Driving to work this morning listening to Today on Radio Four, I was suddenly given cause to believe that I must still be in bed dreaming. They announced that after the 8 o'clock news they would be interviewing Tom Waits! Now Today is in my opinion (and I would suspect most other Brit political anoraks) the most important, and best, news programme on British radio. The standard of interviewing and reporting is absolutely second to none (one story concerning 45 minutes notwithstanding). Tom Waits has long been one of my favourite performers - a quite unique genius, unafraid to follow his muse down whichever beautufully bizarre back alley it takes him. However, until today the idea of these two worlds intersecting could only be considered utterly surreal. But nevertheless it happened.

Today keeps its stories archived in Real Player format for 7 days (maybe more, but the links disappear at any rate), so here's a rare treat for any Tom Waits fans out there who are reading this. My bandwidth braces itself in anticipation of the rush.

A friend of mine informed me that Waits was playing a one-off gig in London. I told hom I thought it was probably already sold out. Little did I know that all tickets went in less than an hour! I find it hard to get my head around Waits writing protest songs, but these are strange times I suppose. Needless to say, my appetite is now well and truly whetted for the new album.