The first collection of writings about Tom Waits -- interviews, profiles, conversations, and more -- spanning the artist's thirty-year career in music, film and theater Over the past three decades, Tom Waits has achieved the kind of top-shelf cult status most artists only dream about. In his varied career, he has acted alongside Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Lily Tomlin; his songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Sarah McLachlan, the Eagles, and the Ramones; he's won two Grammys, a Golden Globe, and been nominated for an Oscar; he's coined unforgettable phrases like "better a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" and "champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends"; and he's made anyone who's ever listened to his music just that much cooler. Here is Tom Waits in all his mischievous splendor. From a New Yorker "Talk of the Town" in 1976 to an interview by Terry Gilliam in 1999; from album reviews by Luc Sante and David Fricke to conversations with Elvis Costello and Roberto Benigni; from a recent profile in GQ to "20 Questions" in Playboy and poems by Charles Bukowski that perfectly captures the Waitsian world , this is the must-have book for every fan of the artist Beck has described as a "luminary," and for music fans everywhere. The first thing most people notice about Tom Waits is that voice , that raspy croak that somehow conveys a wide range of emotions. Many entries in this entertaining volume comment on Waits' greatest musical distinction; Gene Santoro's, for instance, aptly describes it as a "smashed foghorn." Other pieces include the hilarious transcript of an Australian TV talk show with Waits as a mumbling, drunken guest; profiles from the New Yorker , Rolling Stone , and Village Voice; interviews from the Onion and Musician magazine; rambling conversations with Elvis Costello and independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch; poems by Charles Bukowski (Waits is a longtime admirer); and a revealing interview by NPR's Terry Gross. As Geoffrey Himes notes in an article that appeared in the Washington Post , Waits' cast of characters in his songs includes drunks, hookers, petty thieves, and other assorted misfits who haunt all-night diners and used-car lots. "Bruce Springsteen likes to sing about these characters," Himes says, "but Waits sings as one." The fans surely will love this collection. June Sawyers Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved The first collection of writings about Tom Waits interviews, profiles, conversations, and more spanning the artist s thirty-year career in music, film, and theater Over the past three decades, Tom Waits has achieved the kind of top-shelf cult status most artists only dream about. His songs have been covered by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to the Ramones; he s acted alongside Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Roberto Benigni; he s won two Grammies, a Golden Globe, and been nominated for an Oscar; he s coined unforgettable phrases such as "better a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" and "champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends"; and he s made anyone who s ever listened to his music just that much cooler. Here is Tom Waits in all his mischievous splendor. From a New Yorker "Talk of the Town" in 1976 to Vanity Fair s "Proust Questionnaire" in 2004; from album reviews by Luc Sante and David Fricke to conversations with Jim Jarmusch, Elvis Costello, and The Onion; from a recent profile in GQ to "20 Questions" in Playboy and poems by Charles Bukowski that perfectly capture the Waitsian world, this is the must-have book for every fan of the artist Beck has described as a "luminary," and for music fans everywhere. Features a foreword by Frank Black of the Pixies Mac Montandon is the editor of Innocent When You Dream: The Tom Waits Reader . He has written for the New York Times, Radar , Salon.com, and Interview . He lives in Brooklyn.