tapebomb 001 - Drop 3 & 4

Drop point 3: Mouth of Skippy the Panther at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Drop point 4: Bus stop across from the Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA.
I finished my radio show and went to the 7-11 near campus to get a Slurpee and some chips. It was 4 in the morning. The place was closed. The 7-11 was closed. I took a walk to see where I could drop the last two tapes.
I knew I wanted to drop one by Skippy, the statue of the U of Pitt's mascot. No one was around so I had to time to look at it and consider where I was going to put the tape. I wondered if I could make it stay in his mouth.
It did! I've never wished for a digital camera more than at that moment. It looked so perfect, like he was biting down on the tape or waiting like a crocodile for someone to try to snatch it from his jaws. And you couldn't see it unless you were looking at it head-on. It was perfect. It probably sat there all day.
I thought about putting the last tape on Dippy the Diplodocus in front of the Carneigie Museum. As I walked over I saw the statue of Steven Foster. He's sitting there while a black hilbilly with a guitar sits at his feet staring lovingly up at him. Apparently people put a sock on the black guy's feet every winter as a prank. It is a messed-up statue. It would have been the perfect place to drop the tape. Only there was a security guard sitting just a few yards off. I'm pretty sure he was asleep but I didn't want to risk it.
So I gave Dippy and Mr. Foster a pass and went over to the Cathedral of Learning. It was all locked up and I looked for a place nearby to drop the tape where it'd be more likely to be picked up than thrown out. I settled on the bus stop shell just because I wanted to get home. I set the tape in the window. You could see it if you looked for it, but otherwise it probably escaped notice for most of the morning.
At this point I have no idea what happened to any of the tapes. I left no details on them, not even a tracklist. There's nothing that would lead people back to this site, which would make it all the more interesting if they managed to find their way here.
I just bought a 10-pack of 60-minute tapes for the next two drops. I'm thinking July 11th, Fair Use Day for the next one. Probably the same spots too.
- 6/27/05

tapebomb 001 - Drop 2

Drop point 2: The Mall at Robinson, Robinson, PA
The local mall here is actually called "The Mall." Aren't these people supposed to make stuff up?
I haven't been to the mall in months. There used to be a Dance Dance Revolution machine in the food court and I figured it'd be the perfect place to drop a tape. Either just set it on the machine for someone to take or just give it to one of the kids playing the game.
Only the DDR machine wasn't there. The space was walled off with a giant "Coming Soon" placard that malls use to try ever so hard to make you care, though you won't. So I wandered the mall looking for another space to drop it.
I went into FYE, the crappy mall music store. A sales person accosted me almost the minute I came through the door. Do I look that scary? I asked if they had Troubled Hubble. They did. I looked at it then left. I think I'm going to drop the next tape there (July 11th, Fair Use Day) but not this time.
Wonder as I wandered. Waldenbooks is now Borders Express. Hot Topic is still the only place in the mall selling vinyl. I went down to the other end of the mall, the Dawn of the Dead end, and looked for a computer terminal.
The Mall is a modern mall. They have little internet stations set up all over the place so you can check your email or look up the location of stores in the mall. They use a touch-screen with a crappy interface that doesn't work and gives you virtually no useful information. It's great. It's everything you'd expect from a shopping mall. I thought about dropping the tape on one of the couches for someone to just find, but decided I wanted to set it next to one of those internet kiosks. Specifically the one across from the Vans store.
I don't like Vans. Read Naomi Klein's No Logo to get full details of why Vans suck. They're Nike without the bad PR. Literally.
There's a kiosk right in front of the Vans store. As I'm walking towards it there's a mall cop (with a big, wide-brimmed hat. Why the big hat?) walking towards me, rubbing something off his shirt. So I walk past all the way to the end of the mall (an extra 30 yards or so), turn around and come back. Now somebody's using the kiosk. I'd be happy to just give the guy the tape, but this is supposed to be anonymous so I go into the store.
There's no one there but the clerks. Now, the clerks are friendly and cute, which is why they were hired, and immediately ask if I need help. I just want to look at the decks in the back and say I'm just browsing.
A few minutes later, I leave, sit at the kiosk, look for an arcade, leave the tape and walk away.
I did find an arcade in the mall. That's where the DDR machine got moved. I'll drop a tape there sometime. Right now I've dropped two tapes. I'm saving one for myself which leaves two more. I'm thinking the WYEP studios and the fountain at Gateway Center.
- 6/25/05

tapebomb 001 - "They Don't Know My Rock and Roll"

The mixtape:


Side A

1. Dave Eggers - Introduction (Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002)
2. The Bicycle Theif - Aspirations (You Come and Go Like a Pop Song)
3. Marvin Gaye - What's Happening Brother? (What's Goin' On?)
4. Porcupine Tree - Blackest Eye (In Absentia promo)
5. Blur - Song 2 (The Best of)
6. Moroboshi Industries - Tired of Sex (Soulseek Records Compilation 001)
7. MC Honky - The Object (I am the Messiah)
8. The Breeders - Cannonball (Last Splash)
9. Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Burn Down the Malls (Enigma Variations 2)
10. Beck - Girl (Guero)
11. Junkie XL - Saturday Teenage Kick (Saturday Teenage Kick)
12. Johnny Depp - Dialogue (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)

Side B

1. Charles Bukowski - The Soldier, His Wife and the Bum (Uncensored)
2. Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly (SLC Punk Soundtrack)
3. David Kitt - Step Outside in the Morning Light (Small Moments)
4. John Vanderslice - The Mansion (Life and Death of an American Four-tracker)
5. Pete Yorn - Murray (musicforthemorningafter)
6. The Mountain Goats - This Year (The Sunset Tree)
7. Bran Van 3000 - Speed (Discosis)
8. Common Rider - Carry On (Lookout! Freakout 2000)
9. The Dismemberment Plan - You Are Invited (Emergency & I)
10. Paul Casey - Crash (8/25/02)
11. Eels - Mr. E's Beautiful Remix (Butch 'N' Joey Remix) (22 Miles of Hard Road (UK))
12. Troubled Hubble - 14,000 Things to Be Happy About (Making Beds in a Burning House)

Tapes copied-6/24/05
Drop point 1: Sheetz. Corner of Rt. 60 and Campbell's Run Road, Robinson, PA.
Dropped the first tape off. Really, unreasonably nervous about it. I drove first to the gas station/super market/McDonald's where kids usually hang out. It was, after all, 11 o'clock on a Friday night. But no one was there. Not even skaters taking advantage of the empty parking lots. This is the first time I've ever been by there on a weekend and not seen teenagers doing that "Whudda you wanna do? I dunno whudda you wann do?" thing. So I went to my second choice, the Sheetz.
Again, totally depopulated. This place is, sadly, hopping with kids even on a Sunday night when school's in session. There's actually nothing better to do than go to the gas station and get chips and soda. That's part of the impetus behind this project-inject some weirdness into random kids' lives.
I wonder if Land of the Dead has anything to do with the dessertion, Pittsburgh-area kids getting zombified by the sheer awesomeness of that film. Someone should tell them, "Pilsbury's gonna come kick all yinz asses."
Anyway, Sheetz has some tables outside for people to eat the Sheetz food at. I guess because they like to watch their customers suffer. Or it's some sort of prank. "Look! He's really eating it!" I just dropped the tape, totally unsubtly, on the one table that was under an awning just in case it rained. I don't know who will grab it or what they'll think. I didn't get stopped or questioned by anyone.
- 6/24/05
More drops coming soon.

How to do a Tapebomb

1. Buy a 5-pack of blank tapes.
2. Make a mixtape.
3. Copy it to all the blanks.
4. Give them to strangers or drop them around town.
5. Post details of tracklist and drops here.
6. Post details if you find a tapebomb tape.