On November 19th, Preservation Hall Recordings will release 504 limited edition hand-numbered 78 rpm vinyl records featuring two tracks by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with very special guest Tom Waits. Proceeds from the sale of this very special project will benefit the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band.
You don’t have the oldschool gramophon to play this?
The first one hundred records will be accompanied by a custom-made Preservation Hall 78rpm record player as part of a Deluxe Donation package.
Hey ho, Barry & Sharl might like this one. See details on tomwaits.com! One sample song called Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing can be listened here in mp78 – joke: in mp3.
Kids, if you’re not into Tom Waits, I suggest you skip reading this entry altogether. If you are though — or if you like the way Sharl and I illustrate — you may want to read on. (more…)
In the above clip, Tom Waits appears on Fernwood 2 Night, a parody talk show, hosted by Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) and sidekick/announcer Jerry Hubbard (Fred Willard), created by Norman Lear as a spin-off/summer replacement from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The show ran from July 4th, 1977 to September 8th, 1977. On it, Waits performs “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)” from his 1976 Elektra/Wea album, Small Change.
We will be emailing all seven winners shortly requesting their snail mail addy. Congrats to those who won, apologies to those who didn’t get picked… Regardless: thanks all for participating. It’s been a fun ride!
A/ one copy of Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos, the book, along with one set of twelve postcards, and B/ six sets of twelve postcards.
Click image to enlarge:
To enter the competition, simply post a comment answering the following three questions:
1. Name an artist who covered a Tom Waits song, and name the title of the song itself.
2. Mention your favorite Tom Waits song.
3. How does one say Good Morning in German?
The contest starts now and remains open until Wednesday April 1st, 6pm Western European Time, upon which an innocent hand will draw the winners — not to worry: there will be video! Ladies and gentlemen: start your engines…
You’ll remember my going on and on about the Tom Waits book Sharl and I illustrated. Ah, well a couple of days ago we finally got our copy:
The front- and back-cover with some of the postcards.
Some more postcards.
It really turned out to be a wonderful book — great attention to detail, typography, paper choice as well as an excellent print job. More, larger pictures are available here. Call me biassed but Sharleena and I are really proud to have been part of this project.
It took our pal Tommi Brem and his associate Daniel Knapp two years to translate Jay S. Jacob’s Tom Waits biography, “Wild Years: the Music and Myth of Tom Waits”, into German — Tommi at one point likened it to birthing a baby elephant.
You may remember that Sharl and I were approached to create chapter illustrations for this book, as well as a cover. Given the subject, that turned out to be great fun, despite a near fatal computer crash.
For those interested: if you pre-order the book, you get a free set of high-quality postcards with all 12 illustrations printed on them.
As for Sharl and I: we’re chuffed to have been part of this project! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go camp near the mailbox and await the arrival of my copy 🙂
What is it about the music and lyrics of Tom Waits that popular culture has clung to so heartily? Has he touched upon something deep within our common unconscious, like some dimestore novel from which we are all characters?
