Tom Waits performs Chocolate Jesus

To anyone and everyone with ears and eyes I recommend watching this video of Tom Waits performing “Chocolate Jesus.” I’m not sure where the line can be drawn between “music performance” and “performance art.” Perhaps there is no line, but there must be a spectrum. There must be a spectrum because this is a performance of music, but this is also performance art. There is a difference because people like Tom Waits create the difference. He walks up onto the stage, introduces himself in his trademark husky voice – PICKS UP A MEGAPHONE – puts it to his mouth, and starts belting out the lyrics into that megaphone. Watching it feels like the first time I heard “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles. The transition between John Lennon’s perception of everyday life to Paul McCartney’s was at first startling. It’s a teardown and a rebuilding. I love music, but it rarely makes me feel the way visual art often does. Tom Waits reminds me though that it can. He gets up on that stage, points his megaphone at the microphone, and when he does, he obliterates our idea of music, our idea of art. We aren’t listening or watching because it’s a catchy tune, we’re listening and watching because the man behind the microphone just tore down our barriers of what music should and can be and that in itself is visual poetry. 

Here's a link to the performance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfamPW3Eaw