
Tom’s Essay (2008) - JacobAldridge
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/toms-essay/
======
emmelaich
A good read.

I didn't realise that Tom's Diner is Monk's Cafe from Seinfeld.

Also, just had a look at it on gmaps; got a kick out of seeing Penske trucks
around it.

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oceanghost
Is there any sweeter recompose? I'm a huge Waits fan, huge Seinfeld fan. I
have never imagined a connection before now, but my God.

~~~
JadeNB
> Is there any sweeter recompose? I'm a huge Waits fan, huge Seinfeld fan. I
> have never imagined a connection before now, but my God.

What's the connection to Waits? As far as I know, the Tom of Tom's Diner (and
Tom's Essay) isn't Tom Waits, and I don't think he covered the song.

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oceanghost
I am an idiot, I skimmed the article, and thought it was about Tom Waits
Nighthawks at the Diner (which is also a painting).

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ivan_ah
Here is a really nice live version of the eponymous song:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYPge6ZKSQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYPge6ZKSQ)

And this is the version most people know:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLP6QluMlrg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLP6QluMlrg)

~~~
shmageggy
Ironically that version is very heavily compressed. Flipping through a bunch
on YouTube I couldn't find any that weren't shitified in some way. Playing it
on Spotify high quality (requires premium I think) was the best version I
could find:
[https://open.spotify.com/track/7f9sC9fvtjYSZYOLSmKJlq?si=5L3...](https://open.spotify.com/track/7f9sC9fvtjYSZYOLSmKJlq?si=5L3uvekpRIGkqIY3dRkX3Q)

But... this was not the version referenced by Brandenberg. That was the
acapellla version, which I also could not find a decent version of online.
[https://open.spotify.com/track/6OKUhXuJMvoVPde9fMJJzy?si=gLJ...](https://open.spotify.com/track/6OKUhXuJMvoVPde9fMJJzy?si=gLJbGoNnR2qk-f5W4nPG6w)

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dang
A small thread from 2018:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18414132](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18414132)

(Reposts are fine after a year:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html))

~~~
JacobAldridge
Cheers Dan

