Tom Waits, who has just become the first major artist to release two new albums simultaneously since Bruce Springsteen back in mesozoic 1992, is a rock professional for the new century. After 30 years on the "margins," he is perfectly positioned to thrive in a business environment now downsizing all rock and rollers of a certain age. Really, why else do you think Don Henley and Tom Petty are so het up about artists' rights? Sure they have honorable reasons too; sure the owners are even greedier than they are. But mainly they can't shake the gut feeling that their slipping sales are against nature. Waits is no share-the-wealther—one of the few artists who controls his own publishing, he recently built on the cool two million he won when he caught Frito-Lay stealing his shtick in 1993 by joining Randy Newman and others in a $40 million suit against mp3.com. But the charts were never where he made his mark. Thus he was also the first big name to juice his mechanical royalties by jumping ship to a minor label, and remains the most prestigious, although I hear Henley has been making goo-goo eyes at Kill Rock Stars. Waits also has a career as an actor. He's forged more alliances with the institutionalized avant-garde than David Byrne. And while he's damn well in the authenticity business, he's not in the confessional authenticity business, which has turned into a tough line of work for rock artistes who'll... More >>>