Pandemonium Medicine Show

Cocktail sauce, lemon, Tabasco, Tapatio, mignonette... all are commonly offered as accompaniments to raw oysters. I say phooey to them all. A good raw oyster is perfect just by itself. Well almost... a fine Sazerac cocktail and oysters are a great combination.

Tom Waits has always refused to have his music used in commercials. He has successfully sued those who have used his music without his authorization and also successfully sued companies who used sound-alike songs or singers. Reading about these lawsuits on Wikipedia a couple of years ago I felt that he was certainly within his rights to control how his music is used but he was perhaps a bit too hardline about restricting their use. Look what "Bombastic" did for Shaggy, etc. Having enjoyed Tom's music for more than 25 years I wish more people knew his music. Commercials seemed to me to be a fine way introduce people.

A couple of weeks ago I heard Tom Waits' distinctive voice over a commercial on Hulu and immediately drew my attention because it was entirely unexpected. The commercial is a PSA for Feeding America. I now understand why Tom has chosen not to dilute the effect he gives the commercial by also shilling for Pepsi and Chrysler.

In the deep dark past there was this one commercial for Purina though. I find his intonation hilarious.