ojala

when we got to madison for the summer, one of the first things we did was go to a couple thrift stores-- i wanted us to have some plates and glasses that we wouldn't feel badly about if broken by juvenile hands over the course of seven weeks.  and also, cheap clothes.  we weren't so successful on that second goal.  i did pick up a handful of t-shirts at st. vinnie's dig and save, but ended up returning all of them at the end of the summer.  when we were at the dig and save, william came across a cassette tape.  it was going to be part of some grand project where he would create something new with a bunch of non-working electronics.  once he learned (from his ancient parents) that the tape had music on it, he really wanted us to find a tape player.  i assured him that this was probably not realistic in the year 2015, even though we were not quite as advanced as my 1988 book about the future predicted, highlighting flying cars as a genuine possibility by the year 2000.

however one day, as we were driving the car that belonged to the house we were renting, i looked at the console, only to discover that it had a real, genuine, tape player installed in it as a matter of manufacturing course.  what luck!

the next day we put in the tape, labeled on one side simply as 'salsa.'  it was disappointing but not surprising to hear that the music sounded like a ghost of its former self-- slowed down, echoey, and sounding very far away.  as i started explaining to william that unfortunately we weren't going to be able to listen to the music on the tape, it suddenly snapped into shape and we had ourselves a salsa party on the way to swim lessons.

we listened to that tape about a hundred times in the course of the summer (half salsa, half cuban folk).  it became our little madison soundtrack.  i kept the tape and brought it back to denmark with us even though we have no prospect of seeing a tape player anytime soon.

and we searched for the songs.

fortunately, the other side of the tape was labeled: silvio rodriguez.  so many of the songs were immediately accessible to us online...

but the salsa songs were harder to find.

we found a couple, including this one--

and finally today, we found another...

in the spirit of cassette tapes, i've shared videos that probably came from vhs tapes.

and one day we'll buy a tape player so we can listen to all those songs again in the right order.