5/28/11: David Smay (33 1/3 author) & Esotouric present a Tom Waits bus tour of LA
Kim Cooper
WHAT: 2011 edition of "Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' Los Angeles"
bus tour
WHEN: Saturday, May 28, noon-4pm
WHERE: Bus tour departs from The King Edward Saloon, 131 E 5th
Street, Los Angeles 90013
COST: $62/person
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com/waits or call 323-223-2767
LOS ANGELES- Fans of the legendary musician Tom Waits just don't get a
lot of chances to get together. Last time he toured, fans in his old
hometown of L.A. were out of luck--all the dates were in the South. So
once each year, Esotouric, the bus adventure company whose offbeat
tours expose LA's secret history, offers a bus tour celebrating the
life and work of Waits, a rare opportunity for fans to scratch that
gravelly voiced itch in good company.
CRAWLING DOWN CAHUENGA: TOM WAITS' LOS ANGELES is the definitive tour
of Tom Waits' formative creative life and the people, places and late
night pastries that shaped it.
Calling all rain dogs, gin-soaked boys and Gun Street girls! Climb
aboard as your hosts David Smay (author of the acclaimed 33 1/3 series
book on Tom Waits' "Swordfishtrombones" album) and Esotouric's Kim
Cooper (a Zoetrope Studios intern who'll tell how she used teenage
subterfuge to arrange a private concert by the man) lead you on a
scrupulously researched ride through Waits' epic misdeeds and
shenanigans, from the Trashing of the Troubadour to epic nights at the
Tropicana.
And oh, there are such tales to tell, from food fights with L.A. Punks
and smackdowns with L.A. Police. We'll crawl through the Sewers of
Paris, tattle on the Ivar Theater, and get the lowdown on Waits'
legendary performances at the Wiltern and elsewhere. Before departing
for points rural, Tom Waits left his mark all over L.A., from Francis
Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios to Sunset Sound to Skid Row. We'll
show you where he found his true love and collaborator, Kathleen
Brennan, and how all the pieces came together to transform a drunken,
desperate singer into the multi-faceted, multi-media artist he'd
become.
Raised near San Diego, Tom Waits launched his musical career in L.A.,
signing with David Geffen's Asylum Records in 1972, living in a
famously cluttered room in the raunchy Tropicana Hotel (where he sawed
off the kitchen drain board so his piano would fit), and building a
reputation as a songwriter willing to risk his own health and sanity
to get inside the sad sack characters that peopled songs like "The
Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)," "On The Nickel" and "Pasties And A
G-string (At The Two O'clock Club)."
By 1980, Waits was 31 and starting to feel the effects of his hard
living. While scoring the music to Francis Ford Coppola's "One From
The Heart," he met Kathleen Brennan, whose influence would completely
transform his life and his art. After a whirlwind courtship the pair
married and began a 30-year creative and personal partnership,
beginning with the revolutionary album "Swordfishtrombones," the
subject of tour host David Smay's latest book.
Passengers gather in the historic King Edward Saloon, the last
surviving Skid Row bar since the 2007 closure of Craby Joe's, before
boarding Esotouric's luxury coach class bus, where the mood is set
with vintage photos and live footage. CRAWLING DOWN CAHUENGA spans
Tom's personal city, from The Nickel (aka Skid Row) to once-ratty West
Hollywood, favorite strip clubs and midnight diners, recording
studios, night clubs, record labels and film studios, before rolling
back downtown for a last bottle of beer at the King Eddy.
ABOUT THE HOSTS: Longtime collaborators David Smay and Kim Cooper co-
edited the books "Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth" ("quite simply
the most fun music book I have ever read." -Bucketfull of Brains) and
"Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You
Missed" ("the perfect book for the advanced record collector" -Ear
Candy) before penning their solo 33 1/3 series books on Tom Waits and
Neutral Milk Hotel. Kim hosts Esotouric's true crime and occasional
rock and roll history tours. David Smay lives in San Francisco, where
he is working on a history of the Beats.
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat April 9 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill (weekend package
available)
Sun April 10 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A
(weekend package available)
Sat April 16 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sun April 17 - Trace: inside the world of Lynne Herold, Criminalist
(info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 23 - In A Lonely Place: Raymond Chandler's L.A.
Sun April 24 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 30 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66 (weekend
package available)
Sun May 1 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South L.A. (weekend
package available)
Sat May 14 - Weird West Adams crime bus tour
Sat May 28 - Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A.
Sun May 29 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 4 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat June 18 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour (weekend pass
available)
Sun June 19 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour (weekend pass available)
Sun June 26 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat July 9 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat July 16 - Raymond Chandler's L.A.
Sat July 30 - Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release
Sun July 31 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are proud members of LAVA -
The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
For more info on David and Kim's previous books, visit
http://www.bubblegum-music.com
http://www.lostinthegrooves.com