Two years ago, when I was working on this column’s debut, I wrote about Bruce Springsteen’s “Book of Dreams” and what the song means to Julie and me. During the first month of our courtship I created my first mixtape for her, entitled HEY, HEY, JULIE! On that tape was the Springsteen song, one that’s grown to have profound meaning in our relationship.
We began dating in August of 1992, and soon thereafter, I threw this tape together in a flurry of inspiration, wanting to give Julie something that came from my heart. I don’t recall the actual minutes spent in my parents’ basement picking the songs or laying them down on a Maxell cassette (my brand of choice), but looking back on the list of songs, I’m happy to see they still add up to 90 quailty minutes of music.
Before Nick Hornby wonderfully wrote about what makes a good mixtape in High Fidelity, I assembled exactly the right combination of hip, well known and somewhat obscure songs from my small music collection. Combining big hits like “Learning to Fly,” “What I Am,” and “All This Time” with lesser-known songs by popular artists such as “Until the End of the World,” “Shining Star,” and “Getting to Know You,” while tossing in some hard to find (at the time) songs like “Baby Mine” and “Wild Night” made this tape eclectic, but still enjoyable to listen to and quite accessible. (more…)
On a warm spring afternoon, with my school bag swung over my shoulder, I took a leisurely walk home from Forest Elementary School, shuffling my suede Thom McAn’s along the sidewalk. I was sweating profusely in corduroy pants and my thick down jacket — it would be a few weeks until my mom dug the warm weather clothes out of the attic and I was stuck in hot, stuffy attire every day until then. Alone, drifting in the thoughts of my young third grade mind (probably thinking of that girl in my class I thought was “super pretty”), it was the end of a typical school day, which would likely include plopping down in the yellow rocker when I got home to watch The Bugaloos or Speed Racer while munching on raw spaghetti noodles (the only snack left in the house). Then I heard them coming up behind me and my life would change forever.
