My hometown of Nashville, TN is full of stars, and not just the country music kind. It’s a little-known secret that lots of actors and musicians from other genres choose to live in the area because, in general, we Nashvillagers pretty much leave them alone when we see them out in public. Nicole Kidman shops all the time at my local Whole Foods and can dine in peace at the food bar with no fear of autograph hounds. Peter Frampton has become a gentleman farmer in a Nashville suburb, and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit moved here from Columbus, OH to escape the ravenous Ohio State fans. One of the Black Keys just bought a house about a block from me. (And then he painted it black, go figure.)
Probably the biggest rocker to make Music City home in the past decade is Jack White of the White Stripes. He hangs out at local music clubs and is liable to jump up on stage and thrash on a borrowed guitar at the drop of a hat. White started his own record company called Third Man Records right near my office and holds intimate concerts there frequently as well as selling vinyl records from some of his favorite artists out of a rolling record store.
But the celebrity who could make a gear-head like me stop in the middle of the street and squeal like a Beatlemaniac would be any of the product designers from another Nashville treasure, Griffin Technology.
Griffin has been manufacturing technical solutions with an innovative flair in 1992 and is a favorite supplier for iPhone, iPod and iPad accessories as well as many other useful electronic gadgets. Now Third Man and Griffin have gotten together to make beautiful music with their new collaboration, the Third Man 45 iPhone 4S Case. Made from a genuine 7” vinyl record, custom-cut into a protective iPhone case, this may be the ultimate hipster accessory of the season, supplanting both fedoras and skinny black jeans. There’s a very cool video here describing how the two groups worked together to create this work of art.
Here’s how they describe their new product:
To create the Griffin and Third Man Records Case for iPhone 4S, the team incorporated a genuine 7″ vinyl record, pressed by United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee, then die-cut to form the protective back of the case. A molded frame snaps around the iPhone, holding the record insert in place and protecting the controls, edges, and screen, with cutouts for volume, headphone, hold switch and dock connector.
The Third Man 45 iPhone Case is available in three different variations, with a yellow, black or white frame that includes a black vinyl record back featuring a Third Man Records printed label. The packet of 3 interchangeable vinyl record inserts is also available separately, inspired by Third Man Records recording artists, and includes:
1 white vinyl record back, cut from The White Stripes’ “Candy Cane Children” single.
1 black vinyl record back, cut from The Raconteurs’ “Steady, As She Goes” single, from their first album, Broken Boy Soldiers. These Raconteurs inserts represent the first pressing of this single, soon to be available as a reissue from Third Man.
1 yellow vinyl record back, cut from The Dead Weather single “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” from their first album, Horehound.Each Third Man 45 iPhone Case is available for $29.99, and the Interchangeable iPhone Record Insert set is $19.99 from GriffinTechnology.com/third-man-records, ThirdManRecords.com, or in person at the Third Man Records store in downtown Nashville.
I know that most of y’all won’t be able to pick yours up in person at the Third Man Record Store, but if you do, give me a holler and I’ll show you where Kid Rock gets his boots shined.