CONTEST TIME - TRI-COLOR GIVEAWAY!
Brendan Benson
“Half a Boy (And Half a Man)” b/w “Big Kid Face”
179 tri-color copies, unlimited quantity on black vinyl
I just want the whole world to know, I am so incredibly excited to have a Brendan Benson record on Third Man.
Yeah yeah, I know we put out Raconteurs and JW and the Bricks stuff that he slays on, but this is different.
Brendan was the first musician I ever really met who I considered having “made it.”
He was signed to Virgin! He bought a house with record label money! He opened for the Wallflowers! He got fan mail from Japan! He jammed with Dave Grohl!
For me, at 16 years old, that was eye-opening.
And as his career has progressed, both solo and in bands, he’s never failed to make a record that was interesting or tuneful or compelling.
Dude just does good work. And this a-side is quintessential BB like he has not lost a step. You need this in your life. Much respect to the first lyric in the song referencing his obscure b-side “Son of a Welder.” Also, so stoked that we’re pressing tri-colors in Detroit and how sick they look!
Side notes: in the height of my Sub Pop collecting phase I bought a copy of the Flaming Lips 7” off of him. He gave me a bowl of blueberries and cream (or was it milk?) It was, at the time, the most exotic thing I had ever eaten. He was amazed I had never eaten a salad. I would not eat my first salad until the age of 21.
On the way to a JW & the Bricks rehearsal back in ’99 I wrecked my car. I was 17 years old. I asked all the other band members how old they were the first time they’d wrecked a car. Jack and Kevin both responded “16.” Brendan responded “15” and I thought that was BADASS. Like he stole the car or something.
I hopped in the Whirlwind Heat tour van for a day back in 2003 when they were opening for the Dirtbombs. They put in the “Lapalco” CD and all three of them together just got SOOOO EXCITED to be listening to it, like it was some long waited-for treat. So I asked them how often they listen to “Lapalco” and they said “Once a day, every day.” They just loved the album so much they couldn’t contain themselves.
I sing “Jet Lag” to my daughter Violet usually 4th or 5th in my setlist of “Shit I Know All the Words To While I’m Trying to Get This Booger To Bed.”
I’m giving away one copy of the limited edition tri-color of this record. In the comments below, do whatever…tell a story about Brendan, make me laugh, make me cry…it’s free reign to impress me. Whichever comment I like most gets the prize. SIMPLE!
I was following your story until I saw the words, The Flaming Lips. Then my brain acts like the dog from Up when it sees a squirrel. Thanks for sharing and on a side note, TMR should do some joint effort with Wayne and Co, it would be something weird and beautiful.
Brendan Benson, some might say a talentless chancer who has only had some modicum of success by toadying his way into Jack White’s affections. However, his new single is clearly a sonic tour de force and a tri-colour version would be a most welcome addition to my record collection.
I try to expose my kiddos to as much music as possible, we live two hours north of Detroit and a world away, on a family farm in the middle of farm fields. I’ve never once bumped into someone who was a fan of any TMR artist outside of the events I attend. But I’m doing my part in raising two fans and while they would share your same experience of limited exotic food, I do hope they would independently choose a salad before they’re 21.
~MaggieMay
I’m still curious as to what Brendan is eating on the Lapalco cover. Perhaps he via TMR could clear this pressing matter up for me :-)
I saw Brendan Benson at the Third Man Records opening day in Detroit!
Allright… I’m an Belgian. A dream for many years is to make a roadtrip and visit al the historic places of the early blues, jazz, country era… Memphis, New Orleans, Clarcksdale, Dockery… and of course Nashville and the Third Man Records headquarters hoping to meet Jack White of course!! This summer it is going to happen.. The plane tickets are booked… july 6th we leave… This week is announced that Jack White is going to tour in Europe in… july! He’s playing in Belgium july the 7th… So, no Jack White for me in Belgium AND no Jack White for me in Nashville… Sad for me but a funny story to tell.
How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?
I sing my own Violet the same”jet lag” song but I never travel or have jet lag. It’s been a rough week, going to family court, losing my job,etc. I never win anything. Change my luck today!
I met Andy in 1999 at a Christmas party. He got me by playing that’s entertainment by the Jam on his guitar. He was older than me, had a fantastic knowledge of music and I thought he was truly wonderful. Although the relationship faded I still consider him to me one of those important figures in my life and we are still friends. One of many artists he introduced me to was Brendan Benson. The alternative to love album in particular for me became a soundtrack to us. I know it sounds naff but that’s the amazing thing about music right? The ability to take us to a time and place? For me Brendan will always make me feel happy.
So I’m a nurse and I often think about how in certain jobs you see paperwork and make phone calls and complain about the network being down, but in mine I see people at their worst sometimes, and other times I see them at the end. I see their families, some of them trying to make amends and others being stubborn and obstinate regardless of what condition their loved one is in, and it makes me sad and angry, but sometimes it makes me hopeful, too. Neruda said in one of my favorite poems of his that “everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward isles of yours that wait for me.” And sometimes I see that in those linoleum lined, cracked wall hospital wards, too. I see that love at the end, when one boat sails away from the other, but knowing that one day those ships will meet again.