The Puppini Sisters ticket giveaway

This one is for those of you who like concert tickets of the "completely free" variety. As of not too much earlier today, we've got one of those giveaway boxes on the counter. If you drop your first name and phone number in it, you'll reserve your chance to win a pair of tickets to see The Puppini Sisters at Georgia Tech's Ferst Center on August 29th. For those of you unfamiliar with the familial clan, the All Music Guide says it creates a "convincing homage to the heyday of vocal harmony pop in the '30s and '40s." Sounds like a fun night out to us.

Also (and if you're on our e-mail list or follow our MySpace page, you already know this), right next to that giveaway box we have another one for autographed liner notes from Garbage's recent retrospective, Absolute Garbage. Time's a wastin' and the only way you can win these great contests is by stopping by, so we'll see you soon...

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Ireland!

A friend of ours in Ireland hit us up on MySpace and sent us this photo. After viewing it, well, it's pretty obvious why we had to blog about it. Awesome! Click to enlarge, and for extra credit, leave your favorite Devo song in the comments.

Wilco photos

On Tuesday, as many of you know, we had a little Wilco shindig. Well, we're happy to announce that it went above and beyond our own admittedly-large expectations. It was pretty funny, actually. The party started at 6pm, and literally up until about 5:58pm or so, everything was normal. There were several people in the store perusing away and we'd started playing Sky Blue Sky a little early just for funsies. Then the clock clicked over into the new hour, and just like magic, there was a line out the door. Unbelievable. It was pretty real there for a while, and the beer and pizza kept running out, but in the end, all was well. Thanks to everyone who came! Hopefully we can do something like this again very soon. In the midst of all the craziness, we didn't find time to give away all the great stuff we promised in the email. Don't worry, though, as that will happen soon. Winners will be announced on the blog and in the email. We'll also call, so watch that phone! And now, some photos. Enjoy...

You'd think Jeff Tweedy and Co. were actually in the store, judging from how packed it was for a while.

Decatur CD legend, Wilco fan and soon-to-be poet legend, Melissa, expressed some serious love for the vinyl edition of the album. So did a few other folks, as we sold out by the end of the evening.
The parking lot got a little ridiculous. Not pictured here is the back of the store, where the dumpster had two three cars layered in front of it. Silly people...

Nothing like having a little crowd out in front of the store to attract more party goers. As we think it's particularly purty, this one will be going up on the MySpace.

By night's end, Kerry and Eliot were sick and tired of the word "Wilco." It's cool, though: We let them rest and now they're OK with those five letters again.

Meanwhile, Austin spent a lot of time looking concerned and/or angry. Rest assured, though, he was having a great time.

Michael Bublé was our bouncer for the evening, throwing out all riff raff, trouble makers and ne'er-do-wells as they tried to infiltrate our gathering. Unfortunately, as we're a truly ungrateful lot, we mocked him with a sign. Nothing personal, Bublé, ol' chum!

Decatur CD <3's added value

Thanks to our myriad industry pals (Chris @ Universal, the Lost Highway peeps, Russell @ ADA, and Michael @ Alliance), we have all sorts of added value goodies to give away with new and upcoming releases. Check this out:

* If you haven't picked up your very own shiny personal copy of The Shins latest, Wincing the Night Away, well, just what are you waiting for? You could join all the excitable fanboys and fangirls that made it the first Sub Pop record to go all the way to #2 on the Billboard top 200 chart. However, your laziness will be rewarded just this once, as you have your choice of a two-sided poster or collectable 7". Hurry, though, as these items are obviously limited. Did we mention the album is actually pretty great? Because it is.

* Bloc Party recently dropped the much-awaited follow-up to it much-hyped (and much-good, wethinks) debut. Stop by to get A Weekend in the City, and we'll give you a choice of a button or another awesomely limited 7".

* Finally, we've got some exclusive Lucinda Williams demos CDs for giveaway with her upcoming album, West. We're giving these away to everyone who pre-orders the new record (which comes out this Tuesday, February 13th), and quite honestly, a TON of people have, but you still have a chance to get in on the fun. Come in this weekend or give us a call or an email or a MySpace message. Hell, you could leave a comment below to sign up, if you wish. Don't delay, though, as these bonus discs will go fast.

Oh, and if you need a visual aid for any of these added value tasties, just see above. Truly delicious, right? We'll see you soon...