A bit more jaded perspective...
>The Heart of Saturday Night
>
> I've got this ticket stub from last night, appropriately soaked and
> bent with bourbon from a cracked plastic cup, that I'm never gonna
> part with -- ever. If you are someone who would take the time to
> read this page and check up on the doings of SXSW, then you are
> a person who will be reading about Tom Waits a lot in the near
> future. Considering that the beautiful Paramount Theater in the heart
> of downtown Austin was packed largely with music media and
> industry weasels, as well as the fact that there's no self-respecting
> member of media or industry who will not acknowledge Waits as a
> major musical deity, the gushing oughtta continue for months. And
> whatever you hear, it's all true. Tom Waits is cool personified. He
> played two hours worth of pure gold, leaning heavily into Rain
> Dogs, the spirit of long-revered songs like "Downtown Train,"
> "Tango Till They're Sore," and "The Heart of Saturday Night"
> delivered in that most instantly recognizable growl with guitar,
> piano, or megaphone. What you may not hear, though, is that this is
> absolutely the worst kind of crowd to be in should you ever get the
> opportunity to see this man work his magic. Our little town of
> Austin gets so mired in chic, so flooded with a shit-river of hip
> during this conference that the place takes on a different feeling.
> And when you get a room so full of people who are so full of
> themselves, it suddenly seems that everyone in the joint considers
> the concert a personal audience with the man. At every break or
> pause, someone had to establish their cred with an esoteric
> announcement of some kind. Everyone wanted to be the one to yell
> the really cute remark that would get Waits to make a joke or
> reveal some insight about himself or where he's been. Waits
> handled it well ("Where ya been, Tom?" "Traffic school."), even
> when someone, in a most voluble show of no taste and bad
> manners, felt it necessary to shatter the intense and beautiful vibe by
> railing at length about not being able to get in to the show or
> something.
"The truth ain't always what we need, sometimes we need to hear a beautiful
lie." -Bill Lloyd
