Non-Smokers, Feminist Punks, and Cassette Recorders – Thoughts from May 28, 2024

Patti is still a non-smoker, but she said she found it rough recently, so she bought a week’s worth of nicotine patches. I have mixed feelings about it. You would think the time to use them would be weaning yourself off the cigarettes. She has been smoke free for weeks now. The physical effects of missing nicotine should have passed. Having said this, I’ve never smoked or quit smoking, so I’ll keep all my opinions to myself (unless Patti reads this Thoughts paper someday). If she asks for my opinion (which she won’t), I’ll give it then.

Let’s talk about music. I’ve been listening to an autobiography by Kathleen Hanna called Rebel Girl. She was a pioneer of feminist punk. Her influence goes well beyond punk music. She started a group for young women and girls to talk about the many traumas they have faced. Listening to the stories makes me glad I never bought in to the macho crap that most men seem to accept. Despite having a horrible father and many men treating her just as badly, if not worse, she doesn’t hate men. She merely voiced what many victims hide from the world.

On talking about recording music, Kathleen’s experiences reminded me of my own experiences recording music. I never played live music, but I spent many hours in my home studio working on songs that most of the world has never heard. My biggest fan and most ardent critique is myself. I would say my song writing is my top skill, but my playing and singing are not far behind. I sang harmonies with myself and tried to bring a distinct style to each new song I created. Periodically, I listen to the songs and can fill in the missing parts I didn’t record. Most of the songs are incomplete. They are missing lyrics, harmonies, other instruments, or were only the initial recordings I did for songs I only completed in my head.

I’ve been converting my early recording efforts from cassette tapes into digital files. I finally finished editing one tape and could listen to it in the car. It reminded me how much I enjoy editing. The biggest challenge was lining up the four tracks I had. I originally recorded them on a four-track cassette recorder, but I didn’t have a convenient one. I played both sides on a regular cassette player and reversed the second side. This worked to get the audio, but I had to line up the tracks. Most reverse tracks had to be realigned with every measure of each song. It took several hours to do it.

Hearing the songs from the cassette that was recorded in 1990 let me know how far I still had to go. They weren’t as experimental as the songs I did in junior high, but they were experiments in song writing before I was writing full songs. The future structure of my songs would not come out until I had a few more songs under my belt. Some sounds were hard to listen to. I did some experimental singing that I could only describe as harsh on the ears. I was glad I eventually got singing lessons. My high notes have improved over the years. They got better throughout the tape. It really makes me want to record and edit songs again. I wouldn’t have to create new songs, but I probably would if I know me like I do.