Elizabeth Nelson is the lead singer and songwriter of The Paranoid Style. In addition to serving her duties as a bandleader, she writes about music for publications such as The Ringer, Oxford American, Lawyers Guns & Money, and Pitchfork (including a recent piece on Dylan’s Desire) as well as operating an iconic Twitter account madeContinue reading “Interview with Elizabeth Nelson of The Paranoid Style”
Tag Archives: Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello at the Gramercy Theater – February 10, 2023
On February 10, 2023, Elvis Costello performed a concert in which a Declan MacManus performance broke out. When the ten show residency at the Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan was announced, Costello promised to perform 100 different songs from his catalog across the ten nights, with ten songs selected beforehand by Costello to help “each night…tellContinue reading “Elvis Costello at the Gramercy Theater – February 10, 2023”
(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding
In Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke advises the following: “Irony: Do not let yourself be governed by it, especially not in uncreative moments. In creative moments try to make use of it as one more means of grasping life. Cleanly used, it too is clean, and one need not be ashamed ofContinue reading “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding”
Stations of the Cross
Every year on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, many observers in the Western Christian faith engage in a practice called the Stations of the Cross, a 14-step devotion observing Jesus’s last days as part of the Passion of Christ. The Stations of the Cross: “are commonly used as a mini pilgrimage as the individual movesContinue reading “Stations of the Cross”
Country Darkness
It all starts with sweet tea, Sweet Tea Recording Studio in Oxford, Mississippi, to be more precise. In 2004, Elvis Costello once again teamed up with his backing band The Imposters and recorded the album The Delivery Man at Sweet Tea. Armed with a batch of new songs, Costello was yearning to make another rockContinue reading “Country Darkness”
The Delivery Man
Once upon a time, in a log cabin in the American South, there lived a woman who was charmed by three figures: Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Santa Claus. Each offered a different variation of mythological masculinity. This woman’s devotion to Jesus, Elvis, and Santa Claus was exhibited by all manners of collectibles which wereContinue reading “The Delivery Man”
Alibi
In 1950, the movie In a Lonely Place was released, directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. Produced by Bogart’s production company, the film is a dark story about a screenwriter “Dix” (played by Bogart) with a brutal and nasty temper who is accused of murder. A lonely neighbor “Laurel” (portrayedContinue reading “Alibi”
When I Was Cruel No. 2
Following the release of My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello received the print version of a coming out party with the help of writer Nick Kent in the August 27, 1977 edition of New Musical Express. In the feature, Costello said the following: “The only two things that matter to me, the only motivation pointsContinue reading “When I Was Cruel No. 2”
My Dark Life
In fall 1995, Elvis Costello was on a break recording music with his soon-to-be-broken-up backing band The Attractions for the eventual album All This Useless Beauty. As detailed in these two previous posts on Recliner Notes, the songs on All This Useless Beauty are filled with darkness, seeped in self-reflection considering the function of artContinue reading “My Dark Life”
Poor Fractured Atlas
In the beginning of D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths, there is an account of how Zeus became “lord of the universe” by defeating the Titans who revolted against him and Zeus’s claim of dominion over them. In the wake of Zeus’s triumph, he punished various Titans for their participation in the insurgency. One sentence wasContinue reading “Poor Fractured Atlas”
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