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From the July issue of Uncut...

Norm Winer’s 4D Flashback: Tom Waits

In this we have a interesting interview with Tom Waits, Norm Winer covers Tom’s music and movie careers. Waits also shares some ‘new’ pieces of work, and some of these song titles seem to be rather unique…

Never reluctant to reveal the vast range of influences who have informed his music and outlook across more than 40 years, Tom Waits still remains amongst the most unique musical artists around. And as many of Tom s original contemporaries spend their twilight years releasing album after album of dull, predictable material, Waits does just the opposite and keeps all of us guessing as to just what he might do next. This film traces the musical and literary icons who Waits has cherished above all others and who have had the most profound influence on his life and music: stand up and take a bow Charles Bukowski, Harry Partch, Frank Sinatra, Captain Beefheart, Jack Kerouac, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Dylan, Lord Buckley, Ken Nordine, Kurt Weill and Keith Richards for these are the writers, composers and performers who have assisted most pertinently in unlocking the enormous talent and originality with which the person born Thomas Alan Waits on December 9th 1949 in Pamona, CA, was blessed. Featuring live and studio archive of both Waits himself and of those listed above, plus exclusive and archival interviews, rare footage, photographs and location shoots, contributions from close colleagues and Waits experts, and with Ken Nordine, members of Beefhearts Magic Band, David Dunn [Harry Partch s key assistant in the early 1970s] , Barney Hoskins [Waits biographer] and a host of others.

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FESTIVAL LAUNCHES! HEALDSBURG TO BE THE NEW MECCA FOR INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS!

THE BODEGA BAY FILM FESTIVAL MOVES TO HEALDSBURG

2012 is the year world cinema is coming to Healdsburg! Short films from around the globe will be part of the international short film festival that will take place on September 21-23. The festival is making Healdsburg its new home, after having completely outgrown Bodega Bay in 2011.

MEET THE FESTIVAL JURY PANEL

The film jury panel is coming together in a big way. The festival strives to get the best films of the festival in front of Hollywood industry professionals who not only make their living working in film, but thrive in it. The panel will consist of high caliber movie business professionals from both in front of and behind the camera. They have made a career out of being on the leading edge of creativity and now they are eager to take the pulse of indie filmmaking’s forward guard.

The panel is developing into a powerhouse of Hollywood minds! Here are the ones we are allowed to officially announce at this point.

Judges are listed in order of joining the festival

FESTIVAL JUDGE - Tom Waits

TOM WAITS is a two-time Grammy® Award-winner and Academy Award®-nominated singer/songwriter/musician/actor and in 2010 was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. In a career that spans over 4 decades, Waits has recorded over 21 albums including his latest critically lauded Bad As Me, as well as contributing to countless soundtracks. Waits has also appeared as an actor in over 25 films including: Rumble Fish, Short Cuts, Down By Law, Ironweed, Coffee & Cigarettes, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and the upcoming Seven Psychopaths, among many others. (Please note: Mr. Waits will not be present at the festival itself but will be judging remotely from DVD).

FESTIVAL JUDGE - Kathleen Brennan

KATHLEEN BRENNAN is an American songwriter, record producer, artist, writer and longtime collaborator with her husband Tom Waits. She has worked in both cinema and theatre . Songs she has written with Waits have been heard in numerous films, including “Dead Man Walking “Shrek” and “Pollock.” Together they have written music and songs for several of Robert Wilson’s avant garde theater productions. Waits and Brennan wrote the book and music for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater production of “Frank’s Wild Years.” The Healdsburg International Short Film Festival is fortunate to have such talent and experience on the jury panel. (Please note: Ms. Brennan will not be present at the festival itself but will be judging remotely from DVD).

http://healdsburgfilmfest.org/entertainment/archives/author/Staff

No tour before october is what I'm thinking now.

Pfff, DVD player in the tour bus, no big deal.

It does seem strange that Tom will be judging the films from DVD and not present at the film screenings. I'm not sure how the filmmakers would feel about that.

A confession: I can’t stand Sonic Youth or Tom Waits

"But they play with a brazen, sneering abandon that I can imagine enjoying if I was a teenager jacked up on whisky..."

On September 20, 2005, the backstage areas at Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall must have been intense places to be. Less than a month after floods had ravaged New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and Rita, some of the biggest names in music worldwide were coming together for a pair of concerts, titled From the Big Apple to the Big Easy, to benefit the battered city of New Orleans.

At Radio City Music Hall, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was there to play... they also met some folks that night who would become a major part of the Hall’s evolution over the next seven years. In an elevator, reed man Clint Maedgen had a chance encounter with the mysterious Tom Waits – who would not only hire him to perform on his 2011 release “Bad As Me,” but also cut a limited-edition 78 RPM record covering two classic Danny Barker arrangements of Mardi Gras Indian songs.

“Tom Waits is my hero,” Clint said, still awestruck by the experience of recording with someone who has so inspired him. “It’s a big deal for me.”

“It inspired me to such a great extent that I couldn’t even look myself in the mirror if I wasn’t pushing it as hard as I can,” Clint said. “I have to be able to believe in what I’m selling.”

Now that he’s collaborated with his musical hero, Tom Waits, who else is on his fantasy list?

“Can I just keep working with Tom? Dylan, Prince, Beck, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Al Green, Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards, Hermeto Pasqual, Thom Yorke, REM…..”