In the Year of our Lord of COVID Issue #7: Mix Tape
Days in lockdown: 260
Mental status: Mostly good with a titch of SAD
While we were isolating at the cabin, I cleaned out the remaining boxes of crap, about a dozen in all, to keep, trash, or donate. Most of what I was keeping was bundled into plastic tubs and stowed in an unused coat closet. Some came home with me. While nostalgia lane can be harrowing for a zillion reasons, what made me beyond happy was finding my CD collection.
At first, it was a jumble of CDs, still in their cases, that totaled up to about a 100. I recognized a lot of the discs came from when I worked at Barnes & Noble where I took advantage of promo discs and sweet, sweet discounts. But my collection was more than 100 discs, a lot more. Where were the discs?
After going through all the boxes, I found a few stray discs but not the collection. I had two binders of what I presumed to be DVDs only to double check after getting a wild hair up my ass to find: my collection! Nearly 600 discs, mostly organized by artist and by release date.
Jackpot.
For over a month I ripped the discs while I worked, a mechanic of flipping discs in and out of the player and sometimes entering metadata. While the discs were organized by artist and release, what is poignant is that by who the band was, I could tell you what period of my life it came from. Indie bands no longer together from the ‘90s? Oh, my stint as an entertainment reporter and editor on the college newspaper. Wave of electronica? My time with ex-fiance #2. The stack of the “The” bands from the early aughts? I had just moved back to Grand Rapids in ’02.
My CD buying slowed as the aughts wore on. I left B & N to finish my MLIS in ’09 and streaming music was becoming a thing. I remember studying in ‘08 while listening to Pandora.
I discovered a few things about myself: I really liked The Cure – I have over a dozen of their discs. I’ve always liked them, but forgot that I liked them liked them. I had a habit of buying only two CDs by a band, enough to get a taste, and if I dug what they were putting down, I’d fill in their catalog. I owned a lot of promo discs from my college days of bands who burned for an album and then broke up. Bands so obscure that the metadata from their albums could not be found even on Discogs and I had to research and then enter it by hand. Do I sound like a pompous music twat? At the time, I probably was.
But the greatest treasure was my mix CDs AND tapes. Yes, even tapes from the ‘90s I kept. I put these on Spotify which is now the new way to go: you like someone, make them a mix tape, and then share them the URL. There is a physical memory of handling the discs and tapes that a URL can’t duplicate no matter what the intent may be so it’s just not quite the same.
(Aside: TEH and I had a tiny spat about the mix CD he made for me when we started courting again. He swore up and down no such thing existed until I handed him the disc.)
I present to you the list of those mix tapes for your listening enjoyment with a back story attached:
Pookie Bear Industries (2019 – present)
Another list I’m always adding to, I took TEH’s challenge and amped it up. 500 songs by 500 bands; no repeats.
PBI 100 Tracks, 100 Artists (2019)
THE challenged me to find 50 songs by 50 artists with no repeats (he would do the other 50)
Punk Rock Xmas and Holiday Jamz (2015 - present)
I am constantly adding to this. 500 songs and growing with bands like Ceelo Green, Katy Perry, Sarah McLachlan, Brian Setzer Orchestra, and Winger
Love Is…A Mix CD (February 2007)
Made for me by TheEx
Everything Sounds Like Wire (2006)
Made for me by TheEx. It sounds like Wire because all the songs are by Wire
A to X (Really to Y) Part II (2006)
Made for me by TheEx
A to X (Really to Y) Part I (2006)
Made for me by TheEx
Lisa's Mix: It's a Start Part II (2006)
Made for me by Jon, TheEx, who I dated for a few years until he shoved me into a tub and I broke up with him
Lisa’s Crazy Mix (February 2001)
Dance/Manic (December 1997)
A physical tape I kept that I made. It has a companion depressive tape but I can’t find it. I could best describe this as how I felt like my brain whirls when I was 25
Johnny Cash + Blonde Redhead (Undated)
I THINK this was made for me by Amanda who I worked with at B & N as these are her jams but I’m not 100% sure
Unknown Vol 1 (Undated)
No fucking clue
I have quite a few mix CDs to pull apart and about 100 discs left to rip but that’ll happen when next spring.
Enjoy.
As always, don't be an ass. Wear a damned mask.
lisa x
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Image depicting the black death in a book by French chronicler
and poet, Gilles Li Muisis (1272 - 1352). Artist unknown.