Country Music

Even Sadder Than a Wedding Dress in a Thrift Store….

/ Deb / 1 Comment
Just a few of the many treasures awaiting you at the Ballard Goodwill

….it turns out, is a mix tape in a thrift store.  I never realized this until I found a stack of them at my local Goodwill.  I was intrigued by the one called “Wedding Music/Favorite Love Songs #1″, so I picked it up (What happened?! Was the wedding cancelled?).  I glanced at the list of songs only long enough to see Mariah Carey well-represented, but then I felt compelled to put it down.  It was too much like reading someone’s diary.  I couldn’t do it.

Ah, mix tapes.  Our kids will never know the magic of a mix tape.  They will craft digital playlists, I’m sure.  But nothing so time-stamped and permanent as a mix tape with their handwriting on it.

I freely admit that I am a sentimental hoarder.  I’ve got all of my old tapes, even my earliest mix tapes made with my sister and cousin (if you can really call them mix tapes… really it was just us talking into a Panasonic tape recorder, telling stupid stories and singing songs).

Another gem is the “Workout Mix” tape that I made in college, with appropriate-tempo songs for a routine of exercises.   Given that it was 1989, of course the lineup included INXS, Prince, and Neneh Cherry.  The last song, the “cool down”, was – what else – “Nite & Day” by Al B Sure.

Then there was the mix tape trilogy made for a post-college road trip (“Driving Tape #1, #2, and #3”, of course.)   Number 1 has got you covered with your basic R.E.M, Pearl Jam, and U2, with some Naughty by Nature thrown in for reasons I don’t recall.  Number 2 was the mellow tape, with Luther Vandross and Johnny Gill – you know, for when the road asked you, “come on, let’s bring it down now….”.   Number 3, sadly, is no longer with us.  But it’s quite possible that it contained country music.

My favorite mix tape, though, is one that my long-distance boyfriend sent me in college.  Oddly enough, I only remember one song on it – “Cars that Go Boom”, by  L’trimm (wasn’t he romantic?).   But what I love about that tape is that, inter-mixed with songs, my boyfriend talked about what was going on in his apartment, or what he was studying.  He introduced each song like a DJ. “Cars that Go Boom” reminded him, he said, of me and my best friend/roommate (were we like “Tigra & Bunny”?).   I haven’t listened to the tape since then, but I love the idea that his 1989 voice is preserved on it.  I can’t even remember what his voice sounded like then.  I’m saving the tape like a fine bottle of wine.   Someday the time will be right, and he and I will listen to it with all the reverence it deserves (through a series of twists and turns, we ended up getting married years later.)

I really hope that the mix tapes I made for others never made their way onto a thrift store shelf (in the garbage = fine!).  And now I’m feeling like I should have purchased those thrift store mix tapes and given them a proper burial.  I need to think more about that one.   As should you — what mix tapes do you treasure, and what mix creations of yours might still be floating around out there?

In the mean time, though, welcome to McMahon Hall, and enjoy the mellow grooves of Al B Sure (closing your eyes and pretending that it’s on a cassette tape, of course).

The Unfairness of The Fair

/ Deb / Leave a comment

I would not really call myself a country music enthusiast, but I’ve experimented.  I’ve tried it.  One might say I’ve dabbled.   I do appreciate country music; in particular, the way that most country songs can make me cry at the drop of a (cowboy) hat.

I pulled out a bunch of old country CD’s the other day and uploaded them to iTunes, intending to give some tired playlists a shot in the arm.  Now I’m thinking that maybe certain songs should have a weepy mix all their own. (Seriously, email me and I will send you a playlist that is guaranteed to make you cry.)

I did cry a bit at these old tunes, but what I also found is that I smiled when, unexpectedly, my thoughts turned to my Grandma.

As kids, my sisters and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house.  My grandma has endured as one of the biggest influences on my life, and a true icon of unconditional love.  Of course my grandparents’ house had the requisite 70’s enormous console TV……broadcasting shows like The Brady Bunch, The Lawrence Welk Show and Hee Haw.  I seem to recall that my grandpa didn’t like Lawrence Welk, but Hee Haw was fair game.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of going to the county fair with my grandparents.  We’d see the exhibits and ride a few rides, then we’d see the music show.  I wish now that I had paid attention to who we saw.  It was always country music, but the only one I can really recall is Buck Owens.  Or maybe it was Roy.  At any rate, it was one of the Hee Haw guys.

Later, after Grandpa was gone, my sisters and I would go to the fair with Grandma and, in usual teenage fashion, be embarrassed to be be seen at the very ‘square’ country music show.   My mom assured me that cooler acts were coming to the fair soon.  In fact, she was right.  Rick Springfield just played my hometown fair this summer.  Apparently by “soon”, Mom meant “in 25 years”.

It breaks my heart that my grandma didn’t live long enough to meet my kids.  I talk about her a lot, and tell them funny little stories about her.   I’ve got to remember to tell them these tidbits:

1.  When I first started dating my husband, Grandma thought he looked like Randy Travis.  He doesn’t, but maybe that’s one reason she loved him right away.

2.  In the midst of the 80’s, she decided that she liked Billy Idol.  I think that my older cousin bought her a Billy Idol tee shirt, but in all fairness, I could be confusing it with her “Fonz” shirt.  (Either way, how cool of a grandma is that?)

3.  She saw Hank Williams Jr. in concert and hated it.  She said that he was too dirty, and he was drunk, and he was a disgrace to his father.   Harsh words, but Gram had opinions.

4.  The song “Proud to be an American” always made her cry. Now it makes me cry, because it reminds me of her.  Good tears though; I feel lucky to have had her in my life for as long as I did.  And maybe, for my Grandma, it’s time for me to give country music another try.