1980’s Cassette Mixtape as YouTube Playlist

February 9, 2011

Over at Twelvestone, my friend Ian created a thread where he converted his mixtape into a YouTube Playlist. It made me think again about mixtapes, and how the technology at the time made us more active, in both the curation and creation of these tapes.

In 2009, I had the good fortune of appearing in my friend Jason’s anthology: Cassette From My Ex. Along with others, I got to reflect back on a particular mixtape that I was given and held onto, after all these years. Here’s the opening from my essay:

I was an Asian guy with long hair who was into Heavy Metal; she was a Latvian dancer who liked to chain-smoked Camels. We met in Mr. Dennis’ Orchestra class at North Central High School. We both played violin, and we both had unusual names: Felix and Dzintra.

The two of us lived fairly close to one another, in neighborhoods off of Spring Mill Road, on the North side of Indianapolis. Between our houses, at the bottom of a steep hill, there was a favorite graffiti spot everyone called “The Wall.” Kids would tag this stretch of wall mercilessly, and every so often some adult would get fed up and cover the entire thing in a coat of white paint.

In case you want to read the full essay, I’ve posted it up in my Writing Section (which really hasn’t been flushed out with much stuff yet). The essay is available online, under a CC license and I’ve got it in all sorts of formats for you – PDF, HTML, Word, Text.

I had a blast writing the essay, and I hope you enjoy reading it. And by all means, if you liked it… consider picking up the book. Lots and lots of great stories there.

The songs from the mixtape I received from my high school girlfriend Dzintra are below. I felt like adding every video individually here, but you can view a more condensed playlist on YouTube.