Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Sylvia's Radio Show




Long, long ago in the Autumn of 1990, my wonderful friend Mimi Alidor made an extraordinary mix tape for me which, looking back, captures and encapsulates a certain era of our lives ... An era of wisteria flowers and incense sticks beautifying the interior of Mimi's car, an era of scavenging for vintage treasures at the Unique Store, an era of listening to the crackly A.M. radio goodness of WGRR (on which many songs in this play list may very well have been played!) ...

What I appreciate the most about this mixtape, though is the humorously harsh juxtaposition of happy old-timey songs "airing" right next to the dark, disturbing and eerie poetry of Sylvia Plath, read by the author herself. And speaking of poetry, Mimi's own exquisite verse can be heard on "side 2"!


Thanks, Mimi for such an astoundingly timeless gift!

















































Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Justin's Hungry Hippo Mixtape





One of my best friends, Justin Cordes made this 'time capsule' of a mixtape for me way back in the year 1998 ... 


It was one of those long, hot summers ... Our band, Nowhere Squares had just started 2 years earlier and we were living in an old house in Montevallo, Alabama. 

The songs and bands on this cassette are very indicative of not only the sounds we were listening to back then, but the sounds we were consciously trying to emulate with the band.


As always,


*** ENJOY ***






  









































Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Death & Taxes




Behold : a 'tax season play list' stuffed and packed with songs about money ...

Regarding the mix title, "Death and taxes" is a common reference to the famous quotation:

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.— Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789


However, Franklin's letter is not the origin of the phrase, which appeared earlier in Daniel Defoe's The Political History of the Devil :

Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believ'd.— Daniel Defoe, The Political History of the Devil, 1726


And in The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock (1716) :

"'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes,"


So there you have it!

As always,


*** ENJOY ***