The first few seconds

One memory in particular I have about Rev 105 is being in 6th or 7th grade and listening to special feature about Soul Coughing.  They devoted a whole hour of air-time to the group, featuring live and unreleased tracks interspersed with interviews and pre-produced segments about the band’s history and development (narrated, I think, by Mary Lucia).  It was cassette-tape “gold,” and tape it I did. (Where is that tape today?  Did I record over it?)

Remember how we used to collect our music?

You’d hear a catchy song on the radio but miss the ID, so you’d call the station. “That song. What was that song?” and you’d hum a few bars for the DJ, approximate a few misheard lyrics. “I think there was a trumpet?” And then she’d tell you what it was.

The next day you’d call the station to make a request, and they’d promise play it sometime within the hour. You’d wait at your parent’s stereo, your finger hovering in anticipation over the red circle on the tape deck.  90 minutes passed, and then:

“By request, here’s…,” the first few bars already creeping up beneath her voice.  You’d fumble for the “rec” button.

And so you collected whole shoe-boxes of mixtapes with no particular unifying theme, each song missing the first few seconds because, of course, you needed to hit “rec” and “play” at the same time.