The Mixed-Up Mix Tape (A Holiday Story)
As the holidays approach, we find ourselves taking the proverbial step back in time. To a simpler era, full of childhood memories. Of warm family and friends. And of equally emotive early technologies.
Picture this: It’s your first holiday away at college. The typical traditions are gone, and as a first step toward life on your own, it’s up to you to “invent” new traditions.
How did you solve for this gap, back in the day? To evoke a sense of home and normalcy?
Mix tapes, of course.
Technology sometimes holds all the emotion and creativity of humanity, and the nimble cassette tape was no exception. These little nuggets could be shipped in $2 “Media Mailer” envelopes, bringing joy to others across the country.
The cassette trade at that time was mostly comprised of rare concert bootlegs by your favorite band. Or, hand-crafted musical messages of shared friendship, or burgeoning love. But in this story, the tape creation and delivery held a whole other deeper meaning.
On this day, before going home for the holidays, I busied myself schlepping my laundry basket across campus. On top of my fresh, folded sheets and towels sat my old yellow Walkman. With ears on, I crossed the cobblestone sidewalks with springy steps.
My favorite just came on – “Calypso Noel” by Johnny Mathis. I thought back to the desperate request to my parental unit: “Please make me a Christmas tape, to help me get in the holiday spirit!” And so the tape arrived, full of my favorites, taking me right back home.
These were younger and more blissful moments… the days when loved ones were healthy and vibrant… before our cheeks dampened not from melting snowflakes, but from holiday tears for family no longer among us.
With a skip and a jig, holding the basket on my hip, I was stronger then: ready to dance down the street to my cheesy old song.
Listening to the fade, a smile crossed my face, wondering what the next song might be.
Then…
A guttural grunt!
Thud!!
A creaky door opening!!!
And, the voice of Count Dracula announcing himself. And thus began a Halloweeny tale.
What??
Well, back then you couldn’t always afford a new tape every time you took on a new “mix tape project”. You could just re-use an old one: that was the beauty of cassettes! But, if you didn’t record “blank” at the end of the tape, there remained a glimpse of the now irrelevant and undesirable.
It always felt like a stunning discovery: a peek back in time to shunned remnants, intended to be discarded. In this case, the dub of an old, spoken-word Halloween record sat loud and proud at the end of “Side A”.
From there forward, the tape lovingly became known as the “Christmas Tape with Halloween Interlude”. For when you flipped to Side B, Christmas continued in all its glory.
It was more than a hasty oversight to get a holiday music tape to a lonely college student, pining for home and warm Christmas memories.
It was the melding of two very different holidays, side by side, into one audio experience. One holy, warm and uplifting. One dark, frightful and cheeky.
The juxtaposition was just… perfect.
The tape could not have achieved a loftier goal: bringing a smile to the face.
Sometimes the sweetest and most memorable things in life come in the smallest of early technology packages.
As always, I hope this brought a smile to your face too! Here’s a little something more to keep you dancing this holiday season.
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