For Those Who Missed It
Via TomWaitsFan.com: Both the Tom Waits interview and performance from last night’s David Letterman Show are now (and probably for a very short time) available for download:
Letterman Appearence
Just a little personal note to say that if you missed Mr. Waits on Letterman last night, you missed one heck of a performance. I’m really looking forward to this new album and even more to having another chance to see him live.
Mule Variations Critique
The Daily Nebraskan has posted a rather interesting critique of Mule Variations today:
Hearing a Tom Waits record is more like watching a play than listening to an album. Waits is a poet who stays true to his visions and sticks with a concept throughout an entire album. With a career that spans all the way back to the early ’70s, Waits continues to recreate himself and critique his craft.
Tom’s Tickets Take Tons of Treasure
There is an interesting article in The Observer (UK) regarding the mass sale of Tom Waits’ tickets on Ebay:
Earlier this month, tickets for a Tom Waits concert went on sale at Ticketmaster, and, this being his first London show for many years, sold out in about 30 minutes. Thirty minutes after that, the same tickets for the same show began appearing on the internet auction site eBay . . .
More Info on the Second Vancouver Show
I’ve become aware of some more details on that second Vancouver show. Ticket’s will be going for $115.00 along with some service fees that I’m sure we are all used to by now. The door will open at 7:00 pm and the show will start at 8:00. You must be 19 or older to enter.
Another Show in Vancouver
Tim on the Raindogs Mailing list has posted the following details about a second show in Vancouver:
ON SALE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 @ 9:30 AM PT:
Commodore 75th Anniversary featuring Tom Waits
IMPORTANT TICKETING INFO Tickets for the this show at the Commodore will go on sale Saturday October 2nd at 9:30 a.m. at the Commodore Box Office ONLY (868 Granville Street) . There will be no phone, internet or ticketmaster outlets sales for this event. Tickets are limited to 2 per person Physical tickets will not be issued on October 2nd; ticket buyers will receive a reservation voucher which they will redeem for hard tickets on the night of the show. On October 2nd, Ticket buyers must show valid government identification (drivers license or passport) All ticket reservations are non-refundable and non-transferable - only the person making the original October 2nd reservation can claim the tickets night of show. Show time - Saturday, October 16 , 8:00 Pm
Press Release: Tom Waits to Play Only US Show This Year at Seattle’s Paramount Theater October 18; New Album ‘Real Gone’ Out October 5
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ — TOM WAITS is set to play his only US live date — October 18 at the Paramount Theater in Seattle — following his performance in Vancouver at the Orpheum October 15, which sold out in a record 9 minutes. These shows are essentially warm up dates for Waits’ European tour: November 13 in Antwerp (sold out with 52,000 calls for 990 seats), November 15-17 in Berlin (sold out) and November 23 in London (sold out in 30 minutes, 150,000 ticket requests in the first hour). Tickets for the Amsterdam shows November 19-21 will go on sale 10/2. These shows will all come on the heels of Waits’ eagerly anticipated 20th album, REAL GONE, due out October 5 and features musicians from the recording: Larry Taylor on bass, Marc Ribot on guitar and Brain on drums/percussion.
As regards to the Seattle performance, a limited number of tickets will go on sale at midnight October 4 (simultaneously with the sale of the new album) at two Seattle Tower Record locations (5207 Fifth Avenue North and 4518 University Way), while the remainder of the tickets will be made available at the Paramount Box Office and Ticketmaster at 10am October 5. Ticket prices are $65.00, plus service charges.
Meanwhile, initial press reaction for Real Gone is nothing but shining: Entertainment Weekly included the album in its “25 Most Anticipated Albums of the Fall,” while Richard Cromelin noted in his Sunday “Calendar” feature in the Los Angeles Times: “Real Gone … Raw, rustic, primal and immediate, it’s a leap in the mud … ” Also, in the current issue of Thrasher, Eben Sterling mused: “Real Gone … is an amalgam of earthy funk, beatnik howl, and backwoods river bottom blues. Waits’ music seems to seep from the subconscious, while his lyrics pinpoint humanity often cloaked in shadow,” while Mark Richardson in Paste extolled: ” … much of Real Gone is loud, rude and in your face … packed with memorable phrases and strange-yet-familiar poetic imagery … down into that strange and dazzling mineshaft.”
Look for Waits to possibly tour the US early next year.
Be sure to catch Waits on the Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday, September 28
New York Times Review of Real Gone
The New York Times has posted their review of Real Gone and they really get it:
Like an altar built of barbed wire, scrap metal and broken glass, “Real Gone” hammers ungraceful materials into something like beauty.
Movie to Feature Waits’ Music
A new movie called East of Sunset by director Brian McNelis will feature a soundtrack full of early Tom Waits covers. Frente, Drugstore and the Tindersticks are among the artitsts appears on the soundtrack.
For our German Visitors
To those of you who know the German tounge, here’s a little article about Tom for you: Füttere die Hühner gut! - sueddeutsche.de - Kultur
London Appearance Mailing List
For the lucky few who are going to Mr. Waits’ London appearance, there’s a mailing list available at: Yahoo! Groups : apollodogs
More Real Gone Reviews
Here are a couple more reviews:
Las Vegas Mercury: Listening Station: Tom Waits, The Libertines, Pau…
Waits’ Tickets Sell Out Fast in Europe
Tuomo Himmanen on the RainDogs Mailing List has posted this brief article from a Netherlands newspaper:
CULTURE - Tom Waits concert a rapid sell-out
ANTWERP - The 900 tickets put on sale for a concert by Tom Waits were sold out within the space of a morning, according to a spokesman from “Het Toneelhuis in de Bourla”, the venue hosting the Waits’ concert on November 13 next. Sales were launched at 9 am this (Monday) morning and some 52.000 callers tried to get through to the booking number in a quarter of an hour, averaging 3.500 calls per minute, according to the organisers. This is the first time that Tom Waits will perform in this country since his mast concert in 1985 in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. The Antwerp concert is one of eight European dates to present the singer’s new album Real Gone, due to be released on October 4.
Real Gone Review
The Observer has posted one of the first reviews of Real Gone that I’ve found so far. 4 out of 5 stars, but hey not everyone completely get’s Mr. Waits. 
Waits has come an awful long way from the ballads of Closing Time , no longer even adrift somewhere in the desperate early hours, more woken with a start sleeping something off, crazed to find out where he is. In this mood, he will never write ‘Martha’ again, or even ‘Innocent when you Dream’ but still within the extraordinary sound there are heartbreaking corners to the voice, all the more affecting given what else it is now capable of.
