Today I learned that Mike Skinner aka The Streets has retired. As one friend put "I feel like my youth has been taken away". In the early aughts, I was introduced to The Streets and "Original Pirate Material", by going to a show at The Bowery Ballroom. After that show I was hooked, and had OPM on repeat for months. Even playing the opening song to get hyped for a night out. I went on to see The Streets three more times, once on an epic night at The Warsaw in Williamsburg followed by an "after party" at Enid's where Mike Skinner and crew were out in full force. The last time show was really two nights in a row at Irving Plaza. It was great and in a way I never looked back. I didn't buy another album or attend another show after that.
The role that music plays in our lives is often profound and definitive. For me, The Streets, evokes memories of my free wheeling 20's, of friendships forged and opening myself up to new experiences. And for that I'll be forever grateful and always a fan.
Today's mix is full of The Streets and other acts that came up with him.
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