As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, alt-rock powerhouse, frontman of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, member of the Dead Weather, owner of Third Man Records, eccentric creative, furniture upholsterer, vinyl enthusiast, and Southwest Detroit native, Jack White will be opening a second store for his record label in Midtown this November.
The announcement, made by Third Man on June 2, with an Instagram post captioned, “Third Man staff in Nashville (the #mothership) toasts to our future in the #CassCorridor, #Detroit! Congratulations to #JackWhite and Tom Kartsotis of @Shinola on the purchase of the building! #thirdmanrecords #shinola,” made resounding noise through the city, with people crying from the rooftops, “he’s back!” Okay, not really, but it might as well have.
White has had a weird relationship with the city of Detroit. Once the White Stripes hit it big and after Jack White moved to Nashville, TN, the White Stripes refused to tour to Detroit, the city that made them. The home of the Magic Stick where White got in a fight with Von Bondies singer Jason Stollsteimer. There’s been controversy about the motive behind their apparent Detroit boycott, and even speculation that it wasn’t a conscious decision, but as a high school White Stripes fan without a car to go to a show in another state, I was not happy about it. He said that Detroit was “negative” and left it at that.