Tom Waits, 54. My admiration for Waits' music stems completely from two albums he did in the 80s: Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, both of which were weird and amazing amalgamations of Delta blues, folk, jazz, field hollers, theatrics, strange rhythms and exotic percussion and were as bold a musical statement as any artist has ever made. He's spent the rest of his career trying to follow them up, with varying results.
Also Johnny Bench, 56. Bench was my favorite player on those great 70s Cincinnati Reds teams that I rooted for growing up. The "Big Red Machine" boasted many future hall of famers and other great performers, but I always got a charge out of watching Bench hit homers with his smooth swing, or throw out anybody and everybody that tried to steal a base on him. Click on the images to go to relevant websites.
