September 13, 2007

Kevin Costner to perform with his band in Newport Beach
The actor's group, Modern West, is on the bill for Taste of Newport.
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register

Kevin Costner is a movie star and he knows what many of you might think when you hear that he fronts his own rock band now, too.

"I'm not ignorant about what people's perceptions are, and how we stand, because we're a sound-bite world: 'Oh …actor, band …'"

His point in that line – that people are inclined toward skepticism when actors act like rock stars – comes through perfectly clear as he talks by phone from Albuquerque, N.M., from the set of his current film.

"But I'm not even going to deal with that," Costner says. "There's always going to be a curiosity factor, and we know that, and we have to get over that within the first few songs."

Which is exactly what he and his band Modern West expect to do when they play Taste of Newport on Sunday: come on stage and win listeners over with their music, not Costner's fame.

Because, as Costner explains, he's not some rocker-come-lately, seeking to cash in on his fame on the silver screen. Music has always been a part of his life – in church, playing the piano as a kid, in pick-up groups with old friends over the years.

But it was always just a hobby, something to do between films, until about a year-and-a-half ago when his wife Christine encouraged him to do something with the songs he had written.

"It was around the time of 'The Guardian,' and I just wanted to see if it was still fun," he says, describing how he rang up a few of his old casual band mates, John Coinman and Blair Forward, and invited them to start coming over regularly to make music.

"A few months later I said, 'This feels right – let's get a few other players,' " Costner says.

Modern West falls somewhere in the genre of Americana or roots rock, he says, playing almost all original material based on the things they've experienced in different periods of life.

"My family's from Oklahoma, the Dust Bowl, so a lot of our songs kind of inadvertently deal with that," Costner says. "We mention baseball – when we were making 'Field of Dreams' up in Iowa, there's a song called 'Leland, Iowa,' about a town that's just boarded up."

Before the band played its first gigs, those songs had to pass the same kind of scrutiny faced by the film scripts sent to Costner.

"Just like the movies – I have to determine whether a movie's worth making – the music had to pass my judgment first," he says on a break in filming "Swing Vote," a movie scheduled for a 2008 release. "I could be so full of (stuff) and go, 'Oh, I think it's good,' and it's not.

"But I don't want to be a fool in my life – I want to have a healthy exchange."

The exchange, he explains, is that odd sort of interaction that exists between the famous and their fans. And in one sense, getting the band together was a way to make that more meaningful for both Costner and his admirers.

"I go there thinking, 'This is so much better than me just reaching out shaking hands or signing autographs,'" Costner says.

"The real reward is that we've been able to play an hour-and-a-half, and play original music, and not have people walk away," he says.

Taste of Newport seemed like a fun show to squeeze in – he flies out Saturday and back on Sunday night – given all his connections to Orange County: Christine Costner is from Newport Beach, he's a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and there are still enough local ties to make it feel like home, he says.

"I'm really happy to be coming," Costner says. "I'm going to see a lot of friends, and just have a very great time playing music."

Taste of Newport
Where: Newport Center Drive, Fashion Island, Newport Beach.
When: 6-11 p.m. Friday; 4-11 p.m. Saturday; noon-8 p.m. Sunday
How Much: $22 advance, $25 at the gate for Friday and Saturday; $18 for Sunday
Call: 949-729-4400
Online: www.tasteofnewport.com.