RIP Lou

There was something about making mixed tapes where I would even put thought into the title I made for it after I wrote the song list on the sleeve that was somewhat lost with CD-RWs. I didn’t miss the unraveling and heat sensitivity when a cassette was left in a hot car and the sound quality of taped typically wasn’t anything to write home about, but I still enjoyed them until cd stores starting popping up in every mall. It feels like tapes went away much more long ago than they actually did. They really are associated with a general cultural era for me when everything somehow seemed much more innocent and generally optimistic than today (even if the pandemic hadn’t hit the world).

Although not as wide spread as the vinyl revival, the cassette has a little bit of resurgence.

There is even a Cassette Store Day now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_Store_Day

I never left the cassette and still enjoy making tapes.  No, it's not about the sound quality, but the hands on aspect.

I was celebrating my 10 birthday in 1985. I got my first Sharp BoomBox with cassette player. My first birthday cassette (picked out by my mother) was Styx Mr. Roboto 😁.

RIP Lou!
A moment of hiss for you sir!

The advent of cassettes expanded my world forever, all thanks to this man. Still got a drawerful of personally curated, carefully titled 90-minute "playlists" in an easy-access drawer plus a functioning player straight into the preamp.

I deem tomorrow Make Believe It's International Cassette Tape Day. Good timing when your streamer and DAC are not on speaking terms.

R.I.P. Lou