Oil stain picture auction

Tom Waits has donated one of his rare photos — signed, framed and one-of-a-kind — from his “Oil Stain” series to a charity auction that will go to benefit the tuition assistance program at Summerfield School.

The opening bid is $800. The online auction will close June 5, 2009. More information here

(via ANTI-)

Parnassus fan site

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus support site is an (unofficial) website made up of a consortium of websites, fans and movie lovers who support the Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus. I'll try and keep you up-to-date on Tom Waits' involvement in the movie, but for any additional info on the picture, you might want to go and take a look over there. 

Live from Austin

I usually don't post about bootlegs: they are borderline legal (at best) and fans can find plenty of free alternatives online, so there's no need to give the money-grabbers any free publicity. 

However, the bootleg recording Romeo is bleeding - Live from Austin seems to be starting somewhat of a semi-official life. I reported about the Amazon dvd last week and now Vinyl Passion, a Dutch company, announced a vinyl release of the 1978 concert later this month.

(click on image for larger version)

First Parnassus review

The imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam's new movie is set to premiere at the Cannes film festival on May 22. As the movie is showing out of competition, it will not compete for the festival prizes.

And don't ask me how they did it, but Ain't It Cool has written the first review - with some spoilers. And Gilliam fan Harry Knowles makes some very nice comments about the movie, including plenty of praise for Tom Waits' performance as Mr. Nick (or Satan, if you prefer so).

"Through all of this, I’ve yet to mention the brilliant Tom Waits as Mr. Nick. He is Satan in a bowler hat and a John Waters moustache. He plays Satan as a character that loves the game he plays with Parnassus. Tricking him into immortality, so that Satan has eternity to play with the dear Doctor. Tom Waits is brilliant in the role – reminding me of the best Satans we’ve ever had."

(Thanks to Adam)

A new video in the works?

A student of the College of Santa Fe, NM, has let me know Tom Waits has been seen around campus on several occasions the past few days.

I usually don't report any 'sightings', but according to some of the people over there, Waits is filming what is assumed to be a music video. An assumption made because the college has one of the state's few sound stages and no one seem aware of any feature lenght film being shot on campus.

Dylan's favourite

Halfway through season 3 of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, Tom Waits has reached the #1 spot on the list of "most-played" artists. You can find the list over at Expecting Rain. Waits himself is also an avid contributor to the radio show and is said to mail cassettes with ommentary to Dylan on a more or less regular basis. 

(via Dreamtime)

Another Hoskyns reading

In addition to previously mentioned appearances in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and West Hollywood, Barney Hoskyns will also be reading from his book Lowside of the road - a life of Tom Waits at The Center in Washington (725 Washington @ 11th St. NY, NY 10014) on May 11th. On this occasion, Gary Lucas will be playing a set of Waits songs.

Guest appearance on NASA track

I did mention something about it long ago, but I never gave the NASA track Spacious thoughts (featuring Tom Waits and Kool Keith) the attention it might deserve.

Anyway, it is available as one of the tracks with the bonus cd that comes with the May issue of the UK magazine The Word. And on the NASA album Spirit of Apollo of course. More about NASA on -ANTI






Thanks to Alex, Jarlath, Brandi, Shane and all the others who at some point drew my attention to this.

Brain talking about Waits

EQtv has a video of drummer Brian Brain Mantia talking about his collaboration with Tom Waits.

Waits drawn with cassette tape

Tom Waits drawn with cassette tape, as seen on Flickr.

Down by law Blu-ray release?

Amazon runs a poll to let the customers decide which Criterion Collection movie should be treated to a Blu-ray release. Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law is one of the movies - with Tom Waits in one of the leading parts alongside John Lurie and Roberto Benigni - you can choose.  

Greatest songwriter (almost)

Listeners of Belgian's Radio 1 radio station have voted Tom Waits to the #8 spot Fab 50. Dylan leads this list of  'Greatest songwriters', before Lennon & McCartney and Belgium's own Jacques Brel.

Here's the comlpete top 10: 

1. Bob Dylan
   
2. John Lennon & Paul McCartney
   
3. Jacques Brel
   
4. Boudewijn De Groot & Lennaert Nijgh
   
5. Leonard Cohen
   
6. Bruce Springsteen
   
7. Neil Young
   
8. Tom Waits
   
9. David Bowie
10. Nick Cave

Check out the rest of the list and some audio at the station's website.

Lowside reading

Writer Barney Hoskyns will be reading from his book, The Lowside of the road - a life of Tom Waits, in Williamsburg Brooklyn, at Pete's Candy Store on May 12th,  at 6.30 pm. 

As mentioned earlier, you can find him in LA and West Hollywood on May 15th and 16th. 

Meanwhile, an updated list witkh some reviews of the book:

• The Financial Times
  
• The Guardian
• Times Online
• Times Online Literary Supplement
• The Telegraph
• RTE Entertainment