The Medusa Fora

Eric V wrote:I'm listening to BB&B again at the moment. Aside from the obvious live performance watch, and I know some here would post as soon as something is announced and discovered, does anyone know of any good live footage on DVD?

I think I read somewhere that "Big Time" is being released on DVD soon,
or already has been. That's a really strange, highly entertaining mixture
of live footage from his 1986 tour with some theatrical bits (starring Tom
as "Frank" of Frank's Wild Years) threaded throughout it. A video copy
of that has been a treasured gem in my collection since the 80s.

And last time I looked there was stuff from his most recent tour
available on iTunes.

A bump for the birthday boy!

Time

The smart money's on Harlow, and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East St. Louis, and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause

And Napoleon is weepin' in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true, there's nothing left for him down here

And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time that you love
And it's time, time, time

And they all pretend they're orphans, and their memory's like a train
You can see it gettin' smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well, she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And Matilda asks the sailors, 'Are those dreams or are those prayers?'
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Oh, it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time that you love
And it's time, time, time

Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll, she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet

So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off till I come back again

Oh, it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time that you love
And it's time, time, time

You know, the amazing thing about Tom Waits is that he's good at whatever the hell he decides to do. I mean, his albums are uniformly great - all of them - and you can't even say that about Bob Dylan, who still has to take responsibility for Self Portrait. But not only are his albums great, he's also a legitimately great actor, more so than many full-time actors who took classes and stuff like that. His performance in Down by Law is one for the ages, and he's really funny in Coffee & Cigarettes.

Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live, I've been a big fan of his work for many years, including the film Cold Feet - which is a shocker, but he's outstanding, I wouldn't put it on a must see list, but if you come across it....

There was also a Pogues related story about him, apparently (from memory) Shane was trying to get into one of his gigs, Tom Waits gets to the stage door, and pulls a pint of Guinness out of his pocket, drinks it down and then invites Shane in, genius!

I really can't think of a wrong move that he's made - including let Rod Stewart have a go at 2 of his tunes,

DrugProwlingWolf wrote:he's also a legitimately great actor, more so than many full-time actors who took classes and stuff like that. His performance in Down by Law is one for the ages, and he's really funny in Coffee & Cigarettes.

Yeah, Down By Law is a truly great performance. Just looking at
this picture cracks me up.

In my mind, it's sorta dovetailed in with Rain Dogs, since some of
the songs are used in the film, and it was his current project. He was really
at the top of his game that year!


Tom's worth watching anytime a camera's on him. His TV appearances are
always great, and his episode of Fishing With John is hilarious.



He's the best thing about that weird-hairdo version of Dracula.


I think his most moving work is in this film:





...as Rudy the Bum, aka Rudy Newton. His scenes with Nicholson are priceless.

Jon wrote:Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live...

Absolutely. He's one of the "must-see-before-I-die-or-they-die" people I haven't managed to yet. Been quite lucky working my way through that list so far. But being realistic, I'm not sure what the chances are of this one...

firehazard wrote:

Jon wrote:Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live...

Absolutely. He's one of the "must-see-before-I-die-or-they-die" people I haven't managed to yet. Been quite lucky working my way through that list so far. But being realistic, I'm not sure what the chances are of this one...

What does that mean?! That Tom Waits does not go on tour?

territa wrote:

firehazard wrote:

Jon wrote:Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live...

Absolutely. He's one of the "must-see-before-I-die-or-they-die" people I haven't managed to yet. Been quite lucky working my way through that list so far. But being realistic, I'm not sure what the chances are of this one...

What does that mean?! That Tom Waits does not go on tour?

Tom(unfortunately) rarely tours and when he does they are very short tours and tickets are usually extremely hard to get a hold of.
His last "tour" was August 2006 i believe where he played 8 or 9 shows(i believe) to support his(then) upcoming 3-CD release ORPHANS. He played 2 shows in one night in Ohio on that tour,one of which was a midnight show....how cool would that be to attend? A Tom Waits Midnight show in Cleveland?

well... Never say never ! If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would be going to Glasgow twice to see The Pogues, meeting people from this forum, having dinner with Philip here in SA, going backstage... ..... (!) firehazard, don't give up, you just never know.

territa wrote:firehazard, don't give up, you just never know.

Cheers, territa. I haven't given up hope. I rarely do, cheery optimistic fella that I am.

One day...

territa wrote:

firehazard wrote:

Jon wrote:Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live...

Absolutely. He's one of the "must-see-before-I-die-or-they-die" people I haven't managed to yet. Been quite lucky working my way through that list so far. But being realistic, I'm not sure what the chances are of this one...

What does that mean?! That Tom Waits does not go on tour?

He tours, but I've always been in the wrong country when he does.

dublinrambler wrote:

territa wrote:

firehazard wrote:

Jon wrote:Tom Waits is one of the only people I need to see live...

Absolutely. He's one of the "must-see-before-I-die-or-they-die" people I haven't managed to yet. Been quite lucky working my way through that list so far. But being realistic, I'm not sure what the chances are of this one...

What does that mean?! That Tom Waits does not go on tour?

Tom(unfortunately) rarely tours and when he does they are very short tours and tickets are usually extremely hard to get a hold of.
His last "tour" was August 2006 i believe where he played 8 or 9 shows(i believe) to support his(then) upcoming 3-CD release ORPHANS.

Tom Waits was at the top of my must-see list when we were fortunate enough to get tickets for his Chicago show during that tour. It was easily the most amazing concert I've had the pleasure to experience. I wrote about it at length somewhere in these fora. If you get the chance to see him...DO!!

There's a similar campaign to the FTONY one doing the rounds for "Christmas Card from a hooker in Minneapolis" to get to Christmas number 1 in Ireland. It's currently at number 11 in the iTunes download charts and has been cut to 6/1 by the bookies with 1 day to go. FONY is still at number 1. It would make a nice number 2.


Still no sign of the XFactor. I'm starting to sound like a fan.

why does http://www.tomwaits.com not work?

slightly rhetorical I know, but I'm after possible tour dates and compilation DVDs. I've spent an hour watching stuff on YouTube, and I really need to see these clips on a tv now.