The Lost Art of The Mixtape

Once in a while, I'll put my iPod on shuffle and hear a few songs that I hadn't heard in quite some time, songs that I miss, and I wonder how it is that I fail to put them on a playlist. The problem isn't an enormous music collection -- I've had one of those since long before Napster threw the music industry into upheaval. There's a lost art to creating the perfect playlist that's been enhanced by the software creating the word. Once upon a time, I'd make mixtapes that would involve a good deal of thought, some overwriting, and in the end, a perfect ninety minute sequence of songs that would work quite well on repeat for a car trip. So how did the software help to destroy the mix?

After a while's thought, I started to remember just how I used to go about making a mix, and I think what's missing is the tactile experience. Now, the process involves scrolling to artists as I think of them, selecting the track in mind, and dragging the song to the playlist. Once upon a time, however, I'd sit in the middle of the floor, surrounded by binders full of discs, CD's in jewel cases that I hadn't put into binders yet, and records. As I'd handle the albums, I'd remember songs from them that would go perfectly, I'd remember songs I'd related to them, I'd remember influences: in general, I'd remember tracks that I'd forgotten about and I'd put them into the mix. Something eclectic, something odd, but at the same time oddly fitting into a particular mix.

It's quite different on iTunes: sure, I see the list, all the same songs are there, but ... the list doesn't do what the artifact itself did. I'm not thinking as I go through, not remembering a track, just thinking of the next artist that might work well. It's something I may have to get back to: using iTunes in the old cover flow mode was awkward, but perhaps there's something to it.

I'll be back to this subject.

28 May, 2009 | Chris |

This is NOT the Twilight Zone

From Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic comes a most interesting story from the September 1, 1926 issue of The Washington Post, concerning what had to be the most difficult-to-umpire baseball games of all time. Goldberg's receipt of this clipping, from the archives at the Baseball Hall of Fame, was at least third hand, likely because everyone involved knew it was a ripe opportunity, but the content seems more like something from The Family Guy than 1920's America.

One wonders who won... but I'm betting it was the Hebrew All Stars. The ongoing antipathy of the Klan for the Jewish population might be a clue: as far as I know, only baseball fans can hold a grudge for this long.

12 May, 2009 | Chris |