Monday, September 29, 2014

The Songs of Autumn?

A few months ago, some of us hosted a blog-hop called The Songs of Summer, in which we waxed nostalgic about a handful of favorite hot-weather songs.  I originally thought of this as a way to share virtual "mix-tapes," but we ended up not using that particular phrase because it may have excluded bloggers too young to know about that particular piece of DIY-cassette history.

But, last weekend, as we've been starting to pack up our belongings for a big cross-country move, lookie what I found...


What could be in that dusty feaux-leather case?  What do you know... a combination of store-bought cassettes and mixy mixes.  (You can spot those from their dot-matrix-printed labels.)

Please click on all these images to make them (slightly more?) legible.
I hope my phone did a decent enough job in rendering these crackled gems.  The above was side one of the case; here's side two:


Too many memories to list them all here.  When I was first getting into Canadian prog-gods Rush, I made the era-spanning tape called "Tempus Fugit," but later it got mothballed as I eventually bought every one of their albums (on CD... but that's a later geologic era).

There are a few that I'm a little afraid to listen to.  The hand-scrawled tape titled "Scrambled Eggs" contains an impromptu collection of sound effects, clips, and recordings of myself & friends doing strange things in a college dorm room.  Were we actually funny?  Like I said, afraid to know for sure.  There's also a mix-tape of love songs from an ex ("A Shade of Music"), but don't flip it over to hear what I assembled after the breakup ("Heart of Darkness").  :-)

I tried to give my artistic side some room to play in making the tape covers.  It's amazing the things you can do with Steve Jobs' original 128K brick...


WBVR was the unofficial name of the collection of music and stereo equipment of a set of 4 engineering & physics students (well, I was the only physicist).  The name comes from the Beave, whom I've mentioned before.  His 45's were the core of the collection.

If you look closely at the Monkees' Greatest Hits (cobbled together from whatever we had... no relation to an actual greatest hits album), you'll see the rainbow logo of Six Flags Great Adventure, which the four of us visited on the emblazoned date to see the Monkees play, along with Herman's Hermits, the Grass Roots, and some other 60s wonders.

I thought I'd give you a look at one song list, this from the tape labeled "Carpe Diem."  (Gosh, I wonder what movie we'd just seen when I came up with that name?)  I always popped this one into the walkman when I needed a bit of an optimistic lift...


...though I can't for the life of me remember why I thought of "American Pie" as an appropriate inclusion for an optimistic, seize-the-day-ish mix tape.  :-)

14 comments:

  1. "American Pie" definitely belongs in that case. It wasn't just about the tragic passing of Buddy Holly; it was a synopsis of a highly charged period. You don't get lines about a "pink carnation and a pickup truck" anymore, or anything much about making an exciting social life out of a well-used minimum. There's promise and energy in that case --something an earlier self doesn't want forgotten. Thought-provoking post, thanks!

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    1. This was an excellent point, Geo. I often forget the gentle nostalgia of the song, and often just roll my eyes at his cynicism about the "Satan's spell" woven by the Stones, Beatles, etc. Still, the whole thing builds to a tremendous catharsis, which can definitely be "Carpe Diem" worthy.

      Earlier today, on my drive into work, I came upon Queen's "Somebody to Love" on the radio. To someone hearing the lyrics for the first time, it might be perceived as kind of a downer, too... working till I ache my bones... tears running down from my eyes... but that song is the apotheosis of catharsis! (Enough ancient Greek for ye?) :-)

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  2. I feel awash with sadness. I love the images you've uploaded into this post so much there are no words.

    That was a stupid conversation about the wording of the Songs of Summer post. It wasn't the term 'mixed-tape' I objected to. How could that EVER be?? It was the 'you young 'uns' or whatever it was. (Of course, I can't look it up as those emails are long gone. Like all of my own precious mixed tapes.) Girl is saddened by the light communication misfire.

    Also, I sold the PRM last week. *And* we just watched Dead Poets Society last weekend and it is in that happy company of films that remain a masterpiece.

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    1. Oh no, don't be saddened... I still don't think it was much of a misfire. I agreed fully with backing off on any whiff of curmudgeonishness.

      Hopefully a new PRM is to come! You'll need to up the ante on the bumper stickers... we should get Roger Dean to come out of retirement!

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    2. :D

      This is an experiment, of sorts. The small town I live in right now is amenable to not owning a vehicle so I wanted to try it out. The PRM had approx. 240,000 miles on her and I was sad to part ways after 13 years of ownership but felt I had her blessing. I'm walking more! And, honestly, when I'm on my way to the store on foot and see cars at interminable red lights, I feel like I'm glowing with a little secret. I'll just have to get a backpack for the heavier shopping days and plaster *it* with Yes and Rush stickers.

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    3. Nice.

      In any event, a really lovely post, Cyg. Super photos. Though now I'm curious about SCRAMBLED EGGS.

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    4. Working title only. The more I try to remember details about it, the more I cringe. The bad Monty Python accents... the in-jokes that mocked professors we disliked... so terrible. But if I do end up meeting with the 3 engineers again, I may have to go to the effort of making an MP3 of it. :-)

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    5. Ha! Do you really think that's true?? (About Yesterday.) That almost seems like an urban legend that got tucked onto the wiki page and hasn't been corrected yet!

      And, yes, some sort of media translation would certainly be in order if a meeting were planned! I worry about some valuable mementos I only have on VHS--degrading quality, etc.

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    6. Well, this story was our inspiration for calling the tape by that name... so it precedes wikipedia by decades. I do have some vague memory of hearing Sir Paul warble those original lyrics in an interview.

      We're very glad that we put our wedding video onto DVD, fwiw.

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    7. Duh. Of course the tape preceded the wiki page. *smacks head*

      We still have our wedding on VHS and the last time I watched it--years ago--it was already looking a bit squiffy. Must look into it ...

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    8. Do... do... (Pretty much any place that still develops photos could set you up.) Then play the DVD on your computer & take screen-caps. :-)

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  3. So sorry not to see this until now. What a lovely little post. Your mix tape labels are MUCH tidier than mine ever were. My tape collection is buried down in the basement somewhere. I love that you have two copies of the Ghostbusters soundtrack. I know I also unintentionally gathered duplicates over the years.

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    1. Thanks, Squid. You know, I don't remember ever buying a second Ghostbusters soundtrack. I think the other one might have been my lovely wife's. It was fate. :-)

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