Mixology: Reidsie Rocks!

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Reidsie Rocks! (7/10/99)

Everybody's got pivotal moments in their life to which they can point. The summer of 1999 was pretty huge for me. At the time I made this tape, I was about three weeks away from getting engaged to Deb. It wasn't a matter of if, but when. We had already discussed the ring and everything, and I had it, but it was finding the right time to spring it on her. It was about a week before John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane went down near Martha's Vineyard, causing non-stop media coverage, and two weeks before Woodstock '99, which was best remembered for the riots that took place.

In the meantime, I decided to make Deb a tape, not because I needed to win her through the power of mixology, but just because I wanted to give her something cool to listen to. I threw on some stuff I knew she already dug, like the R.E.M. song, but most of it was stuff I thought she'd dig. I included a fair amount of cool late '90s chick rock from folks like Liz Phair, Elastica, Tracy Bonham and Luscious Jackson, and some good mid-tempo rock from Beck, Chris Whitley, Sloan, Morphine and Matthew Sweet, among others. A solid effort. I'm not sure why I included "Song for the Dumped" by the Ben Folds Five, since there was no dumping and I wasn't saying "Gimme my money back, you bitch." I just liked the song, I guess.

The name of the tape derives from a nickname I had given her, since her name was Deb Reid Siegel. This was probably the third mix tape I had made for a girl; the first two relationships didn't work out well, so I guess the third time was the charm. Deb liked the tape and it got a lot of play on road trips for the first few years afterward, until CDs started taking over.

Anyhoo, nearly 11 years later, we're still together, so I guess the tape was the clincher. That's what I'm going to tell myself.

Side A
At My Most Beautiful - R.E.M.
Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip
At Flat as the Earth/Automatic Love - Chris Whitley
Wishlist - Pearl Jam
Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tropicalia - Beck
Circles - Soul Coughing
When I Grow Up - Garbage
Johnny Feelgood - Liz Phair
Sharks Can't Sleep - Tracy Bonham
Stutter - Elastica
Better Than Nothing - Jen Trynin
Superconnected - Belly
Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson

Side B
Rachael - Buffalo Tom
Walking After You - Foo Fighters
One Hit Wonder - Everclear
Thinking of You - Lenny Kravitz
Early to Bed - Morphine
Song for the Dumped - Ben Folds Five
Sinking Ships - Sloan
Evangeline - Matthew Sweet
Natural One - Folk Implosion
Eurotrash Girl - Cracker
Trip Through Your Wires - U2
Love Rears Its Ugly Head - Living Colour







Early to Bed:



Dumped: