I listen to music by Tom Waits fairly regularly, so of course the Brain DJ is going to pick a track now and then –
Tom Waits, "Town With No Cheer" (1983)
Recognize that Tom Waits moved away from jazz influences to explore a wider range of styles on 1983's "Swordfishtrombones" due to guidance from Kathleen Brennan. She deserves the recognition!
Une interview de Joe Gore avec des vrais morceaux d’anecdotes sur Tom Waits dedans ("I thought about shaving my head like that but, when it rains, is it louder ?" 😂 )
I started out on the fediverse arooooound...I wanna say 2017/18 mebbe? My big start in social media was MySpace. Before that, I had a LiveJournal (which I miss mightily with all my heart). My very first computer was a Gateway PC, back when they shipped them to you in those awesome cow spot pattern boxes. I am trying to de-google my life.
I'm #ADHD and suffer from #dysthymia. I'm currently unmedicated. I can be damned moody at times, so there's your warning.
Religiously/spiritually speaking, I'm complicated. That will be a long post, when I get around to writing it. My general rule is: I have my thing. It's not everybody's thing, and that's cool. Not everybody's thing is my thing, and that's cool. Just don't be a wanker towards those whose thing ain't your thing. OM 🕉
I'm 57 years old and have come to the conclusion that we never truly appreciate the decades we grew up in until we hit middle age.
I'm single and childless, hence my user tag: TheLastOfHisName.
#TomWaits version of #Somewhere (from #WestSideStory ) is one of those rare tracks so steeped in yearning & melancholy & burst open at the seams humanity that if someone doesn’t ‘get’ it, I no longer feel they have anything to do with me. Taste is subjective, of course, but sometimes it can’t be. Generally, I have zero interest in musical theatre but I guess WSS is an exception… & Tom’s WSS is REALLY an exception https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfOLQVuwaE
#GreatAlbums1980s - #TomWaits - Rain Dogs (1985). Waits mined the American avant garde (artists like Captain Beefheart and Harry Partch), mixing in a touch of blues and street jazz on Rain Dogs. Scattershot poetry and tales of down and out drifters alternate with achingly forlorn ballads, such as "Time" and "Blind Love." Keith Richards joins on a few tracks on the album that became the centerpiece of Waits's 1980s trilogy of twisted Americana.
If you're REALLY into Tom Waits and/or you want to find out something specific about his music, this site is an absolute treasure trove.
An old, impossible-to-navigate, glorious treasure trove.
Here's an example of an inner page. It has every keyboard instrument known to be on his albums, where they appeared, and quotes/sources/context verifying and discussing their use.
Okay, so you've never heard of Tom Waits... Are you willing to go into a concert experience knowing you'll have a good performance that is idiosyncratic and also really entertaining?
This is from 2008. It's not a tour for an album, he's just touring to create atmosphere.
I'll tell you what, if you don't find this utterly amazing by the third song, I'll give you your money back.
Scratch that, old #LeonardCohen is #TomWaits, #NickCave, and #JeffGoldblum in a trenchcoat. At the very least, this song is the audio equivalent of Dr. Malcolm lying on his side with his shirt open.
@Lichtenbergian You and me, both! Been working at it for years. At least since I caught Waits at the Fox on that tour! Top 5 live performance of my life.
:hearthands: :success:
That was my idea of a tour press conference & this is my idea of a sizzler reel.
74 years ago, Tom Waits, American singer-songwriter, pianist (Small Change; Blue Valentine; "Jersey Girl"), and actor (Ironweed; Down By Law), born in Pomona, California #TomWaits