Category: White Stripes

White Stripes First Ever Live Performance Vinyl to Be Released!!

File this under “amazing”:

Vault Package #13 also includes a red vinyl 7″ of the White Stripes first ever live performance recording from an open mic night at the Gold Dollar on July 14, 1997 and a tote bag featuring the iconic peppermint logo.

Relive the memories of Jack and Meg TOGETHER, with this clip from Under the Great White Northern Lights:

Jack White Tries to Get Into Guinness Book of World Records with “Most Metaphors in a Single Concert”

As you may have heard, Jack White has recently revealed some beef he has with the Guinness Book of World Records folks over the White Stripes’ record for “Shortest Musical Concert” , which was recognized in the 2009 edition, but removed in subsequent additions.

Guinness says that since publishing the record, which was set with their 2007 one-note concert at St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada, others have challenged its validity — some claiming that just appearing on stage was enough to break the record.

As a result, Jackie has taken the piss out of the whole situation and decided to very seriously attempt to set a new record of “Most metaphors in a single concert.”

Concert-goers of his upcoming tour are encouraged not to “interfere or interject with any metaphors that they witness” during the show “as to not disqualify or worse yet, trivialize the metaphor in question. Audience members are encouraged to “entice as many metaphors to occur during the show… as long as they don’t’ endanger themselves or Mr. White.”

Methinks this is going to make for an interesting concert tour.

Full press release below:
Continue reading “Jack White Tries to Get Into Guinness Book of World Records with “Most Metaphors in a Single Concert””

Why Moquu Is My New Favorite App

An eagle-eyed reader tipped me off to a new app called Moquu that has some very special filter names. Check it out:

“Jumble,” “Sugar,” “Aluminum,” “Biscuit,” “Coffee,” “Blue Orchid”… anyone else sensing a pattern? Yup, the folks at Pangalaktik Media (the Budapest-based creators of the app) are most definitely fans of Jack and Meg — all the filters are named after White Stripes songs! If you needed any more confirmation, check out their March 11th tweet declaring their love of the Stripes.

Sadly no “Big Three” or “Icky Thump”, but I like your style Moquu, I like your style!

March Madness: The Strokes/White Stripes Show @ Irving Plaza and Radio City Music Hall

My brain exploded twice in one week when both the Strokes and the White Stripes played a double headlining bill first at Irving Plaza (August 14, 2002) and then at Radio City Music Hall (August 15, 2002) in New York City.

The Irving Plaza show was insane of course, with the White Stripes opening, and Strokes playing to the hometown crowd. At that time Julian Casblancas had an injured knee, so he did both shows sitting down on a stool. During the Radio City show Jack White came out during “New York City Cops” and did the guitar solo. Mindbogglingly weird!

According to my blog entry after the Irving Plaza show, even though the White Stripes were one of my most favorite bands ever, they couldn’t compare to the five guys from NYC:

I’m sorry, I really can’t explain it, but as much as I love the White Stripes, it was really all about The Strokes last night. Totally. It’s the first show they’ve done in New York in… 8 months… and it’s just… *sigh* dunno. Great.

Anyone else remember these two epic nights in music history?

Deep Thoughts On the End of The White Stripes

Letting go of the past and looking toward the future can sometimes be a really tough thing to do. I know because I’ve been doing a lot of that recently. As I get older I see how important it is that we keep moving, keep changing, and not let fear or familiarity prevent us from doing something new and exciting. When you’ve had special times in your life — days, months, even years of happy moments, events, or milestones — you tend to put them up on this pedestal. Some of us like to think fondly upon those times as “the good ol’ days,” and I think, “man, it just doesn’t get any better than that!”

And there’s nothing wrong with remembering things as they were, as long as your can accept that part of looking at the past is just that — reminiscing at something that once was, but is no longer.

To me, the end of The White Stripes — a band I’ve both loved and admired for nearly ten years — is of course bittersweet. I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say that I am sad to see Jack and Meg announce the end of their remarkable run as one of the greatest American rock ‘n’ roll bands ever to exist, but I understand why they would want to call an end to the band. I’d rather have them go out on their own terms, while they’re still on top, rather than see them produce albums that their hearts weren’t into doing 100%.

These two kids produced six albums worth of some truly amazing music. I remember in the early 2000s I would literally listen to White Stripes songs over and over and over every waking hour of the day. The simplicity, the power, the raw energy of their tunes would take me to another place. I would pour over bootleg and live recordings, imagining myself there in the crowd.

When I listen to their early recordings I always get shivers down my spine and my heart thumps just a little faster. When I think of my favorite White Stripes songs like “The Big Three Killed My Baby,” “Expecting,” “Now Mary,” I can actually feel my body enliven itself. Over the last 10 years or so that I’ve been a fan, the White Stripes’ music has given me so much joy — I know that seems really very sappy, but it’s absolutely and honestly true.

I’ve also had so many happy memories from the many times I’ve seen Jack and Meg live. Probably my favorite show was when they did a free show on October 1, 2002 at Union Square Park here in New York City.

Here’s what I had to say at the time:

THE BIG THREE KILLED MY BABY!!!!!!

THEY PULLED THE PLUG AT 1 O’CLOCK, AT THE START OF “BOLL WEEVIL”, BUT JACK KEPT SINGING. THEN HE TOLD EVERYONE TO BE QUIET, AND SANG A TRUNCATED VERSION OF THE SONG TO THE CROWD W/OUT A MIC. THEN EVERYONE CHEERED. THEN EVERYONE BOOED NISSAN AND THE COUNTING CROWS. HOPE YOU ALL HAD FUN!

The weather was to die for today. It was like summer. It was beautiful. You were all beautiful. I love you.

And that’s how I’d like to end this post, “It was beautiful. You were all beautiful. I love you.”