If you’ve been following the OurStage blog recently, you already know that digital music hasn’t taken over completely and that lots of people still buy compact discs. Where they buy their CDs is a whole different story. The options are seemingly endless: massive chain stores in the mall, small indie shops tucked into street corners, online retailers, department stores…
My Morning Jacket wants to make sure their fans keep frequenting the little guys, the independent record stores. On April 18th they’ll be taking part in Record Store Day and releasing their new EP exclusively to independent retail stores. The idea is to support independently owned and operated businesses around the country by giving them something special to offer.
The EP is Celebración De La Ciudad Natal, Spanish for “Celebration of the Native City.” The title is perfect for an EP that brings it all back home to the band’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. All seven songs were recorded live in Louisville last year; some at the popular Waterfront Park and some in-store at local record shop ear X-tacy.
“The record store is the livery stable where I can tie up, feed and groom my ears.”
~Tom Waits, taken from Record Store Day on Twitter
My Morning Jacket had this to say on Record Store Day:
“We are fortunate in our travels to get to see many wonderful things, but one of the most distressing things is the increasing “normalization” of the world and how all these places are starting to look the same – everywhere you look more and more towns are starting to be filled with the same gigantic corporations, and while some of these huge companies undoubtedly provide valuable services, it is so important that we realize that it is our local businesses and people (and natural landscapes, but that’s a different letter) that are what make different towns worth coming to… things you can only get in one place, made and sold by people who believe in what they are doing… people who are trying to keep good weirdness alive in this crazy dome.”
Published by
ejquinn on
August 31, 2008 in
Festivals and OurStage@.
Tags: Band of Horses, Beck, Ben Bridwell, Bumbershoot, Jim James, my morning jacket, Ourstage.com, OurStage@, Pics, Pictures, Quinn Strassel.
After watching Band of Horses perform in front several thousand entranced fans on the main stage at Bumbershoot (right before Beck’s headlining spot), it’s hard not to marvel at how far they’ve come in the past few years. Like My Morning Jacket, a band with a similar blend of reverb-laced, southern inspired rock, Band of Horses ride the soaring vocals of their lead-man to crowd-pleasing success. For my money, I’ll take Ben Bridwell’s casual humor (he cracked jokes and inexplicably broke a prop beer bottle over his head during a slow song) over Jim James’ guitar-god posturing any day. But that’s just me.
Here are a couple more pics of band and crowd:
My Morning Jacket is known for their incredible festival performances. And while their live skills are undeniable – something exceptional came out tonight when they braved pouring rain for FOUR hours. With only a short break, they performed an impressive array of cover songs and fan favorites. Here are some pics from the night …
It was pretty hard to get clear pictures because everything was soaking wet!! (But I thought this one looked really cool!)
After a while Jim James tossed on a big ol hat to try and shield himself as the water covered every square inch of the stage
MMJ’s light shows are always spectacular, but with the added rain we found ourselves immersed in a spectacle that was so unbelievable … it bordered on a religious experience!
OurStage biggest fan, Shinny, and girlfriend, Cara, proved that they were the right fans for Bonnaroo 08 – a little rain wasn’t going to stop them from sitting front and center for this amazing show!
I just sat down w/ Rusty who won free tickets to Bonnaroo by proving he was one of OurStage.com’s biggest fans. We talk about last night’s What Made Milwaukee Famous show, Chris Rock, Kanye West, and My Morning Jacket. Check out the Webcam video:
