Tom Waits' audience

Tom Waits, an American artist, began playing music at the age of 11 or 12 and continues to do so now at 73. He is famous for playing Jazz (and Blues, Folk, Rock, etc.) – but not the kind of Jazz that invites the public to dress up in fancy clothes. His Jazz is somber and dark; his voice is hoarse, growling, or screaming. He sings about poverty, chaos, the hidden corners of society, and the lives of the people he observes.

If you need a specific story to illustrate the person Tom Waits is, I'll tell you the story from 1976. While his music career was flourishing, the then 27-year-old moved in with a friend in a boarding house in West Hollywood – a two-room apartment, incredibly messy and disorganized. Music critic Barney Hoskyns called it “a work of poverty.”Pastiche of povertyTom Waits later explained:If you want to write about something, you first have to create—and live in—the context of that story yourself. So I forced myself to live in poverty.

Hanoi, a decade ago

Art is everywhere in Vietnam. But only one city has consistently hosted performances by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, BB King, Amy Winehouse, and others with such frequency over the past two decades: Hanoi. And only in Hanoi are those nights...coverTom Waits' music was played and people were captivated by it.

SessioncoverThe Tom Waits concert first took place in January 2016, in a small cultural space in the Old Quarter. The person "playing" Tom Waits on stage was a young Vietnamese man. His singing voice, performance style, and graceful movements were very similar to Tom Waits' style (to the point that at times I believed that being so much like Tom Waits was a kind of innate talent).

But what I remember most about those performances, even now, is the shimmering light from the white shirt he wore. Illuminated by the stage lights, the shirt glowed like a halo.

That light reminded me of the difference between the two artists. The young artist lived in a microcosm of upper-class society. Tom Waits, from a middle-class family, often threw himself into dark, sordid places.

Around 2018, the singer with the "Tom Waits style" took a break to study abroad, and Hanoi was bustling with international tourists. Many of them chose to stay in the capital for an extended period. And so, the next Tom Waits concerts followed.

Still within a small cultural space in the old town, the stage was now a chaotic mess. The band was comprised of many nationalities – Vietnamese, American, Canadian, and more. Not just microphones and instruments, they brought everything else from their lives onto the stage: whiskey glasses swirling in their hands, cigarettes constantly puffing smoke, and someone even brought a set of pots and pans. Using drumsticks to strike the bottoms of the pots and pans, creating a jarring, ear-piercing sound, they were determined to destroy the last vestiges of elegance that Jazz, which is supposed to be so gentle, once possessed.

From above, the lights still shone down on the stage. This time, however, they couldn't illuminate the artist's portrait because the smoke from the cigarette was too thick. The entire room was shrouded in a hazy light.

It is a stage for multinationals and ethnicities. It is a stage for those...Ivery young, overlapping, mixed, and blended with theIof the listeners.

This is Tom Waits' stage.

That chaotic atmosphere was a success. Proof of this is the frenzied energy from the audience, which led to "ordered" performances from other bars in the city.

But there's something even more interesting besides that: the band… has no name. They could be a group of a well-educated and talented young Vietnamese person; a New Yorker who, unable to find the freedom he desired in his own country, came to Hanoi; and other members with similar stories. As Tom Waits said, if you want to sing about something, you must first live within the context of that story yourself. The people in the band.namelessLike small pieces, they contribute to each other, creating a complete story, "The Pastiche of Tom Waits".

Hanoi, March 17, 2022

“Brother Duc, what is that man singing about?” someone once asked. Nearly 40 years have passed since then. I can’t forget that voice, nor the terrible heat and humidity of Pulau Galang. And the horrifying stories we heard about the people forced to live there. Vietnamese “boat people,” or Cambodian survivors of the genocide. Galang is the isolated island chosen for them – a makeshift old military camp built of wood, now home to 10,000 refugees. Somehow, these wretched souls have pushed aside the horrors of their escape and continued to live.

Occasionally, we would invite a few people to sit with us in a hut, to tell us a little about themselves—labor camps, long journeys across barren fields in desperate hunger. Or rape and robbery at sea, longing and despair on a small boat, before the forgiving waves, under the unforgiving sun. When there was nothing left to say, we became numb: it was the hoarse, low voice, echoing during curfew hours, singing about human weakness and the strange twists and turns of life.

It can't be 40 years. But it is. That damn voice and those dark songs, Foreign Affairs, completely recount our journey.

- Writer and journalist Nguyen Qui Duc, speaking about his early years listening to Tom Waits' music.

For over two years, Hanoi has been devastated by the pandemic, and for over two years, no Tom Waits concert has been held in the city. The old music venues have disappeared, the foreign artists have returned home, and the audience – perhaps they've started families, quit smoking, or simply replaced Waits' music with brighter tunes more suited to the days of fighting the pandemic – has faded.

And that's when the "elders" of this city suddenly spoke up.

That's Nguyen Qui Duc, who has organized hundreds of music events in Hanoi over the past ten years. That's Paul Zetter and David Payne, two names not many Hanoians know, but they know Hanoi very well.

They practiced during the final months of the city's lockdown. On March 17, 2022, right after Hanoi reopened, those three "old timers" came together to present the first Tom Waits concert at 24 Tong Dan Street.

Gone are the cigarette smoke, whiskey, and the characteristic chaos of Tom Waits' stage performances; instead, there are smiles, blossoming on relaxed faces. Gone is the mournful, intense, or dark music; instead, Paul Zetter picks the gentleness of Tom Waits, blending it with his own gentleness.

As the final notes faded, a member of the audience gently approached.collapseHe went down to the steps of the stage. He bent over, bowed his head, his eyes wrinkled with tears.

Looking further afield, the remaining audience members all had tears in their eyes, yet their faces wore smiles.

*

"Who is Tom Waits, ma'am?" the employee suddenly appeared and asked, when I was the only one left in the room.music"I see many people are still talking about him."

"Well, he was basically a great jazz musician. So great that his music always made young people want to smoke, drink, or commit suicide."

"..."

"But older people who listen to Tom Waits' music feel better."

"Is that a contradiction?"

"Everyone goes through a phase where they want to smoke, drink, and think about suicide. But once you get through it, the rest of the journey will be better. Tom Waits' music accompanies people through each stage of life in this way."

"Ah, so this gentleman is..."Tom WaitYou need to know.wait".

Lam Oanh (cover image: Linh Phan)