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Video: Tom Waits, Fernwood Tonight, 1977

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One of many memorable Tom Waits television appearances over the years was this funny performance and interview on Fernwood Tonight, aka Fernwood 2Nite, a short-lived parody talk show hosted by Martin Mull and Fred Willard set in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. Watch Waits sing 1976 Small Change cut “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (an Evening with Pete King)” before riffing with the hosts while smoking like a chimney above.

Classic Waits Pull-Quote: “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”

Video: Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong – “The Blues Are Brewin’”

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52 years ago today, we lost the great Billie Holiday after only 44 years amid incredibly sad circumstances. Rather than mark the occasion with some of her most infamous recordings — “Strange Fruit,” “Summertime,” “Gloomy Sunday,” et al. — I thought it best to recall this lesser-discussed footage of Holiday performing alongside Louis Armstrong in 1947’s New Orleans, her only major film appearance.

Photo: Will Oldham & Nick Cave

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This shot was reportedly taken by Glen Hansard at 1999’s Liss Ard Festival, where Bonnie “Prince” Billy covered Bob Dylan’s “New Pony” with Nick Cave. Anyone have audio/video of this potentially awesome duet? In any event, here’s a bit ofbackstory:

Nick Cave and Will Oldham met at Lollapalooza 1994 and talked about music. Will recalls: “We then regularly played “New Pony” from Bob Dylan’s ‘Street-Legal’ album. The pattern of Jack The Ripper from Cave’s Henry’s Dream is based on that of “New Pony”, and he has some other songs which borrow extensively from ‘Street-Legal.’ Cave apparently saw one of our shows, came to me later on and said ‘Street-Legal’ was his favorite Dylan album. To which I said, “I Know” [Will grins].