My Blogger Star Of The Day Goes To...

...Janet at Out The Other! I woke up, stumbled from bed to laptop, and peered into the internet with groggy, half-closed eyes. Navigating my way through the news and fave blogs, I lazily gained knowledge on the following:

NATO Urges Firm Response To North Korea

Former CEO Kenneth Lay Dies

Keith Richards To Play Pirate's Pop

And then, upon perusing the site for one of my favorite radio shows, Out The Other, I found some news I could really use.

Tom Waits is coming to Nashville!

Those who know me know that there is no artist I would rather see. He's the rare showman who gets grittier and braver with age. From his beautiful piano ballads and gentle tales of heartbreak and love in the city that he crafted in the late '70s to his ever more experimental music in the '80s and '90s to his all out assault on all things sonic and percussive that he is creating today. Aren't artists supposed to get softer and safer as they get older and richer? Aren't they supposed to go the Phil Collins route and just do Disney soundtracks?

Tom Waits makes music that keeps my "indier than thou" taste always interested and excited. He's always exploring and investigating, willfully diving deep into the possibilities and rewards of creative immersion. Listening to his aural achievements, I feel like a young assistant to a famous archeologist. My eyes wide open, I follow him without question, trusting that all that he uncovers will either be brilliant and fantastic or, at the very least, interesting and worth studying.

The one thing that I was sure of was that I would never see Tom Waits live in concert. He just doesn't tour much. He lives on the west coast and it would be unlikely that he would play any concerts in my region, let alone my fair city of Nashville. But here he is, playing a concert at the famous and revered Ryman Auditorium on August 5th. I hesitate to even talk about it. The fewer people who know about this, the better my chances of getting the best seats possible. But some news just must be shared. Because Janet at Out The Other shared, I woke up to great news. I may as well share the same.

Here's the press release via Pitchfork Media along with the tour dates:

Tom Waits will leave his lair for a rare tour this August, hitting Southern and Midwestern cities he hasn't played in decades (if at all).

"We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky," Waits said in a press release.

Yeah, Tom Waits is pretty much the coolest man alive.

Come on up to the house:

08-01 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
08-02 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
08-04 Memphis, TN - Orpheum Theatre
**08-05 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium**
08-07 Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
08-09 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre
08-11 Detroit, MI - Opera House
08-13 Akron, OH - Akron Civic