Tom Waits' Variations

"There's a lot of intelligence in the hands. When you pick up a shovel, the hands know what to do. The same thing's true of sitting at the piano -- your hands just, after a while, kind of wrap themselves around certain structures and voicings," he explains. "I think it's good to kind of surprise yourself sometimes. It's like, I've got a friend who's a painter who wears glasses. He goes out in the woods, takes off his glasses, and draws, you know, 'cause everything looks different.

"It's like, when I went down to Mexico, and I went into a sushi bar, and the guy asked me if I want that with or without cheese," he says, cracking himself up. "I said, 'Awright, this is a good thing.' "

And Waits keeps right on laughing.

Tom Waits performs Wednesday and Thursday, June 9-10, at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway (at 21st Street), Oakland. Tickets are $45.50-75.50. The shows are sold out; call (510) 465-6400.