#8 I went back home and continued to try and carve something out of almost nothing, out of just an idea. The idea was that I was going to record my songs and put them on records and that people would listen to them. Then I would travel through their towns and play them a music show. A very simple idea really, not particularly original, but time-honored and beholding a certain degree of mystique, and therefore attractive to me. I'd sort of tried it already. I'd had the good fortune of being recorded in a studio and taken on a little tour, but I felt very separate from the experience. I realized that I needed to have more self-initiative, more of a personal vision, in order to dig in to my desires.
I recorded more songs, some on my now delightfully outdated cassette 4-track, some with a friend who happened to be a recording genius in the studio to which he had access. I was happy with my new recordings and wanted people to hear them so I made a tape. A cassette tape! I hand letter-pressed, hand-cut, and hand-folded the carton. I sewed a little book into each one with images and some credits. I sewed a little paper button and a string onto the outside flaps so it could be secured. It was lovely and I could look at it and feel myself represented there.
Lesson number eight: Make it yourself! Make it yourself! Make it yourself! I can't stress this enough. You will have plenty of time to have other people help you make things later. In the beginning, and maybe forever, make it yourself.
