Tickets went on sale this weekend for the White Stripes concert Sept. 26th & 27th at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. Members of Facebook can stream The White Stripes new album “Icky Thump” in its entirety tomorrow, June 19th. You can add the app by going here.

Matt Carter at Inman did a post a few months ago called The White Stripes are unZillowable, about lead man Jack White, who put his house on the market for $930K but Zillow had the Zestimate at $256,947.

Jack and Meg White / White Stripes

(Even if you’re not familiar with The White Stripes music, you may remember Jack and Meg White’s personal history. In early interviews, the pair presented themselves as siblings, two of ten. However, the Detroit Free Press famously produced copies of not only their marriage license, but divorce certificate, confirming their history as a married couple.)

Maureen Francis, of SKBK Sotheby’s, had several articles about this home, as I guess it created quite a buzz in Detroit. From what I understand, the particular district of Indian Village, where Jack’s home was located, is a beautifully preserved neighborhood, a historical oasis in a sea of crime and decay, and very few homes in Detroit proper ever get close to the $1M mark. The city itself has been steadily losing population since the 1970’s and many beautiful and historic buildings have been abandoned.

(As a side note, Seattle has been lucky enough to stem the flow of “white flight“, even though we had the same court-mandated forced bussing program for integration that Detroit did. Now, the Seattle Public Schools are some of the best in the country, Garfield High School, an inner-city school, has more National Merit Scholars than tony Lakeside School, Bill Gates Alma Mater, and the suburbs have more gang activity than any inner-city neighborhood. The city of Seattle has higher property values than many suburbs, and the suburbs, if not crime-ridden and full of functionally obsolescent homes and bland architecture (think Kent, Auburn, Lynnwood, Crossroads) are culturally a wasteland with nary a professional theater, orchestra or fine art museum to be found. Redmond, home of Microsoft and a nearby suburb of Seattle, doesn’t have a lot of crime, but it doesn’t have anything else either, except for a mall with a couple of movie theaters. Bellevue, with a population of over 100K and a vibrant economy, has no professional theater, orchestra nor ballet and the only fine arts museum closed and re-opened as an arts & crafts venue with no permanent collection to call its own.)

So, in the Inman blog post, Matt had noted that the Zestimate for Jack White’s house was $256,947, with a value range of $156,738-$706,604. But now the Zestimate is $26,944.

I realize that Michigan does not allow official publication of sales information from their public records, so Zillow can be very ineffective in this situation. But that’s a pretty wide range of value there. Especially since Maureen just told me it sold and closed for $590,000.

I happen to live in a state that allows public viewing of this information and can only imagine how my hands would be tied if not allowed to know what the last sales price was. But, at the same time, it seems like a pretty big invasion of privacy for everyone to know what one paid for ones house. There’s your transparency for ya.

Long Gone John

One of the White Stripes first albums was released by Long Gone John and Sympathy for the Record Label. In the seventeen years SFTRL has been in existence, John has released over 750 records and helped launch the careers of several other well known, controversial and talented artists, including Courtney Love and her band Hole and The Donnas first incarnation, The Electrocutes. Some of John’s less famous but yet still very notable Sympathy acts over the years have been The Muffs, The Von Bondies, Rocket From the Crypt, The Mumps, April March, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Dwarves, Buck, Suicide, The Gun Club, Billy Childish, Turbonegro, Man or Astro-man?, Scarling, Inger Lorre and Motel Shootout, and Redd Kross.

Long Gone John is moving himself, having sold his mid-sized Spanish-style home in Long Beach CA, to a mini-mansion on the shores of Puget Sound in Pierce County (where, for the same price as a mid-century rambler in Southern California, he bought himself a waterfront dream home).

John has had a film made about him, “The Treasures of Long Gone John“, about his music business, his impact on music and culture and his fabulous art collection.

Now the same film director, Gregg Gibbs, is making a new film about the MOVE of Long Gone John called “The Gone World“. Apparently, John has so many possessions, items, art, furnuriture, collectables, ephemera, souvineers, object d’art, crap and crapola that it’s been taking months to pack it and Greg is documenting the packing and subsequent move.

(We visited his home last year and documented a bit of his super-fab art collection.)

Apparently it’s taking months longer than planned and more than one moving van. Too bad he didn’t use one of those real estate agents in Southern California who advertise a free moving truck.

The White Stripes (as interpreted by uber-cool Seattle artist Sara Lanzilotta.)

Jack White’s Michigan crib under contract

Jack White Slept Here…and Recorded Here…and Ate Over There…

Jack White’s house sold on Modern Age (with photos)