News

Sep
23

Mates Of State Cover Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home.”

Tom Waits beautiful heartbreaking song “Long Way Home” (Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards) gets a radical overhaul by the pop due Mates Of State. On their latest album of covers entitled “crushes,” the husband and wife team transform the melancholy ode to a wandering spirit into a sparkling blast of modernized Phil Spectorish pop. The song was featured recently on NPR music. It’s a radical departure but cool in it’s own right and gets a nod and smile from the Waits’ camp. Read More

Sep
21

“Natural Selection” By Kellesimone Waits

On October 1, 2010 Perihelion Arts presents:
“Natural Selection” Paintings and Drawings By Kellesimone Waits
Receptions:
With Artist: First Friday, October 1, 2010 6-11 p.m.
Third Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 6-10 p.m.
Show runs Oct. 1-30, 2010
Perihelion Arts, 610 E Roosevelt St., Unit 137, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Artist’s Statement (After the break)
Definition of NATURAL SELECTION: a natural process that results in the survival and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best suited to that particular environment
I am frequently asked when I started painting. It’s one of those stock cocktail party questions that follow on the heels of the given opener: “So, what do you do?” I only came up with a good answer (which also happens to be true) a couple of years ago:
When I was five years old – I had the natural five-year-old girl fascination with pretty glamorous ladies (this hasn’t changed much). I distinctly remember my frustration with my limitations as a painter at the time (this also hasn’t changed much). It was from this place of frustration that I solved my first problem with a paintbrush. I discovered that I could piece together what I could do to make something I wanted to see. My equation became:
Circle = Head
Heart = Bodice
Triangle = Skirt
I’d then add features and some noodley arms and hair. Directly following this discovery I had the covetous instinct to keep what I had uncovered secret from my peers. It was mine, I was proud, and I was hooked.
In 2005, at 21, I participated in my first gallery show. Just weeks before the show opened I had unknowingly completed my first body of work that followed a cohesive conceptual topic. I say unknowingly because it was just that. I had no clue what I was painting about, but I was painting it over and over again. It wasn’t until after that show had come and gone and I had some distance from the work that the story of the work became clear.
In the years following that first show I became infatuated with concept. Infatuation morphed into dependence, as it’s been known to do, and about a year ago I realized that I had hit a wall. I couldn’t paint with out a concrete concept and once I began work on a specific chosen topic I couldn’t permit my self to veer off course. I was frustrated with my limitations, much like that time when I was five, except now my limitations were self imposed rather than natural.
This current body of work is a narrative survey of personal attraction and interpretation through media immersion. Though the selected works do, at first glance, appear to be an incongruous mash-up of unrelated topics, what I see is in actuality the result of my personal picture making evolution. With a melting pot of media imagery as my source materials (ranging from “National Geographic” to “Vogue”) I have selected only a handful of images. Much like the process of Natural Selection, my own process in selecting my subject matter was a natural one based on my personal history that resulted in the survival and reproductive success of particular imagery that was best adjusted to my environment. By selecting particular images and then choosing to paint them I have altered their life spans to exceed the average shelf life of a magazine, and in turn ensured their survival (if only in my own world). Read More

Aug
30

Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010

On the literary horizon is an extraordinary book entitled “Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010” featuring an array of beautiful artistic images of Tom Waits taken by the renowned photographer Anton Corbijn. Tom Waits and Anton Corbijn are a perfect artist – artist match. Their 30-year collaboration now yields this book of portraits by Corbijn plus more than 50 pages filled up with images/writing by Waits himself. About 220 pages, ≠200 colour and duotone plates, roughly 22 x 30 cm, hardcover. English/German edition.
A selection of Anton’s work from Waits/Corbijn will be on display at De Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam from Sept 22th to Oct 12th, during the staging of Shakespeare’s Richard III which incorporates music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. For info on the last remaining tickets go here. Read More

Aug
19

Tom Waits MOJO Issue Tops 2010

We just received great news that the 200th issue of MOJO Magazine featuring Tom Waits as guest editor as well as on the cover was the publications biggest selling issue of 2010. Not only that, the issue was also one of the magazine’s Top 10 sellers of all-time. We can’t help but think it was due to all of you incredibly loyal Tom Waits fans , so we want to offer a heartfelt thank you! MOJO is a great magazine for fanatical music lovers like us and we’re genuinely happy it’s out there spreading the word.
Phil Alexander (Editor-In-Chief, MOJO): “Having Tom Waits guest edit MOJO 200 was a real honour and privilege. The effort he put into guiding the content was remarkable, unique and real. He compiled the CD with care, and by selecting the content he took the readers on a journey that was truly personal. As a fan of the man, I was both thrilled and humbled by the fact that he took the time to help us celebrate a real milestone in the magazine’s history.” Read More

Aug
17

Rare Tom Waits Version Of James Brown Song

A rare Tom Waits version of the 1965 James Brown soul classic “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.” Less a cover of the original Brown penned masterpiece than an ingenious and maniacal reinterpretation recorded live in 1987 at Massey Hall in Toronto Canada during the “Frank‘s Wild Years” tour. On stage that night are Tom Waits on vocals, piano, bullhorn, Marc Ribot: guitars, banjos, trumpet, Willy Schwarz (introduced as Willie ‘the squeeze’) on accordion, organ, keyboards, Ralph Carney: saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, marimba, violin, baritone horn, harmonica, Greg Cohen: upright/ electric bass, box electric and Michael Blair on drums & percussion. Read More

Add the RSS News Feed

Tom Waits

News

Mates Of State Cover Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home.”

“Natural Selection” By Kellesimone Waits

Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010

Tom Waits MOJO Issue Tops 2010

Rare Tom Waits Version Of James Brown Song

Mailing List

Archive

Tom Waits

News

Mates Of State Cover Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home.”

“Natural Selection” By Kellesimone Waits

Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010

Tom Waits MOJO Issue Tops 2010

Rare Tom Waits Version Of James Brown Song

Mailing List

Subscribe

Archive