Tom Waits used to play rough bar dives in the 70s. He started his shows at midnight and went to 3 AM. Then, he went to late night greasy spoon diners or strip joints. Whenever he came to Washington DC, he would stay at cheap, sleazy motels and eat in Takoma Park Maryland, near where John Fahey used to live.
As college students, we would cruise the dives looking for Waits in our VW bugs. I never found him, but a friend of mine did and had coffee with him at 4 AM.
When he did his Orphans Tour a few years back, my wife and I spontaneously bought tickets in Louisville, Kentucky, because he wasn't playing major cities, only medium towns. We flew out there and visited old friends. It was f'n fantastic!
I also saw him during the Mule Variations Tour in NYC, I think it was Town Hall, of which my wife has amazing photos.
I own every CD he has made and the records before that. He even sent me a signed photo.
John Hammond told me during an interview that the greatest experience of his life was playing with Tom Waits-- and that's coming from a guy who played with Hendrix and Mississippi John Hurt.
Tom Waits is all that, but really not essentially a blues player, although he takes occasional sojourns into the bluesy yonder.
