Ethno-birthday-music...: Mike Pace's 18 Songs for Ben's 18th Birthday

Mixtapes are cheap but personal, since all you have to do is buy the tape--and not always even that. It's the perfect birthday present for teenagers. What do teens give each other now?

Probably not mixtapes with Less Than Joke and Lagwagon. Maybe Zoinks! and Dick Dale, if those teens are awesome.

1. Less Than Jake, "Automatic"
2. Sleepasaurus, "Uncool"
3. Lifetime, "The Gym is Neutral Territory"
4. Not Available, "Little Green Car"
5. Slapstick, "74 Fullerton"
6. Blink, "Ben Wah Balls"
7. Heft, "Rap Sucks"
8. Diesel Boy, "Titty Twister"
9. The Queers, "No Tit"
10. Lagwagon, "Brown-Eyed Girl"
11. Zoinks!, "Dirty Underwear"
12. Against All Authority, "Centerfold"
13. Dick Dale, "Hava Nagila"
14. Wax, "California"
15. Shift, "Dress Up"
16. Strung Out, "Firecracker"
17. Millencolin, "Bullion"
18. Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Wallet"

I don't know what else to say about this. Sure, by this time, when I've already gotten three-to-four years' worth of mixtapes, there's some overlap and repeats in songs; and there's some bands that I always enjoyed seeing more songs from.

For instance, you've probably noticed Lagwagon come up a lot; and I might have gone to see Lagwagon play a show largely because of these tapes. I'm not sure, though.

My clearest show-going memory is actually my first punk show at the sadly defunct Wetlands, where we saw the Swingin' Udders in 1995. Oh man, here's a picture from that show from Getty; though, if you think that picture is good, you should see the photos I took from that show. Next time I talk about going home, remind me to pull out my photos and go through them. Heck, I only got rid of my Swingin' Udders t-shirt a few years ago.

As if I knew I would do this blog post series--or just can't ever throw anything away--I saved the stickers that fell off the tape's sides. And what is this?

Mike, did you steal this from the high school radio station and tape over a PSA for SUNY?