A Day in Vienna is a fantastic short film that was made for Austrian public television circa 1979 by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher. The film documents the one day Tom Waits was in Vienna during his Blue Valentine European tour.
Waits and band flew to Holland for a short European tour that took in Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Vienna, London, Dublin, Brussels, and Paris. … In Vienna on 19 April, Waits was filmed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher for a short documentary that incorporated live performances of “Sweet Little Bullet,” “Christmas Card,” and a loose-limbed take on “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” “He came in from Amsterdam saying he hadn’t slept all night, but he agreed on the spot to let us film him,” says Rossacher. “He said he didn’t want to do a proper interview but instead he wanted to tell stories.”
Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns
One such story occurred during the film’s opening while he was leaning against a pump at a gas station.
This reminds me of a place I used to work in National City, California, called Spotco Self Service. I worked for a gentleman named Charles Spotco. I was always late for work. I used to stay out at night. I’d come dragging to work, used to get there about ten-thirty in the morning. He’d chew me out and scream at me for being late. He always said I’d never amount to nothing. I never thought I’d be standing in a gas station in Vienna Austria. If I’d of told him that one day, Spotco, I’ll be leaning on a gas pump at a gas station in Vienna Austria, he would have said you gotta be out of your mind.
