“To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do.” ~High Fidelity.
As a teen I’d sit in my bedroom at night and listen to the radio. I’d sit beside my mum and dad’s cassette player, fingers on the play and record buttons, ready to capture a song I like the sound of. I’d then take them (along with my meagre CD collection) and compile them into mixtapes for myself. On the weekends you could often find me holed up in my bedroom making them. I’d make a mixtape for ANY occasion! I was (and still am) the biggest music dork. I liked to make themed mixes or mixes that were perfect for different emotions. I even made cover art for them.
Once I started going to all ages shows I made friends that shared my enthusiasm and love for the art. When I started making zines and corresponding (by post—this was way before internet became a household thing) with other zine makers we used to send each other mixes of our favourite tunes—still to this day one of my favourite mixtapes was sent to me by Cade who did a hardcore punk zine from Australia called Circle One. The man has great taste!
I have always enjoyed receiving mixtapes from others. It’s one of the best ways to discover awesome new (to you) music. More often than not if someone has gone to the trouble to make you a mix they’ve put a lot of time and effort into it, they’ve taken care to choose some of the best material from artists they love (you’re getting a personal introduction to the act). It’s always been refreshing to be exposed to music I wouldn’t necessarily seek out myself.
Mixtapes have been made and celebrated in both the punk rock and hip hop communities for years. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc were all mix tape creators ‘back in the day’. DJ Roofeeo the drummer for one of my favourite bands the MFDS has recently made a rockin’ mixtape for download here. Another of my favourites Kanye West made the Can’t Tell Me Nothing.
For more info on mixtapes click out the Wikipedia entry.
Now without further ado, I give you the very first (there will be many, many more! I’m going to make it a regular thing!) ConversationsWithBianca.com Mixtape with beautiful art by my partner in crime Jhonny Hobo (among many things Jhonny is one half of Hobo DJs you can peep a sample of their work here)…
MISS BIANCA’S DIGITAL MIXTAPE 1
Messer Chups – Flash Of The Night
Hobo Obituaries – Sad Trumpet
The Bronx – False Alarm
The Death Set – Around The World
Operation Ivy – Sound System
Uffie – Pop The Glock
The Roots – Don’t Feel Right
Moby featuring Gwen Stefani
Santigold – Creator
Deltron 3030 – Positive Contact
Gogol Bordello – Start Wearing Purple
Shmoe – Knees Up
Rancid – Red Hot Moon
M.I.A – Jimmy
Death On Wednesday – Stranded
Felinedown – Devil’s Playground
The Bouncing Souls – Anchors Away
N*E*R*D – Wonderful Place
You’ve heard them now learn more about them (click on the link)…
What are you guys listening to? Send me mixtapes & new music! Hope you’ve found something new (to you) in my mix. Please support the artists do see them live, buy some merch and music… as I’ve said many times before “we have too much to lose as a society, economy & culture if we do not ensure Creators’ efforts are rewarded” your mission if you choose to accept: really & truly support the music you ♥ & artists that create it!
I love the weekend! It’s one of my favourite times of the week! I have all day to work on the things I love most and I get to hang out with my wonderful little family. Pure and total bliss!
Things to do with your weekend:
Start something you’ve been meaning to do forever. Whether that’s organising your desk (post coming soon!), cleaning out your wardrobe, painting a picture (with your sunglasses on!), learning a new language, writing a long lost friend, calling your parents, going on that nature hike, researching your business idea… Don’t wait one minute more! Go for it! Get motivated! You don’t want to miss your ship do you?
We all gotta make our decisions or take a back seat every time / And when you can’t figure out what you wanted / And you’re sick of playing of everything is fine / You don’t know what it is but you want it / You’re on your way there once you set your goals / Set your goals – CIV
Make a mix tape. It’s something hip hoppers, punkers & indie lovers have been doing forever! I used to LOVE when more people made mix tapes; for the most part I think it’s becoming a lost art form. Lucky for me I have awesome friends that still like to swap tunes (old school cassette style even!) with me. I’ve found out about so much rad music that way. It’s how I first heard of Bad Brains, A Tribe Called Quest, Spank Rock and so much more! I like to make mix tapes according to my moods. I have tapes that cheer me up when I’m down, tapes to lighten my mood and that are super fun for when I’m feeling angsty; I even have tapes for my more mellow moods that I listen to while I drift off to sleep.
A pal of mine, James, used to do a CD swap night at his bar once a week where you’d come in for tacos & beer and exchange mix CDs with other people there. Such a lovely idea. For more on mix tape culture check out the books: Mixtape: The Art of Cassette Culture (it has a foreword written by Thurston Moore) and Love is A Mix Tape. Send me a mix tape! Or even better learn to make mash-ups! My Honny is a mash-up king (listen to the below)…
If you like what you hear contact Hobo DJs (hoboobituaries@gmail.com) for a FREE mash-up party CD featuring over an hour & a half of awesomeness!
Volunteer. Do something to help someone else. Helping others helps you, it helps you to be less self-absorbed and the connections built through acts of kindness builds community and can give you a feeling of contentment & achievement. My lovely friend Craig Fairbaugh volunteers and promotes the Burrito Project.
“Tommy Towne and his buddy —they’re super bleeding heart liberals that want to make a difference in this world—got the idea to make a difference through a grassroots level in their community. They decided to make a really easy form of food, a burrito, put them in their backpacks and went riding through Skid Row in downtown L.A., handing them out to all of the homeless people. I wanted to get involved because I thought it was one of the coolest things that I’d ever heard of. It’s a way to show people that you can help someone so easily. Not being able to eat is one of the worst things in the world. You can make a huge difference.” ~Craig Fairbaugh (extract from my book).
My bud, Heidi Minx has taken volunteering to the next level by starting Built On Respect. She travels to India where she works within the Tibetan community helping folks learn sustainable business practices/models, teaches English and works with a free art school that helps keep traditional Tibetan art alive.
Go see live music. When was the last time you got out of the house, away from your stereo/IPod, television, gaming console, computer and went and saw a live music act? Nothing quite beats seeing a rockin’ live act. When you’re at a gig (I feel) you get to be a part of something really special. I find it can be a quite spiritual/ritualistic experience. I often marvel at the fact that when a show happens there’s an energy that is created by the people there—the performers and the audience—that wasn’t there before. Being front and centre at a show watching one of your favourite acts can encourage you to totally be in the moment, be truly present.
From my own experience going to gig I know that the minute the first chord is struck I can forget about the daily grind and relax and enjoy myself. I always find people complaining to me about there not being any good music out there, these are usually the people that stay home and aren’t out there even looking. There’s plenty of good music you just have to open your eyes, ears, mind and heart! I also find that a lot of musicians complain about people not coming to their shows yet they never go to a show unless their own band is playing… which = lame. Stop complaining and start supporting, peel yourself off that couch! One of my favourite bands to see live ever is Deathcage from Sydney, Australia.
Have a fiesta at your house! Invite all your friends, dress in theme and gather around to smash the Piñata! Yay for sweet candy treats! Nachos! Sombreros!
Read a book (some suggestions can be found here). The older I get the shorter my attention span seems, so I tend to end up reading a million books at once, jumping between them. I just can’t get enough information. Sometimes I feel like a big sponge just sucking it all up. Any recommendations? I also adore comics! My collection is all bagged and boarded up (ha… ha).
Eat ice-cream with someone super sweet. Another favourite activity is getting ice-cream (chocolate-chip cookie dough yum!) with one of my homies and sitting and watching people go by while we chat and gawk! ha ha…
Make some iced herbal tea. I love, love, love the tea from Australian company T2. Their site has tips on brewing tea, what tea suits you & tea for you according to the Zodiac. Right now I’m crushing over the following tea flavours: Bright Night, Detox, Turkish Cherry & China Jasmine. I love nothing more than brewing herbal tea, adding a mother-load of ice and fresh herbs like mint from my garden and organic lemon on a hot summer’s day (which we’ve been experiencing here in Australia over the past few days). I love hot tea too! It’s so comforting. Plus tea also has a number of health benefits.
MISS B RANDOM STORY: I remember when I was eighteen going to see Good Riddance and Sick Of It All play in my hometown, before the show GR’s Russ was drinking chamomile tea for his throat… we chatted over a cup. At the time I thought it was really strange, I had the really retarded, narrow-minded view that drinking tea was not punk rock… thankfully I’ve become a lot wiser since then and realised how silly thinking like that is. Many years later I would find myself including herbal tea in little care packages I’d put together for touring pals, I once gave Nick 13 some chamomile tea & an Australian slang dictionary!
Take a road trip. I love hoping in the car on a Sunday morning and taking a trip somewhere. I love traipsing through the forest or exploring beach coves and little hidden spots of natural beauty. Australia is full of them. One of my favourite spots in Natural Arch it’s one of the best places in Australia to see a glow worm colony—it looks like a million stars in the sky. It always takes my breath away when I visit there. I feel when I get out in nature I come back to the city feeling a little more in touch with the planet.
Partake in city beautification. Make your neighbourhood pretty by learning stencil art. There’s a straight forward tutorial here to get you started. Maybe you could create something and take part in Stencil Fest!
I remember being super excited after I brought The Bronx’s first album and it came with a Bronx stencil. I got to stencil my own Bronx tee shirt. Get your creative on!
Hope you all have a great weekend! Be excellent to each other & do something fun!
PS- If you’re in my ’hood on the Gold Coast this weekend come hang with me & my family Hobo Obituaries at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery from 2pm. It’s all ages & free. Music, art & good people… what more could you ask for to make the perfect weekend?!
