A 34 Boogaloo Salute

I have been avoiding this post for the better part of a year. Its genesis was in a request Palmer made to me last summer, when she asked me to put down on paper the rules and methods I use when making a mix tape (sigh, CD) for someone. I made the initial wade into these waters last August, when I explained the basics for beginning any mix. The more and more I thought about it, the more difficult it became for me to explain. Each mix is singular to the individual recieving it, giving them their own special story. I make mixes all the time, for a wide array of people, but as different as all these people are, making it neccesary to make a wide array of mixes, the message is often the same. The message? YOU FUCKING ROCK!(in your own way.)

People on the recieving end of my mixes are always ones that make the double barrelled shoutgun of my heart go 'Woo Woo.' Friends, enemies, lovers, it doesn't matter. I am unabashedly a sweetheart, and love telling people how awesome they are. I am deciding to let it all hang out, like The Hombres sang about over forty years ago, because tomorrow (or today, depending on when I finish this) is one such mix recipient's 34th birthday.She was the one who made my heart go woo woo the loudest and the longest. So it is with bated breath and a rapidly beating heart that I say Happy Birthday to you. (Woo! Woo!)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I wrote the above yesterday, and there was even more, but then it got lost in the internet shuffle of posting the preview, and no amount of editing could get it back. It's ironic that I'm watching the PBS documentary on the blues tonight, and it's featuring Skip James, whose song 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' might be one of my favorite songs of all time, and I'm realizing, goddammit, this post is too fucking hard. I will give you these rules, because I've written them down, and I will let it all hang out, but today is L's bday and I can't pretend I'm not down. Maybe all this red wine will help it all spill out, or maybe I'm a loser and it's stupid and I need to let it go. I can't decide.

I'm just gonna post this and get back to it later.

Happy birthday, Laramie.