I attended one of Drew Pearce’s house concerts last night and was particularly taken with Amber Rubarth, a singer songwriter with Jolie Holland-flavor, who led us all in a rousing sing-a-long of Tom Waits’ ‘Ol 55′. After the song was over, all the audience members took turns calling out what personal facts they knew about Waits – that he drives a black Prius, that he visits his local Radio Shack a few times a week, that he lives out near Valley Ford…….I love how everyone wants so badly to ‘know’ this man. I am guilty too. Joe and I caught him playing with the Kronos Quartet at Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit last week – I was so excited I took pictures of him on the big monitors – the shots are fuzzy and useless, but I won’t delete them – I was there! I saw Tom Waits, live!
And I am doing everything in my power to keep a diamond in my mind.
It’s funny how there aren’t many contemporaries who can pull off creating a mystique and a persona, isn’t it? Maybe that’s a casualty of our generation’s quest for “authenticity” above all. I saw a hilarious YouTube of Tom on the Fernwood Tonight show from the 70s where he says, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.” In any case, thanks again for coming to the house concert and playing a few of your lovely tunes, Julia. Great to meet you and be introduced to your music. Thanks also for the shout-out here on your blog.