Yo, TMR, work a deal with Trader Joe’s, would’ya? I know you want that snazzy black’n’yellow logo splashed all over the place, but my pocket book’s happier at TJ’s— http://dcist.com/2014/03/photos_comparing_the_price_of_organ.php#photo-1 Maybe they’d let you do a popup shop on the sidewalk out front.

What whole foods

What whole foods

It seems as though the items that are going to be for sale are items anyone can go online at Thirdmanrecords.com and buy. It does not appear that they are selling any kind of exclusive items or vault packages. So I don’t understand what’s the problem with TMR merchandise being sold out of different stores. I think it would be great if there was some way they can get some stores in Europe to distribute TMR merchandise. There were quite a few vault members who said they couldn’t get certain items because as of now Third Man can not ship them outside the United States. Having Third Man products in stores is a great thing for Third Man and vinyl in general. People who never heard of Third Man or didn’t know what they do would know more about the brand. That interest could spark more people to become Vault Members or log on to the Third Man site and buy more vinyl and more products that are not offered in these stores and introduce them to artists they might not have heard about. The revenue that Third Man could generate from this would enable to them to create more innovative products, give them more money to produce more artists or groups in their Blue and Green series, produce more live shows in the Blue Room, maybe expand more on the films they’ve been helping to promote, possibly put more money into doing live streams or doing more interactive things with the vault in general. Jack has given so many artists a chance or a break. Most of these artists probably would not have been picked up by larger labels, not because of talent, but because so many larger labels first and foremost look to see if they are going to make millions off of you before they look at talent. To criticize Jack or Third Man for selling out or taking a deal with a retail chain is so unfair. Third Man has produced so many things that they have made very little money off of or made nothing at all but Jack chose to do those things because he felt it needed to be out there or a certain artist needed to be heard. This is all a good thing and from a marketing stand point – it’s pretty brilliant. I really think in the end all these negative comments are actually going to have the opposite effect and Jack will only do more and more of this type of thing. When has anyone ever know Jack White to cave into the demands of what people say or do what they want him to do? In the end Jack is only going to do what he wants to do and put out what he wants whether it be selling in chain stores or what he decides a Vault Package is going to be. If he listened to the masses or caved into criticism or demands a lot of artists on Third Man probably would never have been heard, certain items like the Document Series or the Paramount Collection probably would have never been made. And who knows maybe some of his music may have never been heard if he did what other people told him. (Case in point – Swank told him Seven Nation Army was just “alright”. LOL!!! – We still love you though Swanky.)

Ive worked in several mom and pop health food stores over a period of 10 years
and shopped in them for my entire life…ive known the people who have owned and run them as managers in several states…. I do prefer coops and participate in those when its an option… my point here is that Whole Foods is not so unlike those given their vision and purpose… our whole foods here goes out of its way to cultivate community as a resource for farmers and local economy/food production as well ss employing local musicians and hosting nonprofit support for real direct action and local advocacy not to mention its foundations for kids and health funding…. not all corporations drive their workers to welfare support like Walmart and not all corporations cling to antiquated managenent and products either and thus I just want to tip my hat and nod to the attempt to support a few good Whole Foods locations as brokers or purveyors of quality content here… maybe there are some suckass policies or managertypes there but I really liked it when some one came along and leveled the playing field on the mark ip masters in this community

‘you must really hate Whole Foods’… the best/ most accurate comment I’ve fielded post-Whole Foods outburst.

Yes, yes I do. And I love Third Man. Which is what prompted my (overly animated?) statement of opinion. If I didn’t CARE so much I wouldn’t BOTHER to comment.

I will liken it to watching your friend start to date an asshole. It’s not something I can condone so of course I’m going to speak out. Not that my opinions matter a hill of beans- Third Man’s gonna do what Third Man’s gonna do. That’s fine. I don’t like it, so I won’t buy it (at WF).
But it sickens me in my heart to see a business I have supported and admired for so long get in bed with a corporation that, I feel, is the high-maintenance sister to WalMart. But I also realize that I live in an area that has been more directly affected by the Whole Foods expansion than some others, so I have seen firsthand what their growth has done to locally-based, small grocers and thus have a stronger opinion about this than others might.
So, not the first time Third Man has done something I’m not particularly fond of. I’m sure it won’t be the last.
… and the world turns.

Some special things stay that way and actually ‘enhance’ other things around them by being there….im a big fan of parties of special things to do for 10 years and counting now so I am not of the belief that its a lowest common denominator situation unless you mske it so…. myopic fiends is a very modern concept but you can make of it what you will…

Quizze, “myopic fiends”…had to look that up…searching the www with both words together, came up with a band of same name and other strange info…looking words up separately, came up with “short-sighted devils”. Cute.

The Gowanus shop certainly sounds interesting, probably even cool, but I dunno if I’d consider it special. More and more cities these days have places combining elements that once would have been unexpected to find together. That’s one of the things that hipster/millennial/whate’er-you-wanna-call-it culture seems to excel in. It’s an excellent thing, but it won’t likely be a rare or “special” thing for long. Aside from that, my feelings about the Third Man/Whole Foods affiliation are still mixed, but one thing that I keep wondering about it is— how long will it last? TMR mentions that they hope to expand the program which implies that they’d like it to be a long partnership, but who knows how this experiment will fare? It’ll be interesting to see.

TMR is telling you that this is special…. Brooklyn’s new Gowanus market/bar/restaurant/hangout/record store/bike repair/coffee shop