Pitchfork

There's a solid chance a good number of us picked up Fearless Records' Punk Goes Metal compilation back in our Warped Tour days. Nowadays, you can watch punk go classical without losing too many cred points.

Come March of 2006, Elvis Costello will embark on an orchestral tour of the U.S., teaming up with symphonies throughout the country to pull it off. The performances will be divided into halves: Segment number one features Costello's full-length orchestral piece "II Sogno", while number two focuses on some good time rock and pop. Intermission will be devoted to bathroom breaks, concession stand lines, and the discussion of when, exactly, Costello became unbearably lame.

Tour dates:

03-27 San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall *
04-13 Houston, TX - Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts #
04-20 North Bethesda, MD - The Music Center at Strathmore ^
04-21 Baltimore, MD - Meyerhoff Symphony Hall ^
04-22 Baltimore, MD - Meyerhoff Symphony Hall ^
05-10 Boston, MA - Symphony Hall &
05-12 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Academy of Music @
05-13 Atlanta, GA - Fox Theatre $

* with San Francisco Symphony
# with Houston Symphony
^ with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
& with Boston Pops
@ with Brooklyn Philharmonic
$ with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Costello has been hard at work on the opera front as well. His first work, "The Secret Arias", is structured around the life of fairy tale author extraordinaire Hans Christian Andersen, specifically zeroing in on his unrequited love for a Swedish singer. Wow! Who knew classic literary figures and Chris Carrabba were so alike? Though Costello recently hit the Copenhagen Opera House for a jam session on ten songs from the piece, the full opera doesn't hit the stage until next year. We'll be playing Bizet's "Carmen" on loop until then... you know, for practice.