Thank God the wizards got that Twitter problem sorted out. Between bouts of bicycle comedy I and a bunch of people I’ve never met have been trading tweets that consist entirely of Tom Waits lyrics. And that’s important, because without Tom Waits, the terrorists win.
So now of course I’m listening to “Bawlers” from “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards,” right after reading an interesting Q&A with the man himself. To say I’m easily distracted is an understatement on a par with calling Rush Limbaugh a bloated, dope-addled fartsack with the intellect of a crab louse and the morals of a hyena on a gutpile.
The Mombo Club-El Rancho Delux mob saw Waits a couple or three times in his jazzy, bluesy days, when he was cutting albums like “Nighthawks at the Diner,” “Small Change” and “Foreign Affairs.”
The first time was at a most unlikely venue — the Red Rocks Amphitheater, where he filled in for an ailing Dan Fogelberg as the opening act for his Asylum labelmates the Eagles, who had covered his “Ol’ ’55,” from Waits’ first album, “Closing Time.” Waits was on his second or third song before most of the country-hippie stoners in the audience figured out that he wasn’t just another roadie tuning the piano for Glenn Frey.
Another time was at a much smaller venue in the Denver clusterplex, and several of us dressed in our best Waits style, which is to say battered tweed jackets and newsboy caps. I believe we were also wearing shirts, pants and shoes, but I can’t swear to it.
Waits was using a massive, old-style brass cash register as a percussion device during “Step Right Up,” and gin-soaked legend has it that at one point he caught a glimpse of us and muttered, “Who are those guys?”
• Extra Special Bonus Tom Waits: An appearance on “Fishing with John,” as in John Lurie, one of his co-stars in the Jim Jarmusch film “Down By Law.” Several fish were harmed in the making of this episode. And at least one pair of pants.
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It’s always interesting going to shows where the opening act ought to be a headliner, and watching the great unwashed ignore him or her.
On the other end of the equation, my wife saw Neil Young at a Farm Aid show, and he wasn’t the headliner. But he came out by himself after the headliner, after the lights and power had been cut off, and played for another 90 minutes for anyone who wanted to listen.
Saw him in New Haven in 1979. At a bar near campus – Froggy’s? I don’t recall much other than it was a lousy date, but a great gig.
Ben: Probably Froggy’s.
Just saw ole Tom backing Roy Orbison in a rebroadcast of Black and White Night.
What, is PBS begging for money again? Rocky Mountain PBS always trots that one out, or a Peter, Paul and Mary retrospective, whenever they want to jam a hand down the wallet pockets of some aging hippies.
Good band in “Black and White,” though — Waits, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springstein, J.D. Souther, T-Bone Burnett. And of course the late, great Roy Orbison himself.
I love “Fishing with John.” Awesome show.
I remember that show in Denver. Good time.
Here in SoCo, Ol’ Tom can be spotted shopping at Whole Foods and occasionally marching in support of “homeless rights,” like the right to sleep in your car.
At least I THINK that’s him. I could be just another homeless guy, tho.