Figured it would make sense to set off the MP3 bloggery with the first record I found when we moved to New York from Seattle in 1999.

When Emily and I got here after road-tripping across the country in a rented Oldsmobile Alero, we had to wait two weeks for our movers to show up. All we had was our camping gear and grubby clothes, and a couple hundred bucks to last us till I could find a job (we moved so she could go to law school at Columbia, and there was no way she would be working on anything but that).

After a week we finally got a hold of the movers and they hadn't even left Seattle. So we spent the time walking around the city, cleaning our dirty-ass Hell's Kitchen apartment, and going to air-conditioned $3 movies around the corner. (It was 103º when we got to the city and we had no air. Suddenly watching "Entrapment" twice seemed like a great idea.) A couple times we went out to Coney Island and sat on the boardwalk drinking $2 beers and eating clam strips. I got some job offers there, primarily in the field of construction and demolition, and seriously considered them.There used to be a tent city/makeshift flea market across Ocean Avenue, and we spent a lot of time continuing what we had done on the drive across the country—digging through old stuff looking for clothes, books, and records. It was a fun way to pass the time even though we were running out of money and feeling a little overwhelmed by the city. The first record I found was Afrika Bambaataa's Death Mix. Back then, it had always seemed like one of those unattainable NYC records, and here I had found it for a couple dollars, in perfect condition, at Coney Island.

It felt like a good sign.

DJ Afrika Bambaataa and Friends
Live! Death Mix
(Paul Winley Records)
Recorded live at James Monroe HS, Bronx, NY, 1983
Side 1 MP3
Side 2 MP3