Cassette Love 003: Jens Rocker!

When I started hitting up my friends for contributions to this series, the home girl Jens Rocker sent me a link to her own blog where she posted up some of her favorite classics. Jen and I go waaaaay back, and we actually have a looong running joke about the mixtapes we used to trade with each other! She claims my boy Pete and I never gave back her fave tape, and he swears he did, and that she never gave back some of our mixtapes tapes etc etc etc.

"Yo Pete, you STILL have my DJ Matty MIXTAPE" hahahahahaha, that one never gets old to me! "Jen, where is my Ambassador tape???" "I gave that back to you a long time ago!"

Here is a quality post Jen made about home made cassette mixtapes. Click on the pics to see them in a LARGER size.

There was always a certain fantastic quality to the mixtapes females made that I love. It reminds me of that special touch that Sofia Coppola has when it comes to filmaking, that touch that only the females possess. Long live the ladies in our lives!

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"I USED TO MAKE THE BEST MIX TAPES. EVER. everyone says that of course but i at one point made tapes that sampled simpsons clips and this was long before mp3s were involved. I had my tv/vcr rigged to my stereo and would stop/start on VHS to make those bad boys appear in between songs. I would spend entire days off devoted to making the perfect mix: tracks to tape to covers. a bit mad scientist of me, i admit, but yet so much fun to make. being young & creative with lots of free time to devote to being creative… ah the 90′s.

i have over 30 mix tapes i made or people made for me. not counting 97-98 stretch & bobbito shows i would start/stop tape on sunday nites on hot97. those are being imported onto mp3s currently. will share when i have. gems.





the good as gold mix tape, july 1997.

gold paint pen, pilot precise v. point black ink pen, burned out edging by a lighter, scotch magic tape.

I made this one for Emily Malone & Niks back in the best summer ever. 1997 in new york, ask anyone, was one of the best ever. i made one for myself the tape was so good. and it’s identical to this one. no track list though. lost that.





pisces mix, january 20th, 1998.

black sharpie, pisces 1997 astro book, and pink scotch tape.

made this one for me & niks. the dates & pisces logos were cut out of this daily astrology book that i’d write down everything we’d done that year in. the cover is boring .. just the cover of the book. no track listing either. i think i only made track listings for the person i was giving the mix to. i hate getting a mix with no track listing.





16th birthday mix from Jen Walker, march 9th, 1993.

This one is great, the cover has a billion inside jokes that you only have with people you know well. Jen Walker and i spent a summer driving around in her saab convertible, blaring blondie, and hanging out at malls & punk shows looking for skater boys to make out with. This was also the summer i became vegetarian, hence the quote on the far right of the cover. I haven’t had a hamburger since 1992. crazy. half my life. and i still have the mix tape from then… crazy."
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Thanks for coming through Jen!

While Jen is off living on an island on her own, she would be EXTREMELY stoked if anyone sent her some mixes!

Send your fave mixes to
Jen O'Donnell
6200 estate smith bay #3-397
St. Thomas, VI 00802