Tom Waits for No Man

Pieter of Tom Waits Supplement fame and Jarlath pointed out yet another little gem. Several months back I reported that Tom Waits would appear on the soundtrack for the upcoming Roberto Benigni film La Tigre e la Neve (The Tiger and the Snow). Well, it also appears that he will have a part in the film. If you go to the 01 Distribution website you can see a trailer for the film which also stars The Professional’s Jean Reno and, of course, the perpetually beautiful Nicoletta Braschi. If you watch carefully, about half way through there is a brief shot of Mr. Waits himself.

Well at long last, I’m all caught up on the major news. Man it feels good. My email is back down from 1400 messages to a very managable 149. Thanks for your patience.

The Broken Clock Cabaret of Austin, Texas is putting on a risque little show called “Inside a Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow”. According to the site:

” A Tom Waits Peepshow is a small-scale spectacular featuring dance, puppetry, comedy and other vaudeville-style weirdness, set to the music of Tom Waits and played live by some of Austin’s finest junkyard musicians.

Of course, this is not a literal peepshow (though you may see a little skin at times, heh heh), but instead a peek through the keyhole at the sin and salvation, the sweet nothings and sour grapes that make up the Tom Waits universe as we see it. “

All of this will be accompanied by music from EVERY Tom Waits album. Apparently opening acts will be performed by the Tom Waits cover band The Box Spring Hogs and Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Texas Burlesque.

Performances will be on October 28th and 29th at the Victory Grill and November 4th and 5th at the Arts on Real.

Sounds like it’ll be a fun time and I’m going to try to make it down there for this one. I haven’t been to Austin in years and this sounds like a good excuse.

Just count your lucky stars isn’t not Tom Waits doing burlesque.

Thanks to the Eyeball Kid.

Well, things are looking up for a new Tom Waits box set. Pitchfork got confirmation from Anti- that there is a rarities box set coming out still tentetivly titled Orphans.

The roving Waits reporter Jarlath came across a new album that contains not only a rather rare Tom Waits track but a brand new cover song as well. We Get A Kick Out of Jazz (Verve-2005) contains the rare Tom Waits recording “Little Man” last seen on the late Teddy Edwards’ record Mississippi Lad. The album also contains a previously unreleased cover of “The Heart of Saturday Night” by Diana Krall. The album also contains tracks from Sting, Van Morrison and many others.

Has anyone picked up this album? Is it worth a listen?

Mr. J. Helmus attended the Katrina Benefit Concert and took quite a few pictures including a few of the Tom Waits set. You can check them all out at Flickr:

In a related story to the recently broadcast Martin Scorsese directed Bob Dylan extravaganza, the Sunday Herald re-published a short review of Mr. Waits’ favorite Dylan album written by the man himself:

The Basement Tapes (live session recordings, 1975)

By Tom Waits

It’s difficult to say anything about Bob Dylan that hasn’t already been said . Suffice it to say Dylan is a planet to be explored. For a songwriter, Dylan is as essential as a hammer and nails and a saw are to a carpenter. I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in – so the bootlegs I obtained in the 1960s and 1970s, where the noise and grit of the tapes became inseparable from the music, are essential to me. His journey as a songwriter is the stuff of myth, because he lives within the ether of the songs. Hail, hail The Basement Tapes. I heard most of these songs on bootlegs first. There is a joy and an abandon to this record. It’s also a history lesson.

[Via: What’s Dylan’s Best Song? - [Sunday Herald]]

This was originally published in their list of Mr. Waits’ 20 favorite albums.

Thanks to Jarlath on the Rain Dogs mailing list for pointing this one out.

Helen on the Raindogs Mailing List pointed out this album of children lullabies called “Lullabies For the Discerning Baby” by one Antsy Cowfold. The album includes a cover of “Underground”. All a little bit too surreal for me. Go here and click on the third listing to hear a short clip.

According to Billboard Magazine, Mr. Waits will release yet another recording of “Little Drop of Poison” this time with the famous avant-garde Kronos Quartet on an upcoming Katrina benefit CD. The CD is being made jointly by Urban Outfitters and Filter Magazine and will be available in mid-October.

For all those keeping track, that makes three different recordings of “Little Drop of Poison” that I know of. The first one I heard on the End of Violence Soundtrack. Then came the really cool tango version on the Shrek 2 Soundtrack (my personal favorite). And now here comes another one. I think this is Tom’s plan to get his first top 10 radio play song. If he records enough versions, eventually so many stations will be playing one version or another that he’ll finally get the radio recognition he deserves.

For all those that didn’t make it to the show, there are some good AP and Reuters pictures from the concert.

I almost feel embarrassed mentioning this release considering it has the worlds shortest Tom Waits cameo in it. However, Warner Bros. has released a two-disk special edition of The Outsiders written by Oklahoma’s (my home state for all those who didn’t know) own S.E. Hinton. If you’ve never seen the film, it’s well worth a watch (though the book is much better), but keep your eyes peeled for Mr. Waits performance is only about ten seconds long as he answers the door at a roadhouse bar.

Film star Tim Robbins is apparently doing music again. At a club in Johannesburg, he joined the stage with South African group New Porn and performed several songs including a Tom Waits cover:

The audience reaction almost took off the roof when Robbins played some of his own compositions and even a Tom Waits song.

[Via: US film star jams in Joeys]

I haven’t been able to find out which cover he did though. I would be curious to find out.

I’m pushing forward on my great quest to get caught up with news, so excuse me if you’ve read some of the next few posts elsewhere . . .

In any case, the Calgary production of The Black Rider picked up several Betty Mitchell Awards (Calgary’s professional theatre awards) at the award ceremony on the 28th of August. The show received awards for:

• Musical Direction (Corinne Kessel)
• Costume Design (Marissa Kochanski)
• Outstanding Direction (Ron Jenkins)
• Outstanding Production of a Musical
• FFWD Reader’s Choice Award

You can read the whole story over at Jam!

Jam! Showbiz is reporting that Tom Waits will appear in the upcoming western “The Assassination of Jesse James”. The film already has a long A-list cast including Robert Duvall, Brad Pitt and Sam Sheppard. Shooting has just begun and there is no announced release date, but I would suspect a Summer 2006 release.

Dorene on the Rain Dogs mailing list got this set list from some friends who were leaving the Radio City Music Hall:

1. Way Down in the Hole
2. Jesus Gonna be Here
3. Get Behind the Mule
4. Murder in the Red Barn
5. Take Care of All My Children
6. I Wish I was in New Orleans
7. House Where Nobody Lives
8. Make it Rain (Encore with Marc Ribot)

Total Running Time: 45 minutes

Can anyone confirm this as the final set list? In any case, it sounds like one grand weeper of a set. Wish I could have been there.