ALL OF A SUDDEN, KICKFLIP IS NOW SCARED OF THE SOCKS!

If you have not noticed, we are über-duber excited about our sixth release, which is to be release very soon... Howe Gelb - 'Sno Angel + Melted Wires 7inch, an official Record Store Day release for 2011! To help celebrate this release, The Vinyl District and Zia Records are both hosting two separate contests online for you to enter to win a signed copy of Howe Gelb's 7inch! Here is the skinny for both contests...

THE VINYL DISTRICT
The contest that The Vinyl District is about to end, so sorry for the late post of this, but it is definitely well worth the effort to jump on this one as soon as possible. The Vinyl District is offering a signed copy of a test press record; signed by Howe Gelb and John Convertino.  They have actually signed the label on the vinyl itself, and Howe has drawn a wonderful lil' picture for you on the other side.

The first thing to understand is the significance of the test press record. When we are in the process of making a record, the manufacturer sends us four copies of the record called "test pressings." These test pressings are used by our Executive Team to make sure that the record is good to go for mass production. In this case, Howe Gelb's test pressings were perfect, so we approved the test pressings and continued forward with manufacturing the final product for all of you. One special thing about the test pressings is that they are always on black vinyl. Being that all of our releases come on colored vinyl, our test pressings are the only copies available on black vinyl, making them über-rare.  One copy is kept in the Fort Lowell Records Vault, manned by a personal security guard twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Two copies of the test pressing are given to the artist.  Finally, the forth copy is typically given away for promotion purposes, such as this contest.

The Vinyl District has made it very easy for you to enter their contest... you simply need to post a comment on their page about the contest HERE.  Just tell them why you feel you deserve to own the signed test pressing from Howe Gelb.  They are going to post the winner very soon, so act now.  Again, we apologize for the late notice on this one.  Good luck!

ZIA RECORDS
To start, we just have to say "Thank You" to Zia Records.  They have been very supportive of our label for the first year of our existence, and we really appreciate everything they do.  So, speaking of what they do... Zia Records has a contest going to win a signed copy of Howe Gelb's record as well.  Their signed copy is not for the test pressing, but for the actual release on blue vinyl.  For Zia, the record has been signed on the cover by Howe Gelb.  The advantage, we've actually got a few copies of these available for Zia Records.  I believe they are going to be giving them out by the regions in which they cover: Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

To enter Zia Records' contest, you simply need to send them an EMAIL with all of your contact information: Name, Address, and Phone Number... and be sure to put "GELB ZIA" in the title of your email.  Their contest ends April 11th, so don't wait too too long to send your EMAIL in to Zia Records.

Now, the cool thing about Zia Records is that not only are they offering you an opportunity to win a signed copy of Howe Gelb's 7inch for free... but for those of you that don't "win" a "free" copy, Zia Records will also have signed copies of Howe Gelb's 7inch available for sale on Record Store Day, April 16th, at all locations!  Yup!  So... send an EMAIL to Zia Records first to try and get a copy for free.  Then, if unfortunately if you don't win, just stop by your local Zia Records on April 16th, Record Store Day, to pick up a copy of Howe Gelb's 7inch!

As far as Kickflip is concerned... she used to be a freak with socks!  She loved playing with them; jumping into mounds of them and tearing them apart.  But for some reason, now she is freaked out by them.  We had a pile of them lingering around our corporate offices (don't ask), so we dump them on top of her and she jumped nearly three feet in the air backwards and now won't go near them.  What gives?

Good luck with the contests!
- Fort Lowell Records