Cassete tape nostalgia
My parents have lent me a little stereo that has a CD, radio, and cassette player. It has been goodness knows how long since i have had a cassette player! I'd gotten rid of most of my tapes, with the exception of some of my favorite mix tapes made by friends in highschool, music my friends made themselves, and some of my old college radio stuff.
In the small pile of cassettes i found a tape of one of the Happy Death shows James and I did together in 2002 at KBVr radio in Corvallis, OR! Happy Death was KBVRfm's gothic radio show, started in 1983(ish), by Janelle Helle (one of the original owners of Portland's Ozone Records). James was my trainer at KBVR and we ran the Happy Death show together for almost a year, before he left school and I took it over. I always enjoyed James, he was such a smart, neat, interesting guy, and though i never got too close to him as a friend i always enjoyed hanging out with him every week in the DJ booth. He was an ex Fine Arts major turned Chemistry and Physics double major, for his thesis working on coatings for flexible computer screens, really awesome high tech stuff completely beyond my ability to fathom. He always had interesting viewpoints on life and counterpoints to any argument i could make, he was kind and snarky at the same time, and had a nearly bottomless well of music knowledge, at least as far as gothic and industrial music went. When he graduated he and his wife moved away, and i never heard from them again. Listening to this tape is bringing up memories of that time, of KBVR and beyond. I wonder how James is, and if he is doing well.
The Happy Death show was such a great outlet for me, though in hindsight i didn't really know what i was doing, my knowledge of gothic music was really limited, and the mix i played was rather stilted and awkward sounding. I learned so much about music though, and almost always wished i had more than just the 2 hours every week. If i ever go back to a school that has a decent radio station i will have to look into doing something like this again. Despite the chaos that was swirling in closer and closer on my life at the time, Happy Death remains some of my best memories of college.