"Sundance Channel will premiere the second season of its critically acclaimed music/talk original series "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 10:00pm et/pt. "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." combines the best elements of talk and music television and lets viewers in on intimate conversation and performance with host Costello and his guests ranging from legendary performers to promising new artists...

"We're thrilled to launch a second season of 'Spectacle' on Sundance Channel," said Sundance Channel EVP and GM, Sarah Barnett. "The series offers viewers unprecedented access to artists through its mix of candid conversations and exciting musical performances. This season's A-list line-up is a testament to the level of respect that artists feel for Elvis Costello as a musician and entertainer."

"I am delighted that we can continue where we left off--making intelligent, and informative music programming," said Sir Elton John, one of the series' executive producers.

Elvis Costello commented: "In the words of the great Joe Strummer, 'Let's Rock again!'""

Meanwhile, the first season of Spectacle is coming out on DVD ("in standard DVD and Blu-Ray formats"). And to promote that, Elvis will be appearing at Barnes & Noble Tribeca on Tuesday, November 17th, which is the same day the DVD is released. "Fans will have the opportunity to meet Elvis Costello and get their DVD or Blu- Ray copy signed by him." I guess no performance. His only upcoming date at the moment is Wilkes Community College's MerleFest in North Carolina on May 1, 2010.

A clip of Elvis talking to Smokey Robinson, below...

Continue reading "Elvis Costello's appearing at Barnes & Noble on Spectacle DVD release day, season two of TV show premieres in Dec"

Elvis Costello @ Bonnaroo 2009 (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH... fuses the best elements of talk and music television and invites viewers to enjoy an intimate conversation between host Costello and his guests, punctuated by rare musical performances by Costello, his guests and a wide variety of musicians.

Sundance Channel in the US, along with CTV in Canada have picked up the show for a second season, with taping scheduled at New York City's famed Apollo Theatre at the end of September.

Dates, lineups, and ticket info below....

Continue reading "Elvis Costello taping 2nd season Spectacle shows @ the Apollo - get tix (Neko Case, Levon Helm, Ray Lamontagne...)"

"Modern day renaissance woman Melissa Auf der Maur will be screening Out Of Our Minds, her short film in collaboration with filmmaker Tony Stone, at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Auf der Maur, whose impressive résumé includes stints as the bass player for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins, is a celebrated solo musician and an accomplished photographer whose work has appeared in exhibitions and publications worldwide.

Out Of Our Minds is a multimedia concept album three years in the making which incorporates an album, film, comic and website - all to be unveiled in full later this year. The film portion of this impressive body of work was accepted to the Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier Program.

Three time periods, one connection: Blood. The central characters are a woman (Melissa Auf der Maur) and her car. The 28-minute film follows her in a strange ritual that climaxes in a collision between past and future, crashing through the gateway to parallel worlds in the same forest. A fantasy world where a Viking heart, a car crash and a bleeding forest connect. Using music rather than dialogue, the film tells a universal tale in striking optics. Borrowed from mythology, the Hunt for the Heart is the eternal quest envisioned in Out Of Our Minds. Conceived by musician Melissa Auf der Maur and birthed by Filmmaker Tony Stone (Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America) this mini epic is proudly self-produced and shot in HD fuelled by solar power.

You can watch the trailer HERE.

The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 15 - 25, 2009 in Park City, Utah.

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In a partnership with Apple's iTunes Music Store, Sundance and Shorts International have announced today that they will make available 10 short films selected to screen during the film festival as free (yup, free) downloads via their online media store (available in the US, UK and Canada only). The offer will only be available starting today through January 25, so film geeks should act now. [MTV]

The Salt Lake City Tribune has a list of music events going on during the festival including the daily ASCAP Music Cafe featuring performances by people like Damien Rice and Birdmonster, an Adele concert, and more.

Salt Lake Weekly says, "Two of the potentially biggest films in this year's festival are about music: the first-ever documentary about The Doors, When You're Strange, and Spike Lee's film version of Stew's Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. The role of music in film gets examined, as music publishing organization BMI is sponsoring a roundtable discussion Jan. 21 on "Music and Film: the Creative Process" with names like George Clinton and Duncan Sheik scheduled to partake.", and "Some of the biggest acts outside the auspices of the Sundance fest, at least in the hip-hop universe, are at Harry O's, considered by many to be the hip place to hang on Main Street, with top acts like Nelly and T.I. appearing."

Jenny Lewis "with special guest Elvis Costello" (he sings the song on her album too) played Letterman last night (Nov 3). David introduced them while holding up the giant sheet of acid, but after they performed their song, Jenny was nowhere to be found and Elvis in turn became the next interviewed guest. They mostly discussed Elvis' new talk show. Elvis said 13 episodes are taped and ready to go (and implied there wouldn't be more than that if the show which debuts on the Sundance Channel on December 3rd is not successful). David seemed sincerely interested from the "you're doing what I do, but different" point of view. Johnathan Rice was also there playing guitar and singing backup. Video of the musical performance below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello on Letterman (video)"

The ever-mutating Elvis Costello shifts gears once again by hosting a new talk show for Sundance Channel.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..., unveiled Thursday, will combine live performances with musician shop talk as Lou Reed, Elton John, Tony Bennett and other guests go deep on the subject of influences and inspirations.

"I'm not trying to dig up dark secrets," Costello told journalists gathered for the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Instead, he said he hopes to "ask questions that these people haven't been asked a million times before." [Wired]

Spectacle debuts Dec. 3. Elvis Costello plays Jones Beach with The Police tonight (August 4, 2008) and tomorrow.