ô happy day ! - Page 4

Patricia · 07-25-2008, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

you know, the concert last night was almost too much joy for me (at the end of it, real tears of happiness streaming down my cheeks as the entire theater stood ovationing and shouting and whistling). if you add chocolate to that i don't think i would survive.

what a way to go though, right ?

No, no: we need you with us for a long time yet, Zelda.

And it's so nice to see Jon happy too.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-28-2008, 02:43 PM

well, i've had a request for some details about the tom waits concert, and i suddenly realised i haven't given any. so here are some details.

that man knows how to put on a show, let me tell you. i've seen a lot of concerts in my life but none can compare. it was an amazing, amazing experience. i do believe he played every single one of my favorite songs. he told funny stories as well. i could listen to that man talk for hours on end (in fact i frequently do, via concert cds).

sometimes he took his guitar and played while he sang, and then for part of it he sat at the piano and played and sang, with only the stand-up bass. that's when he told the funny stories as well ; for example, he said there were all these strange laws in paris ; like, you're not allowed to give a cigarette to a monkey, or get a fish drunk. you could get a fish drunk the last time he was here, but not anymore. and it's putting a serious damper on his plans. hehehe. then he said he would play some requests, so everyone began to shout out their favorite songs, and then he said "pff, i said i would play some requests, i didn't say *yours*." i found that bit here for those who want to play along from home.

when he sang "you're innocent when you dream" he invited the audience to sing with him for the choruses, and it was absolutely beautiful. for one song, i forget which one, partway through he took off his regular black hat, and put on a hat covered with silver mirrors like a disco ball ! all the spotlights were on him and he turned slowly around and sent little stars of light all over the room !! so amazing !

all the songs were brilliant, but for example when he sang "hang down your head marie" it brought tears to my eyes, really. and "hoist that rag" was so amazing i just can't even describe it, the percussion was unbelievable. (i believe it was after that song that the lady sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said "i'm so sorry, but i just never know whether to look to the left or to the right of you, you're bouncing around so much, couldn't you sit still ?" luckily there was an empty seat next to me that we had been saving for a guy we were in line with, who got lost, and i suggested she move there, because i really couldn't promise that).

oh !! and !! "make it rain" !!! at the end of it, you know he sings "maaake iiiit raaaaiiin" and a rain of silver sparkles fell down from the ceiling on him !! OH !! AND !! CEMETERY POLKA !!! after each verse, the band would lead into a lovely waltz, and just as you were getting lulled into it he would interrupt it with a bang : "sorry ! sorry." and start the song again. *sigh* he sang for over 2 hours, and at the end when he came back out he gave us 4 more songs, but i wished it could on forever.

at the end of each song the whole crowd clapped and shouted and whistled, and then as soon as he began to sing again, instantly the whole place was silent. at the very end of the concert, the ovation was absolutely deafening, we all applauded for such a long time i think i had blisters on my hands. it was so wonderful, i had actual tears of joy on my cheeks.

so there you have it, a few select highlights.

BookishDreamer · 07-28-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

when he sang "you're innocent when you dream" he invited the audience to sing with him for the choruses, and it was absolutely beautiful. for one song, i forget which one, partway through he took off his regular black hat, and put on a hat covered with silver mirrors like a disco ball ! all the spotlights were on him and he turned slowly around and sent little stars of light all over the room !! so amazing !

That's funny! Sounds like the mirror covered suit that Chris Isaak wears during a portion of his live performances.

I'm glad you got a ticket to the concert. Sounds like this was an experience you won't forget.

Dreamer

Sparrow · 07-28-2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

so there you have it, a few select highlights.

Wow! Sounds like a great concert.

Thanks for sharing it with us

.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-28-2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookishDreamer

That's funny! Sounds like the mirror covered suit that Chris Isaak wears during a portion of his live performances.

I'm glad you got a ticket to the concert. Sounds like this was an experience you won't forget.

Dreamer

oh believe me, i'll remember this concert my whole life.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-28-2008, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Wow! Sounds like a great concert.

Thanks for sharing it with us

.

my pleasure.

if you want more explicit highlights, look at the other videos by the uploader i linked to. he has several which are quite decent quality.

Barcey · 07-28-2008, 10:08 PM

Wow. This looks like a very different show then I saw. I went to see Tom Waits when he came to town... must have been in the early 80's. It was just him sitting at a piano, chain smoking, drinking, telling stories and singing. I hadn't heard of him before the concert but a friend thought I'd like it and was right. I've been a fan ever since.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-29-2008, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barcey

Wow. This looks like a very different show then I saw. I went to see Tom Waits when he came to town... must have been in the early 80's. It was just him sitting at a piano, chain smoking, drinking, telling stories and singing. I hadn't heard of him before the concert but a friend thought I'd like it and was right. I've been a fan ever since.

oh my god i would have LOVED to see a show like that !!! some of my favorite cds are the concert ones where he's just singing and playing the piano and telling stories in between songs.

i suspect he can't do shows like that anymore, because he's too big a star ; they work best in small places. i bet he wishes he could though, which is why he does a portion of the show at the piano with just the contre-bassiste.

so where did you see him ?? tell us all about the show !!! i want to bask in the vicarious bliss.

Barcey · 07-29-2008, 09:03 AM

It was at the University of Waterloo, just a small venue. The student council did an amazing job of booking bands at the time. "Heart Attack and Vine" had either just been released or was about to be released so most of the concert was songs from that album. Still one of my favourites. He was getting a lot of requests from the audience for songs on "Closing Time". He just laughed and said he couldn't sing those any more. I looked them up later and that is still my favourite of his albums. Ah yes fond memories.

montsnmags · 07-29-2008, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

oh my god i would have LOVED to see a show like that !!! some of my favorite cds are the concert ones where he's just singing and playing the piano and telling stories in between songs...

Okay, damn you, Queen Zee, and you, Barcey.

When I was a kid, my parents' musical taste couldn't be said to be apalling. Hey, I got a lot of The Beatles, my parents took me to the Rocky Horror Picture Show when it came to the movies (they didn't realise at the time what it was about, but still bought the soundtrack afterwards), one of my Mum's favourite albums is Talking Heads' Little Creatures, and they even went through a heavy disco phase (which you can criticise all you like, but, nevertheless, it was popular, and my parents were "with it"). In the end, my musical tastes converged a lot on a period just before my time, in that it was just after my time, in the early 70's (I was born 1970), but it was my parents' broader tastes that took me wherever I wanted (and if I ever want to put myself back there - in the car, the back of the Kingswood with my two brothers, on a stinking hot summer's day, all windows down, probably lying half-asleep in the footwell arched over the transmission hump, coming home from Avalon Beach or Stockton Beach on a Sydney weekend road full of brake-light traffic - I just have to put on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell and pretty soon I can feel the sand in the crack of my arse and the surf-grime sticking my then-blonde hair every which way...and it brings a salty tear to my eye).

There's others though, which perhaps are not so...defensible. Nana Mouskouri is a guilty pleasure, as is Neil Diamond (Gods and devils! Crunchy Granola Suite is already tapping its toe in my head). One, however, only loved by Dad, has never made it into my head, shut out by stubbornness and now by fear of bringing in the grief again. Dad loved Tom Waits. The LP cover I remember (hey, it'll still be in the stack under his stereo in his custom-made stereo cabinet) is Heartattack and Vine. I remember none of Waits's music - I left the room and hid my head whenever it came on, and it became only rarely played (I don't think Mum was a fan either).

So, as I've said before, I can't listen to Tom Waits, because of everything that rolls around with it. Listening to it is like a sliver of ice through the heart, because of the loss it brings forward. It makes me miss my Dad like I'd miss my sight or my hearing or forever the pleasure of bodysurfing a nice, full, green, clean wave all the way onto a sandy shore.

Well, I couldn't listen to Tom Waits, but I'm prepared to give it a go now, because of your persistence. There are things that need to be brought forward so they can be picked up and moved on with. I need your help to point me to the album you think I am most likely to enjoy, and which shows his talent the best. Any advice?

(Unfortunately Ennio Morricone's score for The Mission is still down the back, in the dark dusty corners of my head, with things with too many exoskeletal legs crawling all over it...but that's another part of the story.)

Cheers,
Marc

zelda_pinwheel · 07-29-2008, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barcey

It was at the University of Waterloo, just a small venue. The student council did an amazing job of booking bands at the time. "Heart Attack and Vine" had either just been released or was about to be released so most of the concert was songs from that album. Still one of my favourites. He was getting a lot of requests from the audience for songs on "Closing Time". He just laughed and said he couldn't sing those any more. I looked them up later and that is still my favourite of his albums. Ah yes fond memories.

oh, that must have been AMAZING !!! those albums are brilliant, i agree. i love his old stuff. although i think my favorite album from his early years is "nighthawks at the diner" which is a concert cd (probably a lot like the concert you saw, you lucky bastard). if anyone could possibly have any remaining doubts about the poetic genius of the man, this album, i think, serves as definitive proof. it's almost closer to a spoken-word album with a jazz background sometimes but that's why i love it ; a whole evening of tom waits telling stories is my idea of heaven (well, one of my ideas of heaven, anyway).

zelda_pinwheel · 07-29-2008, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Okay, damn you, Queen Zee, and you, Barcey.

When I was a kid, my parents' musical taste couldn't be said to be apalling. Hey, I got a lot of The Beatles, my parents took me to the Rocky Horror Picture Show when it came to the movies (they didn't realise at the time what it was about, but still bought the soundtrack afterwards), one of my Mum's favourite albums is Talking Heads' Little Creatures, and they even went through a heavy disco phase (which you can criticise all you like, but, nevertheless, it was popular, and my parents were "with it"). In the end, my musical tastes converged a lot on a period just before my time, in that it was just after my time, in the early 70's (I was born 1970), but it was my parents' broader tastes that took me wherever I wanted (and if I ever want to put myself back there - in the car, the back of the Kingswood with my two brothers, on a stinking hot summer's day, all windows down, probably lying half-asleep in the footwell arched over the transmission hump, coming home from Avalon Beach or Stockton Beach on a Sydney weekend road full of brake-light traffic - I just have to put on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell and pretty soon I can feel the sand in the crack of my arse and the surf-grime sticking my then-blonde hair every which way...and it brings a salty tear to my eye).

There's others though, which perhaps are not so...defensible. Nana Mouskouri is a guilty pleasure, as is Neil Diamond (Gods and devils! Crunchy Granola Suite is already tapping its toe in my head). One, however, only loved by Dad, has never made it into my head, shut out by stubbornness and now by fear of bringing in the grief again. Dad loved Tom Waits. The LP cover I remember (hey, it'll still be in the stack under his stereo in his custom-made stereo cabinet) is Heartattack and Vine. I remember none of Waits's music - I left the room and hid my head whenever it came on, and it became only rarely played (I don't think Mum was a fan either).

So, as I've said before, I can't listen to Tom Waits, because of everything that rolls around with it. Listening to it is like a sliver of ice through the heart, because of the loss it brings forward. It makes me miss my Dad like I'd miss my sight or my hearing or forever the pleasure of bodysurfing a nice, full, green, clean wave all the way onto a sandy shore.

Well, I couldn't listen to Tom Waits, but I'm prepared to give it a go now, because of your persistence. There are things that need to be brought forward so they can be picked up and moved on with. I need your help to point me to the album you think I am most likely to enjoy, and which shows his talent the best. Any advice?

(Unfortunately Ennio Morricone's score for The Mission is still down the back, in the dark dusty corners of my head, with things with too many exoskeletal legs crawling all over it...but that's another part of the story.)

Cheers,
Marc

marc, that is a heartbreakingly beautiful story. ironically, i did not go to see tom waits in concert the last time he played in paris (2000, i beleive it was) because the love of my life, with whom i listened to tom waits incessantly and who remained associated with his music in my mind a long time, had just broken my heart, and although i really wanted to see the concert i didn't think i would be able to bear it without crying like an imbecile. i recently told a friend that story and it turns out he has a similar "love story gone sour" reason for avoiding tom waits. there must be something about him. but i got over my heartbreak in this one specific area at least and while i think you shouldn't shut it out completely it's good to learn to live with it. tom waits is one of those artists who actually seems to get better when you add in some of your own personal pain. which is not to say that his music should be added to your "music to commit suicide to" playlist, on the contrary.

anyway, to finally get around to my point (i do have one) the very first album i ever heard by tom waits is Rain Dogs and after all this time it's still one of my absolute favorites, and i think it's a good place to start. it's got a bit of everything ; brilliant poety, heartbreaking love songs, and some good rollicking stuff as well that will have you bouncing around in your chair until the lady behind you taps you on the shoulder and asks you to sit still. Swordfishtrombones from the same period is another one of my favorites. Shore Leave is unbelievable. actually they all are. if you like those i'll recommend some others for you to follow, and if you don't like them, i'll recommend some other to try to change your mind (he's really worth the effort, i promise).

pshrynk · 07-29-2008, 10:19 AM

My music to commit suicide to play list consists mostly of Barry Manilow and the BeeGees.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-29-2008, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

My music to commit suicide to play list consists mostly of Barry Manilow and the BeeGees.

no no, you're confused : that's music that makes you want to commit suicide.

nekokami · 07-29-2008, 04:37 PM

I confess to a certain fond recollection of Neil Diamond, as well.

My brother, a rather talented musician, just recorded a cover of "Stayin' Alive" that I rather liked, using electric guitar and his regular singing voice, rather than falsetto. Kind of a "metal" interpretation. I thought it was pretty good, actually. But then, my memories of the Bee Gees don't pain me the way the seem to affect some of the rest of you, even if I do prefer Joan Baez (or Tommy Sands).

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07-28-2008, 02:43 PM	#47
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	well, i've had a request for some details about the tom waits concert, and i suddenly realised i haven't given any. so here are some details. that man knows how to put on a show, let me tell you. i've seen a lot of concerts in my life but none can compare. it was an amazing, amazing experience. i do believe he played every single one of my favorite songs. he told funny stories as well. i could listen to that man talk for hours on end (in fact i frequently do, via concert cds). sometimes he took his guitar and played while he sang, and then for part of it he sat at the piano and played and sang, with only the stand-up bass. that's when he told the funny stories as well ; for example, he said there were all these strange laws in paris ; like, you're not allowed to give a cigarette to a monkey, or get a fish drunk. you could get a fish drunk the last time he was here, but not anymore. and it's putting a serious damper on his plans. hehehe. then he said he would play some requests, so everyone began to shout out their favorite songs, and then he said "pff, i said i would play some requests, i didn't say yours." i found that bit here for those who want to play along from home. when he sang "you're innocent when you dream" he invited the audience to sing with him for the choruses, and it was absolutely beautiful. for one song, i forget which one, partway through he took off his regular black hat, and put on a hat covered with silver mirrors like a disco ball ! all the spotlights were on him and he turned slowly around and sent little stars of light all over the room !! so amazing ! all the songs were brilliant, but for example when he sang "hang down your head marie" it brought tears to my eyes, really. and "hoist that rag" was so amazing i just can't even describe it, the percussion was unbelievable. (i believe it was after that song that the lady sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said "i'm so sorry, but i just never know whether to look to the left or to the right of you, you're bouncing around so much, couldn't you sit still ?" luckily there was an empty seat next to me that we had been saving for a guy we were in line with, who got lost, and i suggested she move there, because i really couldn't promise that). oh !! and !! "make it rain" !!! at the end of it, you know he sings "maaake iiiit raaaaiiin" and a rain of silver sparkles fell down from the ceiling on him !! OH !! AND !! CEMETERY POLKA !!! after each verse, the band would lead into a lovely waltz, and just as you were getting lulled into it he would interrupt it with a bang : "sorry ! sorry." and start the song again. sigh he sang for over 2 hours, and at the end when he came back out he gave us 4 more songs, but i wished it could on forever. at the end of each song the whole crowd clapped and shouted and whistled, and then as soon as he began to sing again, instantly the whole place was silent. at the very end of the concert, the ovation was absolutely deafening, we all applauded for such a long time i think i had blisters on my hands. it was so wonderful, i had actual tears of joy on my cheeks. so there you have it, a few select highlights.

07-28-2008, 10:08 PM	#52
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	Wow. This looks like a very different show then I saw. I went to see Tom Waits when he came to town... must have been in the early 80's. It was just him sitting at a piano, chain smoking, drinking, telling stories and singing. I hadn't heard of him before the concert but a friend thought I'd like it and was right. I've been a fan ever since.

07-29-2008, 09:03 AM	#54
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	It was at the University of Waterloo, just a small venue. The student council did an amazing job of booking bands at the time. "Heart Attack and Vine" had either just been released or was about to be released so most of the concert was songs from that album. Still one of my favourites. He was getting a lot of requests from the audience for songs on "Closing Time". He just laughed and said he couldn't sing those any more. I looked them up later and that is still my favourite of his albums. Ah yes fond memories.

07-29-2008, 10:19 AM	#58
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	My music to commit suicide to play list consists mostly of Barry Manilow and the BeeGees.

07-29-2008, 04:37 PM	#60
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I confess to a certain fond recollection of Neil Diamond, as well. My brother, a rather talented musician, just recorded a cover of "Stayin' Alive" that I rather liked, using electric guitar and his regular singing voice, rather than falsetto. Kind of a "metal" interpretation. I thought it was pretty good, actually. But then, my memories of the Bee Gees don't pain me the way the seem to affect some of the rest of you, even if I do prefer Joan Baez (or Tommy Sands).