Well, there's so many answers to that question.

By now you've seen just how true it was when Ben Blackwell said that 2000 was a crucial year of connections.

But Matthew, don't even know the half of it yet.

That first West Coast tour set off some dominoes that would portend everything that was to come

as Jack and Meg burrowed further into the new millennia.

I'm Sean Cannon from Thirdman Records and Nevermind Media.

This is Striped, the story of the White Stripes.

And when we left off last episode, the White Stripes were finishing up that first West Coast run.

But I want to rewind to a specific point in the middle of the tour when Janet Wise from Slater Kinney saw the White Stripes with about 10 other people at Al's Bar in Los Angeles was subsequently

blown away.

And then afterwards said,

You guys should come on tour with us.

I mean, just casually, you know, like, hey, come on tour.

Be so fun.

And we talked about how that was a really cool thing in the moment, even if it was off

the cuff, and almost certainly wouldn't happen.

You know, like, even if she wasn't totally serious about it, it was still a huge compliment.

Thing is, she actually was totally serious about it.

Slater Kinney had an East Coast tour coming up in the fall,

and it seemed like just the right fit to Janet.

Let's pull back for a second,

since it's important to understand the rationale that normally goes into booking an opener.

...