The day the Lizmix died her perspective

My favorite musical genre is Psychedelicbluesytimelessrockyjangle Pop. What’s yours? If you admit to Bro Country, we can be friends who talk about the weather, but we will never be close. But if you are passionate and knowledgeable about your Bro Country, I can respect that, my music loving comrade. Some of you music lovers may remember a catchy 80’s song by Bruce Hornsby, “That’s just the way it is, some things will never change,” he sang. Well, some things have changed, Bruce, like how to share music!

For over 25 years, I compiled a curated year-end mixtape/CD/playlist and shared it with friends. I avidly listened to music all year, old and new, scouting out songs worthy of my Lizmix. Then I edited the collection down to 80 minutes to fit on a CD, purchased the songs on iTunes (or burned them from my CD collection), arranged the songs in perfect mixtape order (buildup, crescendo, then all sad or slow songs relegated to the winddown), burned 100 CDs and printed labels. It was a labor of love. It came in handy at Christmastime, since I don’t bake, knit or make jelly. My friends couldn’t wait to pop that CD into their player and experience the eclectic Lizmix.

But as Bob Dylan sings, “The times, they are a changin.” I attempted to change with the times, purchasing both Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions way back when they became available. For years, I sent links to my playlist on both streaming services to over 100 people. Last year only three people opened them. Ouch, a bee stung my ego. But I get it, there is no longer a singular way to give the gift of music. I personally love Spotify but not many of my friends are willing to pay for it. And Spotify is competing with Apple, Pandora, SiriusXM, SoundCloud, YouTube, as well as a surge in vinyl record sales. People just wanna listen to their own music! Amen to that. RIP to the Lizmix. It had a good run, a great life, but like my favorite George Harrison album, “All Things Must Pass.”

Oh, but don’t worry, the music hasn’t died. In addition to a turntable, CD player and cassette player (yes it works), we now have Bluetooth speakers all over the house, including a waterproof one in the shower. Thanks to the Spotify family plan, everyone can listen to almost any song ever written anywhere at any time. Listening to their music (not mine) blasting in the car, in the shower, or on the trampoline is what my children do. It makes me smile. Never fear, I still make playlists, way more than once a year now. Some have 200 songs on them – I always hated being restricted to 80 minutes. I name them lovingly: Sweet Things, Dance This Mess Around, The Feels, Space Music, Jangle Pop, Psychejelic, Technicolor and Fongs (songs that start with my favorite letter, F), to name a few. I suppose it is a hobby, like knitting. But I can’t give anyone a hat or a scarf.

For those of you who love music, I’ll list a few tracks from what would have been my 26th annual Lizmix (in mixtape order of course). Listen any way you can!

• “Expert in a Dying Field” by The Beths

• “I Can’t Give Everything Away” by Spoon

• “Tired of Toein’ the Line” by Rocky Burnette

• “Border Song” by Aretha Franklin

• “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg

• “Head On” by The Jesus and Mary Chain

• “All Right Now” by Free

• “Baby One More Time” by Fountains of Wayne

• “Liz” by Shel Silverstein

• “Another Day” by Paul McCartney

• “Walking on a Wire” by the bis-quits