never diss the place where you're playing, at least if you ever want to come back there again!

Yeah. It was 110 degrees that day and she had requested the bar be non-smoking for her show (first time I'd ever seen that, though Lawrence did pass a smoking ban about six years later). It was about 90 degrees inside that bar. Your beer got warm the second you touched it. Everyone is jonesing for nicotine, and she is up there complaining about how hot she is, how warm her beer is, that the tambourine is giving her blisters. And then she is like - at least I got them to make the bar non-smoking. How is it that Kansas is so backward that they haven't banned smoking in bars yet?

People just started streaming out.

I may need to let go of some of my Neko Case anger...

Thanks tina and kate. That is too bad about her live shows.

For a counterpoint, here's my friend's account of a Neko Case concert. He's a huge Neko Case fan, and it looks like she put on a good show for him, at least. Maybe he left out the annoying drunk bits and concentrated on appreciating the music instead.

and then I've also got her covering "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis", which is fabulous.

I'll be posting this shortly. It's on my Tom Waits Covers list.

Just got back from LA for Kim Cooper's wedding, which was beautiful and fun and filled wall to wall with Angelino hipsters.

It was 110 degrees in the central valley as we drove back on I-5 today.

On-Topic: We listened to Nat King Cole's great After Midnight CD on the way home (back to a small jazz combo with Ellington sidemen like Stuff Smith and Sweets Edison). Also Impala's Square Jungle (red hot instros: surf /rockabilly / sax), No Roses by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band (as AMG notes, sort of like Shirley Collins backed by Fairport) and Kate Bush's The Kick Inside.

Also some of JZ's folkie music including Greg Brown.

She is one of the most petulant artists I have ever seen live.

I saw the New Pornographers once and she was so offputting. She looked like she'd rather have been anywhere but there. No energy whatsoever. GF and I were not impressed.

Hecubus, sir, thank you for the Tom Waits covers.

You're welcome! Let's do some more. I had intended to do them all in a bunch, so I'll try to catch up a bit.

Tom Waits Covers 3

Country ballads

Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis - Neko Case. Actually Neko's vocal is the most country part of the song, as it's mostly played on organ. One of Tom's best short-story-in-a-song productions. Beautifully sung, beautifully detailed writing.

Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again - Nora O'Connor. Thanks to Kate P. for this excellent version. Early Tom is a favorite to cover - probably because the melodies are so accessible and they've got an easy country /folkie flavor to them.

Tom Waits Covers 4

Blues Groove

Downtown - Alex Chilton. The original is on Heartattack and Vine and Alex really knows his way around a shuffle like this. He's an excellent match for Tom's material, even though his voice is much lighter. (These days, anyway. Back with the Box Tops they had him singing in a more Waitsian register.) Just a great feel and vibe to this. From the Step Right Up compilation.

Get Behind the Mule - John Hammond Jr. Hammond is a white guy blues singer who started back in the 60s. Tom produced an entire album of Hammond doing Waits covers, and the arrangement and production offer interesting contrasts with Tom's originals. They've got a similar groove, but are just a wee bit more conventional/commercial in their sound and instrumentation. This song's so hypnotic you could just put it on a loop and listen to it for hours.

Tom Waits Covers 5

Front Porch Breezy Melancholy

Mockin' Bird - tindersticks. An early, befuddled-by-the-vagaries-of-romance, song. Tindersticks underplay it perfectly.

Blue Skies - Floyd Dixon. Veteran R&B/Blues singer Floyd Dixon eases into it. Lazy jazz piano and a sweet, soulful vocal. Has sort of a "What a Wonderful World" vibe, but lyrically goes off in a different direction.

Tom Waits Covers 6

Indie Punk Tom

Red Shoes by the Drugstore - The Wedding Present. The original is from Blue Valentine. Yet another great example of how well Tom's songcraft adapts to other genres. Sounds like a particularly well written Wedding Present song.

Better Off Without A Wife - Pete Shelley. Love this! Total punk rock Waits as done by the Buzzcocks main man. For more punk Tom, check out The Ramones cover of "I Don't Want to Grow Up." (Which I'll post if anybody is lacking it.)

Tom Waits Covers 7

Berlin Cabaret

Strange Weather - Marianne Faithful. Originally Tom was going to write and produce a whole album for her about a Storyville madam. This is all we got. From her excellent album of the same title, produced by Hal Wilner.

The Part You Throw Away - Ute Lemper. On her Punishing Kiss album Ute strayed from her Weimar diet of Weil and Hollander to do contempory songwriters with a similar feel. She also covers Tom's "Purple Avenue."

Marlene Dietrich should've done a whole album of Tom Waits songs.