All rise for the King

Turned out that wondering whether or not to stand for Elvis Costello was a good question to ask. As I mentioned the City Hall is all seater, and with the average audience member in their mid 30's folks walked in and took a seat. This turned out to be a good plan for the support act, Chris Difford, who used to be the front man for Squeeze. This too was a good thing, because if he hadn't been able to rely on things like 'Up the Junction', 'Take me I'm Yours' and 'Cool for Cats' he'd have been stuck with his new material, which was pleasant enough but wasn't really going anywhere. Still, he may just have sold me a Squeeze greatest hits compilation somewhere along the line.

So, we were all sat down when Elvis hit the stage, well except for two brave souls who pegged it to the front and stood gazing up at the man. It pretty quickly became clear that they were the ones with the right idea. When the roadies had been setting up they'd brought on a stool, the kind singer songwriters sit on while they strum an acoustic and deliver a song. Not this singer songwriter. He bounded on, saluted the crowd and leathered the hell out of an electric guitar, opening with 'Daddy can I turn This?' from the new album, and following straight up with the much older 'Watching the Detectives'. More followed in the same vein, old hits and new material blending seamlessly.

It was around the third song that I began to realise something. This guy can play. Not in a bashing out the rhythm guitar part while singing kind of way, but in a guitar pounding, soloing, power chord hitting adrenalin charged wall of sound kind of way. 'Spooky Girlfriend' turned into something more Hellraiser than Hitchcock while When I was Cruel developed some extra verses? to fit between the manic guitar playing. This wall of sound approach got ample support from the band with the keyboard player in particular doing his best to match Elvis' hyperactive sound generation.

So, fifty minutes later and he's singing 'Ship Building' to widespread tyneside rapture, steps away from the mike for the last few words just to prove he can sing so loud he doesn't need it and leaves the stage. We're still sitting down. I mean, we want to stand but this is a concert hall and if you stand up in the 25th row you're not going to be popular. So the more adventurous of us pack the aisles down the sides for the encore. There may not be much left, but we're standing for it.

Only there's loads left. Mr Costello has a massive back catalogue of hits and for a while it seems like he wants to play all of it. The rest of the crowd starts to cotton on that the folks on their feet are having a better time of it and finally the whole place is on their feet. "Now you look familiar" he says and turns up the pace. There is the odd break for a ballad - 'Good year for the Roses' and 'Alison' get outings, but by the time he gets round to 'Pump it Up' sparks are flying.

Its at times like this you can't help but wish that folks like Paul Weller hadn't gone all acoustic on us. Elvis Costello has been knocking out pop punk for twenty years and he does it with a verve and style that younger acts can't match cause they haven't had time to practice. They haven't got two hours of material either. So if you get the chance go see the man, lyrical genius, one hell of a singer, and as it turns out he plays a pretty mean electric guitar.

And there'a a million of us just like me

Continuing the theme of providing information about MBA's to the outside world Adrian has started giving overviews of the MBA courses he's doing at Columbia in NYC. Bear in mind he's into his second year, and that he's picked just about every finance option open to him so this may not be a 'representative set' but its certainly useful info if you're thinking of taking an MBA. You can also read about my course options in the 'MBA Courses' section of this site.

Elvis Live(s)

There may not be a lot of gigs on in Newcastle this month (well not ones I want to see) but there is Elvis Costello and the Impostors at the Newcastle City Hall. The man just may be the greatest living English songwriter and his last album was a definite return to form. So since Elvis rocks, but half the songs are if not exactly ballads, certainly slow numbers, and the city hall is all seater do we stand for this or just recline comfortably and soak up the ambience?.

All these questions will be answered tonight.

New Links, New Enthusiasm

As you can see from the left hand side I've added a few links. If you're after info on what an MBA is like Adam has started his, so you can read all about what its like to be starting out at Harvard. By the look of it its a fair bit more corporate than I'm expecting Oxford to be. Meanwhile Adrian, aka Javaboy is getting to grips with his New York Exchange program.

Now all this reading about people in other places getting on with the serious business of aquiring an education has got me working. I've made a start on the pre course reading and have decided that Decision Science (thats stats folks) may well be more fun than I thought. Especially if I can stay on top of the maths long enough to work out what's going on. Accounting however remains dull, still, in the face of all the scandals I am at least starting to appreciate why this stuff is important.

Otherwise I'm chilling out, trying to learn to touch type (getting better) and realising that if more people spent their days listening to Motown records the world would be a better place. I am definately of the opinion that I needed this break before starting a course.

New Material Coming Soon

Now I've got everything running properly again I'll be adding new material. I've had a bit of feedback on the interviews page, and a piece to write on why you shouldn't go using 'professional essay editing services' when applying, and some early thoughts on my reading list and preparation. I've also promised to do some work for a media networking group in Oxford which kind of takes precedence.

Oh, and I can now see the intranet for incoming students, so I know a bit more about my future class.

Got there in the end

Hosting is now sorted, courtesy of the lovely black cat networks. However the release of Medieval Total War may well knacker my attempts at regular bloggage. We'll see.