Tom Waits

[lark2222]

what's your...favorite song? album? show? film role? how did you first stumble across him??

[DreadedWheat]

Sorry nobody responded to your thread, Larky. I like Tom Waits too.

[ninjaKid]

my roommate left a Tom Waits CD in my car on the way to the Winter Music Conference 2 years ago. it's still in my passenger side door thingie.

-ad

[DreadedWheat]

Yeah, in fact, I made up this pro-tom waits slogan once: "Time waits for no one, but Tom Waits for everyone!"

[/dev/null]

He sang a song on my friend's CD.

[enjoisey]

he makes me drink large amounts of Jack Daniels and chain smoke Pall-Malls.

[etokle]

he's so far ahead of you he's behind you -- about to kick your ass!

-=e=-

[remotecontrolalligator]

Originally posted by etokle
he's so far ahead of you he's behind you -- about to kick your ass!

-=e=-

that is marvelous!

[DreadedWheat]

waynehead, waynehead, the party's just begun!

[Asharak]

I know it sounds lame, but I first heard about Tom Waits from Beavis & Butt-head. As I remember it, they were watching a video of his and Beavis kept screaming about how he could see a turd on the ground behind Waits.

Favorite songs from Tom Waits: "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" and "Big In Japan."

[Mr Majestyk]

My fav is "Shore Leave" from swordfishtrombone. That song creates a certain atmosphere that I like... but which I can't explain...

[hippyjonny]

Has anyone seen the TV program with Tom Waits and John Lurie. It's called Fishing with John. If your a Tom Waits fan you should check it out.

[lark2222]

I just thought I'd start the thread because most of the time people find TW in really interesting ways and/or generally have interesting and intelligent things to say about him. I have to admit I'd never heard of him until I saw 'Smoke', which closes with 'Innocent When You Dream'. After I heard it I went out and bought every album I could get my hands on.

[lark2222]

Originally posted by hippyjonny
Has anyone seen the TV program with Tom Waits and John Lurie. It's called Fishing with John. If your a Tom Waits fan you should check it out.

Where does it run? Is it on video??

[DreadedWheat]

Oh, man. Does he barf? I'd pay good money to see Tom Waits upchuck.

Originally posted by DreadedWheat
Oh, man. Does he barf? I'd pay good money to see Tom Waits upchuck.

Not only does he puke.. he stuffs a fish down his pants.

Tom never writes songs about getting dumped, he writes songs about having to leave someone you love.. It's one of the things that makes his song writting so unique, and powerful...

SuCk0

Thats funny, I was just thinking of Fishing with John. I haven't seen that episode. Some "alternative" video stores carry it.

[frogbelly]

This is on DVD Criterion edition. Great narration too. John Lurie is the shit also.

[lark2222]

So here's a TW coincidence that sort of freaked me out, (and this is true, swear to god)...

For a while I was listening to Rain Dogs almost constantly, and I was really digging "Jockey Full of Bourbon". I kept picturing it over a film opening, and in my head the camera swept down over a run-down little city, through streets, into empty warehouses and back out again, finally circling around and settling on a girl sitting on a packing crate in the middle of a warehouse, crying. I have no idea what the film would be about, I just kept imagining this pretty vivid opening whenever I listened to the song.

About a year later, I rented 'Down By Law' and just about fell out of chair when I saw the opening. It wasn't exactly the same, but close enough to give me chills. And I hadn't seen or heard a thing about Down By Law before that.

Anyway, that's the story. If anyone cares, that is.

[DreadedWheat]

Creepy.

[lark2222]

yup. i think his songs tend to stir up that kind of wierdness, though.

another song i like is johnsburg, illinois. it's, like, 20 seconds long or something but exactly what a love song should be.

[mwt.]

tom waits is the shit. he's got five projects coming out in the next year. the first is a rhino collection called "73-18 used songs." i don't know if it's a best-of or what. there's a listing for it on amazon.com, but all it says, as of right now, is that it'll be released on 10.16. he's also beginning work on the follow-up to "mule variations," which will once again be released on epitaph. something else he's putting together is a b-side and rarities compilation called "the orphan project." i guess that's supposed to be out some time in 2002. there's also talk of putting his opera production,"woyzeck," for which he won a classical playwriting award, in the studio, much like he did with "franks wild years" and "the black rider." finally, word has it that he'll be re-releasing his concert film "big time" on dvd some time soon. check out the new sparklehorse cd, "it's a wonderful life" for a song, written and produced by tom and kathleen brennan, called "dog door."

[Margin Walker]

(dusts off thread)

Guess what? Tom Waits has not one, but TWO albums coming out next Tuesday (May 7th). From what I've read, both are going to be similar to his collaboration on "The Black Rider" CD.

Moreover, if you go to his label's website Anti.com (http://www.anti.com), you can listen to Real Audio streams of BOTH albums for F to the R to the double EE (well, up until May 6th).

More Moreover, the Patron Saint of Drunks is going to be on Dave Letterman next Wed. (May 8th). If you're on the wagon, now you've got a reason to fall off....

[fightgenie]

Tom Waits was excellent in DOWN BY LAW Lurie is in it too; great film by Jim Jarmusch. My favorite tune by him is "Goin out West" it was in FIGHT CLUB and whenever I hear it I wanna kick some ass. I saw him recently in SHORT CUTS he often reminds me of a drunk black jazz musician.

[etokle]

Whatever happened to lark2222?
She never got the chance to post pages and pages of stupid nonsense. Que lastima.

-=e=-

[lark2222]

hm?

here i am...just been busy.

(and what didja mean by that exactly, etokle?)

[etokle]

Originally posted by lark2222

(and what didja mean by that exactly, etokle?)



You haven't noticed the phemonenon in which one cuts a long, boring article out of some random webpage and then pastes it into the thread, thereby rendering the thread unreadable? It's fun and all the kids are doing it.

Nice to see you back.
-=e=-

[lark2222]

ahhhhh....

gotcha. I thought it was aimed at all the long, boring nonsense of my own that I usually post.


nice to be back, nice that someone noticed I ws gone.

[Mr Majestyk]

Just bought bone machine (inspired by this thread) and listened to it while at work and got my arse kicked cos i got caught by my nazi boss for listening to cd's instead of working. Tom Waits is great... but dangerous!

[mwt.]

Originally posted by nikel
i caught an old clip of him on an austin city limits retrospective, singing something called "on the nickel". usually i can't stand the program, too honky-tonk, but this was mesmerizing. i smell tobacco hearing his voice.

i've got that song on a bootleg at home. it's a show he recorded in the late '70's.

i heard the "alice" and "blood money" records last week at a record store. the guy working had the advanced copies and they sounded amazing. tuesday i'm leaving work at lunch time to go get them. i'm pumped.

[windchillFactor]

I always dig the song "Time" the most, but that isn't to short change any of his other songs. I remember seeing him on Letterman, probably in '89, when he played "Tango Till They're Sore" and then Dave let him play "Time" on the piano as the end credits were rolling. I was only starting to appreciate Waits at this point, and was hooked from then till forever (and still wish I could see that performance again).

I think the Big Time video is one of the greatest productions available for my television; I hope the rumors of its eventual release on DVD are true (my VHS copies are wearing thin, as it were).

Thanks for the tip on the new CDs; it looks like both are going to be released tomorrow.

[mwt.]

this shit is fantastic! "alice" and "blood money", that is. i believe these are two of the most emotional pieces he's done since some of his early work. the former has more of a jazzy and orchestral feel to it. the latter reminds me of the swordfishtrombones/rain dogs/franks wild years trilogy. go get them if you haven't already.

i missed him on letterman the other night. a friend of mine was telling me about it. he performed two songs and even sat and talked to dave afterword. still pissed at myself for that one.

The two Wait's releases are not new materials per se. This is an issue of unreleased materials that accompanied theatre avante-gardist Robert Wilson's theatre conceits a bit back. Waits and Wilson were a match made in heaven.

I wonder when they will release Lou Reeds stuff with Wilson...

[mwt.]

Originally posted by Metempsychosis
The two Wait's releases are not new materials per se. This is an issue of unreleased materials that accompanied theatre avante-gardist Robert Wilson's theatre conceits a bit back. Waits and Wilson were a match made in heaven.

I wonder when they will release Lou Reeds stuff with Wilson...

yeah. "alice" even has some of the same elements that are displayed in "the black rider," the 1993 collaboration he did with wilson.

damn. i forgot lou reed did some shit with him too.

[drahcirual]

did anyone hear tom waits on npr's fresh air this week? check out freshair.com to hear him talk about his life and his vanity cane.

[mwt.]

Originally posted by drahcirual
did anyone hear tom waits on npr's fresh air this week? check out freshair.com to hear him talk about his life and his vanity cane.

apparently, my man is featured on a show coming up next weekend. i wonder if it's just an encore of the one from before. i saw the one you pointed out in the archives too. thanks for the link!

[Margin Walker]

over in the Radio Clash thread, windchillFactor wrote:

side story, a few years ago Tom Waits sued Frito-lay, and won $750k, because they had created a cheese-chip eating character that sounded just like Tom's raspy voice. I had only seen this character once, but I would have swore Tom had actually done the voice. I can't think of too many musicians who would be able to clean up some cash with a lawsuit like that, but Tom is definitely one, and I'm glad for him.

Which reminds me that The Onion did an interview w/ Tom and he says he's been to court over having his stuff used in commercials. I guess this is that he was talking about. The interview is at:

http://www.theonionavclub.com/avclub3820/avfeature_3820.html

And as long as I'm on the subject, I was reading an Onion interview w/ Jeff Smith (of the comic book "Bone") and he said they were trying to get Tom to do the voice of the Red Dragon for the upcoming Bone animated movie. And if you've ever read Bone, you'd realize that'd be really perfect casting. With any luck, they'll get it together.

[mwt.]

i have an announcement to make (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKFX//002-1736286-9508829?v=glance)

[windchillFactor]

now if only Big Time were to follow...

[nathaniel]

Originally posted by mwt.
i have an announcement to make (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKFX//002-1736286-9508829?v=glance)

verrrrry good announcement!

[mwt.]

this is hilarious. i was looking back at all these posts from a year ago--to the day almost--and i was wondering how all these tom waits threads were going on without me noticing..thinking they were being posted this week. then i noticed a bunch of mine.

*sigh* no tom waits news afterall.

[mwt.]

Bump.

The Orphans box set drops in September. Don't know the exact date right now.

[nagasawa]

Wow, ancient Tom Waits thread raised from the dusty past. Some nice material on that boxed set. Thanks for the bump.

[static]

i just got this email from the anti.com mailing list, maybe you LA peeps are interested...

Greetings from ANTI-

Maverick director Robert Wilson, music legend Tom Waits and literary rebel William S. Burroughs create an entirely new and uniquely American music theatre piece, The Black Rider. This theatrical event is a musical fable of love, evil, and human folly steeped in the folklore of the past and bursting with the art of the future! When Wilhelm, a young clerk, must learn to hunt in order to marry his true love, a woodman’s daughter, he strikes a deal with the devil for magic bullets that never miss their mark. But the world of The Black Rider is a fantastical wonderland where nothing is what it seems: the devil sings, animals talk, and bullets have minds of their own.

Here is what the press is saying about The Black Rider:

"A TRIUMPH!"
- TIME Magazine

"Time to make whatever pact you need and cast yourself some MAGIC TICKETS."
- San Francisco Bay Guardian

"Shows don't come more hip than The Black Rider. An extraordinary piece of music theater... enough to make the real cool drool."
- The Daily Telegraph (London)

The Black Rider runs at The Ahmanson Theatre from April 22nd to June 11th, 2006; for more information on the musical and ticket details, click the link below and visit the official Black Rider website!

www.theblackrider.org

Thank you for your support,
ANTI-

[static]

Originally posted by mwt.
Bump.

The Orphans box set drops in September. Don't know the exact date right now.

November 21

http://www.anti.com/catalog.php?id=69

Tom Waits: Orphans

BRAWLERS
01. Lie To Me
02. LowDown
03. 2:19
04. Fish In The Jailhouse
05. Bottom Of The World
06. Lucinda
07. Ain't Goin' Down To The Well
08. Lord I've Been Changed
09. Puttin' On The Dog
10. Road To Peace
11. All The Time
12. The Return Of Jackie and Judy
13. Walk Away
14. Sea Of Love
15. Buzz Fledderjohn
16. Rains On Me

BAWLERS
01. Bend Down The Branches
02. You Can Never Hold Back Spring
03. Long Way Home
04. Widow's Grove
05. Little Drop Of Poison
06. Shiny Things
07. World Keeps Turning
08. Tell It To Me
09. Never Let Go
10. Fannin Street
11. Little Man
12. It's Over
13. If I Have To Go
14. Goodnight Irene
15. The Fall Of Troy
16. Take Care Of All My Children
17. Down There By The Train
18. Danny Says
19. Jayne's Blue Wish
20. Young At Heart

BASTARDS
01. What Keeps Mankind Alive
02. Children's Story
03. Heigh Ho
04. Army Ants
05. Books Of Moses
06. Bone Chain
07. Two Sisters
08. First Kiss
09. Dog Door
10. Redrum
11. Nirvana
12. Home I'll Never Be
13. Poor Little Lamb
14. Altar Boy
15. The Pontiac
16. Spidey's Wild Ride
17. King Kong
18. On The Road

TOM WAITS TO RELEASE 3CD SET --ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS AND BASTARDS— NOVEMBER 21 ON ANTI-

WAITS JUST CAME OFF EXCEEDINGLY SUCCESSFUL AND SPECTACULAR 9 DATE TOUR OF THE SOUTH AND MIDWEST CLIMAXING WITH FIRST CLUB DATE IN 3 DECADES AT CLEVELAND’S HOUSE OF BLUES

The one and only TOM WAITS is set to release a 3CD set titled ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS AND BASTARDS. It’s a wide-ranging collection of 54 songs, including 30 new recordings, equaling over three hours of rare and never-before heard music with a 94 page booklet.

“Orphans are rough and tender tunes. Rhumbas about mermaids, shuffles about trainwrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigrals about drowning,” says Waits. “Scared, mean, orphans songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate and now left wanting only to be cared for. Show that you are not afraid and take them home. They don’t bite, they just need attention.”

Each of the three CDs is separately grouped and sub-titled – “Brawlers,” “Bawlers” and “Bastards” – to capture the full spectrum of Waits’ ranging and roving musical styles. “Brawlers” is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke joint stomp, “Bawlers” contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano and classic lyrical Waits’ songs, while “Bastards” is filled with experimental music and strange tales.

In addition to the new work, Orphans features a number of tracks finding a home on a Waits’ album for the first time - songs originally recorded for the cinema, the theatre and other projects. They include Waits’ unique interpretations of songs by such extraordinarily diverse talents as The Ramones, Daniel Johnston, Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht, Leadbelly, Kerouac and Bukowski.

As for his latest tour, which took him from Atlanta, Asheville, NC, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Chicago, Detroit, Akron to Cleveland, where Waits played his first club show in nearly 30 years at the House Of Blues, all shows sold out within minutes. Some of these cities
Waits had not performed in for over 30 years and it was his first foray into Asheville. Needless to say, the audiences were nothing short of ecstatic at each and every gig and the reviews reflected the fans passion.

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune observed: “Everything about Tom Waits is done with theatrical flair, no expensive props required…In the broadest sense, he is a singer-songwriter, but he is also a genre unto himself…Waits is a defiled saloon singer who turns songs into noirish cinema, little movies about the human condition. When he aims his magnifying glass at the shadows, he inevitably comes up with some amazing discoveries. The human race, it turns out, has a lot of dirty little secrets, unspoken passions, unrequited desires. Waits’ songs give voice to them all, and he finds poetry in even the tawdriest details.”

Fred Mills of Harp magazine described Waits as “a voodoo shaman,” also proclaiming, “There wasn’t a single aspect of the show that could be considered inconsequential.” The review ended by declaring, “Yessir, we did—witness an astonishingly pure expression of artistry…And there he is in the center of the frame, Tom Waits. Jumping right off the screen and straight into our f**king laps. That’s rock ‘n’ roll baby—the IMAX version.”

Peter Gilstrap of The Tennessean noted: “Even back in the ancient pre-country days when the holy structure was an actual church, it’s hard to imagine a more passionate sermonizer gracing the boards than Waits…Where more conventional musicians might use plain old numbers to count off a song, Waits has no problem with setting a tempo via huffs and snorts, sounding like a shaman with emphysema in full chant…A few songs in, the band left the stage, as a piano was wheeled out. With nothing more than 88 keys and a baby blue spotlight, Waits sat down, removed some of the gravel from his voice and turned the auditorium into an intimate nightclub. ‘Tom Traubert Blues’—with its echoes of ‘Waltzing Matilda’-was simply a moving thing of beauty…”

Meanwhile, marking his first release since 2004’s Real Gone, Orphans was again produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (his wife and long time collaborator), who were recently named #4 in a recent Paste magazine collector’s edition naming the “100 Best Living Songwriters.” According to the magazine, “In literature, only a handful of writers have pulled off the near impossible. In music, it happens on every Tom Waits recording.”

Throughout his entire and lengthy critically acclaimed musical career--which has garnered him two Grammys, plus several other nominations, including an Academy Award—Waits and his fevered imagination have managed to keep evolving with each new disc on his more than 20 recordings. The only genre Tom could possibly be placed in would, literally, have to be his very own category—Waitsian.

[static]

hey, check it out...

there is a press conference vid at tomwaits.com (http://www.tomwaits.com/)

Upcoming Shows & Events - Tom Waits

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Phoenix, AZ US
Orpheum @ 8:00 PM

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Phoenix, AZ US
Orpheum @ 8:00 PM

Friday, June 20, 2008 El Paso, TX US
Plaza Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Sunday, June 22, 2008 Houston, TX US
Jones Hall @ 8:00 PM

Monday, June 23, 2008 Dallas, TX US
Palladium @ 8:00 PM

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Tulsa, OK US
Brady Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Thursday, June 26, 2008 St Louis, MO US
Fox Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Saturday, June 28, 2008 Columbus, OH US
Ohio Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Sunday, June 29, 2008 Knoxville, TN US
Civic Auditorium @ 9:00 PM

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Jacksonville, FL US
Moran Theatre @ 9:00 PM

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Mobile, AL US
Saenger Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Thursday, July 3, 2008 Birmingham, AL US
Alabama Theatre @ 8:00 PM

Saturday, July 5, 2008 Atlanta, GA US
Fox Theatre @ 8:00 PM

[mwt.]

Waiting patiently for a date to be announced for sales. St. Louis, baby.

[mwt.]

I had MetroTix up for a half hour and hit refresh at 9:58. Shut out. My best friend is at his job, doing the same thing. I hit "refresh" over and over and over and over again for a half hour. At the same time, I'm checking my email to see if my friend has had any luck. Finally, at 10:35, I get an email from him. No luck on his end. And I can't even get on the website. By now, I've reserved myself having to try for Ohio at noon. My battery on my laptop starts to go out. And it's dark in my room because I'm showing my students Raiders of the Lost Ark to keep them all occupied. I go into the other room to borrow a power cord for my Mac, so I can get ready for the noon sale. I come back into the room and, from the door, I can see the MetroTix splash page up. With Tom Waits' name and "buy tickets." I run to the computer, and hit the button, expecting to see a note telling me that it's been sold out. Not the case. Rear/side orchestra. Seat 34 and 36.
WHOAA!!!

[650lex]

so has anyone heard scarlet johansen's album of tom waits covers?

[grandpa_shig]

Originally posted by 650lex
so has anyone heard scarlet johansen's album of tom waits covers?

holy crap! i cant believe it. im listening to it on amazon right now!

[grandpa_shig]

i see she went the enya route

[joetron2030]

I didn't know it was already up for preview on Amazon. Listening to it now, too.

[650lex]

so.....how is it?
i'm scared to listen for myself

[joetron2030]

It's hard to judge from the Amazon.com previews. Plus, I'm not really a fan of Waits. I'm not saying I hate him, though. Just never really appealed to me. The only Tom Waits related music I've ever liked was John Hammond's cover album, Wicked Grin.

I have a couple friends who are huge fans of him.

[grandpa_shig]

i listened to the first snippet on amazon and it was purely instrumental. but then the next track has her on a rolled off talkbox ala roger & zapp. maybe its the real audio clips or whatever that low bit rate shit is, but the vocals sound heavily processed. i mean, its definately a vanity project.

[650lex]

she did because she claims that she can sing his songs the best to her vocal capacity because she would sing as an alto/tenor in chorus i guess

but if we remember her singing in Lost in Translation as a clue then I'll definitely pass!

[joetron2030]

There's an interview with her about the album over at Pitchfork.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/50200-interview-scarlett-johansson

[static]

i downloaded the SJ album last week to check it out. it's a cool idea, but it just doesn't pan out very well. david bowie backs up on a couple tracks, but it doesn't help. like grandpa shig says...her voice sounds like it's been run thru a dozen filters or something. if i had to choose from singing actresses, the zooey d album (she & him) is waaaaay better.

[mwt.]

Why the fuck is everybody talking about Scarlet Johanson? This is a Tom Waits thread.

[joetron2030]

She did an entire album of Tom Waits covers with his "blessings".

[mwt.]

Originally posted by joetron2030
She did an entire album of Tom Waits covers with his "blessings".

No fucking shit. Does this mean we're Access Hollywood now?

[grandpa_shig]

Originally posted by static
the zooey d album (she & him) is waaaaay better.

she has a album too? id wager its pretty decent. she holds her own in that white funk band in "the new guy" (its a movie).

[static]

i dunno, i really like it. it's kinda 60s girl group pop. the album cover pretty much reflects how it sounds, to me. you can listen to the whole thing here (http://www.myspace.com/sheandhim).

[mwt.]

I don't think Old Tom would approve of the direction this thread has gone.

[joetron2030]

Originally posted by mwt.


No fucking shit. Does this mean we're Access Hollywood now?
Only if Tom Waits gets picked up for public intoxication with Gary Busey and Mel Gibson!

[static]

ooh, i think i might be going to one of the phoenix shows

[mwt.]

It's going to be hard to avoid looking for any setlists before June 26th. Old Tom says they'll be playing a lot of songs they've never played live before.

[ab5tr4kt]

"step right up" was my joint. the one where he's selling some mystery panacea that he never fully reveals..... loved it.

[mwt.]

The setlist from last night's show in St. Louis.

I'm still a bit speechless.

Lucinda
Way Down in the Hole
Falling Down
Black Market Baby
All The World Is Green
Heigh-Ho
Get Behind The Mule
Day After Tomorrow
Cemetery Polka
Hang Down Your Head
Lucky Day
Johnsburg, Illinois
Lost In The Harbour
Make It Rain
Lie To Me
The Other Side Of The World
Singapore
Dirt In The Ground
What’s He Building In There?
16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six
Rain Dogs

ENCORE
Goin’ Out West
Anywhere I Lay My Head
Innocent When You Dream