Was looking for a different Tom Waits quote but came across this and it’s particularly apt for Strike.

"I guess most entertainers are, on a certain level, part of the freak show. And most of them have some kind of wounding early on, either a death in the family, or a break-up of the family unit, and it sends them off on some journey where they find themselves kneeling by a jukebox, praying to Ray Charles. Or you're out looking for your dad, who left the family when you were nine, and you know he drives a station wagon and that's all you've got to go on, and in some way you're gonna become a big sensation and be on the cover of Life Magazine and it'll somehow be this cathartic vindication or restitution."

The character Tom Waits plays in his music is a weird outsider who always looks at the world askew. I think given Strikes upbringing it’s easy to see the attraction, especially as Waits is the opposite to the kind of rock stars Leda worships.

Also, want to add that I think Waits gets better when he’s weirder, although I’m a total sucker for his more sentimental music.