Get down on the floor, don't you know this is war...

Anyone that knows me can you tell you with certainty one of my all time favorite writers and performers is Tom Waits.  What they usually fail to mention is that I am a massive fan of his wife, Kathleen Brennan.

Kathleen Brennan is kind of a mythical character in the nearly 40+ year career Waits has endured almost effortlessly. She swept into his life at a new years eve party, and that was that.  She is a playwright and has co-written most of Waits songs since Swordfishtrombones came out in 1983.  Brennan is a very private person, but reports of her getting Tom off booze to creating a whirlwind trajectory for Waits career up until now have remained strong.

To me, at least as an outsider, it seems they have the ideal partnership / marriage. 

According to an interview Wait's describes Brennan as "a remarkable collaborator, and she's a shiksa goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck. Expert on the African violet and all that. She's outta this world. I don't know what to say. I'm a lucky man. She has a remarkable imagination. And that's the nation where I live. She's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right?"


I think of this quote anytime someone asks me what I'm looking for 'long term'.  I am never quite sure if I want a Waits or a Brennan.  Knowing what I know now, I'm hoping for a bit of both.  A catalyst but with equanimity. All the things I thought I wanted have really changed quite a bit, so there's a period of re-evaluation going on right now.  

I'll need someone special... at least that's what they all tell me. Ha.

Someone with a good grip, who can catch a girl when she faints and keep up with her when she comes to.  
A mad ambition man, who knows when to take a break.
An expert on mussel cars, back massages and road trips.  
Watches a sports game but go the opera in the same night.  
Rocks a suit and tie, just as easy as he can with jeans and a t-shirt.
Speaks with a sailors mouth but with the elegance of Cary Grant.  
Reads Bukowski but still laugh at the stupidest things life offers. 
Loves the delta blues but knows the difference between North and Philly soul.  
Knows how to smile with their eyes, and tell a story with a word...
...or something like that.


I certainly hope that a man that I deeply care about someday, would say the same things Waits says about his wife. I don't get swooned easily but that type of partnership, well it's just down right craveable. 

All you can really hope for is for someone, who as Waits put, to 'go in the woods with'.  There are big bad wolves in there... and lions... and all sorts of monsters... and lord knows you're better off going into the woods alone, than going in with someone who you can't really trust ...and that's the nation where I live

I'll leave you with one of my all time songs, from an all time favorite album written by Waits and Brennan off of Bone Machine: "Who Are You?" 


And yea, I dance in my room to this all the time.