A Legacy of Mixtape Making
Very excited about this month's collab, gang. My buddy Curtis Retherford is no stranger to mixtapes. He used to run A Year In Mixtapes, a monthly mixtape project where 12 individuals were assigned a month in a single calendar year. They'd have to create a mixtape to share with the other 11 folks at the top of their month.
It was a great project, and I found a lot of great tunes through it and learned a lot about the tastes of my friends. I created Ten Drinks Deep for the project, which I still love to listen to on occasion.
Anyways, we've got a good one for you this month. Also, it's my birthday today, and the only thing I ask for this year is that you share this newsletter or your favorite mixtape from the series with a friend or loved one. Could be fun!
Like the mixtapes? Help me spread the love by throwing a few bucks my way via BuyMeACoffee. Thanks to everyone who has already supported me there. I plan on updating that page a little more regularly with news and bigger project updates, so tune in, and watch as I spend more money on this silly creative project I love so much.
And hey, if you like it, why not share the mix or this newsletter with a friend?
Six Strings
Created in collaboration with Curtis Retherford for sunny roads as the leaves prepare to fall.
A few words from Curtis:
*****
String 1:
High school in Wurzburg, Germany. The school counselor desperately tried to fill my schedule because of discrepancies between my old high school's schedule and this one. "There's a guitar class you could take?" I nodded, jet-lagged.
String 2:
There are 2 songs by Francesca Tarrega in this mix. The first, Gran Vals, is perhaps the most played song in the world: a portion of it was the Nokia tune. The second, Adelita, was a song I heard on a compilation "Best of Classical Guitar!" CD while in high school, downloaded the tab for, and still play.
String 3:
The Evergreen State College. We lived on the 1st floor, 5 bedrooms sharing a living room. One of my roommates' best friends lived on the 4th floor, so our 2 rooms became close, even after our original roommate took too much acid, went to class still high, then calmly walked out of seminar, got in a cab to go to Seatac, and disappeared back to Alaska. Met my best friend in college from that 4th floor dorm. One day he played a Leo Kottke live album. "Oh, this is how I've always wanted to play guitar." (I will continue to try, and continue to fail.)
String 4:
I see quotes from Leo Kottke in an obituary for John Fahey, whom I had never heard of. I buy one of Fahey's CDs from Rainy Day Records in Olympia, love it, and continue slowly through his catalogue. John Fahey leads to Bola Sete (who recorded Ocean Memories on Fahey's Takoma label) and Baden Powell, who composed Let Go. Baden Powell leads to Luiz Bonfa, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and a couple years taking bossa nova guitar lessons in a 4th floor walk-up in Astoria.
String 5:
While working as a doughnut baker in Seattle, the manager of the coffee shop portion comes back to talk to me when there aren't many customers. He describes his improv class, where they just learned something called the "Harold." Apparently UCB (whom I knew from their sketch show) teach it in NYC. When I move to NYC a couple years later, I pay for my first classes in cash at the training center. I take classes, I perform with indie teams, and eventually meet Brady O'Callahan through mutual friends on different teams. It is clear, while talking to him during one of the UCB Mixtape Exchanges that he set up, that we share a love of properly sequenced and carefully curated mixes.
String 6:
I played guitar nearly every single day from age 16 until the pandemic, when I just stopped. Like a well running dry, I just stopped picking up my guitar during idle times, and instead stared at my phone. When Brady asked me about doing a mix, I thought of doing something purely guitar. Selecting songs (and listening to Brady's incredible selections) got me excited about guitar again. I'd listen to some songs, then go play a bit, then listen to more.
*****
Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Wayne: Up Close & Personal @ Bugsy's Cabaret at Flamingo Las Vegas, Sat 11/11 @ 7 PM
Readers, I am not fucking around.
If I'm going to Las Vegas, I'm seeing Wayne Newton. I do not care about the major pop star residency. Sorry to those stars. If I'm going to Vegas, I want to see Las Vegas. I'm going to see Wayne Newton.
He is 81. I am ready for it to be bad. It is going to be incredible.
RIYL: Las Vegas
Check out Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen."
Some Other Things That Curtis Loves
(that you might love too!)
Camel Up - This the dumbest board game. You bet on camels racing around a track. BUT, the camels stack on top of each other, and some camels go backwards. Just a dumb, chaotic game, but it's also the game I probably play the most often, especially with groups of 5-8: it's quick to explain, good both for newbies to board games and for people who play all the time, and just a dumb fun game.
Dracula Daily - The novel Dracula, delivered to you in real time via email. Each email is sent on the day it was sent in the novel. We're about halfway through this year, but it will start again next May. You can sign up now to get reminded for the next time it begins.
Cuckoo Rice Cooker - I had the same rice cooker since college, so I had one request for our wedding gifts: I want a good, fancy rice cooker. And this guy? He's a great friendly little rice-cooking robot. My new friend. Making me dinner and keeping it warm long into the night if I'm working late. Thank you, little friend.
Hikes on the east side of Griffith Park - Everyone knows the hike up to the Observatory, but the east side has parking lots and an excellent variety of hikes: from the tough hike up to the graffitied Bee Rock to the easy hike through the abandoned LA zoo. Park in Merry Go Round Lot One and head in any direction. You can even walk down to the LA River and the North Atwater Bridge.