Storm and CDbaby
Finally tracked down a copy of Hanging with the Balls today. Storm is absolutely amazing! The CD is powerfully overwhelming, and the scary part is that it barely holds a candle to hearing her perform live. I’ve always had a weakness for out-of-the-ordinary cover tunes, and Storm exploits that weakness to the highest degree. If you don’t know who she is, there’s a good chance you saw her on the cover of Willamette Week a few weeks ago for the Best of Portland 2004 or on Oregon ArtBeat last week. (If you missed the broadcast, you can also see it here.) Storm Large and The Balls have a regular gig at Dante’s every Wednesday night, but only through early September. Must see! Must hear!
Just as cool as finally getting my hands on the CD is the great experience I had with CDbaby getting it. They’re locally based here in Portland, and focus exclusively on selling CDs by independent artists. I placed the order, then once I got my confirmation email realized that their warehouse was so close it seemed silly to pay to have it shipped. (That, and I am all about as-close-to-instant gratification as possible — I wanted it NOW!)
Emailed them back and asked if I could pick it up, fully expecting to get turned down. To my surprise they agreed, so after work I visted the non-descript warehouse in Northeast Portland that houses CDbaby. The inside of the warehouse is the complete opposite of non-descript… album posters and random bits of ephemera on every wall, and shelves filled with CDs as far as the eyes could see. Daniel (aka Count Warehouse) was very friendly, very accomodating, and within minutes I was on my way with my CDs. Hooray! Mad props to CDbaby for providing my Storm fix in short order.
CDBaby does indeed rule… See YOU at the show…