Tom Waits Library: News

News/ Calendar

Aug. 30, '08: Tom Waits bus tour "Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' Los Angeles", cohosted by Kim Cooper and David Smay (author of the 33 1/3 book on Swordfishtrombones). Further reading: Esotouric;
Sep. 9, '08: Scheduled release of "Father Time" (Curb Records) by Hal Ketchum, with a cover of Jersey Girl;
Sep. 9, '08: Scheduled release of "Day After Tomorrow" (Bobolink/Razor & Tie Entertainment) by Joan Baez, with a cover of Day After Tomorrow;
Sep. 19, '08: Staging of Woyzeck (non-Wilson production, licensed by Robert Wilson, et. al.) at the Oberhausen Theatre, Oberhausen/ Germany. Directed by Joan Anton Rechi. (Source: "Eine Ziemliche Sensation", Monika Idems. Der Westen, March 22, 2008);
Sep. 19, '08: Scheduled release of "Grapefruit Moon: Songs of Tom Waits" (Evangeline/ Soulfood Music) by Southside Johnny and & La Bamba's Bigband. Songs covered: "Yesterday Is Here", "Down, Down, Down", "Walk Away" (duet with Tom Waits), "Please Call Me, Baby", "Grapefruit Moon", "All the Time", "Tango ‘Til They’re Sore", "Johnsburg, Illinois", "New Coat of Paint", "Shiver Me Timbers", "Dead and Lovely" and "Temptation".
Sept. 23 '08: The Replacements are set to have several of their albums remastered and re-released. All four albums which the band recorded between 1985 to 1990 will be reissued by Rhino. The album Don't Tell a Soul is said to feature the Waits collaboration Date To Church (previously released on "I'll Be You, 1989") as a bonus track;
Oct. 7, '08: Scheduled release of "Resist Temptation" by Harmonious Wail (self-released), with a cover of You Can Never Hold Back Spring.
Oct. 8 - Nov. 16, '08: Staging of The Black Rider (November Theatre production licensed by Robert Wilson, et. al.) at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto/ Canada. Directed by Ron Jenkins, produced by Corinne Kessel;
Oct. 13 - 26, '08: Staging of "Mercy And Grant", Tom Waits project by the Opera North Ensemble along with Gavin Bryars. October 13 (Nottingham), October 20 (Lowry Hall, Salford), October 22 (Lyons Concert Hall, York University), October 23 (Sage, Gateshead), October 25 and 26 (Leeds). "The Tom Waits Project brings together American folk, the music of Kurt Weill and ten songs by Tom Waits. Two of Opera North's most versatile singers are joined by an ensemble of six extraordinary musicians." (Source: Gavin Bryars official site, April 2008);
Late '08: Since July 2007(!) Waits is said to appear on a yet untitled album by NASA (North America South America), a collaboration between producer Squeak E. Clean (aka director Spike Jonze's brother Sam Spiegel), and DJ Zegon. The tentative track list claims Waits features together with Kool Keith on a track called Spacious Thoughts. (Source: "Byrne, Waits, M.I.A., RZA, ODB, YYYs on NASA LP", by Dave Maher. PitchforkMedia July 3, 2007);
Dec. 1, '08: Scheduled release of "Murmurmur" by We Versus The Shark (Hello Sir Records) with a cover of Dirt In The Ground.
Dec. 30, '08: Scheduled release of "The Words and Music of Tom Waits" (Praeger Publishers: ISBN-10: 0313349061, ISBN-13: 978-0313349065) by Corinne Kessel. Biography/ analysis on Waits by the managing producer for November Theatre (The Black Rider);
Apr. 14, '09: Scheduled release of the Waits biography Lowside Of The Road: A Life Of Tom Waits (288 p. hardcover by Faber/ Doubleday) by British music critic and editor of Rock's Backpages Barney Hoskyns. (Source: Barney Hoskyns. October, 2007);.
Early '09: Waits plays Mr. Nick, aka the devil in Terry Gilliam's forthcoming feature "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus". Shooting started February 2008. The film is expected to be released early 2009. (Source: "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus - A preview from Dreams: the Terry Gilliam fanzine by Phil Stubbs. October 10, 2007);
More at Google News and at the Eyeball Kid blogspot.

This month's video

Excerpt from "Bunny", with Bend Down The Branches (Blue Sky Studios, 1998)
Movie directed by Chris Wedge

This month's quote

Tom Waits: "I guess most entertainers are, on a certain level, part of the freak show. And most of them have some kind of wounding early on, either a death in the family, or a break-up of the family unit, and it sends them off on some journey where they find themselves kneeling by a jukebox, praying to Ray Charles. Or you're out looking for your dad, who left the family when you were nine, and you know he drives a station wagon and that's all you've got to go on, and in some way you're gonna become a big sensation and be on the cover of Life magazine and it'll somehow be this cathartic vindication or restitution." (Source: "Mojo interview with Tom Waits". Mojo: Barney Hoskyns. April, 1999)