Tom Waits for No Man

“Folkabilly” singer Nanci Griffith will feature three Tom Waits covers on her upcoming album of “torch songs”, Ruby’s Torch.  The album will feature her renditions of “Ruby’s Arms”, “Grapefruit Moon” and “Please Call Me, Baby”.  The album will be released on November 14th and will be followed up with a nationwide cabaret tour.

 Israeli jazz singer Efrat Alony features a rendition of Waits’ “Take it With Me” on her latest album Unarmed and Dazed.  The album also features a cover of The Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home”. 

The Milwaukee Dance Theatre is currently performing a dance adaptaion of Robert Wilson’s Woyzeck.  The music for the piece was composed by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (which was featured on Blood Money).  The show will run through November 4th. 

 This is sort of an odd album concept.  However, 101cd.com is taking orders for an upcoming album entitled Tom Waits’ Jukebox: The Songs that Inspired the Man.  The album is made up of songs from a variety of artists such as Ray Charles, Thelonious Monk and Howlin’ Wolf who have had an influence on Mr. Waits’ style.  The CD also contains a 16 page booklet.  The album will be released on the 6th of November.

 This one qualifies as really obscure Tom Waits memorabilia.  Back in 1979, Waits was involved in a animation experiment called Tom Waits for No One.   The five minute short features a Waits singing “The One That Got Away” to a sultry stripper.  It was never released to the general public.  You can read extensively about the piece at the Tom Waits Supplement.  In any case, an animation cell from the short work is available for auction via Ebay.  The auction ends tomorrow 6:49 PM PDT.

Thanks to the recalcitrant Hank S. for the heads up, though he might not appreciate it.

Duke Robillard’s Fender that he played during the Orphan’s Tour is now for sale on his website:

Fender nocaster relic Tele. Great sounding tele with slight distressing. Big round neck, 6150 frets. wired for pickups in series plus standard 3 way with 4 position switch. This is the tele Duke used on his Tom Waits tour. With original style vintage case - $2000

Source: DUKE’S PERSONAL GUITARS FOR SALE

I know I’ve been posting a bunch tonight, but I needed to do some catching up.  In any case, I found this (albeit 7 months late) cool video cover of Waits’ “Back in the Good Old World” performed by none other than the ultimate trader, art work genius and all around interesting fellow Pascal Fricke (AKA WaitsWatcher).  I thought it would be a good way to sign off for the night so enjoy:

A few weeks back I posted a link to some classic Tom Waits photos on Everyone I Shot Is Dead. Well, your comments prompted the artist, Deborah Chesher, to follow up with some more great shots, this time from the Troubadour from August, 1975. The last shot is a true classic.

She is also putting together a book of rock and roll photos also titled Everyone I Shot Is Dead. The book will open with a photo of Tom Waits.

Update: Sorry, I got a bit confused on the book. There are actually two different releases. The first is a book entitled Everyone I Shot is Dead is a collection of stories and photos of musicians photographed by Deborah Chesher who are no longer with us. Additionally, she will be releasing a series of prints of which Tom Waits will be one. Sorry for the confusion.

Eccentric musician and former member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kid Congo Powers, has a very unusual cover of Waits’ “Virginia Avenue” on his latest album Solo Cholo.  The track is available for sample and purchase at Emusic.  The whole album is available for purchase at his label’s site, New York Night Train.

Update 10/1/2006: This track originally appeared on New Coat of Paint: Songs of Tom Waits.  In my defense, I hated this album and completely forgot about this track.  However, now that I’ve heard this track again, I may dig it up from the archives again.  Thanks Jarlath.

 Mr. Waits always seems to be very popular among the Broadway set.  A new show entitled Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night will feature James Naughton performing the music of Tom Waits among others:

Two-time Tony Award winner James Naughton will appear in Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night as a “Monday Night Live” fundraising event at La Jolla Playhouse Oct. 23.

Source: Playbill News: Chicago & City of Angels Star Sings in Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night at La Jolla

There’s more and more information being released about the upcoming Orphans release.  First, there’s an extended intro about Orphans written by Waits out on Anti’s site which includes tidbits like this:

Kathleen and I wanted the record to be like emptying our pockets on the table after an evening of gambling, burglary, and cow tipping. We enjoy strange couplings, that’s how we got together. We wanted Orphans to be like a shortwave radio show where the past is sequenced with the future, consisting of things you find on the ground, in this world and no world, or maybe the next world. Whatever you imagine that to be.

Source: ANTI- Album - Orphans

Additionally, it appears there may be two versions of the album.  Amazon.co.uk has two versions of the album listed for pre-sale one for £23.99 and £33.99.  Current speculation is that the “deluxe” edition will contain the 94 page booklet.

Finally, one version of the album is now listed on Amazon.com for $39.97.

Thanks to Jarlath and the Eyeball Kid.

Tom Waits has donated an autographed jacket to a celebrity auction being run by the ACLU of Southern California.  The corduroy Levis jacket features an inscription from Waits that reads, “To the new owner: I raised a lot of hell in this jacket, but it’s a lucky one. My wife wants me to get rid of it cause its all ripped up. May the new wearer wear it well”.  The auction winner will also win a signed copy of the Zoetrope: All Story magazine Waits put together last year.

The auction is being run on Ebay.com and at the time of posting, the winning bid is $500.  The auction will end on September 26th, 2006 at 10:00 PDT.

The film Wristcutters, which features a performance of Tom Waits, will be shown during the Raindance Film Festival in London on September 30th.  Tickets are available for purchase here.

According to the Wristcutters website, there are quite a few screenings coming up over the next few months so keep your eye’s open in a town near you.

Thanks to Jarlath for the heads up.

Anti- has released a track from the upcoming Orphans album for free download.  The track is entitled “Bottom of the World” which originally appeared on the soundtrack for the documentary film Long Gone.

In other Orphans news, the album is now available for sale at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca for £23.99 and 50.99 CDN respectively.  There is no listing on Amazon.com yet.

Thanks for Jarlath and the Eyeball Kid for the heads up.

Broadway performer, Annie Golden, will bring her song cycle show Velvet Prison to Ars Nova in NYC on September 20th.  The performance will feature songs from Tom Waits.

[Via: PlayBill News]