Did You Ever Listen To Tapes?

In an era before Sony brought the Walkman to the world and long before Apple unleashed the iPod to the modern world, did you ever listen to tapes? Silly question for most people over 25. What better day than Mother's Day should film director Allison Anders share her answer:

Wow did I ever! I listened to 8 track tapes kids! I was thinking about this actually on the plane last night from Brazil to NYC, I was listening to my IPOD on shuffle and "Spanish Caravan" by The Doors came on, and it immediately took me back to 1968 when the record came out and I had it on vinyl and on 8 track so we could listen to it in the car. My parents liked The Doors in the car cause the production was especially good for 8 track sound systems! And I was thinking -- isn't it amazing how this song can take me immediately back to the era, and yet we didn't have near the constant saturation of music listening we have now. If I were on a plane in 1968, or on a bus or walking down the street -- I couldn't be listening to my own private playlist. I could listen to a radio, but the walkman which revolutionized selective listening hadn't been invented yet. So you had to listen to songs either on a jukebox by selection, or your record player or 8 track. Also a lot of LPS were released on reel to reel tapes and we listened to those on reel to reel tape decks also.


Posted by Allison Anders



The entire Time Machine crew bows down to Allison's film "Grace Of My Heart". A wonderful gem of a motion picture starring Illeana Douglas that any music lover of the sixties and seventies should seek out. In addition to the amazing singing voice of Kristen Vigard for Illeana Douglas, there are fine performances from the entire cast including; Matt Dillon, John Turturro, Eric Stoltz, Patsy Kensit, Bridget Fonda and Bruce Davison. Be sure to keep an eye out for The Riptides in the film portrayed by Redd Kross's own Jeff and Steve McDonald in addition to some interesting roles from Jill Sobule and Chris Isaak.

Allison's other cinematic experiences include; "Gas Food Lodging", "My Crazy Life (Mi Vida Loca)", "Sugar Town", "Border Radio" and she contributed her directing and screenwriting duties along with fellow directors; Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino for the movie "Four Rooms".