Jennifer O'Connor

Helllllloooo!

In case you don’t know, I run a record label called Kiam Records.  I just made a Soundcloud page for it with a label sampler spanning the first decade of its existence. Enjoy, share, etc…

Kiam Records Label Sampler #1 by kiamrecords

Listen to me talk to Daniel Ralston for the new, hard-hitting Low Times podcast.

Other guests on this episode include Georgia Hubley from my former label mates and current pals, Yo La Tengo and Dan Friel from Parts & Labor.  I used to work with Dan at the Knitting Factory, in what seems like decades ago.  Oh wait, that’s because it was.

I lived in Tampa, Florida from May 2001 until June 2002 - one of two brief stints I’ve had away from NYC since moving there on Halloween 1997.  I  got a job working for my brother selling insurance and contemplating whether or not I should really make a go at music (I had one self recorded EP at this point - Truth Love Work - that had garnered some good press in NYC but I had little idea what to do next).  I learned about a record store in town called Vinyl Fever and was excited to check it out.  I went in one day after work and bought a ton of cheap vinyl (I’m sure mostly indie rock, classic rock, and hip-hop) and the dude who was working behind the corner kinda looked at me sideways.  It was Carl Webb.  

We started talking to one another rapid-fire-like and became instant friends. I gave him one of my homemade cds. He liked it and I ended up working there nights after my day job selling insurance.  (I’d like to point out that I scored the highest on the Vinyl Fever test of anyone except Gabe :) - that’s what I was told anyway.)  I loved working at VF and Carl became one of my best friends - he was certainly one of the biggest supporters of my music I’d ever had.  I booked studio time at a place whose name escapes me at the moment and Carl went with me almost every day to the recording sessions and provided extremely important support and a discerning ear to bounce my ideas off of. He was a very important part of me learning to take myself and my music seriously.  Those recording sessions ended up being my first full length record, Jennifer O’Connor and Kiam Records’ first release.

Anyway, I digress….Vinyl Fever closed earlier this year but fear not, Carl is opening a new record store with his biz partner Keith Ulrey called Microgroove this Friday, Dec 2 in Seminole Heights! I can’t think of anyone more suited to succeed with a record store these days than Carl and I am so proud of him. I am very pleased to be doing an instore on opening day with Ms. Tracy Shedd from 4-7.  Come on out, buy some records, hear a few tunes and celebrate that there are still huge music lovers out there, opening record stores, writing songs, and believing in the power of music.