Blank on Blank — Season 1, Episode 51: Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing

Episode synopsis

"I don’t know what the ‘big time’ is" - Tom Waits in 1988. Tom Waits had just released the concert film, Big Time, when he was interviewed by Chris Roberts in September 1988. The interview was recorded on cassette tape at a recording studio; you can hear various tunes playing in the background. We found the interview in the Rock’s Backpages archive.

About Blank on Blank

Vintage interview tapes. New animations. The mission is simple: curate and transform journalists' unheard interviews with American icons. The future of journalism is remixing the past.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Bono on His Dad's Final Days
• E2Surfer Kelly Slater on Problems in his Perfect Life
• E3Muhammad Ali On Going To Mars
• E4Dave Brubeck on Fighting Communism with Jazz
• E5Larry King on Getting Seduced
• E6Jim Morrison on Why Fat is Beautiful
• E7David Foster Wallace on Ambition
• E8Beastie Boys on Being Stupid
• E9Wilt Chamberlain on Tall Tales
• E10James Brown on Conviction, Respect & Reagan
• E11Maurice Sendak on Being a Kid
• E12Louis Armstrong on His Chops