Music

Welcome to the "Spectacle Report," a new weekly journal that will delve deeply into the distinguished musical careers of Elvis Costello and his many guests. In these reports, we'll explore the parallels and differences between Elvis and his guests, demystify some of the references dropped during the episodes and discuss some of the emerging themes and artists introduced on the show.

The music of "Spectacle" often crosses genres, bridging the gaps between blues, rock and roll, punk, country, jazz, opera, classical and more. Elvis deftly leads us on this amazing journey, focusing our attention on the many provocative interconnections and pivot points. What is magnified by his trademarked "spectacles" will surprise and enlighten even the most jaded music fans. We hope you'll enjoy the added insights that we will provide here each week in the "Spectacle Report".

Check out this excerpt of Elton John talking about Frank Sinatra for a small taste of what's to come.

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Merle Haggard plays a pivotal role in the evolving definition of country music.

Merle Haggard grew up in the classic American situation. Coming from a lower class family, Merle had to learn to depend on his inner resilience to reach his American Dream. Having some sporadic trouble with the law at an early age, and having spent some time in the San Quentin jail, Merle Haggard had a lot of difficulties making it at first. At one point in his career, he was actually digging ditches to make money for his family. Playing guitar with small music groups finally got him noticed by the right people and his career really began to take off after he signed a record contract with Capitol Records in 1965. His songs started climbing to the top ten list by the late sixties.

Merle continues his feverish pace of song writing throughout his career, even until today. His songs have breached new ground several times through his career, a fact that has led many budding country musicians to take a page from Merle Haggard's song book.

Merle Haggard recently announced a green music tour where he will be using trains exclusively to get to his gig locations. Read more in the story Musical Green Train to Make National Whistle-Stop Tour [www.sundancechannel.com].

If you are so inclined, you can find a more comprehensive biography on CMT [www.cmt.com].

One of the many things that REALLY set New York off is the abundance of live (and FREE), musical events. Between Prospect Park's, Celebrate Brooklyn [briconline.org], Central Park's, Summer Stage [www.summerstage.org], and the MILLIONS of other events, festivals, block parties, and dive bar's, New York City is out of control!

A few weeks back, on a whim, we caught a show at Summer Stage and were blown away by the talent...

Check out this cat, Jose James [josejamesmusic.com], if you haven't already.

With a sound rooted in jazz, blues and soul, accented with today's urban swag, he was a Summer Stage favorite. - and now in constant rotation on our stereo.

I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more from him in the future...

Like what you heard? Here [www.myspace.com] is some more...