Mix Tapes at old Drakes Brewing

I mentioned a craft brewery in an earlier post that I used to live nearby called Drakes. For many years they held tastings on Friday's after work and I made many a good friend during those years. The tastings had all the ambiance of a tailgate party at a sporting event because we usually hung around outside in the parking lot, walking around with a pint glass in out hands and chatting with others.

Drakes would let us snake an extension cord into their place so we could plug in a boom box and have some music. For a while we'd play mix tapes/cds so we wouldn't have to hear an entire album of a single artist and bore others. Mixes was easier than shuffling cds, and so it was just that for a time. Just about all my mixes began with a tune from the operetta called The Student Prince and performed by Mario Lanza. This was typically played as the first beers were poured those Fridays.

The mix tapes that I made I hung onto for the most part and I still listen to one if I can't decide on what to play. Here's one I played at Drake's on February 2, 2007:

After a couple we'd start to really enjoy the music