For anybody jealous of the P2 SXSW types, this was the event of the event,
and I didn't hear about any of us getting in for it. Step up and testify if
you did...
>Tom Waits Previews New
> Album In Rare Show
>
> Troubadour's concert was hottest ticket at South by
> Southwest.
>
> Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports:
>
> AUSTIN, Texas -- "Where you been, Tom?" a woman yelled
> near the end of Tom Waits' two-hour show at the Paramount
> Theater in the early morning hours Sunday.
>
> The grizzled singer tilted his head and croaked, "I been in
> traffic school. I had a lot of tickets. It adds up,
believe me."
>
> Waits then joked about getting a degree in parallel
parking and got back to work, bowing his
> head down by his knees and smacking his hands together to
count off one of his newer tunes,
> "Hold On."
>
> Every year the South by Southwest Music Conference, an
annual confab of music business
> professionals and young bands, produces a bona-fide
must-see show. Last year, it was a rare
> club gig by guitar terrorists Sonic Youth; this year,
troubadour Waits upped the ante with one
> of his only live performances of this decade.
>
> Dressed in a dark denim jacket and pants, a
white undershirt and crumpled
> brown fedora, the raspy-voiced singer was
his quintessential, nonchalant self
> during the show, during which he dipped into
his catalog of gut-bucket blues
> and Tin Pin Alley-like ballads and previewed
three songs from his upcoming
> Epitaph Records debut, Mule Variations (due
April 27).
>
> Hundreds of fans, some of whom you might
have heard of, lined up outside
> the ornate old theater on Congress Avenue as
early as 4:30 a.m. Saturday
> hoping to score one of South by Southwest's
hottest tickets.
>
> At the front of the line was 28-year-old
Shane Carbonneau, of Austin, who
> said he had to literally beg, borrow and lie
to get in. "I had to borrow my
> friend's [festival] badge, sneak into the
convention center and tell a really
> elaborate story to get this ticket," Carbonneau said.
>
> Waiting behind Carbonneau on the cold concrete was Mark
Linkous, frontman of the
> experimental Virginia rock band Sparklehorse. "I'm a huge
fan of Tom," Linkous said. "I'm
> really looking forward to this."
>
> Linkous did, it should be noted, have more than the usual
fan interest in the show. He said he
> was anxious to meet up with Waits later, hoping to
determine that the troubadour had
> completed recording his part for a song on Sparklehorse's
next album.
>
> Waits took the stage just after midnight, waltzing to the
microphone as if he'd always been
> there. He kicked his left leg like a mule and gripped the
microphone stand with both hands as
> if trying to choke it.
>
> Accompanied by a four-piece band that included Beck
guitarist Smokey Hormel, Waits
> charmed the rapt audience with such chestnuts as the
clattering "16 Shells From a
> Thirty-Ought Six" (RealAudio excerpt) (from 1983's
Swordfishtrombones) and the tender
> ballad "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" (from
1974's The Heart of Saturday Night).
>
> Although the show was packed with such whoop-inducing
Waits staples as "Downtown
> Train," "Temptation" and "Heart Attack and Vine," the
centerpiece of the show was the new
> "Filipino Box Spring Hog," a foot-stomping number from
Mule Variations.
>
> Waits started the song by squeezing out a ragged, a
cappella howl; Hormel slowly weaved his
> way in with a subtle wah-wah guitar accompaniment. On
Waits' order, drummer Stephen
> Hodges leapt into the mix with a booming, hip-hop-like
backbeat, giving the ragged number
> the feel of a gritty front-porch blues jam.
>
> Grinding out his vocals in his trademark throaty bellow,
Waits did his best James Brown
> imitation near song's end, suddenly pointing to random
band members to give them the
> spotlight. The instant crowd favorite ended with Waits
telescoping a spectral, far-away voice
> through his cupped hands.
>
> Almost as entertaining as the songs were Waits'
between-song meanderings and asides.
>
> He bided his time between numbers, tinkling the ivories
of his center-stage grand piano while
> he told impromptu stories about his hobby of breaking in
other people's shoes; of a band he'd
> heard the night before playing on the back of a flat-bed
truck; and the use of leeches in
> medicine.
>
> "The scar they leave is the same as the logo of a
Mercedes Benz," Waits cracked. "And they
> say there's no truth in advertising."
>
> Waits touched on smoky jazz, window-rattling falsetto
singing ("Temptation"), gospel-like
> blues ("Jesus Gonna Be Here") and piano-bar balladry
("Innocent When You Dream"), and
> commanded three standing ovations from the normally blase
SXSW horde, which included
> also such peers as singer/songwriters Lucinda Williams
and Austin's Alejandro Escovedo.
>
> "I'm just beside myself," said Giant Sand/Calexico member
Joey Burns.
"The truth ain't always what we need, sometimes we need to hear a beautiful
lie." -Bill Lloyd
