Tom Waits for No Man

I know I’m behind schedule on posting here, but the news overall has been pretty light though I’ve missed a few things. However, today is full of exciting news. A press release from ANTI- is announcing that Tom Wait’s latest album, REAL GONE, is completed. A brief excerpt from the release indicates that this album should be right up there with the creativity of his past works.

With REAL GONE, his off-road adventures are taken into the further beyond. Mixing and mashing: worlds both sonic and ethnic, musical traditions both new and old, and rhythms both mouth-made and sampled from his own instruments, Waits has reached a new pinnacle.

Academy Award nominated and Grammy Award winner, Tom Waits has been long considered one of music’s most influential artists because he has continuously created music outside of fad or fashion. With REAL GONE, his off-road adventures are taken into the further beyond. Mixing and mashing: worlds both sonic and ethnic, musical traditions both new and old, and rhythms both mouth-made and sampled from his own instruments, Waits has reached a new pinnacle. Written and produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, his wife and long- time collaborator, REAL GONE features 15 tracks of funk, Jamaican rock-steady, blues both urban and rural, rhythms and melodies both Latin and African and, for the first time, no piano.

Full Story: REAL GONE: Tom Waits Has Completed Groundbreaking New CD for Anti Records

Note that there will be no piano on this work which may mark new territory for Mr. Waits though the sad piano bar stuff will be sadly missed.

For those UK readers out there, a man named Chris Hathway is putting on is reporting a showing of Down By Law on July 10th in Bristol. Here is the full post from alt.music.Tom-Waits:

For anyone out that way…
greatness of the magnificence forthcoming events…
July 10th - Tom Waits night at the Cube Cinema, Bristol
£6/£5 start 8pm
live music, BBQ and film: Down By Law
Cheers,
Chris
ChrisHathway.co.uk
Chris H.

Correction 6/22/2004: Chris is just passing along the word, not promoting the event. However he sent me the following link with more information about the whole show:

http://www.greatnessofthemagnificence.org.uk

Here is a good review from the Salt Lake City Weekly claiming that Waits and Pop “almost steal the movie”:

Full Story

According to Mr. Waits’ label Anti-, his new album, Real Gone, will be released on October 5th of this year. Start saving your pennies now.

Robert Quine, one of the guest guitarists on Mr. Waits’ Rain Dogs was found dead last Saturday in his New York City apartment. Apparently he died of a heroine overdose. Quine also toured with Lou Reed and played on several John Zorn albums.

Full Story

Here are the final details on The Silver Hearts’ tribute to Rain Dogs show:

JUNE 12 THE SILVER HEARTS The band performs a live interpretation of Tom Waits’ deeply inspired Rain Dogs. 7pm & 9:30pm. $20. Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst. 416-530-1999.

eye - Summer fun calendar - 06.03.04

The following is a press release from The American Conservatory Theatre via Anti-, Tom Waits’ label, regarding the upcoming performance of The Black Rider in San Francisco:
Anti-: The Black Rider To Open A.C.T.’s 38th Season! Acclaimed Director Robert Wilson’s Collaboration with Tom Waits and Willia

Here’s a strange little Tom Waits reference from of all places, the sitcom Yes Dear from yesterday:

I think I will. But first, I’m gonna go home, put on a Tom Waits record, and drink until I faint..

Full Quote: TVEyes.com: Yes, Dear

Metromix.com (Chicago Tribune) has posted the following retrospective of Tom Waits’ movie career for all of you that don’t already own all of them. Unfortunately, they skip over his cameos and most important, Big Time. But hey, what you gonna do?
Metromix.com: Tom Waits: A true character (Free Subscription Required)

Here’s a small bio piece from the San Francisco Chronicle about Ralph Carney who has played horns on many Tom Waits album’s including the incredible Rain Dogs. He also tells how the two first started working together:

Music producer Hal Willner, who was the sketch music coordinator for “Saturday Night Live” in its heyday, was an avid supporter of Carney’s music. Willner got Carney’s band Swollen Monkeys a small record deal and, in 1984, introduced him to a new transplant to New York named Tom Waits.

“Tom was doing a couple songs for a documentary called ‘Streetwise’ and he wanted to have a kind of Salvation Army sounding band,” Carney says. “I had a street band at the time and we just hit it off, I guess.”

CARNEY’S LITTLE CARNIVAL