Tom Waits used to (Sort of) Play at the Liars Club
It would be foolhardy to argue that there is a better bar in San Diego than the Liars Club. The food is delicious, the beer selection phenomenal, and the price is always right. In addition, the jukebox is packed with hits, and although there isn't enough rotation on it to suit me, there are always enough songs to fill your 7 songs for 2 dollars. If you ever hear a stretch where The Replacements "Alex Chilton", The Pixies "Holiday Song", the seven minute live Ramones medley from "Road To Ruin", and Scotch Greens "Deaf Girlfriend" are played, along with a selection from Exile on Main Street and Rain Dogs, you're probably in the bar at the same time as me.
The presence of Rain Dogs on the jukebox takes on added significance today, as the Liars Club points out in their weekly email that the bar used to be a coffeehouse called The Heritage, one of the first clubs where Tom got regular gigs bck in the early 70s. It's a tremendously fortunate coincidence that I'm sure I won't be able to shut up about the next time I hit up the Liars Club: my favorite musician used to hang out and perform in my favorite bar (before it was gutted and redesigned) and I just found out about it today.
There's a page with a ton of information and first hand accounts of what performing life was like at the Heritage, and what Mission Beach was like in general back in the early 70s, complete with photos. Some interesting excerpts:
"By 1970 Mission Beach was a "counter-culture" neighborhood, much like fabled Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. Almost all the cottages were rented, most for very little money. Mission Boulevard became a haven for hippies, bikers, drug-addicts and other socially-disenfranchised young people. "
" I remember his interpretation of the Elvis Presley hit 'Are You Lonesome Tonight,' in which a vocal chorus hummed the melody while Presley delivered a spoken monologue. Showing stage gifts beyond his age, Tom cajoled the audience to provide the melody so that he could recite the monologue â not an easy task in the United States, where people are disinclined to sing in public, particularly when leaderless....He had too much charisma to ignore. People just about begged me to hire him, and when I did they readily paid admission to hear him and watch him perform."
The question now becomes where the next Waits is in San Diego, and what obscure beachfront coffeehouse he is playing in...
Check out http://www.keeslau.com/TomWaitsSupplement/Topography/heritage.htm for the full story
