Wednesday 6/9/99 - Tom Waits
We decided to take a whirlwind trip to California in order to see Tom Waits in a rare appearance at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Craig had had the pleasure of seeing him before, but this was to be my first time. We flew out of Boston and arrived in San Francisco prior to lunchtime. We wandered around North Beach, killing time before meeting Tom and his Fresno friends forlunch at House of Nan King. We mused about how odd it was to have woken up in Boston and to be meeting friends in San Francisco for lunch the same day! We met up with them and ate a wonderful lunch at Nan King. Then we all headed over to the Grant Plaza Hotel to check in. After freshening up, John drove us across the bridge to Oakland, to make sure we were in plenty of time for the concert. Some Waits fans were to be meeting at the Hof-Brau for drinks and dinner prior to the show. We got a table and some drinks there, but after a mouse sighting, we decided to forego the food, and instead headed over to a Chinese restaurant. We went to the show and had very good seats. It was amazing to finally get a chance to see Tom Waits live. We bought some bootleg shirts in the parking lot, since they weren't selling any official merchandise and these had Tom's picture on the front and the concert dates on the back. Here is the set listThe Black Rider
Singapore
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Get Behind the Mule
Goin' Out West
I Don't Wanna Grow Up
Hold On
Eyeball Kid
What's He Building?
A Little Rain
I Can't Wait to Get Off Work
Johnsburg, Illinois
Picture in a Frame
Innocent When You Dream
Come On Up to the House
Sixteen Shells From A Thirty Ought Six
Shore Leave
Who Are You
Filipino Box Spring Hog
Chocolate Jesus
Pony
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Such a Scream
Big in Japan
Thursday 6/10/99 - Tom Waits
We went to City Lights Books and did some general wandering around North Beach. Then we drove to Berkeley, where we went to Amoeba Music and Rasputin's Records. We had drinks and dinner and played pool at a bar called Raleigh's Pub (where they had pear cider on tap), and then headed to Oakland for the second wonderful Tom Waits show. After the show, we drove back to San Francisco and had drinks at an the Irish Bank pub. Here's the set list for tonight's show:The Black Rider
Singapore
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Get Behind the Mule
Goin' Out West
I Don't Wanna Grow Up
Hold On
Eyeball Kid
What's He Building?
The Fall of Troy
Picture In a Frame
Take It With Me
Innocent When You Dream
Come On Up To the House
Sixteen Shells From A Thirty Ought Six
Shore Leave
Filipino Box Spring Hog
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Heartattack and Vine
The Heart of Saturday Night
2:19
In the Neighborhood
Time
Friday 6/11/99 - Departure
We all went out to breakfast together, and then said our goodbyes. Craig and I drove up to wine country. We stopped to see the Old Faithful Geyser of California. Then we stopped at the Petrified Forest. The petrified wood here is quite different than what we saw in Arizona. This was totally gray. We found it funny that there was a little statue of a man with a mule, as the album Tom Waits was performing was entitled Mule Variations, and there is a song on there called "Get Behind the Mule." We expected both the geyser and the petrified forest to be kind of cheesy, as they are privately owned on someone's property. But they were interesting nonetheless. We went back to Berkeley and did a bit of shopping before heading to the airport. We dropped off our rental car, and then our friends Andy and Iris Ann (who hosted us on our previous California trip. They took us out to eat at a wonderful Italian restaurant called Kuleto's, where we had focaccia, tortellini in a white sauce, and tiramisu. The food was incredibly rich. When we saw that the plate had only about eight tortellini on it, we were bit skeptical that we would leave with full bellies. But we did! It was difficult to try to squeeze the tiramisu into our stomachs after the delicious main course.
