Costello Honored by Composers
Elvis Costello will receive the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers’ Founders Award at the organization’s annual
Pop Music Awards on May 20th in Beverly Hills, California. Costello
joins fellow recipients including Quincy Jones, Tom Waits, Billy
Joel, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Stephen Sondheim, and duos Burt
Bacharach and Hal David, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller.
The ASCAP award is Costello’s second big industry recognition of
2003. Last month he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. Though he cut his teeth as one of rock’s angry young men, the
forty-seven-year-old Costello has tempered that fire somewhat in
light of recent honors. “Friends have been absolutely so thrilled
for me,” he told Rolling Stone. “And that has changed my
mind from my natural disposition of the Groucho Marx view of clubs
towards one where I think if people are good enough to invite us to
a party it would be churlish and rude of us to decline. The other
side of it is it’s just some people saying so — it doesn’t make
you better than everybody else.”
In other Costello news, the singer-songwriter will hit the road
with his backing band, the Imposters, in July. Six dates have been
lined up so far starting with a July 2nd stop in Toronto.
Elvis Costello tour dates:
7/2: Toronto, Hummingbird Center
7/11: New York, Central Park SummerStage
7/12: Boston, FleetBoston Pavilion
7/13: Gilford, NH, Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts Center
7/15: Sterling Heights, MI, Freedom Hill Amphitheater
7/23: Edmonton, ALB, Jubilee Auditorium