love is a mix tape

This morning at 3am I got a revelation: I had to read "Love Is A Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield. I'd heard about it from my best friend, Gabby, May 2nd, 2008 and she told me about how he'd mentioned Hanson in it. I didn't think much of it. It's like I stored it away for when I knew I'd need it. And somehow, this morning at 3 am, I knew I needed it. So I stayed up all night and watched the clock for the hands to change to 9am. Then I raced out of the house and went directly to the library.

I haven't put the book down since.

By Chapter 2 I was crying not because of the love story between the girl and the boy but because of the love story between the boy and the girl and the music. The way Rob Sheffield talks about music is the way I wish I could talk about it. I mean, it should be that way, shouldn't it? The dude writes for Rolling Stone afterall.

Just as I was getting around to wishing I could be as cool and as intune as Rob Sheffield I read a line that made my heart beat faster. He talked about how he lived a few blocks away from Metropolitan Floors. I lived a few blocks away from Metropolitan Floors. It is so lame but I was instantly enthralled. All I could keep thinking was "what if I passed people like this everyday?" You never think about the strangers you see on the streets but what if all the love of music that you're looking for is embodied on some stranger on the street? Just that, theoretically, I could have passed someone who felt that way (clearly not Rob Sheffield since I would've known) but someone that feels the way he felt. That's not to say that these people only live in Williamsburg, it's just the idea that he was so close... someone that wrote about music the way I dream about writing about music.

This book is phenomenal. It makes you long to remember things that you may never remember. He has this uncanny memory and you wonder if he really remembers those moments or if he fabricates them with the help of a few moments put together. The way he remembers where he was and what he was doing when he heard "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana gives me the chills. I wish I could remember things like that.

Ironically enough, one of the last things I said to my roommates in Brooklyn was, "You know, I've been thinking. And my mom can't remember the names of some of her closest friends in high school. My dad sometimes has trouble remembering his first college roommates' name. Isn't it funny how things right now seem so important, so life altering and yet, who is to say I'll even be able to remember your names in 20 years?" Rob Sheffield gives me the hope that I can remember and that I will remember. He talks about recalling the exact shade of purple of his favorite drink, the way he felt when his father stayed home to make a Beatles mixtape with him, he talks about conversations that seem as though they'd be so insignificant at the time but somehow make so much sense looking back. I want this all to make sense and this book has ensured me that, one day, some way, some how, it will.

If you haven't yet read Love is a Mix Tape and you indeed think that love is a mix tape then read it. And bring back mix tapes with me because I'm all about creating really witty names for them now.