Glitter and Doom

I returned my old car yesterday. After 4 years, the lease was up and it was almost a little emotional - it was my second car and the first car I really loved.

We spent a summer together in Philly; we explored Arizona together; we drove along the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles together; we made several trips to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and San Diego together; and, most of all, we spent countless nights and weekends driving around with the top down. Just because we could.

Tonight, though, is the big night: Tom Waits is in town for his Glitter and Doom tour and my buddy Jason and I have 5th row seats. I can't express enough how excited I am. I'm a huge Tom Waits fan - have all of his 20+ albums and have been waiting for over 15 years for the opportunity to see him live. The show is at the Orpheum, which should be great because it's a small, intimate venue seating ~1,300 people.

Speaking of Tom Waits, this may be the time to explain the name of this blog. It's a line from a great song - Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson) - from his 1975 live-in-studio album Nighthawks At The Diner:

nighthawks at the diner

of Emma's 49er,

there's a rendezvous of strangers around the coffee urn tonight

all the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs

now the paper's been read

now the waitress said

CHORUS

eggs and sausage and a side of toast

coffee and a roll,

hash browns over easy, chile in a bowl

with burgers and fries, what kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade,

a late shift masquerade

2 for a quarter, dime for a dance

with Woolworth rhinestone diamond earrings, and a sideways glance

and now the register rings

and now the waitress sings

CHORUS

the classified section offered no direction

it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud

now the touch of your fingers

lingers burning in my memory

I've been 86ed from your scheme

I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene

I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair

as the lead pipe morning falls

and the waitress calls

CHORUS