The TLBR Mix Tape Tour I've always had a thing for mix tapes, whether it was making them for my own personal entertainment, for a road trip, a particular female-type, or whatever. And I've been doing it long, long before Nick Hornsby wrote "High Fidelity" and John Cusack starred in the pretty above-average movie adaptation.

Some of the best times I had here was spinning together these compilations, from the halcyon days of not having a firewall at work (and a kick-ass version of Limewire), to high-speed internet and burners in the apt. I even made the jump from simple mix tape (actually, they've all been CD's the last few years, pardon the romantic semantics) to intricate "box sets," complete with themes and songs for certain times of the day or week. I made three in my day: one was un-be-freaking-lievable and went over well; the second one was kind of a dud on account of the recipient being an igloo with a dress; and the third one has yet to be sent and the window of opportunity/relevance grows smaller by the day. (But I still listen to it.)

So I've been mulling over exactly how to write an appropriate post on this final day of a seven-year run here in NY. I'm not particularly interested in telling a series of anecdotes, nor do I want to write haiku.

(but if I did, it would go a little like this: Packing really sucks; Finding Old Cards and pictures; And a bunch of socks)

So I put together a playlist for the iPod - modern technology's answer to the mix tape - titled "On the Driving Away." The tracklisting for the 21-song Salute is listed below. Enjoy.

1. Ashes - Embrace
2. Get Gone - Fiona Apple
3. Float On - Modest Mouse
4. What More Can I Say - Jay-Z
5. Hey hey, my my - Neil Young
6. New Slang - The Shins
7. We Gone Make It - Jadakiss
8. Made You Look - Nas
9. NY is not my home - Jim Croce
10. Sweet Baby James - JT
11. Dirty Water - The Standells
12. Green eyes - Coldplay
13. Last goodbye - Jeff Buckley
14. Let go - Frou Frou
15. Only Living boy in NY - Simon & Garfunkel
16. Old Familiar Steam - Old 97's
17. One Shining Moment - Teddy Pendergrass
18. Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips
19. Champagne Supernova - Oasis
20. Exit Music for a Film - Radiohead
21. Landed (strings version) - Ben Folds  ¶ 9:00 AM