I got introduced to the Tippers last May, somehow, someway my name was added to the list. At first I was just befuddled by it. A free CD? Who gives away CDs? I suspected a scam but went for it anyway. I have my CD now, liked it just fine. I've never been asked for anything else from the Tippers; to me they seem to be completely on the up-an-up and more about community than marketing.

Charming, perhaps. And you can write in for your free CD without fear of being put an a marketing list. But I've got the dirt on the Tippers: http://www.widerquist.com/karl/TIPPERS.htm.

They have sent me the same materials. Funny/odd stories arrive now and then in the mail. Guerilla art? I say support them by being an appreciative if bemused audience.

By the way, thanks, Elizabeth, for the explanation!
Alida, also Seattle

If the Tippers didn't exist, someone would have to invent them. They are to be encouraged, humored and indulged. Free mail. free CD, free Tibet.

Glen, allow yourself to believe that something so charming and counter to the laws of the marketplace can be real. Months ago, I received a similar piece of grassroots guerilla marketing from the Tippers. I emailed them and asked them how they got my name. I got a prompt answer from Ken Sorkin: while poking around online, they found some free databases of donors to political causes, some of which included the donor's profession and city. They looked through the database for people in the arts, education, etc., and targeted certain cities. I had a few more charming email exchanges with the Tippers while awaiting my free CD. The music is as good and bracingly original as the lyrics you can read online would lead you to believe. Since I responded to the Tippers, I have received no come-ons in hand-addressed envelopes to timeshares in the Poconos, nor have I been the victim of identity theft. I've just been entertained and uplifted by being part of something so motivated by joy and not consumerism.
- Elizabeth, also in Seattle

[Glenn replies: I am charmed by it! Just mystified. It's more like winning the lottery than anything else.]

I don't know how they found me, either, but their CD arrived reasonably quickly and was 100% free. Your deduction about what they're up to (word-of-mouth in a strange, slow, expensive fashion) may be spot on, but they also like to send odd little stories -- perhaps this is just their way of getting their musical and quasi-literary output in front of individuals, rather than the masses. Your guess is at least as good as mine...

Hey Glenn: the 20% Tippers are harmless! yes, it's expensive, but so endearing to get any kind of hand-addressed mail. You CAN take the chance and get their free CD. So far, so good...

Ellen in Seattle too.

Colleague of Leslie Phinney in last life