The Strange But Deserving

There's no way I can not do a blog on the introduction of Tom Waits into the rock and roll hall of fame. Then I found out he was inducted by Neil Young it was absolutely perfect. I cant search through all the artists in the artist yellow pages or anthology and find anyone that deserves this prestigious award more then Mr. Waits. He is not your typical multi millionaire singer- songwriter that walks with pride and wealth. Waits still has the feel that he just crawled out of the gutter after a hard night of drinking in the dirtiest of dive bars. He is the cookie cuter cutout of a chain smoking, womanizing, coffee guzzling, brandy gulping, jazz crazed lunatic that strives for hard nights and even harder days. Waits said it best when he described music as " something strange you do with air", perfectly described for waits. He really does strange things with air since the late 60s. He still has that presence and voice proving it onstage performing Make It Rain and Rain Dogs. He lets no one down. You can see the joy on Young's face as he knows this is a huge step for the hall of fame taking in such a luminary. Waits asks for a smaller version of the award so he can carry it around just in case he gets in trouble and maybe it could get him out. That's Waits summed up, a troublemaker but also the smartest and most talented storyteller the music world have ever seen. He strives to be the best and the worst, the remembered and the forgotten, the sweet and the sour, the loved and the hated, but most important hes the most famed of the underground. No one might not understand Waits but that's the reason hes so tangible, hes one of us, hes real and raw. Congrats Tom Waits on getting what you probably didn't care if you got or not, into the rock and roll hall of fame. Keep writing the quirky and strange music that keeps running through my head.

Barrence Boxes With Russell

I've been a huge fan of songs about real people, real lives, true stories. Songs like Bob Dylan's Hurricane, Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerld, Johnny Cash's The Ballad of John Henry, etc. There's hundreds of them. Today I've stumbled across a great tribute song by a good friend of mine Barrence Whitfeild. Barrence works at the record exchange record store in Salem, MA that i frequently hung out in and thumbed through the vinyl. My collection grew larger and larger after learning more and more great music from Barrence, Jimmy, Skip and Paul. I probably wouldn't have the knowledge of music if it wasn't for those guys and I owe them alot and thank them greatly. Barrence can be heard around New England with his funk group He also tours around Europe and Australia. In this song however Barrence takes a more traditional route, collaborating with folk artist Tom Russell he sings great with his gruff voice on a song that is beautifully written. The song is a tribute to legendary boxer John Arthur (Jack) Johnson, the first ever African American to ever win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship and the second ever African American to win a championship. Story's like this can never be lost in history and thanks to Barrence Whitfield and Tom Russell at least Jack Johnson's story never will.

The Storyteller Waits

To me Tom Waits is the greatest storyteller I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Being from Newfoundland I've heard my share of storytellers. There's nothing else to do but sit around and tell story's of days passed and sip on bottleneck of beer. So for me to say that Tom is the greatest that I have ever heard is a great privilege towards him. Even MTV made a great choice to get Tom to appear on their show Storytellers. At the beginning of this song he tells a great story about how he was interrupted in a hotel room one night when a couple barged in on him fighting. After the story he brakes into one of his great songs Jersey Girl. Recorded by Bruce Springsteen who made it a hit many people go back to Waits version and think its much better. It has more soul and supposedly written for his wife who's from New Jersey. Waits is one of my favorite artists to listen to and watch and here he proves why hes now in the rock and roll hall of fame.