December giveaway

The release of Glitter & Doom and the upcoming release of the Orphans box seems like the perfect moment for a new giveaway.

To enter just send me a an e-mail with December giveaway in the subject field and let me know which Tom Waits product from the Amazon catalogue you would like (and why).

The giveaway closes on Christmas eve.

Two Waits/Kronos tracks on iTunes

The Bridge School Collection, Volume 4 is available now on iTunes. The album contains two tracks with the Kronos Quartet and Tom Waits: What Keeps Mankind Alive and The Part You Throw Away, both recorded on October 7th, 2007.

Proceeds from the album's sales go directly to the Bridge School.

G&D streaming

The bad news is the Glitter & Doom Live album was streamed on KCRW's Eclectic yesterday - so I missed that one. The good news is, it will be available on-demand through December 22.

Waits records Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing

Some more details about the song Tom Waits has recorded with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band have surfaced. According to Earth Times, the song is Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing, the earliest known recorded Mardi Gras song.

Máquina de Huesos, the Spanish waits blog, quotes John Sinclair as saying this song was released in 1955 as a 78rpm single by Danny Barker and his Creole Cats.

Proceeds from the sale of the project will benefit the New Orleans Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program. The album is set for release on Fat Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in standard CD, deluxe edition and double-LP collectible formats.

Other artists involved are Louis Armstrong, Andrew Bird, Terence Blanchard, Pete Seeger, Dr. John, Blind Boys of Alabama, Brandi Carlile, Cory Chisel, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Richie Havens, Jason Isbell, Jim James, Angelique Kidjo, Amy LaVere, Anita Briem, Del McCoury, Bobby McFerrin, Buddy Miller, Paolo Nutini, and Tom Waits.

Dutch radio special

Dutch radio station VPRO Radio6 is planning a Tom Waits Glitter & Doom special. Reason enough to tune in or listen online to Shouting Boots on December 12th (21-24hrs, local time), but what's more: you can be part of it thanks to a cover competition.

Just mail an mp3 file of your very own Waits cover (new and previously unreleased, of course) to shoutingboots@gmail.com and you might get invited to the studio. Or you might just win a copy of the upcoming Orphans vinyl box signed by Tom Waits himself. No need to worry about the quality of the recording or style of your rendition, in true Waits-style, everything is allowed: lo-fi big bands or digital flute meisters, just have a shot at it.

The producers are also looking for a Dutch-speaking woman who wants to be part of the Waits panel/jury on the show. If you're interested and are able to make it to the studio on the evening of December 12th, contact me.

Spacious thoughts video

N.A.S.A. premieres their new video for Spacious Thoughts featuring Kool Keith and Tom Waits on Boing Boing. And there's a free download available as well.

Duke Robillard about working with Tom Waits

Mike Mellor, editor for the Boston Blues Society, interviewed guitar player Duke Robillard for his blog The Killing Floor. He had the chance to ask him about working with Tom Waits on the Orphans tour.

"I went out and rehearsed with the band for ten days and went right out and
did the tour." - Duke Robillard

Where can you buy Glitter and Doom?

Where can you buy Glitter and Doom? All the familiar places, I should think, but some people would like me to put up a link to their shop. Why not do it yourself? For once, I'll allow advertising: if you own a webshop or a real life shop, feel free to put everything G&D-related you want in the comments.

Some advice from a potential buyer:
* Include special offers and/or prices (or not if you're not the competitive kind)
* Make clear where you are based and try and give an indication about delivery/postage charges

If you want to work out something special for the readers of my blog - contest, giveaway, promo material,... - feel free to contact me.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not responsible for the content of the comments and I can not vouch for their accuracy. If you should decide to buy something based on what is posted here, you do so at your own risk.

Libération interview

French news paper Libération published an interview with Tom Waits on November 10th. If I understand this correctly, it seems to be the result of some sort of press junket to promote The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which took place in London somewhere in October, although I haven't seen any other interviews from this occasion (*).

Anyway, the interviewer tried to talk about music but failed ('I didn't come here for that') and had to stick to movies ('Songs are movies for the ears'), the truth ('The word should be written with -s; there are so many truths. When you start telling a story about something that happend, you're lying from the word go.') and why he doesn't talk about his private life ('When someone tells you a good story, it doesn't matter if it is true or false. In show business, you can change your name, you can invent things that never happened, and it will get written about and published. Fascinating, when you think about it.')

(thanks to Gerard)

(*) UPDATE: Apart from the interview in The Guardian I mentioned earlier, of course.

Kellesimone Waits' exposition opening

I usually don't bring you news or pictures about the Waits family, because in general this has nothing to do with the work of Mr. Waits and might be considered an invasion of privacy. However, I would like to make a small exception for some news about a gallery opening featuring work by his daughter Kellesimone and Tiffany Trenda as this event was widely publicised.

The opening of 'Power Plays' at Frank Pictures Gallery in Santa Monica, California last week was attended by the Waits family and pictures can be seen on Wireimage Life and Depp Impact.

Some of the other beautiful people attending were Harry Dean Stanton, Johnny Depp, Rebecca de Mornay and Tim Robbins.

(Thanks to all the people who pointed this out - you know who you are)

Waits on Twitter?

Kathleen and I came up with this idea of doing music that's surrural-- it's surreal and it's rural, it's surrural.

I have no idea how involved Tom Waits himself is, but that is the first 'tweet' of @anti_tomwaits.

Orphans box on Amazon

the Orphans vinyl box set has now appeared on Amazon.com. ($142.48). The UK site is just listing it as an import at the moment and says it is "Currently unavailable".

Tom Waits recording with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

From the ANTI blog:

Tom Waits is currently down in New Orleans recording a benefit track with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It’s been a two year project by the band to raise money for the historic French Quarter Hall and keep the rollicking big easy music tradition alive.
Waits will also be recording a song for Anti’s volume 2 Sea Shanty record produced by Hal Willner with an assortment of other musicians.

Dylan's band sings Waits

Bob Dylan's band performed two snippets of Tom Waits songs the past few days: In Chicago, Illinois, (October 31st), they played one verse of Jesus Gonna Be Here in the middle of the set and in Bloomington, Indiana (November 2nd), one verse of San Diego Serenade in the middle of the set. One both occasions, Stu Kimball was singing.

(thanks to Dan and Ian)