published in Venus Zine's 2008 Fall issue
Back when the portable audio standard was the Walkman, a meticulously planned mixtape was the ultimate token of showing that special someone you truly care. Cassettefrommyex.com dusts off old mixtapes and shares the intimate stories behind the plastic from awkward first dates to summers filled with Faith No More, Patty Loveless, and Digable Planets.
The concept is a natural transition for Jason Bitner, co-creator of Cassettefrommyex.com. Bitner formerly worked at FOUND Magazine, which publishes lost-and-found letters and scribbles, providing readers with a vague look into a stranger’s life. For Cassettefrommyex.com, Bitner and his production crew launced the site in March by inviting their creative type friends to write narratives about mixtapes from their ex-boyfriends and girlfriends.
“I was rummaging around in my basement a few months ago when I happened upon a relic of my teen years: Music To Soak Your Toe To,” Bitner says. “This mixtape, compiled for me by my then-girlfriend Kate, stayed with me for 17 years. I knew that if I had kept an old mixtape that most everyone must have one in a dusty shoebox somewhere.”
Stand-out “ex” stories include Magnetic Fields’ Claudia Gonson waxing nostalgic about her high school sweetheart and Dave Nadelberg, author of the MORTIFIED project, a cringe-worthy collection of teenage diary entries. Nadelberg recites an anecdote about an aptly titled “Obliteration” mix from a short-lived fling: “We were at a rave in Ithaca, New York. I was drunk-ish. She was stoned-ish. Despite our inebriated vision, it was lust at first sight-ish.”