Would make a lovely addition to any vocal booth:

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Mike Errico official site: http://www.errico.com
Also at: Facebook || Twitter || MySpace || Imeem || ILike || MOG

I may be a crotchety bastard who’s out of rum and blogging in his underpants, but still, you think Jimi’d rate more than a $450 Strat knockoff. I mean, Steve Vai got a whole other string out of Ibanez. Remember the JEM? It also had a friggin’ handle, in case you wanted to… who knows what the handle was for. It was stupid. But they painted it fluorescent green, popped in pink DiMarzios and gave it to him. Meanwhile, Jimi finally gets something worthy of the can of lighter fluid he doused a real Strat with at Monterey. God damn: I’m a historian, over here.

Link: http://nevertoolateguitar.com/2009/09/22…

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Mike Errico official site: http://www.errico.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Errico/8888939428
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The latest potential answer to the music industry’s greatest question: “What’s Next?”

Below, the press release:

Third Man Records Announces The Vault

Subscription Service to Offer Exclusive Online Content and Physical Product from Third Man Artists

In their latest groundbreaking initiative, Jack White’s Third Man Records announces the July 3rd opening of The Vault at 3:33 p.m. CST. The Vault is a social networking and subscription service that provides exclusive offerings from the label’s artists. Subscribers will have access to online content and physical products from Third Man artists including The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, all of which will ONLY be available to Vault subscribers.

The Vault is a two-tiered service, providing a forum for all subscribers to create member profiles and usersites, post comments and interact with other members. For the $7-a-month Premium Service (three month minimum), subscribers will get unlimited access to all online Vault services, including exclusive pre-sale concert tickets, streaming video, video messages, official chat rooms, photos, artist updates and pay per view live concerts. The $20-a-month Platinum Service (three month minimum) includes all online content as well as quarterly Third Man 12” LPs, extremely limited 7” records and t-shirts These products will only be available through The Vault and will not be distributed to shops or available from Third Man’s online mail order service.

Platinum subscribers who sign up between July 3rd and July 21st will receive a double album of The White Stripes’ LP Icky Thump featuring an exclusive MONO mix, 180 Gram Vinyl and customized artwork, as well as a Third Man Records exclusive T-shirt and a 45 of The Dead Weather performing two covers, “Forever My Queen” and “Outside,” with special dedicated labels and sleeves exclusive to The Vault. While the Premium subscription is available at all times, Platinum subscribers who miss the July 21st deadline must wait until the following registration period for the next set of Third Man products.

For more information on The Vault, check out www.thirdmanrecords.com

By Mike Errico

A friend urged me to come witness the death rattle of music retail, happening in the middle of Times Square, NYC. He writes:

“Hey Musicfolk,

I wanted to urge you to make a stop by a strange event if you haven’t yet. The Virgin Megastore in Time Square closes early next month and I happened upon it’s clearance sale the other day.

I know that many of us are all too aware of the pains, the cracking and the changing of the retail music business as we’ve known it…but Virgin, as it is operating for these next couple of weeks, stands as a haunting museum of recorded music in decline. It’s a kind of spooky mausoleum and also a rare glimpse behind the curtain of retail.

The offerings are interesting, at a minimum of 40% off everything in the store. But the merchandise is no longer under control. Titles are everywhere misfiled and product is piled all around in this joint that was not long ago still carefully curated. There’s still a lot of great stuff available, but the expertly cultivated value of the objects on display has been largely violated. Clerks stand at registers scanning CD’s and discussing the surrounding scene with anyone who asks. There are absurd sore thumbs, like the brand new U2 album in it’s deluxe form…cd, dvd, poster, booklet…originally priced at a ghastly $104 and gleaming sadly in its own display case.

It may sound depressing, and in ways it certainly is. But like any really good depressing movie it’s also a rare opportunity to feel this thing differently. Go take it in if you can. It’s history.”

I loved it there. I literally used to browse, like a woman on lunch break in the blouse section of Loehman’s.

Is there a blouse section?

Whatever. You get what I mean.

PS, plus some irony: The storefront will be taken over by Forever 21.

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Mike Errico official site: http://www.errico.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Errico/8888939428
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