Tom Waits for No One

When Tom Waits had his long-awaited return to St. Louis earlier this summer, he put on a hell of a show: There was laughter, a few tears and even a smattering of glitter. But in his infinite wisdom, Waits skipped over all of his early songs, bypassing his boho/jazzbo persona and running straight through to the carnival-barking and ballad-wringing. But if you have a soft spot for piano-based songs of tall tales and faded love, lend your ears to Tom Waits for No One, an evening based around Waits' 1973 debut album Closing Time. A quartet of local singer-songwriters — Kevin Butterfield (the Linemen), Jesse Irwin, Maureen Sullivan and Kevin Buckley (Grace Basement) — will lend their honeyed voices to classics like "Ol' 55" and "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You."