Mix Tapes

Yesterday I got the BEST thing in the mail. Amilynne sent me a mix tape. This was in response to an urgent SOS because the mix tape that she gave me when we saw each other in August has begun to self-destruct in my car tape deck. It's all I've listened to in my car since I got it, and it's starting to go. So last night I called Ami and said "Hey! I got your tape!" and she said "Pop it in!" and I said "No, I think I'll save it for the car--I'm going to watch I'm Not Scared tonight and then go to bed." "Oh." I could hear that she was a little disappointed that I hadn't popped it right in. But here's the deal: it's for the car, and it's not like I won't be SOSing in 2 months saying "Help! This tape is starting to warp! Make me another!"

But I couldn't wait. I popped it in when we got off the phone. It's magical. Where else can you listen to Brian Jonestown Massacre one minute and Bert and Ernie the next, and not much later you hear the Smiths? She even has Counting Crows on there, and I don't remember her liking Counting Crows.

I fell asleep in the middle of I'm Not Scared.

There is something about a mix tape. I've made lots of them; I've gotten lots of them. You're always in the mood for one. And somehow they end up getting shared around. Mix tapes are for being in love, for declaring independence from being in love, for letting friends know you miss them even though you live far away, for cool things you do with friends like roadtrips or climbing water towers. And sometimes exchanging them with your sister is just a hats-off nod to the enormity of her disc collection--so good you want it all; so big you know that in all of the Christmasses at Dad's you'll never get it all burned. I've got one mix tape from a friend I used to work with. She's a Beatles fan, so there's some of that, but nuttiest of all is an old recording of "When It's Springtime in the Rockies." I was singing it one day--she was like "Woah! My grandpa used to sing that to me when I was going to sleep!" and I was like "My great-grandma wrote the words."

I caught an interview on some talk show with Quentin Tarantino. When asked what he does to show a girl he's interested, he says he makes a mix tape. Woah. That would have to be the #1 reason to get up close & personal with Quentin Tarantino. He's got to have the bossest music collection around. That would be one heck of a mix tape.