Time Line: 1949 - 1975

1949 - 1972

1973

During their second stop on the first national tour in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Passim Coffeeshop), Waits and Bob Webb took one day to travel to nearby Lowell, MA to try to locate the grave site of Jack Kerouac (Source: Ken Langford, 2005. Email conversation with Bob Webb. July 22, 2004)

1974

Jay S. Jacobs (2002): "One of the first agreements that Tom and Bones struck was that this album was going to be a lo-fi product - a gritty assortment of expressions bearing no trace of studio polish. Even the artwork for The Heart of Saturday Night would have that low-life after-hours feel - a drawing of a tired and slightly dazed-looking Waits being sized up by a blonde hooker as he steps out of a neon-lit cocktail lounge at closing time... Howe needed an arranger for Tom's new compositions, someone who could instinctively relate to what he and Waits were trying to achieve. He approached Michael Melvoin, legendary studio musician whose job list reads like a who's who of twentieth-century popular music... Howe and Melvoin had worked together before - with The Fifth Dimension and several other acts - and despite the fact that Melvoin hadn't yet heard of Tom Waits, Howe felt that he had the sensitivity and the expertise to help them shape The Heart of Saturday Night. When Howe gave him a preliminary taste of Waits's material, Melvoin says, I knew that I was dealing with an extraordinary, different kind of talent. There were a couple of things about it. First of all, the lyrics ... I would describe them as top-rank American poetry. I thought then, and I still believe, that I was dealing with a world-class poet. My degree from school was in English literature, so I felt that I was in the presence of one of the great Beat poets." As a student Melvoin had played jazz behind Beat poet and essayist Kenneth Rexroth. Tom's work was "a counterpoint to that experience. I was amazed by the richness of it. The musical settings that he was using reminded me of certain roots jazz experiences that I thought were very, very appropriate for that." (Source: "Wild Years, The Music and Myth of Tom Waits". Jay S. Jacobs, ECW Press 2000. Telephone conversation. Jun. 25, 1999)

1975

Jay S. Jacobs (2000): "Waits's manager, Herb Cohen, suggested that he do a live album. One that would showcase the compelling Waits stage persona... Waits himself had some reservations about embarking on the live album project, but he eventually agreed to do it. Bones Howe was enthusiastic from the outset, and he knew just how the job should be done. I said I didn't want to go into a club. I'd seen Tom live and we could make a much better record if ... we made a recording studio into a club. There was a room at the back of the Record Plant. It's a big recording studio, almost a soundstage. We put a little stage over in the corner. There was a booth with glass, so we didn't need to be in the room." Howe scheduled the Record. Plant shows for the last two days of Jul. 1975, and everyone got to work creating the appropriate ambiance. "We put tables in the room and we had a guest list," says Howe. "We had beer and wine and potato chips on the tables. And we sold out four shows ... two nights in a row. Tom got this stripper named Dwana to be the opening act." Dwana was an old-time burlesque queen whom Tom had met on one of his jaunts to the Hollywood underworld. She warmed up the crowd - which was largely made up of friends and acquaintances of Waits and crew - and everyone was primed for a drunken voyage into an Edmund Hopper painting or a Charles Bukowski poem. Waits didn't plan on disappointing them. Bones had put together a live band from the session musicians who had worked on The Heart of Saturday Night. Mike Melvoin served as bandleader and also covered keyboards. Pete Christlieb blew tenor sax, Jim Hughart hauled the upright bass, and Bill Goodwin played drums. Melvoin recalls the scene: "Candles on the tables ... A room full of people. The show started with a stripper, who was the classic old tassle-twirler. It was wonderful. The ambiance was great. The band was sensational. The interaction between the band and Tom was wonderful - between the band and Tom and the audience. It was great chemistry, and I have to hand it to Bones for putting that together."... Later on, says Howe, when the time came to mix the album, he and Tom "just went out and hid in a recording studio. We took the best of each of the four shows, put an album together out of it and then mixed it. We had a really, really good time doing it. The album shows that." The album's working title had been "Nighthawk Postcards from Easy Street," but they shortened it to Nighthawks at the Diner. Listening to the finished product, it's evident that the sessions it documents were a hoot for everyone involved, but, as often happens with live albums, fun in concert didn't quite translate onto vinyl." (Source: "Wild Years, The Music and Myth of Tom Waits". Jay S. Jacobs, ECW Press 2000)

John Landau (1975): "I saw Tom Waits for the first time last night, and he knocked me out. He is the best contemporary expression of the loner I've yet encountered. But beyond his extraordinary ability as writer, monologist and performer, he exhibits the single ingredient most missing from the music of today's new stars--personality. He's so original, consistent and animated, he reminds us that, while there are a lot of first-rate craftsmen coming up through the ranks, most of them lack the distinctive point of view necessary for the creation of art... Waits onstage is something to behold. He bobs, weaves, smokes and snaps his fingers from the moment he enters until the moment he leaves. He has now advanced to a point where his entire set revolves around his command of the language. He raps as much as he sings, but these are no average raps. He has become a master storyteller, and the whole set now feels like one long story--beautifully told. He functions throughout at one of the highest levels of energy I've ever seen in a top performer." (Source: "Positively 84th Street - Poet of the Crack of Dawn" by John Landau. Rolling Stone magazine. December 18, 1975)

Jay S. Jacobs (2000): "He was invited to perform live on the PBS show Soundstage. Heightening the thrill factor for Waits was the knowledge that he would be sharing the bill with his Iong time idol Mose Allison. The segment's highlight is the opening number, Waits's dramatic a capella performance of "Eggs and Sausage." Wearing a ratty black sports coat, a loose tie, and a brown beret, he sits at the counter of a real diner, cigarette in hand. Around him we glimpse tired waitresses, bored patrons, sizzling burgers. His only musical accompaniment is the snapping of his fingers and the slapping of his leg. Finishing the tune, he turns to a waitress and asks for another cup of coffee." (Source: "Wild Years, The Music and Myth of Tom Waits". Jay S. Jacobs, ECW Press 2000)

Further reading
Performances 1949-1975
Pictures 1949-1975
Interviews