Music

A friend reached out that they'd heard I'd been looking for old mixed CDs I'd made, sending this one along: You Can Do What You Want. I'm Goin' Home.

Based on the victoryshag.com tag, I'd guess this is from 2002 - 2004 as that project ran 1999 to 2004, but the Polmo Polpo track didn't come out until 2002. The mix is mostly instrumental, but for some spoken dialogue over the opening and closing tracks. She also sent along photos of the front and back cover artwork. As an aside, the guy who made the cover (and some of the past covers I've posted) was my roommate at the time. The woman who sent along the mix is my ex girlfriend, who is now his wife. They've got two great kids.

If you're keen, you can listen to all the tracks by searching on Youtube. Or, if you're a member of A Tiny Bell, you can listen to the assembled playlist I've compiled below the fold.

Though I recall the title of the mix (it's a theft from somewhere I've forgotten) and I'm familiar with all the tracks, I do not remember making this mix or the occasion.

The companion CD / playlist to my previous Here post. Also from 2003, you can read the original post — A Way of Doing — for details on how it came to be and get its name.

Here's the artwork (rotated 90 degrees to be legible) and playlist so you can recreate it yourself. Youtube playlist is beneath the jump for members.

A member asked me what Alien Tomato is. I used to be a web designer (1994 - 2006) and that was the name of my company.

In 2003, I had a miserable job at a miserable company called Butterfield & Robinson. There were some wonderful people there but the bosses' bosses were useless and I hated it. I lasted 13 months and — after doing a bunch of copy editing that I wasn't paid for — I quit and went back to being a freelance web designer.

Part of the culture at B&R was to have a "Daily Huddle" where the entire company would gather and discuss the previous day's business, as well as what was in the pike. The huddle was run by a different person every day and the company made a big deal out an employee's first huddle, which would come six months into your employment. You had to make it special. Most people did this with catering or special guests. I did it with music.

For my first huddle, I made two mixed CDs, which I called A Way of Doing and A Way of Being Done. I had a friend do the artwork and I made about 75 copies of each and gave them away at the huddle. The friend recently sent me the artwork and I've recreated the playlist for the first disc on Youtube. I'll post disc two in the future. If you're a member of A Tiny Bell, you can listen by playing the video below.

I'll also explain the CD titles and write a bit about my first day at the company, which was awesome and involved lunch with Sidney Pollack and stories about Stanley Kubrick.