sign. Me. Up.
This is perhaps the greatest premise for a show in the last 50 years.
And Elvis Costello. Oh, Elvis. I must admit, I was not much of a fan of yours before this show. I knew you were out there. I knew “Alison.” And I respected you for your body of work. But now I’ve come to most certainly dig you as an artist.
When Elvis’ subjects join him on stage, he is simply another one of their fans. His ego is entirely removed as he serves as a divining rod, drawing them out. He’s part shepherd and part ringleader, but entirely genuine and absurdly hip. He not only appreciates, he relates. These artists —some of which have attained godlike status— all of the sudden appear human. From Bono to Sir Elton John to Tony Bennett. They are just regular people with something to say. They just happen to have brilliant ideas and convey them in ways that others can’t.
And this show is all about sharing these ideas, these methods, these blips of inspiration and thought that have resulted in some of the most cherished ornaments of our lives.
I could go on, I suppose, but I don’t want to belabor the point: this. show. rules.
If you are an artist or merely and appreciator. If you want to get closer to genius, you must watch this show. Because I think that’s why we watch. Not everyone among us is capable of creating great works. Good works, perhaps. But not great works. (I’ve accepted that fact :) But that’s why we love the people we love. And, let’s admit it: we love them. We soak up every bit of an artist at times. We long to learn about their process. We want to collect their thoughts, from the mundane to the magnificent, in a beat-up cigar box and sift through them like old photographs. Because it is through these ideas that we become greater ourselves.
There is a ripple effect. Actually, it’s more like a tidal wave. Creation begets creation. Inspiration is contagious if we let ourselves be vulnerable to it. So we go to the source and fill our bucket with as much as it will hold. It sustains us and makes us human, while at the same time helping us feel something a bit more. And we do our part and pass it on.
So let me do my part and pass on the moments of this show that stood out to me. These are moments that left me agape and made me want to write. Those are some of the best moments we can experience.
Jesse Winchester, “Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding”
(At 3:12 of this clip, notice the closeup on Neko Case, as a single tear streams down her cheek. Awesome.)
Ron Sexsmith, covering Costello’s own “Everyday I Write the Book”
(Since I played a Tom Waits song once with Ron Sexsmith, does it now mean that I have somehow jammed with Elvis Costello? No? Oh well.)
Tony Bennett, singing “The Way You Look Tonight” by Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern, with Bill Charlap on piano.
(Oh to play like Bill, sing like Tony, and write like Jerome.)
Bono and The Edge, “Stay (Faraway, So Close)”
(I’ve never been much of a U2 fan, but this performance is wonderful.)
Elvis & Smokey Robinson singing Smokey’s “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”
Elvis & Lou Reed singing Reed’s “Perfect Day”
Herbie Hancock, “Watermelon Man”
Diana Krall singing Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”
(This song is so painfully intimate. Joni’s mix of the conversational with the metaphorical leaves a lump in my throat the size of Texas.)
And there are oh so many more. I have not made my way through the entirety of season two yet. Performances by the likes of Richard Thompson, Lyle Lovett, and the Boss await.
