Massive Plug: Alaska has a new Tom Waits!
 

OK,
This is a plug, and nothing but, but it is a plug from the heart. My cousin Dave moved to Alaska to be a filmmaker years ago, but, evidently, every bar in Anchorage has a piano, that anyone with a bit of talent can play. Well, Dave has a bit of talent. Quite a bit of talent. Listening to his album knocked me on my ass. I could not believe this was coming out of this little fellow's mouth. (Of course, I remember him best when he was about 10. He's not such a little guy any more, and a habitual pipe smoker.)

As for the music, Dave's a gravelly baritone, singing his own not quite Dylan grade, but funny and well crafted lyrics over piano, classically trained but played honky tonk-ish. He sounds enough likeTom Waits that he has a stock answer (that escapes me at the moment - haven't seen him since last XMas) for people that say., "Hey, you sound like Tom Waits," and I think that his album, "Mobile Home Girl", has some in common with Springsteen's "Nebraska".

In any case, if you like Tom Waits' piano blues or old Bruce Springsteen, please give <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/davemanning">his web page</a> a check and listen to the samples. If you like 'em, kick the boy some money - buy the disc.