Tom Waits - Union Square

I caught a Tom Waits tribute night last Friday. It was the best $5 I spent in a long time. I missed Tom Waits, but I didn't even know I missed him. It's like The Kinks or Nick Drake - you hardly ever purposely listen to their albums, but when you stumble upon one of their songs, you wonder why not? Yes, Tom Waits is not for everyone. Yes, everyone knows that already. He went from crooner, to jazz crooner, to weird jazz crooner, to just plain weird. Union Square, off Rain Dogs, is my favorite Waits. A growling Waits. A Waits that sounds like a half-crazy homeless man that you can't take your eyes off of. Makes me want to go back to downtown Manhattan, in the 80s, at night, in the rain.