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Velvel Info and Petition
Date: Wed 26 Nov 1997 - 15:07:52 PST
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend everyone...
Just a few words on the petition for Velvel...we're closing in on 100 names after about a week, which is great, but I think we'll need far more than that to convince the powers that be, so if you haven't signed the petition, please do so. You'll find it at:
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/8121/
or
http://surf.to/jazz.butcher
Note to AOL surfers...the AOL proxy server may have cached an old page with an error. Try reloading the page, or if you have no luck, e-mail me your name, e-mail address and where you're from and I'll sign you to the petition. Thanks.
Some other Velvel news:
Tower Records has a sampler disc called "It's on Fire" which, you guessed
it, features 12 of the Fire label artists that Velvel has released or will
soon. I think you get it free with a Velvel purchase. The bands/LPs/release
dates as represented on the sampler are:
Libido - "Killing Some Dead Time" - 1/98
Novocaine NP9 - "Frustration"/"Nervous Disposition" - 5/98
Chuck UK - "Dead Famous" - ?/98
Telstar Ponies - "Voices from the New Music" - 3/97
Salamanda - "Salamanda" - 6/98
Thompson - debut LP - 3/98
Chuck Prophet - "Brother Aldo" - 8/97
The Pastels - "Up for a bit with..." - 8/97
Television Personalities - "...bigger than the Beatles" - 8/97
Pulp - "Masters of the Universe", "Freaks", "It" - 8/97
Close Lobsters - "Headache Rhetoric..." - ?/98
and
(drum roll please--but not the one you expect)
Blue Aeroplanes - "Tolerance" - ?/98
As a parting gift, my Velvel connection sent a few promos of the Fire stuff
(plus "The Girls of Scores" music CD-Rom!). There do not appear to be bonus
tracks or remastering claims, but they are nicely packaged (8-page
booklets) and of good fidelity (there's a hint that they might have been
remastered when originally released on Fire). I'll confess to an extremely
limited familiarity with this list, save the Blue Aeroplanes, but if
they'll release this stuff, won't they surely "Release the Jazz Butcher"?
Also located a press release that I found encouraging...in part:
Wednesday, Sept.4, 1996
Navarre Corporation and Walter Yetnikoff, industry leader and former CEO of CBS Records, today announced the formation of VelVel Records.
"VelVel is intent on bringing a wide array of music by today's rising stars and established talent to as many consumers as possible," said Yetnikoff. "We are going to compete on a level playing field with the major labels, with a reach only previously enjoyed by those major labels. We will show that independent labels are the future of this business."
VelVel has already signed recording deals with Five-Eight, an alternative band from Atlanta; Band de Soleil, featuring gritty singer/songwriter Michelle Malone; Babyfat, another alternative rock act; and Prairie Oyster, a Juno Award-winning Canadian country group.
Add Pat Dinizio (of Smithereens) and Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings to the list.
What does all this mean? I guess it means it will take more than 100 signatures to impress Michael Jackson's and Bruce Springsteen's old boss. But I think it also means that they're open to releasing groups far more obscure than The Jazz Butcher (Anyone know how many signatures the Close Lobsters got on their petition?) and they like that Manchester/Blue Aeroplanes sound.
So sign up, send your friends, and have a great holiday.
Cheers,
Gary
allout@cris.com
Received on Wed Nov 26 15:07:52 1997