Mix tapes

In August, my buddy, Mike, is moving to Germany for a few months following the break-up of his 30 year marriage. He'll be bunking with his old host brother whom he met as a high school student abroad in the 80s. I applaud Mike for making such a bold move.* He loves both the language and the culture of Germany, so why the heck the not?

Last month Mike held a garage sale at his soon-to-be-vacated home. It was there that I picked up a portable radio with both CD and cassette player components. I didn't NEED it, but really wanted to be able to play my old cassette tapes that I've been lugging around year after year, move after move since about 1990.

1997: Ani Di Franco, mostly

1996: Mix tape from a French boyfriend who loved Zidane

Circa 1991: Jane's Addiction, Tribe, Pharcyde, Hole 

I don't remember how many mix tapes I made and gave out to people back in the 80s/90s, but I do still have a few mix tapes that I received when I was a twenty-something. Above is the photographic evidence! I haven't listened to the first two tapes shown in ages, but the last mix tape I remembered being great, so have listened to that one fairly recently. The dude who gave me that mix tape was called Miquel and he wore his hair in dreads. I remember that smelled of incense and cocoa butter. 

The box o' tapes in the first shot shows you sort of where I was, musically speaking, at the time. The Olivia Newton John (RIP) cassette is a new purchase. Twenty-something me would have found her music to be a bit silly, tbh. 

*I'll be joining Mike come September in Germany for a wee visit!