DiscWasher No. 30 / The (Ever) Emoting Mix-Tape

A Story to Listen to / June 27, 2026

Jun 27, 2026

After sixteen years of sending out playlists with a story about how I relate to music, I’m ready to go a bit deeper with you. I think it’s time to get to know me a little better. We’re all friends, right? So, whatever I tell you must stay between us. Just you and me. Okay? Okay (deep breath) - I shave only two days a week (Monday and Thursday). I was born left-handed, but they switched me to right-handed in pre-school. I’ve never had a Pepsi. Gin is my go-to, except when I’m drinking a dirty martini. And I cry every time I hear David Bowie’s song Heroes.

Sure, there are others like Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New Here (reminds me of my dad) and Elliott Smith’s Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud (I hope so) that show up every once in a while on my “song shuffle” and make me teary-eyed. But it’s the more popular Heroes, with its D-G chord progression, either English or German (also recorded in French), that gets to me every single time. Co-written by Brian Eno in 1977, the song (which can be heard in 68 films) doesn’t make me sad or bring me down. It makes me feel hopeful - two lovers, one from East Germany and the other from the West, dreaming of their freedom. Whether it’s the 6:07 album version or the 3:32 single, if they played it a few weeks ago at my daughter’s college graduation, as she and her fellow students walked across the stage at the Rhode Island Convention Center, I would have bawled the whole time.

Songs do that. They evoke emotion and remind us of what it was like when it wasn’t so hard - when things were different. Music can be deeply personal. It can be joyful or heartbreaking. We connect with meaningful lyrics, while tone defines character. Our moods can swing based on a rhythm or beat. I smile like a little kid whenever I hear Don’t Sweat the Technique by Eric B. & Rakim, and tap my fingers from beginning to end of New Order’s Everything’s Gone Green. When the opening “horn effect” on Cheryl Lynn’s Got to Be Real comes on, I feel like dancing. I laugh along with Liam Hayes (of Plush) at the 1:13 mark of (I Didn’t Know) I Was Asleep, and I could just stare at my wife for hours on end if Cat Power’s cover of The Velvet Underground’s I Found a Reason was on continuous repeat.

So, what about you? Do you have a song that makes you cry? I won’t tell anyone. I promise.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy the listen. We definitely need a few more heroes in our lives - even just for one day.

DiscWasher No. 30 / The (Ever) Emoting Mix-Tape

Side A
1. Opening_Words / KAU
2. Karnataka / SANDMAN PROJECT
3. He's Island Man / EDDIE HARRIS
4. Melody / THE ROLLING STONES
5. Woman to Woman / JOE COCKER
6. 'Til the Money Runs Out / TOM WAITS
7. Harrisburg Stomp / DIGGS DUKE
8. City of Aleppo / KEIICHI TANAKA
9. You Can't Stop Me Now (explicit) / RZA featuring INSPECTAH DECK 
10. Heart Shaped Box / RAMBL! featuring FLO MÖBES
11. Latin Blues / DAVE PIKE
12. Cohran Blues / KELAN PHIL COHRAN & LEGACY
13. No Maybes / REGINALD OMAS MAMODE IV
14. When it Rains / SHAY HAZAN
15. 52 / PRETTY V featuring ARCHY MARSHALL

Side B
1. Looking at You Dub / NIGHTMARES ON WAX vs ADRIAN SHERWOOD
2. It's Gonna Be Me (Without Strings) / DAVID BOWIE
3. What U Did (explicit) / JOE JAMES
4. Tsuki to Taiyo / KIN GAJO featuring STAN MARIS
5. Touching The President / TALL T & THE TOUCHERS
6. Melody in Dub / HARRY MUDIE
7. Asmarina / AKALE WUBE
8. 3 O'Clock in the Morning Blues / IKE & TINA TURNER
9. It's Always Something. It's Never Nothing / MARVIN PONTIAC
10. Japanese Green / BLUE EARTH SOUND
11. Going to Prom / KEVIN MORBY
12. Apryl's Velvet Dress / CINEMA ROYAL
13. The Sacred Garden / THE COSMIC TONES RESEARCH TRIO
14. Did I Do Enough / LONNIE HOLLEY featuring JESCA HOOP
15. Shit Ton of Love / RALPH HEIDEL