glitter and doom
News that Tom Waits is playing anywhere in the region is alone cause for celebration.
The iconic composer, song stylist and barking pop surrealist ignored this part of the country for decades, but ventured as close as Louisville during an August 2006 swing of eight Midwestern cities. The performance sold out in under an hour.
This summer, the ever mercurial Waits returns - sort of. His just-announced 13-stop Glitter and Doom Tour won’t play any closer than the Ohio Theatre in Columbus on Saturday, June 28 and the Civic Theatre in Knoxville on Sunday, June 29. But, hey folks, these are weekend dates. I smell a road trip.
Waits has no new album to promote. But then, he hardly needs one. The 2006 concerts prefaced the release of his triple CD scrapbook collection Orphans by only three months, yet Waits played next to nothing from it. Instead, the Louisville performance drew upon such relatively recent doomsday musings and carnival vignettes as Eyeball Kid, God’s Away on Business and Hoist That Rag. Only a stark, but still roughcut reading of Tom Traubert’s Blues was plucked from his golden ‘70s catalog.
No specific word has been given on when tickets for the summer shows will be available. TicketMaster listed an on-sale date of Saturday for the Knoxville concert on its website as of yesterday morning. But by last night, no info on any show was posted.
Until confirmed details surface, we suggest stopping by www.tomwaits.com and checking out the You Tube video of Waits’ “press conference” for the tour. It’s an absolute riot. Take notes, though. You’ll quizzed this summer on the definition of “pedhdtsckjmba” (pronounced by Waits as “peads-kuh-jum-bah”)
You also might want to look out for the company you’re keeping if you view the video this weekend on Mother’s Day. You’ll know why when you see it.
I am a native Kentuckian and freelance journalist who has been writing about contemporary music for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1980. I have not a lick of honest musical talent myself, just a pair of appreciative ears for jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, Americana, soul, Celtic, Cajun, chamber, worldbeat, nearly every form of rock 'n' roll imaginable and, when pressed, the occasional tango and polka.