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Wayne Coyne, front man for Oklahoma City’s most famous weirdos, the Flaming Lips, sets sail this afternoon on a brief five-stop record store tour to promote the band’s latest merchandising oddity, and the Fri 12/20 stop just so happens to be at Chicago’s very own Permanent Records. The Lips are no strangers to selling out-of-the-box records, the best-known example being Zaireeka, their 1997 long-player that requires four separate stereos to get the full experience. This time around, Coyne will be selling reissued copies of the band’s debut, self-titled EP, originally released in 1984 and last available on wax in 1986. This version, on green vinyl and signed by Coyne, comes packaged with a life-sized human skull, cast out of what a press release tells me is “Quite a substantial amount of high-quality, gourmet chocolate.” Sounds delicious. Once you eat your way to the center of the skull, you’ll find a gold coin, good for free admission to a Flaming Lips headlining show of your choice, anywhere in the world.
