Labour of Love

So, when you are thinking about moving, you are probably better at looking around your house and actually SEEING the amazing amount of stuff you have. As much as I would like to find a place of my own where I stay for the rest of my life, I find that moving every five years or so helps me prioritize, and hopefully to simplify. Well, it helps me to clean out my load of physical stuff anyway. Today I looked in a closet and found my box of tapes, which I have kept for many reasons. One, making a mix tape was a heck of a lot of work. You had to have a quality recording, and time your spaces right. Music was much harder to come by back then. I didn't even get my own music until maybe my eleventh birthday (Violent Femmes and the sound track to Stand By Me. I think I got an OMD tape too- strange mix.) Also, acquiring the songs on these tapes was like collecting music knowledge and making your own life soundtrack. We would play those ninety minutes of music over and over while we drove around- singing very loudly, I might add. And then, someone would get a new mix and it would start all over again- one tape would be thrown in the back seat, while the new one was shoved in the tape deck and we were off on a new adventure.

These mix tapes were an introduction, an initiation and the establishment of a bond. There was no other way to get a lot of music, and there was certainly no other way to put your own commentary on them. Your flow meant something- something hard to explain here. The blends of these mixes capture a very specific life moment, and I love that. It was so great that they didn't have to be homemade either. During my first year in New Mexico, we played the soundtrack to Reservoir Dogs CONSTANTLY. We never got sick of that revolutionary mix. I can still see my friends faces, as they were- free and longhaired, dancing, you know, 'cause everybody did.

But, I think it is time for some of these to go- Who has Liz Fair on tape? I do not need those terrible recordings of Grateful Dead shows, or the endless stream of the Allman brothers anymore. I am even still carrying around those tapes that I found under the mailbox on Stuart Ave, which I have never even played because I feel so darned guilty about taking them. I am throwing away the ones that are damaged and sticky (eww...) but there are some I have to keep. Earth, Fire, Water and Wind- a theme mix on two tapes- definitely keeping that. I am also keeping one called Naked Backgammon and one called Stay In Bed 'cause they sound like fun. I am also keeping Sallie's simply named Tape For Erin because I can't wait to hear what is on it. When will I ever get to hear them again?