[...] Nighthawks at the Diner. [...] I LOVE this album!
yeah, it's a fine one. Very good athmosphere.
[...] Nighthawks at the Diner. [...] I LOVE this album!
Just saw this post. Tom Waits opened for The Mothers of Invention at the Agrodome in Vancouver, BC, sometime in 1974. (March 14th, the web says.) Horrible echo chamber of a cow palace. And, for some reason, people wanted us standing in front of the elevated stage to sit down on the concrete floor. Lots of grumbling and the set didn't last long, partly because the grumbling got pretty loud and we philistines essentially chased him noisily from the stage. I remember Waits alternating from guitar to piano and making, what seems like to me now, a lame "colder than a brass monkey" joke between the few songs he did.Anyone seen him play live? Share your experience with a virgin.
(guessing some of you are half dead & saw some earlier shows too)
@BukFan Brad Have you ever heard Magnapop do a great version of "Big Joe.."? But I cant find it youtube.
I respect his post-70s stuff a lot, but it just wasn't my thing. Until "Get Behind the Mule" came out and I loved the shit out of that one. But since then, I think he's his own worst enemy. He's become an "artist" instead of a musician. He knows that in order to be successful, you need to be an entertainer in addition to being a musician. But he's swapped being an entertainer for being an "artist" who has become very hard to listen to at times. I love the guy and I do not blame the Yoko factor, but if he wants me to buy something and not regret it, than he needs to stop being such an "artist" and get back to making music that non-artists may actually enjoy.
In the old time sideshow world there was a differentiation among the freaks. There were natural freaks and then there were made freaks. A made freak was someone who purposely did something to their body to earn their way into the show. Covered in tattoos, swallowing things normal people don't swallow, that kind of thing - an act. The natural freaks were born different, and held positions of higher esteem in the sideshow world. Lobster Boy, Dog-Faced Man, those kinds of people. People who couldn't help being different and certainly didn't choose to be different, but took a certain amount of pride in their difference.Like Bukowski and Crumb, Tom Waits likes to be different, he likes to be an outsider.
I understand your point.[...] Bukowski and Crumb are natural freaks. Tom Waits is a made freak. [...]
He comes from the time when almost everyone adopted a "character," since reality didn't cut it in the entertainment biz. I suppose he lucked out in picking an enduring one that he didn't have to abandon or change. Elton John, Bowie, Zamfir, they had to morph into different characters when the glitter stopped shining. Unlike those guys though, I never felt any humor from Waits. Maybe that's what didn't click with me. There was humor, but it seemed obvious and heavy-handed to me, like "Weird Al" Yankovic or Jay Leno.Waits puts on characters much like Bowie did.