Back in July, we reported on a little proclamation Jack White made to the Edmonton Sun, which we thought was noteworthy: “I’m re-releasing every record I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “So I’m collecting all the old ones and getting them back on our shelf. If there’s [a] kid in Nunavut who wants that 45, I want him to be able to get it, if he wants it. I don’t like out-of-print records.”

We were particularly excited at the time about the potential for reissues of rare early White Stripes singles, including “Lord, Send Me An Angel,” “Jolene,” “Let’s Shake Hands,” “Look Me Over Closely,” and more. Well, Jack White put out a press release last night that not only confirms his previous announcement, but adds some new rare recordings to the massive reissue project.

Members of White’s new Third Man subscription service, the Vault, are set to receive alternate versions of the White Stripes’ first 7” release: “Let’s Shake Hands” and a cover of Marlene Dietrich’s “Look Me Over Closely.” The versions on this new release are outtakes from the original 1998 recording sessions.

But that’s not all: Third Man are also giving Vault members a double Live In London LP by White’s last band the Raconteurs.

And the Candy Cane Children of Nunavut rejoice!

Jack White caused quite a stir at the Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend, announcing the White Stripes’ denial from the Guinness Book of World Records, an upcoming album he recorded of Nashville transit bus drivers, and, of course, spoofing Kanye West. Most importantly, however, is that reviews of the new White Stripes documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights, have all been (pardon the pun) glowing.

A scene from the film, which sounds like a somewhat somber affair, came out today as an “exclusive” on multiple sites, but it’s up on good ol’ YouTube now, so there goes that. Between this scene and the much talked about poignant final “Meg crying” scene, I, for one, am hoping they found a distributor at TIFF to get this thing into theaters.

Watch Jack and Meg walk through a cemetery in Canada while a live performance of “We’re Going to be Friends” plays here or embedded below:

Jack White may have ditched his hometown of Detroit to settle down more comfortably in Nashville, but he’s definitely not leaving behind his old stomping grounds to fester amid the recession. In fact, the White Stripes, Raconteurs, and Dead Weather rock star is trying his hand at philanthropy.

The Detroit News reports that White covertly donated $170,000 towards the restoration of Clark Park field, a baseball diamond where White played ball as a kid. “He was good,” said Mo Blackwell, former brother-in-law to White and father of Dirtbombs drummer, Cass Records founder, and Jack’s right-hand man at Third Man Records, Ben Blackwell. “Smooth left-handed swing.”

Jack has always kept in touch with the volunteers at the park, including Deb Sumner, who recalled meeting once-girlfriend “Rene Wellzinger, or however you say it.” Sumner had been imploring Jack to do a charity concert for years when an LA lawyer called on behalf of a then-anonymous donor. White’s donations paid for restorations that include new dugouts, grandstands, and a revamped infield.

Aww. I can tell that we’re going to be friends, Jack.

The newest Weird Al parody video just dropped tonight and Jack White should be proud to learn that he is now in the company of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and dozens of the other top music stars in Yankovic’s musical comedy canon.

I’m not going to analyze the video too closely (analyzing any Weird Al news just feels dirty), but cartoon versions of Jack and Meg White make appearances and the music is basically identical to “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” from White Blood Cells.

Watch the video for “C.N.R.” below or here:

Radiohead’s manager is taking a more digital direction, but Jack White has no cell phone, hates Pro Tools, and has started his own analog revolution. While I was digging around at the new Third Man Records vinyl subscription service for Friday’s post, I noticed that Jack seems to be including the White Stripes in his new Nashville-based project. At first it seemed that contractual obligations could prevent him from taking free reign over the White Stripes catalogue, but then I remembered those extremely limited singles he put out in the early, pre-contract, days (“Lord, Send Me An Angel,” “Jolene,” “Let’s Shake Hands,” “Look Me Over Closely,” etc.). Well, my suspicions have been confirmed and we’ve got big news for fans of early White Stripes:

Jack White leaked more of his ambitious plans for Third Man Records to the Edmonton Sun’s Jane Stevenson over the weekend. “I’m re-releasing every record I’ve ever been a part of,” White said. “So I’m collecting all the old ones and getting them back on our shelf. If there’s [a] kid in Nunavut who wants that 45, I want him to be able to get it, if he wants it. I don’t like out-of-print records. I don’t think that’s fair.” I’m not sure if she is referring to the above statement, but Stevenson also specified that White’s effort would include “a massive reissue of The White Stripes’ catalogue on vinyl.”

All of the early White Stripes singles have been available on the Internet as low-quality bootleg MP3s, but original hand painted copies of Jack’s early vinyl are very rare and go for big bucks on eBay (The Go and The Upholsterers might enjoy a return to the spotlight as well). If Jack White can actually pull off this massive reissue project, the folks at the Marlene Dietrich estate might be getting some nice royalty checks and the Candy Cane Children of Nunavut will be very happy.

Most people think Jack White’s first turn as a feature film actor was in Cold Mountain, opposite then-girlfriend Renée Zellweger, but diehard White Stripes fans know that his first role was in The Rosary Murders, a 1987 Donald Sutherland starring drama, where a 12-year-old White (née John Gillis) played an altar boy. A fitting role, considering he was bound for a stint at a seminary in the future. Well, a much more interesting early John Gillis acting gig happened between those films and it’s set to appear at the Comic-Con International-Independent Film Festival later this month: Mutant Swinger from Mars.

The film, written and directed by Michael Kallio, was pieced together back in 1997/98 for a mere $22,000, according to this White Stripes fansite. Though White only has a minor role as Mikey in the sci-fi spoof, there’s a rumor floating around that he will be appearing in a videotaped introduction for the film’s Comic-Con showing.

I haven’t seen the picture yet, but the trailer is pretty funny and there’s definitely a late-90s Detroit vibe going on. Watch the trailer below (or jump to 1:05 for a brief clip of 22-year-old Jack and his bowl cut hairdo):

Everyone’s reporting today about the White Stripes’ upcoming Canadian tour documentary that I posted about a month ago and I’m feeling a little left out, so here’s a Jack White bit for the day’s festivities.

It’s well known that Jack’s a purist when it comes to retro recording techniques, but nowadays the Internet has become the bane of his artistic expression. Speaking to The Ampersand, the Dead Weather, Raconteurs, and White Stripes frontman sounded off on Pro Tools for the second time in as many weeks and added that though he can control his method of recording, but the release and promotion of his precious analog gems still requires that pesky series of tubes:

“Do I really need a MySpace page for this f—king music?” White asked. “Do I really need to do that? There’s a part of me, that just out of spite, says I don’t want to do it because it’s so antithetical to what I do. I just question what it all means. If a million people see your webpage, how many people actually buy something, buy a record or a song? Feels to me, if you give them a chance to fast forward, rewind, or click off to the next web page, they will do it.”

What’s more, the Internet also interfered with White’s Dead Weather unveiling. “If not for the Internet, we would have loved to have done six months of small clubs down south to really build up what we are and discover what we are,” White said.

Luckily, Jack’s just a little cranky about the digital revolution and not quite crotchety yet. By the way, one little bit about the upcoming film The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights which hasn’t made today’s reports is that it is slated to close the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Okay, I feel better now.

I’m still under the weather (bleh) and a couple Jack White bits are piling up here, so let’s clear out the queue, kids.

Jack’s new “darker and more dangerous” pseudo supergroup The Dead Weather are scheduled to play on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on Thursday, June 18. As you may recall, Jack and Meg White performed on Conan’s final Late Night episode, so it’s cool to see the Jack/Conan bromance has also made the move to L.A. Perhaps the pair should collaborate on their own brand of SPF 50.

Ever since the Raconteurs were formed, the future of the White Stripes has come up in almost every Jack White interview. Speaking to Times Online’s Hardeep Phull, Jack tried to put those split rumors to rest once and for all, saying, “I’d like to do another five White Stripes albums in the next 10 years, but it’ll probably take a minute to get round to that. It’s okay, [Meg’s] used to me being busy. When we started the White Stripes, I was in three different bands.” Okay, the WS are officially not going anywhere.

Finally, remember that producer/engineer Jim Diamond who sued the White Stripes over royalties from their first two albums? He spoke to Phoenix New Times’ Martin Cizmar recently, saying that he lost the lawsuit due to the statute of limitations, but he then took a swipe at Jack’s leaving Detroit for Nashville: “I don’t think he had many friends left in Detroit. I think he alienated a lot of people,” Diamond said, adding later, “one thing about Detroit, most people are pretty genuine, I’ve found… When they’re not genuine, they move to Nashville.”