Get Ready to Hit Play
August 26th-30th

by Athena Sears

"I made this for my college boyfriend (who I was later married to for 20 yrs.)It was 1993 and we spent the 3 agonizing months of summer break living in different cities and tearing up the road between Fort Worth and College Station, TX to see each other. So, exchanging tapes during that time was a great way to get to know each other, stay connected, and make the 3hr drive bearable."

1. Beastie Boys, Something's Gotta Give
2. The Breeders, Don't Call Home
3. The Breeders, Safari
4. Led Zeppelin, Thank You
5. Meat Beat Manifesto, Hello Teenage America
6. Consolidated, You Suck
7. The Cure, Like Cockatoos
8. REM, Try Not to Breathe
9. REM, Nightswimming
10. World Party, Way Down Now
11. King Missile, It's Saturday
12. Led Zeppelin, Going to California
13. Sonic Youth, Nic Fit
14. Sonic Youth, Shoot
15. Sinead O'Connor, Just Like You Said it Would Be
16. Consolidated, College Radio
17. Consolidated, Music Has No Meaning
18. The Cure, Letter to Elise
19. The Cure, Fascination Street
20. The Lemonheads Frank Mills
21. Future Sound of London Papua New Guinea
22. Jimi Hendrix, The Wind Cries Mary
23. Meat Beat Manifesto, Original Control (Robot Mix)
24. Jethro Tull, My God
25. Tribu, unknown

by Erin Waters

"As a kid of the 80s and 90s, I spent a ton of time listening to the radio in my room, always intently waiting for the moment when I'd need to run and hit record on my favorite songs. Inevitably, every single one of the songs on my mixtapes starts abruptly, and about 10 seconds in. These tapes were often in preparation for regular family road trips to Cannon Beach, OR where the four hour drive ahead of me seemed like an eternity and I desperately needed to prepare my walkman with adequate supplies for entertainment. In 1996, my music choices were varied, just like they are today. Much of it is cringe-worthy top 40 rock, what are now classics of R&B, and oldies like Elvis and Dion who I had discovered when performing in a 5th grade class musical revue of the 1950s. There might also be a recorded interview with my celebrity crush at the time, Scott Wolf. I had grown up listening to KUBE and loving R&B first, so musically, I think the tape reflects a growth into rock and the beginning angst of my middle school years. The final addition to each mixtape? A recording of my cat, Buster, purring. My love for that cat was ridiculous! I knew that I would miss him and so wanted to have a reminder of him while away. Clearly, I was an extreme over-planner from an early age!"

1. Selena, Dreaming of You
2. Eric Clapton, Change the World
3. Deep Blue Something, Breakfast at Tiffany's
4. Hootie & The Blowfish, I Go Blind
5. Blues Traveler Run-around
6. Donna Lewis, I Love You Always Forever
7. Lisa Loeb, Stay
8. The Cranberries, Linger
9. Los Del Rio, La Macarena
10. Jewel, You Were Meant for Me
11. Monica, Before You Walk Out of My Life
12. TLC, Creep
13. TLC, Waterfalls
14. Real McCoy, Vision of Love
15. Janet Jackson, If
16. Janet Jackson, Again
17. Seal, Kiss from a Rose
18. Mariah Carey, Dreamlover
19. Little Eva, The Locomotion
20. Elvis Presley, Hound Dog
21. Elvis Presley, Jailhouse Rock
22. Lesley Gore, It's My Party
23. The Angels, My Boyfriend's Back
24. Dion, Runaround Sue

by Lisa LeClair

"The story of this mixtape? Well. No one has ever given me any of these songs. It is not about (or for) any one person. It's just the capsule of a current life, and it DOES contain Mazzy Star! But this is more a story about finding a “Fade Into You” than actually having one."

1. PJ Harvey, Sheela-Na-Gig
2. Joan Jett, I Hate Myself For Loving You
3. Bikini Kill, Capri Pants
4. Janet Jackson, Nasty
5. ESG, You Make No Sense
6. Bush Tetras, Too Many Creeps
7. X-Ray Spex, Age
8. Sleater-Kinney, Heart Factory
9. L7, I Need
10. 7 Year Bitch, The Scratch
11. Hole, Violet
12. Dum Dum Girls, Coming Down
13. Kristin Hersh, Your Ghost
14. Mazzy Star, Halah
15. Beat Happening, I Let Him Get To Me
16. Angel Olsen, Hi-Five
17. Drugstore, Solitary Party Groover
18. Black Belt Eagle Scout, Soft Stud
19. Concrete Blonde, Why Don't You See Me
20. Garbage, #1 Crush
21. Juliana Hatfield, Cool Rock Boy
22. Britta Phillips, Drive

by Stacy McCauslin

"Ah, my first year in college/art school and my boyfriend that made my life so difficult through the last couple years of high school broke up with me (for the first time, ahem). I became fast friends with a groovy aspiring metal (jewelry) artist who lived in my dorm and watched MTV 120 Minutes on Sunday nights with me. She also broke up with her boyfriend around the same time and thus, We Will Find a New Man was born. This mixtape is still one of my most prized possessions."

1. Pixies, Here Comes Your Man
2. UB40, Here I Am (Take Me)
3. Erasure, Love To Hate You
4. Violent Femmes, Kiss Off
5. U2, Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
6. The Doors, Hello I Love You
7. My FairLady Soundtrack (showtunes!), Without You
8. Soupdragons, I'm Free
9. Depeche Mode, Somebody
10. INXS, What You Need
11. Howard Jones, Things Can Only Get Better
12. Live, Operation Spirit
13. The Primitives, Crash
14. Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, Touch A Touch Me
15. The Cure, Let's Go To Bed
16. Squeeze, The Last Time
17. Peter Murphy, Shy
18. The Smiths, Unhappy Birthday
19. Erasure, 2,000 Miles
20. Pearl Jam, Porch
21. New Order, Every Little Counts
22. Guns N Roses (this tape's got it all!), You're Crazy
23. Syd Straw & Michael Stipe, Future 40's
24. Black Crowes, Seeing Things
25. Violent Femmes, I'm Free

by Jamie Alls

In 1992, my friend Jim and I lived in Philadelphia and our friends were in a band that were going to play live on the public radio show Mountain Stage in Morgantown, West Virginia. Jim made two 90 min. mixes for the road trip we would take to go see them. They were called Jim & Jamie Go to West Virginia. Jim had way better taste in music than I did. My tastes tended toward synth-pop and dance music and Jim was more indie-rock, folk, country, which my city boy self attributed to him being from Kentucky. 

After the trip, I made a cassette mix of my favorites from the two tapes called Jim’s Kentucky Hybrid. With that mix, Jim introduced me to John Prine, Robyn Hitchcock, Graham Parker, and Daniel Lanois among many other gems.

The following year, I made the decision to move to Seattle. Jim was considering it, too, and he flew out to Seattle in the spring of 1993 as part of a work trip to check it out. During his visit, Jim took a solo trip to Olympic National Park, and a hike up Mt. Angeles. At the peak of Mt. Angeles, Jim met a father and his two girls. He offered to take their picture and they offered to take his, and would send him a print once it was developed. 

After that encounter Jim was on the peak by himself and apparently lost the trail and fell on the way down. He was missing for about a week before his body was found from a helicopter. 

A few months later I drove out to Seattle without him, but Jim’s Kentucky Hybrid and the tapes that it came from were my companion for a very different type of road trip. Later that father Jim met at the peak of Mt. Angeles realized what happened and shared with Jim's family the last picture of him on top of the world. 

The mix is the best reminder of him and our friendship.

1. Graham Parker, Over the Border (to America)
2. Feargal Sharkey Can I Say I Love You
3. Robyn Hitchcock, Ultra Unbelievable Love
4. The Pogues, The Broad Majestic Shannon
5. Daniel Lanois, Sleeping in the Devil's Bed
6. Ray Davies, Voices in the Dark
7. Robyn Hitchcock, She Doesn't Exist
8. Nick Lowe, She Don't Love Nobody
9. Nick Lowe, Who Was That Man?
10. World Party, Sweet Soul Dream
11. Daniel Lanois, Under a Stormy Sky
12. John Prine, Picture Show
13. Brenden Croker, This Kind of Life
14. The Kinks, Days
15. Traveling Wilbury's, Where Were You Last Night
16. Billy Bragg, Everywhere
17. Bob Dylan, Blind Willie McTell
18. Daniel Lanois, Jolie Louise
19. Mott the Hoople, I'm a Cadillac
20. T-Bone Burnett, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend
21. The Kinks, Full Moon
22. John Hiatt The Love that Harms
23. Milton Nascimento, Anima
24. The Kinks, Death of a Clown
25. The Kinks, Two Sisters