Tom Waits

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Ralph Carney Gets (Moderately) Serious with The Serious Jass Project

​If any rock performer can double as a character in a James Joyce novel, it's Ralph Carney. A multi-instrumentalist best known as reedman for Tom Waits and a host of others, the S.F.-based Carney plays the way he talks: expansive, eccentric, and endlessly discursive. As a member of Tin Huey, he wa ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

​If any rock performer can double as a character in a James Joyce novel, it's Ralph Carney. A multi-instrumentalist best known as reedman for Tom Waits and a host of others, the S.F.-based Carney plays the way he talks: expansive, eccentric, and endlessly discursive. As a member of Tin Huey, he wa ... More >>

So, Tom Waits Is Apparently Releasing New Music Next Week

Mr. Waits​ It's always a big deal when new stuff drops from the gravelly throat of Sonoma County-based rocker/bluesman/enigma Tom Waits. And it looks like he may be about to release his first new music in seven years. Yesterday, Waits' label sent out a very cryptic email hinting that somethin ... More >>

Trippy Beer Ballet

Mr. Waits​ It's always a big deal when new stuff drops from the gravelly throat of Sonoma County-based rocker/bluesman/enigma Tom Waits. And it looks like he may be about to release his first new music in seven years. Yesterday, Waits' label sent out a very cryptic email hinting that somethin ... More >>

Tom Waits No Longer To Be Inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Instagram username TomWaitsForNoMan (Wait, is that headline confusing? "No longer" modifies the verb "waits," not the compound adjective "to be inducted." Sorry if that seemed sensationalistic. But while we're on the subject of names that parse as verbs, consider the difficulty of writing a snappy h ... More >>

Photo: A Tom Waits Portrait Made from Coffee and Cigarettes

Now, here's some literal art we can get behind. Artist Mike Oncley fashioned this portrait of weirdo/werewolf/musician Tom Waits out of coffee and cigarettes, the very name of a film in which Waits himself played a role. Not only is it a cool idea -- the piece itself is quite striking. Oncley is sel ... More >>

Women of DIVAfest

Now, here's some literal art we can get behind. Artist Mike Oncley fashioned this portrait of weirdo/werewolf/musician Tom Waits out of coffee and cigarettes, the very name of a film in which Waits himself played a role. Not only is it a cool idea -- the piece itself is quite striking. Oncley is sel ... More >>

Last Night: Rad Cloud, Arcadio, and Grand Lake at Cafe du Nord

Anna McCarthyArcadio at Cafe du Nord​Last night, Cafe du Nord featured an eclectic mix of sounds: the mournful indie-rock of Grand Lake, the dark twang of Arcadio, and the new wave, choppy beats of Rad Cloud. But all three acts had one commonality--they were all from the Bay Area. "This is sort of ... More >>

New Tom Waits Sampler Available For Free

​Good news for Tom Waits fans: the iconic Nor Cal singer and songwriter has embraced the old "give 'em a little free taste" marketing plan. He's offering an 8-song preview of his upcoming live album, Glitter and Doom Live, for the price of your email address. If you like what you hear, the full al ... More >>

Seen In San Francisco: Disputed Ode to Drunkenness Carved Into City Sidewalk

Joe Eskenazi'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy' reads the pavement. ​The stretch of Steiner Street along Alamo Square with the Painted Ladies houses on its east side could be the most photographed section of this city -- or any city. Most camera-wielding visitors ... More >>

High Times

Joe Eskenazi'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy' reads the pavement. ​The stretch of Steiner Street along Alamo Square with the Painted Ladies houses on its east side could be the most photographed section of this city -- or any city. Most camera-wielding visitors ... More >>

A Smoking Opera

Joe Eskenazi'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy' reads the pavement. ​The stretch of Steiner Street along Alamo Square with the Painted Ladies houses on its east side could be the most photographed section of this city -- or any city. Most camera-wielding visitors ... More >>

Large and In Charge

Joe Eskenazi'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy' reads the pavement. ​The stretch of Steiner Street along Alamo Square with the Painted Ladies houses on its east side could be the most photographed section of this city -- or any city. Most camera-wielding visitors ... More >>

Seen in San Francisco: Shattered Remnants of Wild Weekend Crunch Underfoot On Monday

Click pic for larger version...Last week we cried over spilled (organic) milk in the Lower Haight. This week, it's spilled vodka. The remnants of what appear to have been a hell of a weekend party were left on the blacktop for all to see. The genius of local liquor magnate Maurice Kanbar in bottling ... More >>

Last Night: She & Him at Bimbo's

Click pic for larger version...Last week we cried over spilled (organic) milk in the Lower Haight. This week, it's spilled vodka. The remnants of what appear to have been a hell of a weekend party were left on the blacktop for all to see. The genius of local liquor magnate Maurice Kanbar in bottling ... More >>

SF Weekly Music Awards Nominee: Mushroom

Click pic for larger version...Last week we cried over spilled (organic) milk in the Lower Haight. This week, it's spilled vodka. The remnants of what appear to have been a hell of a weekend party were left on the blacktop for all to see. The genius of local liquor magnate Maurice Kanbar in bottling ... More >>

Jolie Holland's storytelling grows in scope

Click pic for larger version...Last week we cried over spilled (organic) milk in the Lower Haight. This week, it's spilled vodka. The remnants of what appear to have been a hell of a weekend party were left on the blacktop for all to see. The genius of local liquor magnate Maurice Kanbar in bottling ... More >>

Scarlett Johansson

Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)

Long, Shiny, Moves People

Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)

Mother Polka

Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)

Scarlett Johansson Covering Tom Waits???

Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)

Take Cover

Patti Smith offers a beacon of light in '07's slew of dismal tributes

She Opened the Box

An avid Net radio listener shares what she´d miss about the station that cracked her musical code

Elliott Smith and Arcade Fire: RIAA Safe

An avid Net radio listener shares what she´d miss about the station that cracked her musical code

Tom Waits

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards (Anti-)

The Court & Spark

Hearts (Absolutely Kosher Records)

Danny Cohen

We're All Gunna Die

Best Local Music Icon

We're All Gunna Die

Tom Waits

Real Gone

There Is No Magic Bullet

William S. Burroughs + Tom Waits = see The Black Rider

Best Radio Show

Desert Island Jazz

John Hammond

Ready for Love

The Bard of Tomales Bay

Jesse DeNatale gets back to nature

GIFTS

DVDs | Music DVDs | CDs | Books

Tipsy

Remix Party! (Asphodel)

Go Ask Alice

With two new releases, Tom Waits travels ever farther down the rabbit hole of his imagination -- and our American past

Good Things

The Starvations; Blind Boys of Alabama; Dum Dum Project

Riff Raff

Welcome to the Atrocity Exhibition; Musical Theater

The House of Tudor

Welcome to the Atrocity Exhibition; Musical Theater

Tom Waits' Variations

Forever cryptic, a musical drifter finds solace in Liberace, Rodney Dangerfield, and one-armed pianists

Reviews

Forever cryptic, a musical drifter finds solace in Liberace, Rodney Dangerfield, and one-armed pianists

Hip Pocket

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

The House of Tudor

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

Reviews

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

The House of Tudor

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

The House of Tudor

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

Night+Day

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

SF Weekly Picks

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

Samples

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest