From: Fertile Ground

Tom Waits

Ok so maybe I lied. As much as I like to think that I would have packed up the monkeys and headed to Kidzapalooza on a moments notice, I have to say that I'm pretty happy that I was in Memphis on August 4th.

On a whim (and at the bidding of my hipster friends) I purchased two tickets to the Tom Waits concert. Now, I don't know much about Tom Waits other than a) he has a scratchy voice and b) he played Lily Tomlin's dude in "Shortcuts," but I do know that if one has the opportunity to see him live in concert, one should jump on it.

I dubbed the concert the "Hipster Convergence" and began looking forward to it almost immediately after purchasing our tickets. I briefly worried that I had nothing to wear and that I would be exposed as "musically challenged" by the beautiful and hip people in attendance, but that didn't stop me from being excited. There was a big hoo-ha about the tickets and having to pick them up at will call with a government issued picture ID, the credit card used to make the purchase, and a ten digit secret code, but even that wasn't so bad.

My mom agreed to watch the monkeys and told us to "Go out and have a good time. Stay out late. Do whatever you want," which in itself was pretty heady. Warren and I met up with several others at Blue Fin prior to the show and I immediately downed three vodka tonics like it was 2003 and I didn't have a care in the world. I was so drunk I said to Warren, "Sure, go ahead and order the salmon and quail egg pizza" and even managed to eat several slices of it after it arrived. ("What's this yellow stuff?" I inquired mid-slice completely oblivious to the quail egg part of his order. Ew.)

My spirits could not be dampened. And to prove it, I ordered a tall boy once we were inside the Orpheum and drank it out of a really large paper cup. By the time Tom Waits took the stage I was completely in love with him and everyone in the theater. I loved his scarecrow dance, I loved his scratchy voice, his giant megaphones, the way his shadow danced on the curtains, the funny stories he told, the weird jacket he had on, his hot little son playing drums--everything. I totally see what the hype is all about. That man has it going on.

Amazingly there didn't seem to be any merch at the show, which is pretty cool, but I wish I would have had a CD to play or a poster to stare at on Saturday when I was completely hungover and hating life.

posted by Stacey Greenberg