Tom Waits Fan Forums

Bettye Lavette just posted a press release with the tracklist of her new album... she's covering a Tom Waits song! "Yesterday Is Here".

Interesting. Probably not a song I might have expected.

Last question: you’ve been able to work with numerous exciting artists. I think Tom Waits is one that people really glom onto because he is so elusive. Do you have any interesting stories you would like to share about him?

Well, Tom was and still is my dream come true and the biggest moment for me when I got to collaborate with him. I moved to San Francisco expressly to work with him at some point. I knew that he lived in the area. It sounds much more stalkery than it was, but I knew that Tom Waits was around there and I figured that I would start to live in San Francisco and I would play music and at some point we’d cross paths because that’s what musicians do and then I would get to play with him and that would be a validation of my life. It was almost exactly two years from me moving there and I woke up one morning on my couch to the phone ringing. I was like, “Ughhhhh, who is calling this early?” I answered the phone and it was Tom’s wife Kathleen (Brennan) and she was like, “Hi! Is this Colin?” And I was like, “Uh…yeah, who’s this?” And she was like, “This is Kathleen Brennan. Hold a second. Tom wants to talk to you.” And I was like, “NOOO! Not now! Not like this!” (laughs). In a second he was on the phone and I was in my bathrobe, pacing around the house thinking, “This is happening! This is happening!” Then we had a long back and forth where he would call me every Sunday and say, “So, what’s next week like?” Then it would never work out. He would say, “We’re still trying to figure out when we’ll be in the studio.” Finally, after a month of just talking every Sunday, he invited me out on July 4th and I went there in the middle of the woods and recorded. It was great.

So, Colin Stetson doesn’t recommend stalking Tom Waits.

Yeah, don’t stalk Tom (laughs).

If Tom wants you, he will come to you.

Exactly! He will call you up, in the morning. He definitely does not appreciate stalkers. I can speak the truth to that.

Ten Famous Waits in American History

Cuban Missile Crisis
Apollo 13’s Reentry
Who shot J.R.?
Baby Jessica
Al Capone’s Vault
The OJ Verdict
Y2K
The 2000 Recount
"The Decision"

Tom Waits
Length of Wait: 5’ 11”
Why Were We Waiting?: N/A
How Did It Turn Out?: Critically acclaimed.

KamerTunesBlog
Revisiting my extensive music collection, one artist at a time.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/

TOM WAITS Part 1 – Thoughts On An Artist / The Early Years http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... rly-years/
TOM WAITS Part 2 – A Little Trip To Heaven, Step Right Up! http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -right-up/
TOM WAITS Part 3 – Valentines, Affairs And Heart Attacks http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... t-attacks/
TOM WAITS Part 4 – Barking His Way To The Big Time http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -big-time/
TOM WAITS Part 5 – What’s He Singing In There? http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -in-there/
TOM WAITS Part 6 – A Good Man Is Hard To Find http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... d-to-find/
TOM WAITS Part 7 – A Bad, Brawlin’ And Bawlin’ Bastard / In Conclusion http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... onclusion/

Jeremy, thanks for posting this here.

Louis C.K.'s DIY Tour Offers New Model for Bands

'If it makes sense, why not try it?' says one music manager

Louis C.K. has so much control over his fall tour, he's making musicians envious. The comedian is charging $45 per ticket – exclusively through his own website, and with no service fees – for his trek beginning October 3rd in Cleveland, and he's doing so by avoiding Ticketmaster and other ticketing companies that have exclusive deals with major venues and routinely add service fees.

"I'm kind of embarrassed that he did such a great job of it. They basically went into venues and took over and said, 'You want the show, you have to use our tickets,'" says Stuart Ross, Tom Waits' tour director and agent. "I'll look at what they did and figure out if it makes sense – and if it does, why not try it?"

...Many major touring artists don't care at all about scalped tickets. But a minority of pop stars, including Bruce Springsteen, Waits and Metallica, are aggressive about keeping prices low and blocking scalpers.

Stuart Ross, Tom Waits' tour director and agent. "I'll look at what they did and figure out if it makes sense – and if it does, why not try it?"

Tom=anti-stalker. Check (damn).