Even as a 12 year old I didn’t know how to spell.
“Wait a minute — Mix Tape Zero?” You’re probably asking.
Yeah. Mix Tape Zero. Let me explain.
As I cleaned out the Volvo last week I came across an old cassette tape. It was the first “mix tape” I’d ever received. Compiled in 1994 by then-camp counselor Brian “Klugger” Klugman, this was our “bunk mix,” the songs which myself, my bunkmates and our counselors had enjoyed throughout our 8-week summer camp experience. I went to camp every summer from the time I was 9 years old until I was 16, and 1994 was an especially memorable year for me. The personalities of both “Klugger” and Josh Stein rubbed off on my friends and I that summer. A dozen or so 12-year-olds all walked differently, talked differently, and carried ourselves with an air that could only come from living in close quarters with people who were more than just respected or admired. Even after the summer of ’94, we were bound to the personalities of our guides — Klugger especially — by some gossamery thread, never quite seen by outsiders but always directing us in a kind of “What Would Klugger Do?” sense.
Since the summer of ’94 I’ve only seen Klugger a few times, and I’m pretty sure the last time was over a decade ago. We kept in touch regularly via MySpace in college, but after I moved to LA and learned that it’s actually kind of hard to make definitive plans with people in this city, we lost touch. No one’s to blame, I established myself in my new home and built a new life here, and Klugger has been adding various credits to his resume as an actor and writer. I still remember forcing my father to take me to see Wes Craven’s Wishmaster at the Colony Theater in Livingston, New Jersey when I first heard Klugger had a role in the film. We were the only two people in the theater, and at one point an usher walked into the theater and asked my father and I why we’d chosen to see the film. More recently I’ve followed the production and release of Tron: Legacy, a film which credits Klugger (and fellow summercamp alumn Lee Sternthal) as story writers.
Anyway, here’s the product of that summer, the “Bunk Cedar PFC Summer ’94 Mix Tape”. I’ll add some little notes next to songs whose origins and importance I remember. If anyone from Pine Forest Camp Bunk Cedar 1994 is reading this, help me fill in the blanks, okay?
Sunday Mix Tape Number Zero
PFC ’94 Bunk Cedar
01. Digable Planets – Nickel Bags – (buy this album)
02. Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun – This was probably the song that played most in our bunk that summer. Klugger used to play this track and “Add It Up” often, but he would always mute the music when Gordon Gano would sing the f-word. When I returned from camp this was the first CD I purchased. – (buy this album)
03. They Might Be Giants – Particle Man – (buy this album)
04. Living Colour – Cult Of Personality – (buy this album)
05. Beastie Boys – So What’cha Want – Beasties Boys were always popular at summer camp. If I recall, Hello Nasty came out in the middle of the summer, and when someone’s parents brought them the CD on visiting day listening to it was an event. The same held true for OK Computer a few years later. And, of course, I was the first one to get OK Computer. Of course, I got is as a gift for my counselor Colin — the Scottish counselor responsible for introducing me to Brit-Pop, Irvine Welsh and golf — but I still got it first! – (buy this album)
06. Warren G (featuring Nate Dogg) – Regulate – At summer camp — and especially at Jewish summer camps — basketball is always a very big deal. It’s probably because we are not very athletic people, and playing against our own gave us an opportunity to appear more talented than we really were. Point is, basketball was the most important summer camp sport, and in order to get into the right headspace to play basketball, you had to listen to basketball music. And this song was on the Above the Rim soundtrack. And the movie soundtrack was a huge hit that summer. If I could go back in time, I think I’d want most of all to see us as 12 year old Jews gearing up for basketball game by listening to this. – (buy this album)
07. Take 6 – I L-O-V-E U – (buy this album)
08. De La Soul – The Magic Number – If I recall, Josh Stein was the big De La Soul fan in the bunk, and he also introduced us to the likes of Bell Biv DeVoe, A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development and Digable Planets. Maybe someone with a less hazy memory could clarify for me. In our later years at camp we smoked a ton of pot, and it made some of the early years a bit cloudy. – (buy this album)
09. Us3 – Cantaloop – (buy this album)
10. Prince – 7 – People still laugh at me for knowing all the words to “7,” but more than being a great song, “7” is a great song that reminds me of a great time. So why not remember all the words, assholes? – (buy this album)
11. John Prine – Fish And Whistle – Much like “7,” people always laughed at me growing up for being into John Prine. And I’d like to offer the exact same excuse. And, much like the Prince song, I still like John Prine. I have more John Prine records than I have Mission of Burma records. – (buy this album)
12. Jack Jones – Theme From Love Boat – One night we were awakened in the middle of the night and told we needed to all go to the mess hall because there was a fire near the boys bunks. Maybe lightning had struck a tree? Maybe a tree had fallen over? I only remember a fire being involved, but it could have been any number of things. To keep us awake, occupied, and maybe to have a little fun with us, Klugger tried to get us all to remember all the words to both the themes from Love Boat and WKRP. There were prizes given to those of us who could recite the most words. – (buy this album)
13. Squeeze – Tempted – (buy this album)
14. Jackson 5 – ABC – (buy this album)
15. War – Low Rider – Dazed and Confused had come out in ’93, so I’m sure that had something to do with the ongoing popularity of this song. We never saw that film, but on the last night of camp Klugger had all of us sit in his area of the bunk and watch New Jack City and one other film whose name I can’t remember. I want to say it was Goodfella but it could have just as easily been The Sandlot. We definitely watched New Jack City. And then Klugger probably let us hear “Add It Up” without the mutes for the first time. – (buy this album)
16. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive – This one I both don’t remember and regret. In hindsight, I’d say it has no place on a 12-year-old boy’s mix tape, but then again there must have been a reason for it. Maybe because this has always been a big Bar/Bat Mitzvah song, and we were approaching the age of 13? That’s about the best I can do on this one. Sorry. – (buy this album)
17. Michael Jackson – Will You Be There – (buy this album)
18. Steve Carlisle – Theme from WKRP In Cincinnati – See “Theme From Love Boat. – (buy this album)
19. Earth Wind & Fire – Fantasy – (buy this album)
