Opening Night Reviews – Heartbreak Waites: Americana Music for the Soul

Singer, actor, acting instructor, songwriter, and musician Thomas G. Waites isn’t one for rules.

He arrived at The Players NYC in jeans and sneakers after being informed of the house rules against it. That’s him, thank God. He is his own man, comfortable with himself and his rules.

It is his own personal style that has made him a success for the past 50-plus years. Waites is performing with his band, Heartbreak Waites, for a one-night album release party of Heartbreak Waites: American Music for the Soul at The Cutting Room in NYC, February 17.

“I believe in the heart,” Waites said when interviewed about his upcoming show. “I believe we need to live from the heart instead of the head or the groin. The heart has much more powerful vibrations.”

In the 80s, Waites was in a new-age punk rock band called The Pushups, which performed at CBGBs in the East Village. Waites, ever the out-of-the-box thinker, took off his clothes during the band’s performances and did one-handed pushups. Actor John Goodman, an old friend from Waites’ college days, saw him in action one night.

“I approached a girl and used my infamous pickup line, ‘Don’t fall in love with me, baby, I’ll break your heart,”’ Waites said. Goodman screamed out, “Heartbreak Waites,” and that is how the band got its new name.

That’s only some of the background surrounding the highly expected album, Heartbreak Waites: Americana Music for the Soul. The one-night-only celebration on February 17th begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. at The Cutting Room.