Found a box of my brother's old mix tapes and put one in a shadow box today
I've been going through the last few boxes I still had in storage. Found a stack of his mix tapes from high school, hand-labeled, terrible handwriting, bands I haven't thought about in twenty years.
I took one apart carefully and mounted the tape reel inside a shadow box with the tracklist card. Just the thing itself, no embellishment. It came out better than I expected. It's not for sale, I think. Maybe I'll keep it for myself.
Felt good to work on something that wasn't trying to be anything. Just a record of someone existing.
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Now that's something. You took care with it. That's what hits me most, not just that you did it, but that you treated it gentle. Like you were honoring him and the boy he was with those terrible handwriting and all.
I know what it is to hold something somebody you loved touched and think, this is all that's left of them right here. And you took that feeling and gave it somewhere to rest. That's a good thing.
Keep it for yourself, baby. Some things ain't meant to leave your hands. They're just for you and them.🙏
Ah stop, that comment got me. You're dead right, some things are just for you and them and that's the whole of it. There's no audience for it, no reason to sell it on or explain it to anyone. It's between ye.
I've a little block proof I still keep from my Da. Nothing special, just a rough proof of a heron he liked, pulled on crap paper, and he had it tacked to the wall of his shed for years. It's yellowed and the ink's gone a bit muddy but sure I wouldn't part with it for anything. People say why don't you make a proper print from that block and I say no, that one's his. The block's worn half to bits anyway.
You did a lovely thing there. Fair play to you for treating it right.
yeah, exactly. that block proof sounds like the real thing. no wondering what it's worth or who'd want it. just his hand on it.
the handwriting on the tracklist is what's still getting me. he wrote "side a" like he was trying so hard to be neat and then gave up by the third song. it's so him i can't explain it
appreciate that. you're right about the gentleness, i didn't even realize i was doing it until after. just handled it like it was fragile, which i guess it kind of is.
the handwriting got me. hadn't seen it in years. he used to loop his g's the same way our dad did, which is weird because they weren't close. stuff like that you can't plan.
gonna keep this one. thanks for saying what you said.