Mixtape Blitz

Okay so obviously I mean mix CDs not mixtapes, because it's (unfortunately) not 1997 anymore. Mixtape sounded better as a title. Why am I explaining this?

A few days ago my car iPhone connecter player thing stopped charging my iPhone while it plays music. This is a totally dumb development because it totally drains the battery and then I can't spend all day checking Twitter. So I decided to go super old school (besides the ultimate old school that is the radio) and play some old mix CDs I happen to still have in my 500 CD case thing I keep in my car JUST IN CASE! I am a big loser. The magic of this, though, is that most of the mixes in this case don't have any important details on them. Like, what's on them. Or when I made them. Some of them say "that mix I made for ____" and some of those have a date on them. One says "Casey and Jenn's Driving Mix" -- WHICH IS FULL OF GEMS, LET ME TELL YOU -- from the summer after 10th grade when Jenny got her license. One is a mix we made as a project in 10th grade English, where we had to make the soundtrack of if the book we read became a movie. Our group's book? Kafka's Metamorphosis. The tunes we chose are seriously priceless. Some of it's serious, like there's some Explosions in the Sky, some Clint Mansell. Then there's some BSB, some Linkin Park, some Britney. No jokes, you guys. Jake and Andy and I were probably the best 10th graders of all time. At least, I think we were. [Jill, please remind Jake of this incredible project, if you get a chance.]

Because I got so much joy out of these listening experiences, I'd like to walk you through some of the best discoveries. Some of them are silly, some of them are heartfelt. As usual, I suppose.

Classic. Fletcher, you'd better be doing hand motions right now.


Maybe I shouldn't have called. Was it too soon to tell? What the hell, it doesn't really matter. How do you redefine something that never really had a name? Has your opinion changed?


One of the CDs is like half of Jay-Z's Black Album with some other songs Jonathan and I loved thrown in. It is clearly a mix from when he and I went to Lou's on Saturday afternoons and picked out a CD we thought each other would like. [The first one he chose for me was Justin Timberlake's Justified. Genius.] What a weird tradition that was, but also totally rad.


I try to jump away from rot that keeps on spreading, for solace in the shift of the sinking sand. I'd rather feel the pain all too familiar than be broken by a lover I don't understand.


This was on our Metamorphosis project. Brilliant.

It's okay if you had to go away. Just remember that telephones, well, they work in both ways. But if I never, ever hear them ring, if nothing else, I'll think the bells inside it finally found your "someone else." And that's okay. 'Cause I'll remember everything you sang.

This might be Britney's worst song. Let me know if you think there's a worse one.


I was reading a book, or maybe it was a magazine. Suggestions on where to place faith; suggestions on what to believe. But I read somewhere that you've got to beware -- you can't believe everything you read. But the Good Book is good, and that's well understood, so don't even question, if you know what I mean.

Absolutely everything.

The other night, Nick and I were in the car and could not decide on music, so we opted for iPod roulette (a way better term than shuffle). We got a pretty good cross-section of my life -- a little Eminem, a little Hanson, a little Usher, a little Jason Mraz...thug life, right? Anyway, the Jason Mraz song that came on was "Absolutely Zero," a song I hadn't heard in a while but of course spoke right to me. It's sort of amazing how a song that you've heard 500 times that came out almost 10 years ago can trigger something in you that didn't even exist the last time you heard it. Jason's words do this to me on the regular. It's why I consider my relationship to him a spiritual affinity (minus the part where I don't know him in real life). Anyway, here's the song. Listen to it and know me.


Neither one of us deserves the blame, because opportunities moved us away.
It's not an easy thing to learn to play a game that's made for two (that's you and me) the rules remain a mystery.
See how it's easy?
And who am I to say this situation isn't great?
It's our time to make the most of it. 
How could we ever know that this would happen to me? Not that easy, no.

I have a spiritual affinity for Jason Mraz.

Jason Mraz has released nine songs so far from his upcoming album, "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" and so far I have been physically shaken by three of them in the way only a Jason Mraz song can shake me. The first two are beautiful and meaningful, but this third one I feel was written for me to sing. It expresses perfectly what I wish I could say to every person for whom I feel compassion. Every time someone needs me, these words will come to my head. The song features James Morrison, an incredible new voice on the "music scene" or whatever, and the choruses and their harmonies are breathtaking. I'm posting the lyrics here, but I hope that you buy this song on iTunes or download it illegally. And when you listen to it, think of me saying these words to you. Because they're really words I wish I could have come up with to express to you. Every word is worth bolding, but I have chosen to bold those words that especially moved me. And for space-saving purposes, I cut out extra choruses and repeating things.


"Details in the Fabric," Jason Mraz and James Morrison

Calm down

Deep breaths

And get yourself dressed instead

Of running around

And pulling all your threads and

Breaking yourself up


If it's a broken part, replace it

But if it's a broken arm then brace it

If it's a broken heart then face it



And hold your own

Know your name

And go your own way

Hold your own

Know your own name

And go your own way
And everything
Everything will be fine

Everything



Hang on

Help is on its way

Stay strong

I'm doing everything




Are the details in the fabric
?
Are there things that make you panic
?
Are your thoughts results of static cling
?
Are there things that make you blow
?
Hell, no reason, go on and scream

If you're shocked it's just the fault

Of faulty manufacturing.



Everything will be fine

Everything in no time at all

Hearts will hold