Several years ago, my good friend Kyle introduced me to a friend of his brother Eric, Joe. Years later, Joe moved in with Kyle down the street when I lived in Brooklyn. During that time, I enjoyed getting to know Joe.
Joe and I share a love for music and a desire to spend time exploring ideas. It took me time to learn the latter, though. You wouldn't know it when you meet Joe, but he quietly works on all kinds of side projects in his downtime. I admire his passion and curiosity.
Last year, Joe asked me to contribute to his latest project, an online mixtape club called Green Bananas. I was pumped but admittedly a bit nervous — I hadn't curated a mixtape since the age of Winamp media players, LimeWire, and stacks of blank CDs.
It took me a while (read: months) to decide on a theme, but with winter in full swing, I noticed I was spending more time than usual curating music to set the right tone with the highs and lows of the season, often returning to songs I hadn't listened to in years.
My playlist, entitled "Den," hit Green Bananas last week. You can check it out here. Den is an eclectic collection of 15 songs that capture the essence of my Winter experience.
I had a lot of fun working with Joe over email and even more fun taking the time to find the right cadence of tracks. The experience brought me back to curating setlists when I was performing regularly.
Joe probably has no idea how grateful I am for this simple ask. It's brought me closer to music, while subconsciously, I think it also inspired me to start featuring tracks in this newsletter.
Thanks for the opportunity, Joe.
This post originally appeared in Edition No. 082 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.
Monday, April 4, 2022
