Locked Up

Date

October 10, 2012

Miracler

Paul Donald

Location

San Francisco

Wow, two new Miraclers in a row?

You noticed! Speaking of, last week's rookie mix was a total pro outing, definitely worthy of double-digit comments—and if you think Your Hostess ain't counting your commenting efforts, friends, don't be counting on that! I will make time for that crap if it makes our group BETTER.

Anyway, but back to THE NOW. Paul Donald is a gifted person on many levels. The first time I walked into his first apartment in SF, I was actually moved to use the word 'curated' and that was like 15+ years ago. As far as I'm concerned, every 'shelter' mag and 'lifestyle' blog and every 'tear-out flea market guide' originated with this fella. I don't even care where the facts hit feelings here. I know what I need to know.

So put what you now know about PD into the aural world and what do you get? Well, I'll let him tell ya.

Stuff About My Mix:

I was delighted when Kelly offered me the opportunity to join this group. But when it came to compiling a worthy mix, I realized that as a relatively new parent, I didn't have the time to craft something amazing from scratch. So I borrowed an idea from Brian Eno. In his diary, he writes of having gotten a book contract, only to realize that he didn't have time to write a book. On the advice of Stewart Brand, he simply found something he'd already written – his personal diary – edited it, and published it. Bingo.

So, friends, what you're getting here is an edited mix I'd created a few years ago for another project. 

Think back to the general malaise of early 2009, with the economy in the toilet, businesses closing, and many of us wondering about our own financial security. During that time my wife-to-be, Janeen, was working a job providing health care in the California state prison system. Her stories of the inmates she encountered were a reminder that, for all of the challenges that seemed so pervasive to me, there were countless people for whom life was much harder.

At the same time, I was part of a small CD-mix club. For my contribution I curated a large collection of songs about prison – as an ode to Janeen's work, but also as a reminder that yes, in fact, things could be worse.

In researching music for the collection, I was happy to come across a few bands/songs I'd never before heard of. For 3MPM, I edited the mix for length, pruning some of those tracks that haven't worn so well over time. But some of those previously-unknown-to-me tracks remained in the mix, and are among my favorites.

Hope you enjoy.

-paul

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