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!
In 2006 on was on a military deployment fully embracing the suck in A place that, well, sucked…A buddy of mine handed me a CD from a band named the Raconteurs..I’m like, “the rack on who?”…He told me it was JW’s new project so I gave a listen..it became one of my favorite albums (and still is)…I was blown away by JW and whoever that “other” guy’s voice was…when I got back to civilization I sought out everything BB had put out and became a big fan..Fast forward to 2013 when I got into collecting vinyl records..I purchased the Lapalco LP from BB’s website and when I received it, to my amazement, the sleeve was signed by the man himself…Brendan Benson IS the man…The End
I don’t remember which SXSW year it was, but after hearing Brendan play Happy Most Of The Time in a set during that trip it became our go-to cheer-up song for the next several months any time things at work got too stressful. If I knew how to post photos in these comments I’d share the related picture page of a memory book we made from that trip but the best I can do for proof of being there in text without writing an essay would be to say the setlist from his performance that evening began with Light of Day and ended with Tiny Spark. :)
The cass release was ‘last night in Detroit’ and as he signed it just says ‘nice!’
I was managing the crocodile in Seattle and BB was playing solo one night. I brought in my vault raconteurs rymen album (as well aBB casa recordsfor him to sign. I was chatting with him and brought it out and and told him how’d I’d flown in to nashville for the show and saw that one and the third man show the night prior and how much the shows and he meant to me. He took my pen and said ‘hold on I’ve gotta find my daughter’ and he picked up his daughter and told her that ‘Chris was at a very special few shows that meant a lot to me’ and she smiled and grabbed the pen and put it in her mouth. He took it out and we laughed and he signed my record. Great dude
Ben Blackwell’s Brendan Benson Bside breaks Broken Bricks… Best believe busking Bright Blues brought baby back before Badass Bobby boiled black… Bound by blooming blossoms… Brutal but believable… Breaking, bent, busted… Beauty before, belittled between, better behind. B#… be brave… be bonafide.
Well maybe I should just appeal to your good graces as a gentleman and say why haven’t you emailed me back?! I’m the guy with the Sinatra acetate and the recordings on metal of vaudeville acts. It’s been like two years! I’m sure you remember. Anyways I’m sure that is a unique enough way to win a record haha. No hard feelings I love the work you and your label do. But I am sure someone wants to hear a Frank Sinatra take no ones heard. Anyways love you guys bunches!
When my ex wife and I divorced my daughters were 5 & 3. My oldest wasn’t a very good sleeper and I always laid with her for about 10 minutes rubbing her back so she would fall asleep. I don’t know how many times I cried,l as I lay there with her…worried about how the divorce would impact them and worried about what it would mean not to be with them 100% of the time. Sometimes singing to them as they drifted off calmed them and sometimes it calmed me. I could never bring myself to sing the traditional Twinkle Twilnkle Little Star and would usually sing something in my wheelhouse of songs I actually know the lyrics to. While the songs weren’t anything that might be considered edgy and probably boarderlined on pop, none of those songs involved Limp Bizkit or Nickleback. At least I could do one parenting thing right.
Who are you?
I don’t know you.
But I would like to hear you.
The three thoughts which hit me upon seeing Brendan Benson live for the first time, in order… (1.) Damn, that’s a skinny dude. (2.) Damn, that skinny dude can SING! (3.) Damn, I hope someday Ben Blackwell of Third Man Records does an arbitrary giveaway for that skinny dude’s limited tri-color record and, by god, I hope I win.
As a European Vaulter I always have to deal with customs fees, delivering delays, etc. Still, I’m a member since package #1 and I have everything you put out so far with Brendan involved! Plus, I love the moment you open your packet and you find out you got a tri-color! that’s why I hope to win it!