Tom Waits Fan Forums

With all the new folks coming in and introducing themselves I thought it would be good (and was prodded by others ) to start a catch all introduction thread.
I guess Ill start.

Been a TW fan since I was 19 or so. I was introduced to him from a very close friend and for several months thought he was a large black man. Then I saw the Big Time movie... I was absolutely hooked at that point!
I started up the website.. hell... i dont even remember when... I had a bad tripod site for a while (its still around http://www.tomwaitsfan.tripod.com). I think it was around 2000 or 2001 maybe.
This is the second generation of PHPbb forums so we are missing alot of great old content. However with all the new people flooding in it is filling up fast!

All hail, JJ Black!!

Bringer of the Ol' Forum and all around swell guy...


We salute you!


genuflectingly,


- DC

Good idea JJ...

Where to start...

as for Tom Waits...he's been part of my life, body and soul since I was 16...My uncle borrowed me his copy of Bone Machine and I kept on playing it...it's still one of my favourites...

as for the rest in life...I have a wonderful girlfriend Kathleen and togehter we have the loveliest daughter Lale...we recently baught a house, renovating it right now...

I have a crappy job but than aren't all jobs a wee bit vrap...

I'm a 22 year old circus horse trainer, locksmith, and professional wrestler.

I've been a fan of Mr. Waits for the past 3 years or so. Not as long as most residents on this forum, but just as loyal, knowledgeable, and intense as any other.

I first saw Tom when I was very young, flipping through TV channels with my parents and coming across a rerun of Tom's Austin City Limits performance. I recall the three of us were horrified and changed the channel quickly, but the IMAGE and VOICE always stayed with me until I discovered his music so many years later.

Quote: I was introduced to him from a very close friend and for several months thought he was a large black man. Then I saw the Big Time movie... I was absolutely hooked at that point :Quote -JJ_Blackrider23

Thank you Mister JJ Blackrider for all your hard work in making this site - also thanks for your well-thought-out FAQ page witch was very helpful to me and Im sure to all the other recent signups... I will try to follow the rules as such they are but dont hesitate to knock me on the head if I mess up... and Im sure u wont - hesitate that is.

Its great of you consider all the new members in starting this thread... I was just thinkin that maybe a thread on how people first heard about or heard or saw Tom and here it is!
A big roundofapplaus and lets hear it for all the sweat-dripping fans out there in tomwaitsfanforumsland...

When I was about 17. 18. 19 I use to go to the local music shops and persue thru the "Rock" and whatever section to see what I could find... unless it was a perticulaarly hip music store, u know, it used to be just, Rock, Pop, Country, Jazz, Classical, SOundtracks...I think RAP was like, a baby or foetal category when this story went down... well, I wood look for something that just caught my eye and if I never heard of it before so much the better, roll the dice and take it home... in this way I found stuff like Velvet underground, Patti smith, captain Beefheart, etc... so one nite I found a cassete (haha) called BLUE VALENTINE Tom Waits (ironicaly I also "discovered" Rickie Lee J. at around the same time) ... upon first listening I was CONVINCED that the singer was a Black man... in fact of first hearing "Somewhere" I thot that it must be a mislabeled Louis Armstrong recording! This was around the time that SWORDFISHTROMBONES came out, and soon I had that cassete too, strange how very different it sounded than VALENTINE (...tho they both went well with whiskey sours and Mickeys ML...) so I was further intrigued by the enigmatic musician... and remain so to this day.

BTW, I would be intersted to know, has TW ever said much on the subject of the sharp turn his music took in the direction of SFT, RAINDOGS, etc? As in, direct inspiration, concious motivation, etc? Obviosly whereas some pissant of pop mite make a stylistic career move based on there record comapny's focus group, whatever guided Tom in this new direction was surely organicaly homegrown... Im sure his wife had something to do with it, but I'd appreciate any thoughts anybody can provide... or even theories if he has never chosen to address the subject.

i'm 27. iso SF w/ WB. i like walks on the beach, bondage and poaching white tigers... wait...wrong forum....damnit!

first heard waits when i was 17 or so. bought the dead man walking CD for the Johnny Cash song. never listened to the whole thing. then one day i got bored and listened to the rest of tthe CD. walk away was the bait that hooked me. went out and bought em all. never seen him live and am looking forward to it because waits is the only act i have any desire to see.


thats all

My name is Kelby. I am 16. I am most likley one of the younger ones on here, but I don't let that get me down.

My dad turned me on to Tom Waits. A few years ago I downloaded "A Day In Vinnea" (I think that's how you spell it) for my dad for his birthday. I watched it with him and have been hooked since.

I took over my dad's record collection and added 40 or so bootlegs to MY collection. I can't really say much that hasn't already been said about Tom Waits.

I also will be going to the Tom Waits show in Chicago with my dad. (who saw him in 87, same town)

Anyway, Hi.

I'm mad about Tom Waits !

How and when it's gonna end...I dont know...maybe someday - but not now.

cheers all !

ww

http://www.waitswatcher.de.vu

I'm SarahV... I live in Cambridge, MA and I'm 29 yrs old. And I'm a severe Waitsaholic.

I've been a fan since I was 20; I've seen him eight times in concert in four cities in three countries. Soon to be ten times in two more cities. I'm very lucky as far as Waits fans go, I think.

I have a pretty decent bootleg collection that I really like to share. Currently I run an FTP site, I've uploaded a lot of Waits stuff on Youtube, and I DJ an online all-Waits show once a week on Krankit.com.

It's a little obsessive, but hey, it keeps me off the streets.

That is to cool!

Eric the Simpson here, I will be 37 the 26th of July.
I love telling this story, I first saw Tom Waits on Mtv's "Beavis & Butt-Head" they were making fun of Toms' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" video, they really were poking fun at his voice and the video itself, where he is under a table but it looks like a stage, classic. Then one day at the local public library, I got "Bone Machine", "the Black Rider" and "Beautiful Maladies", my life has never been the same, pure genius.
I have all his cd's except the re-issue of "Night On Earth" soundtrack and over 100 hours of bootlegs and a'boot 10-12 dvd/videos...
I am going to my 1st Waits show 8/9/06 in Chicago.

great Waits site here, THANK YOU all....

smell ya later - the Simpsons RULE!!

I'm a 27 year old recent law school graduate who has no desire to work in the legal profession. I found Waits from the opening scene of Down By Law. I grew up in the DC suburbs, went to school in Chicago, had a short spell in Santa Monica, more school in Stl and now I pine for the Pacific Northwest though I also miss Chicago in the summer as well. At the moment I'm in the DC area again but already contemplating my next move. I've never seen Tom Waits in concert but am still hoping to figure a way to get myself into the Akron show.

40 years old....divorced (no kids)......I live in a small town about an hour north of Detroit....been a Waits fan for about 10 years after being introduced to his music by a former co-worker....I will be seeing him live for the first time on 8-11 in Detroit.

I'm 48 (I think), got introduced to Waits in the late '70s by friends at the small college I attended in Alabama.

Been married for 24 yrs to a gal who probably loves TW music more than I do. How can you not love a woman who can howl along with every word of "Small Change", Nighthawks" and "Heart of Sat Night"?

We have two sons, 17 and 18, and if I've learned anything in life, it's that you get the kids you deserve, as I am a reformed teenage hellion alive only by dumb luck and the grace of god..


We're music lovers and TW is the last of the performers on our "life list" somehow, I never expected to get a chance to see him.

Added bonus that we've never seen a show at the Ryman, we were waiting to see "something special" there. All things come to those who wait.

Jay

I didn't know they existed. Every girl I know wants to howl along with Kelly Clarkson or The Fray or some other crap.