SO TRUE (AND HILARIOUS)!

I can not take any credit for writing this. In fact, I think it is one of those spam-story-telling emails that your Aunt Judith sends to your work email addy. But this one was sent to me from my buddy Skid, and it is so-damn-freakin'-hilarious, I couldn't resist... Read on!

IF PETS WROTE DIARIES

Excerpts from a Dog's Diary...... 

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!


Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary...

Day 983 of my captivity...

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage...

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously clueless.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now.................

WET & RECKLESS HIT THE ROAD

The fabulous four femme fatales, otherwise known as Wet & Reckless, are hitting the East Coast once again, this time with their latest 7inch release from Fort Lowell Records featuring their smash hit "New Guy!" Check it:

July 16, Cyclops, Baltimore, MD
July 17, the Galaxy Hut, Arlington, VA
July 18, The Velvet Lounge, Washington D.C.
July 19, Pianos, NY, NY
July 20, the Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY
July 22, Girl’s Rock Camp, Boston, MA (during the day)
July 22, O’Brien’s, Allston, MA (at night)
July 23, Nectar’s, Martha’s Vineyard

SUCCESS?

When we started this record label thingy, we said to ourselves "Wouldn't it be cool if one of our 7inches ended up on eBay selling for more money than it was really worth?" Well, that day has come...

Howe Gelb - 'Sno Angel + Melted Wires - $29.89

Just in case you were interested... look to your right.
You can order the same record directly from us for $5.00.

Happy shopping!
Team FLR

WHAT'S NEXT FOR FORT LOWELL RECORDS?

Twelve inches of Tucson AZ!

FREE DEATH KIT CD!

Order Death Kit's Devadasi 7inch from us directly and receive a free copy of their CD/EP titled 'Deathworks,' featuring five tracks: "Boy," "Catholic Kitsch," "We Were Young and Needed the Money," "Acid Kids," and "Morning Comes."

I DON'T HAVE A RECORD PLAYER

So, you've been dying to pick up our Record Store Day 7inch for Howe Gelb, but you sold your record player at the yard sale the PTA hosted for the kids to go on a field trip to the science museum last year.  No sweat, the Howe Gelb 'Sno Angel + Melted Wires 7inch is available all over the world wide web to purchase as MP3 audio files!  Here are three of the more popular sites you may like to download the songs from:

Amazon
eMusic
iTunes

Enjoy!
FLR

F' IT! WE'RE SELLING PROMOS!

So we might have sold out of the 750 numbered Howe Gelb 7inches... but we've got un-numbered promo copies available, and we're puttin'em up for sale on the ol' world wide web! The 'Add To Cart' has been made available on our website on the right side of the page for your purchasing pleasure.

GO!

SUNDAYS IN THE PHOENIX METRO AREA CAN BE FUN

Yesterday was a great day spent at The Nile Theater Record Fair in Mesa AZ! This was the second event they have hosted like this, and something we hope they keep doing. We continue to meet people that have never heard of Fort Lowell Records, and truly appreciate the opportunity to make new fans.

It was great to be set up next to our favorite record store in the Phoenix Metro Area, Stinkweeds. Good times were had hanging out with our friend (their Manager), Lindsay Cates... admiring the awesomeness of her credit card machine (SEE BELOW). We even managed to pick up a few records ourselves from Stinkweeds: The Black Angels' B-Side EP, The Amazing, The Black Ryder, a Deerhunter 7inch, a Trouble In Mind 7inch sampler, and two great great great records from the record label The Numero Group (#17 and #35 1/2) that we are very excited to listen to soon.

We met a lot of nice people throughout the day that were really excited to hear new music. The listening station proved to be helpful once again. This time we brought in two sets of headphones, so family and friends could join in the fun.

We also met Ryan from Perfectly Round Records and James from Gilgongo Records, two awesome awesome record labels from the Phoenix Metro Area. We highly recommend you check out both labels and the various bands they are releasing. We picked up The Tri City Thundercats 7inch, our only missing 7inch from the Perfectly Round Records catalog; excited to complete that set now. We also got a number of new vinyl from James at Gilgongo Records: two full lengths from French Quarter, one from ZS, Little Women, and James' own release, as well as 7inches by Woods, Married In Berdichev, and Vegetable. It's nice to finally meet both of those guys. They are both working really hard to bring you some great tunes, so definitely check them out.

Stinkweeds and Fort Lowell Records toughed it out until the very end, making sure every last possible customer was met and no one left behind. We celebrated a successful day of hard work at a local wine bar call Il Vinaio. Definitely recommend stopping by there if you are ever in the neighborhood. Pretty cool spot with a great selection of wine and beers, including an awesome Hemp Ale (that they allowed Tracy Shedd to take home in a growler she just happens to carry around with her at all times just in case she find a beer on tap she wants to take home in a growler... #realtalk).

Good times! Good times! We look forward to the next time The Nile Theater hosts a record fair, or to any other time we have a reason to head north and hang with our peeps in Phoenix.

Word.
FLR

THE GIFT OF THE NILE

Today we are headed up to Mesa AZ to The Nile Record Fair II, hosted by The Nile Theater.  If you are in the area, stop by and say 'Hello!'  We will have our new Fort Lowell Record "Music Sounds Better 7inches At A Time" TShirts, as well as all of our colorful 7inch records (including promotional copies of Howe Gelb's sold out 7inch)!  We are now able to accept Credit Cards, so don't sweat stopping by the ATM machine.  See ya'll at the show! ~ FLR

MUSIC VIDEO KILLS THE PODCAST!

Just in case you missed to awesome live performance ...music video? gave on KXCI 91.3FM Radio a few weeks ago, you can download or stream the podcast right here:
http://kxci.org/localsonly/podcast/podcast-05022011.mp3

Photos by Andrew Brown:

Enjoy!
FLR

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, GONE!

That's right folks, Howe Gelb's 7inch is gone! All 750 numbered copies have been sent out to record stores across the world. Stop by your local record store to see if they have it in stock. If not, they may still be able to order it in through our distributors: EDGE, AES, Super D, or StickFigure.

For those of you in Tucson AZ, you may still be able to find a copy at one of these local retail stores: Bohemia, Bookmans Grant, Bookmans Ina, Bookmans Speedway, Mast, Preen, Toxic Ranch, Zia Records Oracle, or Zia Records Speedway.

We personally only have a few un-numbered promotional copies available that we may use to sell at shows or use to restock local retailers, if not use them for promotional reasons. We are going to bring a couple of these with us this coming Sunday at the Nile Theater Record Fair in Mesa AZ, so stop by our table if you need one.

As you can see... Kickflip does not seem to mind selling out of this record. She is enjoying the extra shelf space to lounge around in.

For those of you that were able to secure a copy of Howe Gelb's 7inch, we hope you have been enjoying the record!

Thanks for the support!
Team FLR

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

I just wanted to take a moment to share with everyone out there in cyberworld how rad the El Patron De Mamá (AKA: my Mom) is.  She's a lil' Italian lady with the brightest damn red hair you've ever seen (close to Miki Berenyi from Lush).  For most of her life, she was a school teacher, and an amazing one at that.  The stereotypes you would expect about an Italian mother are all true, just like Vinnie's mother from The Jersey Shore: she's a supergreat cook and loves having big groups of family and friends around for dinner, and she definitely has a soft spot in her stern heart for her lil' bambino (me).

Mom was never mean to us kids, but she definitely had her rules we had to follow.  She taught us the value of working hard at an early age.  At age six I had a solid list of house chores which included doing laundry for everyone (Mom, Dad, sister, brother, and myself) in the household.  She rewarded us for our hard work each week with an allowance, but made us responsible for buying our own 'luxuries in life,' which for me at the time were skateboards.  Then, when I was sixteen, old enough to have a 'real job,' she made me responsible not only for buying my skateboards and whatnot, but also for many of the 'necessities in life,' such as clothes and transportation.

Mom knows how to have fun too, though.  She was not all about work-work-work.  Mom was very supportive of developing a creative mind.  When any of us had a wacky idea to do something that most parents would not normally approve of, she was always there encouraging us to explore our ideas, but yet holding us accountable and making us responsible for our actions.  She was always there to guide us along the way to learn something new about ourselves or life.  My sister and I both ventured into the world of Interior Design with our own bedrooms; mine being tremendously more psychedelic than my sister's angular modernism.  Most parents would hardly let their kids put a poster on the wall, let alone paint swirly checkerboards with flames coming out the edges and wrapping around a six-foot happy face (don't ask me what I was thinking).

Don't get me wrong, Mom was not a push-over.  She would not just let us kids run wild and do whatever the heck we wanted.  She said "no," a lot.  But what is more important is that she knew when to say "yes."  Mom knew what was best for us to explore, and (more importantly) what would teach us the greatest lessons to become the people we are today.

My Mom is the reason why Fort Lowell Records is Fort Lowell Records.  She not only taught me to explore ideas, but to follow through on ideas, as well as to value the rewards of hard work.  Today, as we celebrate Mother's Day, Fort Lowell Records is also celebrating the success of selling all copies of one of our records for the first time: the Howe Gelb 'Sno Angel + Melted Wires 7inch we released for Record Store Day 2011 (just three weeks ago).  After one year of releasing 7inches records, we have finally succeed with getting all copies of a release out to the public, a common goal (if not the main goal) for any record label.

This achievement is not being taken for granted.  We know it is a result of all of the hard work and many sacrifices everyone has made in our inaugural year.  When I was growing up with my Mom, I would give up my time on weekends to work around the house so I could earn money to buy new skateboards.  Now we give up our time on weekends (and holidays and weeknights and an hour before going to work each day) to run this record label... a record label that only after one year has so much to be proud of.


...and for that, we have my Mom to thank.


Thank you Mom for being my Mom.  I really appreciate all you ever taught me in life.  I may not show it in ways others would expect, but I want you to know that I am proud to say that my own successes are due to being your son.  With each achievement in my life, I can pinpoint the moment in my childhood you showed me whatever life-lesson it may have been that led to that accomplishment.  Your wisdom and direction have given me the greatest life one could ask for.  Thank you, again.


Happy Mother's Day!
I love you, Mom!
~ Son

ROCK LOTTERY ROCKED TUCSON

Last night's Rock Lottery was simply awesome! What a great display of how beautiful the Tucson music community is! 25 talented musicians came together and in one day put together 5 bands that all kicked butt! Our favorite was The Sweet Spots, featuring our very own Tracy Shedd and one of our favorite guitarist in Tucson, Dana Fehr from the band Juarez. They started the night with their ass-kicking-take-no-prisoners power pop (file between Husker Du and Velocity Girl), that included an amazing cover of The Cars' "Just What I Needed."

Kudos to Mike Sanger and Johnnie Munger from Dead Western Plains, Dr. Dan from KXCI's Locals Only radio program, Maebelle Reed and everyone at Plush, and to the people of Tucson AZ, ...all for an awesome night!

Lastly... Thanks to The General! You can't have a great night out on 4th Avenue without stopping by to see The General at his hot dog cart across from Che's. He is simply the coolest vegetarian you will meet selling the raddest hot dogs while playing the sweetest jams! I swear, if he could sell beer, I would just hang out with The General all night.

RockRock!
FLR

HOT DAMN! IT'S THE TUCSON ROCK LOTTERY! [TONIGHT]

The Rock Lottery began in Denton, TX in 1997 (and in Seattle in 2006 and Brooklyn 2010). This will be Tucson's inaugural Rock Lottery. The premise is simple, but effective...

Twenty-five hand picked musicians meet in the morning at Plush. These volunteers organize into five groups through a lottery-based chance selection. The five separate groups are then released to practice at different locations. The musicians have 12 hours to create a band name and three to five songs (with a one cover limit). The groups will then perform what they have created that evening in front of a waiting audience.

The twenty-five musicians included in the experiment are selected in an attempt to represent a wide variety of musical styles. This event intends to bring together many facets of the Tucson music community that may seem incompatible as well as musicians whose interests may conflict. The challenge for these musicians is to try and go beyond their personal and musical differences and work together to create a unified group project that still contains personal styles of each of the participants.

All door proceeds go to CysticLife.org, a social network for the cystic fibrosis community. This positive, uplifting web site is the central location for the CF community to share tips, questions, ideas, experiences and encouragement to those families dealing with cystic fibrosis.

Musician participants include:
Mik Garrison, Winston Watson, Dante Rosano, Vikki Brown, Dana Fehr, Dave Mertz, Gabe Sullivan, Brian Lopez, Keli Carpenter, Joshua Butcher, Tracy Shedd (Fort Lowell Records), Ben DeGain, Fen Ilkner, Mike Mihina, Kaia Chesney, Lana Rebel, Steven Yanez Romo, J Lugo Miller (...music video? / Fort Lowell Records), Brian Green, Nick Letson, Vikas Pawa, David Clark, Ryan Janac, Geoff Hidalgo, and Will King.

More information:
- Facebook Event Page
- Plush Calendar

Press Coverage:
- Arizona Daily Star
- Arizona Daily Wildcat 
- KXCI
- Tucson Lifestyle Magazine
- Tucson Metromix
- Tucson Weekly
- Zocalo Magazine

Congratulations Mike Sanger (Dead Western Plains / Fort Lowell Records) on a job well done putting this together!  It is going to be an awesome night for sure!  See you all at the show!

OUR RECORDS ARE NOW SQUARE

We are superexcited about our new lil' Square! It's going to allow us to take credit cards at our merch tables from now on! Sweet! Thanks again Johnnie for the heads up on this! If anyone has any feedback to share on these lil' Squares, please let us know what's the 411.

Word.
Team FLR

MUSIC VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO (OR IS GOING TO)

Tonight, ...music video? will be playing live and interviewed on KXCI 91.3 FM here in Tucson AZ!  If you live in Tucson, tune in!  If you don't, go to KXCI's website http://www.kxci.org and click "listen now" on the left side to stream the broadcast.  ...music video? will be on the Locals Only program which airs between 8:00-10:00pm (Pacific Time Zone).  We are sure ...music video? is gonna' kill it!

Enjoy!
FLR

I KNOW A DRUMMER

For anyone in Tucson AZ that wants to start a band or become a DJ, we've got some news for you. Over at St. Vincent's thrift store on Stone, they have this great old Numark DJ mixer with wood panels on the sides for $55. You should pick it up so you can mix between Fort Lowell Records 7inchers while you are spinning for your friends. Or, if you've always wanted to start a band so you could become the next Fort Lowell Records artist, the Goodwill on 4th Avenue has this great Casiotone CT-6000 for $30. It has a rad drum machine built in and a sweet pitch wheel. You could totally be a one-man-band with that keyboard.

The Goodwill also had a great Imperial suitcase record player, but there was no needle. If it had one, that would have been ours.

Anyhoo, enjoy.
FLR

YESTERDAY WAS AN EPIC DAY! (AND DAMN-IT, WE'VE GOT THE PHOTOS TO PROVE IT)

Thank you to everyone who made Friday, April 22nd, the most special day in our one year existence!  It truly was an epic day, beginning with a quick visit with Jason Repko at the KXCI 91.3 studio.  Dan Sheffer from local television station Tucson-12 stop by as well to see what was going on.  Tucson-12 will be putting together a feature on Fort Lowell Records to air at a later date.

As the afternoon rolled into the evening, Allie Baron (AKA: The Vinyl Baron) kicked off the party at Hotel Congress on the patio, while inside Dead Western Plains was getting set up to blow our minds (once again).

Zach Toporek was first on stage outside on the patio, starting the night with a solo set, and then joined by his band Young Mothers.

Our host, Zachary Elias Clark from KAMP Student Radio, welcomed the ladies from Los Angeles CA, Wet & Reckless, to the stage following Young Mothers.   Again, Dan Sheffer from Tucson-12 was on hand to capture the greatness happening at Hotel Congress. 

Inside Club Congress, our favorite DJ from KXCI 91.3, Jaime J, was getting the crowd warmed up with his sweet jams, followed by a mind-blowing performance by Dead Western Plains (AKA: The Men in White).  Notice: even Dead Western Plains' drums were dressed in white!

Tracy Shedd kept the music flowin' outside on the patio immediately following Dead Western Plains; playing a few guitar gems, followed by her lovely work on piano.  Did anyone else catch her cover on The Magnetic Fields' "Candy," or her rockin' poppin' cover of our own Death Kit's "I Can Make You Love Me?"  No?  Your loss man, they were both rad! 

Speaking of Death Kit... holy jeeze!  They killed it inside Club Congress!  Believe it or not, we had never actually seen Death Kit live before, so we were just as curious as anyone else.  But seriously, Death Kit was amazing!  We are so happy both Death Kit and Wet & Reckless were able to drive out from Los Angeles CA to join us for this special event. 

If you did catch Death Kit's performance inside Club Congress, you just might have missed a very special guest that just happened to stop by Hotel Congress for the celebrations... Howe Gelb!  Due to Howe's busy touring schedule, we were not 100% sure he would be able to make it out, but very happy to have received a text from him at about 10:30pm saying "Just pulled up."  For those of you that did catch Howe Gelb's performance, I am sure you will agree that it was quite a treat! 

Jaime J delivered a very special performance as well inside Club Congress just before ...music video? wrapped the night up (as well as before Death Kit earlier in the night).  He is not only an amazing DJ with an excellent taste in music, but he's a great performer who knows how to get the party started!  ...music video? followed with another amazing set showing us that electronic music does have a heart and soul, and can be a lot of fun to watch being performed live.  Our favorite is when they perform "I'm Afraid of Everything," their song from their Fort Lowell Records 7inch.  (Sorry, we totally forgot to take a photo of ...music video? from the show last night, so Paul sent us this one from their CD Release Party at Plush from a few weeks ago.)

Lastly, we've have to take a moment to say "Thank You" to all of the great folks at Hotel Congress and Club Congress: David Slutes, Dan Hernandez, Dana Fehr, Zack (sound engineer for the patio), Elizabeth (the manager who took care of us all night), and Larry and the roller derby lady (the bartenders that kept the drink flowin' all night)!  You all rock, and we love you all!

Thank you Tucson!
Thank you everyone!
~ Fort Lowell Records

TONIGHT IS GOING TO BE... (HOW DO THE KIDS SAY IT THESE DAYS?) "EPIC!"

We hope you are all able to make it out to Hotel Congress in Tucson AZ for our Fort Lowell Records Showcase tonight!  It is going to be an awesome party!  All of the bands from our first year of records are coming together to say 'Thanks' to all of you for the support you have shown this past year!  Tonight's show is a FREE event for you, so come on out and have some fun!  You did not hear this here, but there may even be a surprise guest!

OUTSIDE STAGE (Patio):
6:00p - DJ Set w/ The Vinyl Baron + Dan Shapiro
8:00p - YOUNG MOTHERS
8:45p - DJ Set w/ The Vinyl Baron + Dan Shapiro
9:15p - WET & RECKLESS
10:00p - DJ Set w/ The Vinyl Baron + Dan Shapiro
10:45p - TRACY SHEDD
11:15p - DJ Set w/ The Vinyl Baron + Dan Shapiro

INDOOR STAGE:
9:00p - DJ Set w/ Jaime J
10:00p - DEAD WESTERN PLAINS
10:45p - DJ Set w/ Jaime J + Live Performance
11:15p - DEATH KIT
12:00a - DJ Set w/ Jaime J + Live Performance
12:30a - ...MUSIC VIDEO?

[Click here for the Facebook Event Page] 

In addition to all of the great music and celebration, we are extremely excited to debut the very first Fort Lowell Records TShirt!  We will have them on sale for $20.00 each in boys and girls sizes, printed on Alternative Apparel shirts!



Thank you again for all the support during our first year! Tonight is going to be a lot of fun, and we are looking forward to celebrating with you! Stop by Hotel Congress any time during the night to see your favorite band, or just come hang out and listen to the amazing DJs! Don't forget to order one of our favorite drinks from the bar... either the "Dead Western Plain" or a "Seven & Seven!"

See you tonight!
~ Fort Lowell Records

HAPPY RECORD STORE DAY!

We've been waiting for this day for the past year.  It was exactly this day last year, Record Store Day 2010, that we celebrated our official first release for Young Mothers with a showcase at Zia Records Speedway in Tucson AZ; including Young Mothers, ...music video?, and Tracy Shedd.  Today is Record Store Day 2011, and we will be back at Zia Records celebrating our sixth release, this time for Howe Gelb.  Tracy Shedd will be joining Howe Gelb at Zia Records Speedway to ring in Record Store Day 2011.  Howe Gelb's 7inch is an official sponsored release with Record Store Day, which means it is also available across the world for everyone to enjoy.

If your local record store did not receive Howe Gelb's 7inch for Record Store Day, don't fret... have them contact the Record Store Day distributors, Alliance and Super-D, and they should be able to get a copy for you even after Record Store Day.  And within the coming weeks, we will also put up a link to purchase Howe Gelb's 7inch direct from us.

If you at Coachella this weekend and unable to make it to a record store to celebrate Record Store Day, we've got you covered there as well... Zia Records is hosting a pop-up record store tent in the desert at the festival and they have all Fort Lowell Records 7inches, including Howe Gelb's Record Store Day release.  In addition to that, all Zia Records have signed copies of Howe Gelb's 7inch record... only Zia Records.

We look forward to seeing you today at Zia Records Speedway!
Thank you for all of the support!


~ Fort Lowell Records