Saturday, January 14, 2006

Tom Waits Calls a Cab

Story #27, in which the straight and narrow path is no way at all.

To hear the story, tip your hat to Tom Waits.










Read all about it! Hail the cab!

Oh, and anyone who isn't sure what this is all about should use a legal file sharing system to look for a Tom Waits song called 9th and Hennepin.

34 comments:

Minka said...

Wow, your voice...NICE!!!!
Pia´s Courting Destiny is gonna be my next stop! What a ride indeed!

TLP said...

Whoa. Nice.

I have to think about it awhile. (I was out late with the girls in a limo. Bit of a hangover here.)

Sar said...

Pia's going to love this!

Great originality. I read along and I realized that this is one of those posts where the written word, while impressive, doesn't do justice to the story told through your voice. Very nice, Doug!

Miz BoheMia said...

I read it though cannot wait to listen to it. If sounds come out of my laptop I will have 3 in-laws running to see what is going on! I am reading you in hiding!

Loved the story... yeah, Pia is gonna love it... very film noirish!

TLP, Sar, Monika.... it was great! I just got up...

Doug The Una said...

*rasps* Thanks, Monika

TLP, it's very, very, very deep. Take the weekend.

Thanks, Sar. I'm not sure how to do the line breaks for beat poetry.

Miz Bohemia, especially this one. They may have an ambulance called before they get to you.

Unknown said...

i didn't understand who Tom Waits is but nicely chosen words! Pia has gone up several notches in my esteem

mireille said...

"She told me she’s an orphan and the President’s a bastard and old age is a widow itself." Wonderful, wonderful. xoxo

mireille said...

And Roundabout, from Yes:

Go closer
hold the land
feel partly no more
Than grains of sand
We stand to lose all time
a thousand answers
By in our hand
Next to your deeper fears
we stand
Surrounded by million years

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky
they Stand there
Twenty four before my love
and I'll be There

Lila said...

Great story! I hate when those darned lesbians don't pay bills. Sheesh.

Tom Waits... funny, when I was at the Krishna Das kirtan concert last week, he made a joke about his voice sometimes sounding like Tom Waits -- and it's true!

dddragon said...

It's too loud here to hear it yet, too. Loved it in print. I'll have to come back later.

Jamie Dawn said...

Very nicely done, Doug.
If you're gonna take a long trip, it sounds like Pia would be great company.

Enjoy your weekend!

TLP said...

Okay. I'm all better.

Tom's just sayin'

'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free
'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
We will live in the valley of love and delight.
....
To turn and to turn will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

I just now realized that we were all supposed to end up in a bar ....

Doug The Una said...

Karma, she was already high in mine.

Ah, thanks Mireille. I never thought about how bad it would be if today's post were an earworm.

Aral, that's quite a comparison.

Thanks, lady.

Yeah, come back, DDDragon. I'd hate you to miss my only celebrity impersonation.

Thanks, Jamie Dawn. It sounds like a three-alarm riot to me too.

TLP, Appalachian Spring is totally rad when you're wasted. I think they have a lazer show at the planetarium.

Thanks, Actonbell. I hope so. She did give affirmative permission although she hadn't heard it yet.

Anonymous said...

Roundabout: a never ending circle around Bristol, England which kept us traveling for hours 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round until we figured out how to, from a right sided drivers seat, exit.

My son, I once told your father soon after your birth that I truely didn't care what you did as an adult as long as you were happy BUT I secretly wished you to be some kind of an artist. You are indeed that...the metaphors in this Pia/Tom Waits story are wonderful.
I love Pia through it, and give me that Doug-imitation-Tom voice anytime. Thanks for a great Saturday beginning my artist son!

dddragon said...

Finally got a chance to HEAR it and i LOVE it!

My first thought that it was vERY roundabout if she went to Baltimore by way of Akron, 'cause I was thinkin' Ohio, forgetting the Akron, PA, which is just to our east.

Roundabout: complaining about how little food there is in the fridge and what picky eaters the kids are, hoping the spouse will get the hint and suggest that we eat out.

Sar said...

Roundabout - Yes of course! That's one of my favorite songs. Forget earworm, I'm going to go listen to it now.

No Pia yet, huh? She doesn't know what she's missing.

Anonymous said...

Alcohol: An intoxicating...oh wait!...what happened to Friday?

Nice story.

Approximately Exact

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

I tip my hat to Tom Waits as often as I can...

Nick Cave, too.

)+(

Minka said...

I came again, just to hear the story yet another time. What a talent you are. My favourite line:"The back of the cab smelled like cigarettes, cheap wine and bad excuses." If you´d ever publish a book, I´d sure demand a signed copie :)

Anonymous said...

Uh, Doug, you just told all my stories, way better than I do, and in the voice of noir or pulp; still get them confused, because I don't know...

And Tom Waits; had a feeling when I saw his picture, and the cab...

But what do I have left to say?

Just that you're a great story teller

Thanks for totally cheering me up!

Tom & Icy said...

You are growing or releasing more of your creativity! We're amazed and proud of you!

Unknown said...

Will someone here tell me who Tom Waits is??? Or else I will have to call a cab. Sheesh

Doug The Una said...

Thanks, Mama. I figured if I hid my enormous talent under a bushel for 38 years, it would make my blog that much sweeter. This is your time.

Dddragon, it was Akron, OH. I did not know about Akron, PA. Thanks for giving me fives. Right back at ya.

Patience, Sar, she took a cab.

Right on time, AE. We'll see that your comment gets to the right post.

Good stuff, huh, Gabriel? I once saw them together in Branson. (Yes, that's a joke.)

And you'll get one Monika. The other copy will go to Dddragon for the library.

Pia! Glad you liked it. I didn't tell all your stories! What about the time you got your nails done by Madonna?

Thanks, Icy. Good Dog!

Karma, I'll send you sumpin.

TLP said...

Did you record this on CD? We could be listenin' to it in our limo right now.

Anonymous said...

Oh mama, I don't think you have to worry about Doug's talents; I can't stop laughing at me

And Doug's take on Tom Waits; everything--he's the perfect narrator

If I can laugh at me, anybody can. Yeah, does sound weird

I'm sending out this story as my belated year end letter! Or maybe decades mid end lettr

TLP, we can magically transmit it to the limo; we can even play "The pianos been drinking.." and the song that seperates the hardcore Tom fan from the run of the mill, Tom's "Waltzing Matilda."

couldn't come here earlier because I couldn't stop blushing

Cooper said...

Roundabout: Yes- Fragile - circa 1972......awesome.
br/>The words will make you out 'n' out
We spend the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and
In and out the valley.... eh

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they
Stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see You
Ten true summers we'll be there and
Laughing too ooo
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be
There with you.....i>

You melted my heart and soul with this one.
Awesome.

Doug The Una said...

Thanks, Sugarcornpop. I bet I grow up any day now.

TLP, TLP, you mean to tell me that limo doesn't have an MP3 player??? Is it drawn by horses?

Glad you made it Pia, and glad you had fun.

Alice, glad you had a good time as well. I hope there's still a little brazen left.

dddragon said...

Doug, that limo has EVERYthing. Including horseshoes that you can make something out of later.

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

I like Tom; he's grizzled just right. "Blood Money" and "Bone Machine" are brilliant.

It just pleases me that you even know who they are. And you were a Siouxsie fan! Next you'll be telling me that you own Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim CDs...

)+(

Fred said...

Best story yet. I loved it. And, we must figure out how to get invited with the ladies in the limo. Think of all the blogging ideas...

Doug The Una said...

Heh heh, Dddragon. You all bring enough coat hangers?

Gabriel, I'm afraid I learned the names of the latter two on your site and haven't heard them. Souxsie had a powerful impact on my adolescence, before my city went to dust.

Thanks, Fred. I'll start by shaving.

TLP said...

I'm pooped from the weekend. Boy, it was fun.

Too bad you guys couldn't come along, but you know how it is. It was Ladies Night Out. They relaxed the "ladies" part a bit so that I could go along.

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

You can check out the Sisters Of Mercy on MySpace, if you dare venture to those parts of the net, and can listen to their music there. They are currently touring. I really, REALLY want to go...

www.myspace.com/sistersofmercy1980

Their lyrics are fairly witty; you'll probably like 'em.

The Nephilim might be too harsh for you; but you never know...

)+(

Doug The Una said...

TLP, one man's lady is another man's wife.

Gabriel. I'll explore gently.