Micah Schnabel: 'Humble Narrator', Live at Laurie's Planet of Sound

As a nod to Record Store Day, this week’s “From The Casks” video is Micah Schnabel performing a solo, acoustic version of “Humble Narrator” at Laurie’s Planet of Sound record store in Chicago.

While going through old projects and footage at Whiskey Bender Productions, we came across this footage of Micah Schnabel that we had not only never used, but had completely forgotten about. This in-store performance at Laurie’s Planet of Sound was shot on January 7th, 2010 just a few hours before Micah’s passionate performance at the Beat Kitchen later that night. We shot the Beat Kitchen show, too and used that footage for a Glorious Noise “GloNo Video” feature… and then completely forgot we’d shot this. I don’t think we would have unearthed this footage if we hadn’t started the “From The Casks” video series. So, with Record Store Day coming up this Saturday, June 12th, we thought it was the perfect time to share this.

Micah is one of the most passionate, dedicated musicians we've ever met. (Just watch how he sings and plays his heart out here for a record store gig?!) He’s a true believer and a true artist. It’s been a joy to listen to him grow and change as a songwriter over the past 20 years. If you don’t know his great band Two Cow Garage (with the equally awesome Shane Sweeney), do yourself a favor and check them out. Even after 20 years together Two Cow remains an incredible live band. It’s a sure bet that we’ll post more Two Cow Garage performances in the coming months as part of our “From The Casks” series.

“Humble Narrator” is one of our favorite Two Cow Garage songs from one of our favorite albums “Speaking In Cursive”. Finding this acoustic version was a real surprise, I don’t believe this song has been performed solo and acoustic very often.

A few words about Laurie’s Planet of Sound. This independent record store has long been supporters of Micah, Shane and Two Cow. Whiskey Bender Productions has a personal connection to the store, too. It’s our favorite local record store (we can stagger to it from the Whiskey Bender headquarters). We’ve been buying music there for over 20 years now, and one of our regular crew members, the invaluable Lou Berkman (who helped shoot this footage and many other projects) has worked at Laurie’s for several years. Laurie’s was also one of the featured stores in “Re-Vinylized,” Whiskey Bender’s 2012 documentary about independent record stores (now available to view on our Facebook page). Laurie’s Planet of Sound was also the only brick and mortar store where you could purchase a copy of our 2006 documentary about Two Cow Garage “The Long Way Around” when it was released on DVD. If you’re a music fan or musician, we don’t have to tell you that independent music stores are vital to the creation, growth and continuance of any local music scene. So please support your local independent music store on Record Store Day and throughout the year.