Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990

Subtract 33 years from the date of the Tweet. 2021 = 1988. 2022 = 1989. A representation of a special time and place through the medium of microblogging.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

The basics: Most observations and musings quoted directly from scribbled notes and “journals”. All named characters are real people. Major, vivid events are real. Some minor events, that easily could have happened, were invented to fill in gaps in the written record.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Happy Labor Day. Looking forward to seeing Zen Frisbee and Mind Sirens tomorrow.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

…and now I am two and twenty and oh ‘tis true ‘tis true.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Been listening to Northern Hemisphere Live with Todd Mormon and Bill Burton quite a bit lately. Last week somebody called in complaining about the programming at WXYC and man did they nail it…

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

…”Because everything you’ve ever heard is crap, and the only thing really worth listening to is something somebody recorded in their bathroom at 2:00 AM on a cassette tape and mailed it it in to a radio station right before they slashed their wrists and killed themself”….

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Crow keeps saying that Metal Flake Mother is ripping off The Pixies: play real soft, then PLAY REAL LOUD, then play real soft again. A gimmick? Still takes talent, or lots of practice at least. Mary Gunn says a band called Nirvana played the Cradle in May and did the same thing.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Lot's of great music at Cat's Cradle these days. Royal Crescent Mob last night, Metal Flake Mother tonight, Bob Mould tomorrow night, and Superchunk on Wednesday.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

I returned to Chapel Hill only to learn that the District Attorney has lost his mind

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Goofing around at Devil’s Courthouse, Blue Ridge Parkway. Just like Suttree, we are driving around with the top down, taking sips from a flask of brandy. I keep quoting Suttree’s girlfriend: it’s fucking beautiful.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Taking a week off to do some camping in Pisgah National Forest. This is Turtleback Falls in Transylvania County.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

S: “The way you listen to those tapes of you playing the guitar, it just seems weird to me - a little, I dunno, narcissistic.” Me: “I don’t listen to those demos because I’m conceited. I listen because they are among the best damn musical recordings ever made. By anyone. Period.”

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Sunday brunch at Penny Lane in Carr Mill Mall

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Our cat Jimi. He thinks the best way to kill a bird is to climb to the top of a tree. Because that’s where birds are, right? In trees. Mockingbirds tease him mercilessly. He’ll figure it out.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Frustrated trying to tape songs off Orange County Special today. Triangle Slim is out of town and his sub hasn’t played a single bluegrass/old time/ traditional song. Unless you count the theme to “Petticoat Junction.”

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Landscaping front and back yards for Catherine’s neighbor Lisa, who owns Modern Times. Her daughter Lia is a model and she sometimes drops by. She’s very pretty but so are the dahlias we planted out by the street. They look amazing! Yesterday we drove to Mebane to buy rocks.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

My education was such a long strange dream. I developed a tone of voice which I may never use again lest I attend grad school. Don't know if my personal standards are disciplined enough for such a project. But they weren't adequate for college either & it seems I did quite well.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Out to get beer with the two Sallys in Carrboro

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

It’s a beautiful Saturday, dogwoods blooming, and I have a little money, being employed and all. I think I’ll mosey over to Skylight Exchange, eat an African tuna melt, and maybe buy some books. Then maybe browse Internationalist Books across the street and chat with Commie Bob.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

I’ve been fascinated with Vaclav Havel lately. Electrician, playwright, dissident, soon to be president of his country. He got to meet Bush, and Gorbachev (who now seems to be a lame duck)…he even got to meet Frank Zappa!

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Herb at Aurora introduced me to Catherine Ward, who runs a landscaping company out of her home on Pritchard Ave. I work for her now. Crew leader, named John, drives a truck delivering milk from a local dairy. Family business. A real milkman. I didn’t know they still existed.

[Live Tweets from Chapel Hill 1990 @tobygray1988]

Things proceed. Or do they? They recede. Re-seed. Where am I headed? Nowhere, man. Nowhere. Whatever you do for a living in the U.S.A., you’ve gotta love it. I should be able to, as Allen Ginsberg said, go into the supermarket and buy whatever I want with my good looks.