• Tape Store had a birthday recently -- he's now 18, and now has to say that he's 'still in high school' when casting himself as a misunderstood prodigy, as opposed to a guy old enough to be responsible for his own actions, who can't be bothered to learn an instrument or write a song, but who still wants to complain about American Idol on ILX. Happy birthday, Chris! Anyhoo, I made him this mix, which I was going to put on this cassette I found that's just labeled 'WHAT WOMEN WANT' but then I listened to it and the first song is k.d. lang's 'Constant Craving' and I couldn't bear to tape over it. So I just uploaded it. It's easy with mixtapes/cds/mp3s, especially when a younger person is in mind, to burden the track selection down with Importance. I decided not to do that and just put together some tracks that have been on my mind/iPod lately. I think it turned out really good! Because every track that comes on makes me think 'This track is really good!'

Channing Kennedy presents My Greatest Christape
47 minutes 80 megabytes
maudevintage.com/catjams/christape2007.mp3

"tired of the perculator" d fly, Baltimore, year unknown, maddecent.com/blog
"Elastic Girl" Kahimi Karie, early/mid '90s, Japan, written by Momus / produced by Cornelius
"Fighting Cock" Black Oak Arkansas, late '70s, Arkansas
"Mr. Cool" Rasputin's Stash, 1970s, USA
"Mona Lisa" Slick Rick, 1988, USA
"Sayonara" Takahashi Yukihiro (of Yellow Magic Orchestra), mid-'80s, Japan
"Regulate" Cuizinier & Saphir (produced by DJ Raze), 2007, France
"Prefecta" Miranda feat. Julieta Venegas (El Remolon Reaggeton Glitch Mix), 2007, Argentina?
"Yellow Brick Road" Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, 1967, USA
"Our Blood And Veins From The McGovern Regiment" Proscriptor, 2005, USA
"Sentupower" Dog Murras, 2007, Angola
"Red Stripe Genie Wine" Mr Vegas vs. Skream, 2007ish, wordthecat.com/goku
"My Darling's Love Arrow" Ni Ni Win Shwe, year unknown, Myanmar (Sublime Frequencies)
"Sometimes" Les Rythmes Digitales, 2001, France

• My mother also had a birthday recently, and for it, I scanned a (I don't think they called them this back then) zine she and her friends made in 1974 -- when she was 26, the age that I just was. It's here (21-megabyte PDF). I'm glad she put it in that time capsule.

• OBELISK & MC Cat Genius played a couple of shows in Chicago recently (thanks Mucca Pazza and Permanent Records!) and OBELISK got himself on somebody's 'worst-dressed' list. Nice. He got those prescription glasses made that weekend, then lost them the next week, when he woke up in someone's yard.

• The OBELISK & MC Cat Genius Live On CAT3 DVD is still in the works. Narwhalz of Sound has been comissioned to create the artwork. I cannot express enough how excited I am to work with these Narwhalz.

• OBELISK & MC Cat Genius will be playing at Lumpen's Select Media Fest on November 10th, the day after Zebulon McLuckie's Hercrotchules art show at Heaven.