Tag: youtube

Watch Tom Waits Perform “Ol’ 55” On VH1 Storytellers

If you don’t remember Storytellers was VH1’s sort-of answer to MTVs Unplugged, whereupon they invited various artists on their stage not to play acoustic instruments but to talk about the songs (the stories if you will) they had written over the years and then perform them. It was a really cool show, actually, and it was always neat to hear people talk about their songs.

Tom Waits performed on the show in 1999 and it is epic. Waits is a great songwriter, of course, and a great storyteller (and bullshitter). His Storytellers is full of all three in ample doses. It isn’t available anywhere commercially. I posted the show a while back (but it is currently unavailable on my blog, I’ll get it back up eventually) but you can listen to the whole thing over on the Archive. It is well worth your time.

Listen To Bob Dylan Perform The Grateful Dead’s “Brokedown Palace” in Tokyo

Dylan is obviously a fan of the Grateful Dead. He toured with them in 1987 and he’s played together with various members several times. Robert Hunter co-wrote a couple of songs with him, etc., etc.

The other night he covered “Truckin‘” in Tokyo and now he’s performed “Brokedown Palace at least a couple of times. Neither version sounds particularly well rehearsed and they drift off before the song ends. But there is something there that’s magic. I hope he does spend a little time rehearsing it (and learning all the words) so that they can perform it properly sometime soon. It would make a pretty little addition to his set.

The great Ray Padgett posted both clips on his Twitter page.

Watch Scary Pockets Perform “Purple Rain”

When I’m not watching movies or posting shows, I sometimes turn on Youtube and look for good music. There is a whole cottage industry of folks playing cover songs on a regular basis and racking up pretty sizable followings.

Scary Pockets is one of my favorites. They are from Los Angeles and they do funkified versions of all kinds of pop songs. I really dig them and thought you might too. This is their version of Prince’s “Purple Rain”.