Get Happy New Year

NEW YORK—It had been 10 months since I last saw Elvis Costello; in between I'd watched him play footsie with Tom Snyder, straight man to George Jones, and come close to a critical/commercial disaster with his bi-annual "no more concerts" rumor. To his credit none of these setbacks harmed his reputation one iota; the ad in the Village Voice invited us to bring in the New Year with Elvis Costello and the Attractions, "Almost Blue Almost 1982" it read. The same day the concert was sold out.