This mixtape is quite different from the mixtapes of the past, mainly because it literally IS a mixtape of the past! ... haha ... In my Montevallo days, I used to obsess over the vinyl jazz section of their library ... not that it was very extensive or anything ... in fact, I checked the same records out over and over and over to the point where I think for a couple of years I was the only person who ever checked them out ... haha! Anyway, this is when I discovered the indescribable beauty of the music of Duke Ellington ...
Oddly enough, for a long time I would only listen to his music whenever it rained and stormed ... I can never explain why ... it just seemed (and seems) to fit somehow ... the composition I played by him the most when it rained is a thing called "Black, Brown & Beige" ... That piece ALWAYS makes me think of storm clouds gathering, lightning flashing ... there's even a part (at the start of "Come Sunday") where you can "hear" the raindrops start to plip and plop onto the ground ... haha ... ("Black, Brown & Beige", as a composition consists of songs 1 through 4) ... so at some point, I taped these library records and made myself a "rain music" tape, which was played religiously during every shower or storm that cropped up, literally for years and years ...
So, in that respect, here I have recreated "side 1" of that cassette tape, adding a slight "backdrop" of thunder and rain and wind ... on this side, all of the songs are by Duke Ellington, except for 2 slightly creepy poems by Carl Sandburg (his voice has always been sort of haunting to me) ... side 2 will be next week, and that contains a variety of library jazz records, along with this crazy speaking-in-tongues bit of random A.M. radio I captured!
I decided to recreate the mixtape, not only for preservation's sake, but also because this month it has rained SOOOOO much and I guess I just wanted to, in some way or other, incapsulate these days since I am indeed a huge fan of rain and thunderstorms...
HERE it is, for your rainy jazz-listening pleasure.
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On a softball note, tonite's game will be the first-ever "Hair Metal" game for my team, the Bad News Bearons! We're gonna 80's it up with some teased wigs, makeup and leather! It'll prolly scare the hell out of the other team! In that spirit, I made a very repetitive "BNB" theme (crowd chant) for us tonite, based on AC/DC's song "TNT" ... I'm bringing the camera so there'll prolly be a video to accompany later ... enjoy!
It's right HERE.
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