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The Dead Weather -- Thoughts on Jack White during the rain storms in California

I've talked before about my love of Jack White and The White Stripes. They were an amazing band. And since I was a fan in the early days when they played smaller clubs, I got lots and lots of stuff signed. Even as they got bigger, I'd buy the current CD and get them to sign it before and after shows (of course, the crowds of fans got bigger and it was a little harder). White was always great with autographs, although he's not a big talker. Meg White (his ex-wife and drummer) was friendlier. I have no clue what she's doing now that Jack has a few other bands. His most recent is The Dead Weather, where he went back to the instrument he started with -- drums. They have The Kills singer Alison Mosshart on vocals, but Jack does sing a few songs, and plays that sweet axe of his on a track or two. So far, I've loved them live, but the CDs are hit-and-miss.

I tried to get them to sign their debut CD on two occasions. Once as they were entering the House of Blues. The entire band got off the bus and as me and four other fans shouted their names, they just walked by us without looking over.

At another event, it was after the show. The crowd was bigger (about 25), and one of the band members waved, but they didn't come over.

On this website, somebody posted pictures of Mosshart and White signing after a show, so I know they sign. Maybe before the shows they just aren't in the mood, I don't know.

I did see something interesting that they did. For their new record "Dodge and Burn" they enclosed autograph cards in random LPs (remember those?). Like playing cards, there's a Joker, Jack, Queen, and King. Each signed by a band member. Since I have thousands of albums, and am too lazy to put them on the turntable, I prefer buying CDs. Yet the band did this promotion in conjunction with Black Friday, and independent record store day or something. They wanted to promote the indie vibe of music, which is cool.

I've said this before but, more bands should enclose autographed items. For example, Prince released a CD that went platinum immediately. This was a few years ago. A lot of insiders in the music business were a bit upset with how it went platinum. When you bought a ticket to see him in concert, you were also paying $15 more for the new CD, which you got. A lot of people felt that's not fans truly making your CD platinum, but concert goers that had to buy it.

Well, if you take a big name artist that isn't as big as they were years ago -- for example, John Mellencamp (who has always been a great signer in person) -- if he issued a statement that said, "I get asked for autographs often, before and after shows, so I decided that half the CDs I put out of my new record will be autographed." I guarantee those would go platinum. Every autograph collector, and every fan of Mellencamp, would jump on that. And if you were a collector and bought one that didn't have the autograph (it would be unseen on the inner sleeve), you'd surely buy another one, until you got a copy.

Anyway...when The Dead Weather tours, I doubt I'll try for them again. I'm getting to that age, and that frustration level, where if somebody turns me down, I'm not going to keep chasing them each time they're in town. It isn't worth my time.

Tags: , Jack White, John, Mellencamp, Stripes, The, The Dead Weather, White

1 member likes this

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 12:17am: The Dead Weather is one of my favourite bands more so than the White stripes, I'm not sure how Meg plays drums with her bust size.

When it comes to Jack white and vinyl he is a marketing genius, I bought his last lp for the gimmicks, there is a hologram when you hold a torch over it, which is an angel, I think that one side plays from the inside out, it was full of features. Jack is the record store day ambassador.

He has a whole new generation of kids buying vinyl and the kids are visiting there local indie record stores again. Jack will attach a few 100, 45rpms to helium balloons and release them into the atmosphere. The treasure hunt begins.

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 12:19am

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 12:20am

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 12:22am: Hand painted by Alison Mosshart. The other is a 7 inch single enclosed in a 12 inch that also plays, the catch was the 7 inch single at the time was unreleased so you had to crack it open to listen to it.

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 12:33am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-8B-_Jq2ro

Comment by Adam Halloran on January 6, 2016 at 4:15am: The Beach Boys did the same during their 50th anniversary tour. Buy 10 copies of their new album (at $10 a pop) and get a full band signed copy. Of course it turned out Brian's signature was mostly signed by Jeff Foskett a touring member.

Brian Wilson, Rod Strwart, Don Henley...Etc have all recently sold their new albums signed through ltcds.com or their own websites as well. It is a beautiful idea, they get to sell records and we can get their autograph a win win situation.

Comment by Null on January 6, 2016 at 7:09am: Love Jack White and The White Stripes. I cover "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground" and "Hardest Button to Button" on guitar all the time. I really enjoyed his "Lazaretto" album as well. I hadn't heard of this new band, I will definitely check them out!

Sucks that they don't seem to be very fan friendly. =/ I need to add a Jack auto to my collection at some point. I'm zoned in on blink-182 stuff right now...LOL.

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 1:51pm

Comment by Paul on January 6, 2016 at 2:49pm: The Dw first concerts set list. Covered up.

Comment by Josh Board on January 8, 2016 at 9:35am: Ryan, yeah I agree. I bought Lazaratto, and was pleasantly surprised with how good it was (since I had only heard one song on the radio before purchasing it).

For me, the two best things Jack White did was "De Stijl" and "Elephant" with The White Stripes. The Racontours are okay. The Dead Weather, too. But, having seen all bands live, The Stripes are the best, and it's just Jack and Meg on stage!!! Just amazing. It's a shame she got married and just sort of checked out of the music industry.