John Rapp vs. The Internet

In addition to multiple lawsuits against companies illegally using his songs in advertisements despite his repeated permission denials, Tom Waits also sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

[Tom] Waits has also filed a lawsuit unrelated to his music. He was arrested in 1977 outside Duke’s Tropicana Coffee Shop in Los Angeles. Waits and a friend were trying to stop some men from bullying other patrons. The men were plainclothes police, and Waits and his friend were taken into custody and charged with disturbing the peace. The jury found Waits not guilty; he took the police department to court and was awarded $7,500 compensation.

Wilkapedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits#1980s:_The_Island_Years
Source cited by: Chris Wininger, musetronic.org

This guy says his dad is one of the guys who arrested Waits, and weaves a tale more twisted than a French braid in a brier patch. Spooky stuff.

My dad served as police officer in the 70’s-80’s and when I told him recently that I like Tom Waits, he told me this little story: My dad was called to go down to a massage parlor because there was some guy waving a knife. It was out of his district so they called another guy on it. That guy was killed when the loony took the gun out of his holster and shot him.

 

Three days later was the funeral, thousands of radio cars, the mayor, all that. My dad was driving by the Tropicana Hotel where Tom Waits lived and out on the porch, looking right at the radio cars, Tom Waits and Chuck E. were singing “I Shot the Sheriff” loud enough for all the cars to hear. My dad never forgot that.

Years later: There’s a dispute at a bar. Chuck E. and Tom Waits are there. My dad and two other guys are called to check it out. Chuck E. makes a move like he’s going for a gun and my dad pulls out his piece. Tom Waits jumps on my dad and the two cops and my dad beat Tom Waits down on the floor. Tom Waits sues, the county loses money.

 

⁽¹⁾ Posted to the alt.music.tom-waits newsgroup by J. […]. January, 2000. Full name and exact date omitted for privacy reasons

⁽²⁾ Original post has this spelled as “Chuckie D.”

 

My question is can we really trust a guy who confused “Chuckie D.” with “Chuck E.?” And my answer to that is…

Well Dude, we just don’t know.

There’s a bunch more first-hand accounts and stuff down there at the ol’ tomwaitslibrary.com/thecops.html. If I were you, I would give it a go.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS