This has been very encouraging

Last night, when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Tom Waits said this:

I just want to know if there's a keychain version that I can keep with me just in case I hear someone say, "Pete, take the cuffs off. I think he's a Hall of Famer." Thank you for the kind words, Neil. I'm honored to be honored. And, gee, I don't know where to begin. Songs, uh, are really just interesting things to be doing with the air. I love working with tunes. I love music, but we really want music to love us. Neil was saying the other night, he said, "When there's a song approaching it's kind of like there's an animal in the room, and you don't want it to run off." You know, how did it get in?

I was, uh, fifteen and I snuck in to see Lightnin' Hopkins. I put white-out in my hair and I drew on a mustache and I put on an overcoat and I stood there and I said, "Ticket for one." Amazing show. Every time he opened his mouth, that orchestra of gold teeth was just devastating. And then I saw him leave the show and he walked through a door and slammed the door behind him. And on the door, it said, I swear to God, "KEEP OUT. THIS ROOM IS FOR ENTERTAINERS ONLY." And I knew at that moment that I had to get into show business as soon as possible. So, uh, that was a real big one for me. And I've had the pleasure and the privilege of playing with a lot of great musicians over the years. Some of you are here and some of you are not here. Some of us are on the wrong side of the dirt, as they say. But any day on this side of the dirt is a good day, for me and for all of us.

Let's see, what else? They told me I should talk for quite a while, but I don't intend to. I fully do not intend to. I'd like to thank my family. They know me and they love me anyway. My wife and her incandescent light that has guided me and kept me alive and breathing and sparkling. And my kids who, well, they taught me everything I know. Or maybe they taught me everything they know. I don't know. They taught me a lot.

Okay, I did the bit about the door and the club. Um, the first time I went onstage, my face felt like it was made of plaster and if I smiled, it would crack off, and I thought, "This is such an interesting [Christian?] experience" and somehow wanted more of it. They say I have no hits and I'm difficult to work with, and they say that like it's a bad thing. [crowd cheers] The only thing I really can compare this to is I was given the key to the city of El Paso several months ago. It was a really kind offer. They told me there's only one key to the city, but I found out later there were a whole lot of them, and they fit nothing. So, I'm just hoping there are some fringe benefits that go along with this baby. Thank you very much. This has been very encouraging.

when you're a jet, you're a jet all the way...

Check out this babe being a babe on a skateboard. His name is Kilian Martin and it was all for Man About Town. Does it remind you of West Site Story, too? Photos from Future Shock.

acting

The internet has gone crazy for James Franco pashing himself in a series called Fourteen Actors Acting. And rightly so! You'd think the moustache would detract from his handsomeness but, astonishingly, it just makes him better looking. The NY Times hooked me with Franco + mirror but reeled me in with Vincent Kassel + chair. What a graceful man!

fanny hill

Hey, Lou. Um. Look? 

There's an article about it,and bigger pictures,here. 

Sexy puns!

So awesome...yet distasteful.

high or low?

I'm going to buy some white chucks today, the ones with the red and blue on them. I'm leaning towards low, I think. I will protector spray the chucks so I don't ruin them. And then they will be my chucks forever. I like this picture of Elvis wearing Chucks. It sums up how I think they are best worn: crisply, with letterman sweaters, slacks a la Take Ivy, with pre-fat Elvis.

Incedentally, this movie, Change of Habit, looks really good. That's Mary Tyler Moore with Elvis. Photos are from here.

When I was 16 I bought a pair of chucks that were black and had "Mangere" embroidered on them. At the time I thought I was being really funny and ironic, but in retrospect I think I was just being a little shit. 

I've often moaned about my inability to dress as preppily as I would like. Never mind that I only seem to wear grey marl, blue denim, tan shoes and khaki anoraks: I just can't shake that grungy, rumpled feeling. Maybe white chucks will help. But perhaps the answer is that I should iron my clothes.  

Another topic I frequently rant about is how much I love Linda Ronstadt in the 1970s. Well, get a load of these photos from her Simple Dreams tour. *Also get a load of JD Souther (far right). Babe.

Everyone on that tour was impeccably dressed. I love the flares, I love the short shorts, I love denim on denim, I love shirts tied up in knots, I love flowers behind ears, I love hirsute bands.

the prettiest star

I think well-cut white suits are my kryptonite. Especially if worn by someone playing The Prettiest Star or This Will Be Our Year for me on a white baby grand. I love the subversive decadence of louche men with shaggy beards and long hair wearing pristine, narrowly cut white dinner jackets. A white suit states an intention to be entirely impractical and a willingness to get very messy. They make me think of doubtful Graham Greene heroes sweating in the tropics, or Sebastian Flyte spiralling ever-downwards in Morocco. White suits don't denote innocence or purity, but the total opposite. Wearers attract trouble. Sweat, dirt and bloodstains are bound to sully an expensive white suit.

sound advice, part two

Yesterday I freaked out and thought I had nothing to listen to except sex advice. I asked some people to recommend stuff, and then I kind of remembered how incredible the internet is and how much there is out there to please our ears.

Besides the podcasts, here are some online mixes you may be interested in...
The Oak and Ivy is a pub in Perth, I've never been there so, rather than risk misinforming you, I won't tell you any more about it except that this website, which seems to have a bit to do with them, has some great mixes on it. They haven't updated since last year, but it's worth listening to the older ones. Natalie recommended the File magazine mixtapes to me yesterday, in the height of my listening dillema. I've only got through one so far and it's good! Also I love the whole idea and the fact that now I know about some artists who I didn't know about before. Natalie also, a while back, introduced me to Charm Bag (she's good like that), they're terribly good and random mixes, loved by me particularly for their variety. Episode 4, for instance, includes The Clean, Horrors, Dum Dum Girls, and The Shangri-Las...

I'm not sure who took these pictures of Davendra Banhart at the beach, but I found them at Wild at Heart, and he is a babe.

The Moon ain't romantic. It's intimidating as Hell.

Tom Waits is on twitter. This has almost convinced me to sign up.

"Champagne for your real friends, real pain for your sham friends. "

PS. Babe.

babes

Backyard Bill needs to stop it with all the hirsute babes. It makes me sad that there aren't any effortlessly stylish, bearded dudes with nice apartments in Auckland.*


Also, I think I love beards. Fascinating.

* I'm sure there are, but they're probably all hanging out with their girlfriends in secret grown up bars I don't know about.

Pictures from Backyard Bill (obviously).

An afterthought: on reflection, I don't think these guys are "effortlessly" stylish. Noone could wear outfits like these without effort. END.

nice pants buuuddy