Gainesville
tonight my friend Zoee came to town. I haven't seen Zoee since right before summer after Junior year. Which would be about 4 years now. It feels like a life time. We went to see Bryan and sat on the pourch. The Gainesville stories poured out like malt liquor on a side walk.
The time Alec Higher was tripping on acid and decided that on Friday nights, when in the left lane you could go through red lights. Zoee and I were in that car, it was at the Alachua County Music Harvest. Aka Drug Fest '99. The biggest even in Gainesville at the time.
Or Joe Collum and Seth Tucker making it into a sociology text book for bringing a gun to school to scare some kid. withouth malice or intent to kill.
Maybe the time that Danarchy started a full scale riot at the Hardback Cafe' nearly taking on half the Gainesville Police force with a band of unruely punk kids upset to see their venue go the way of a comericalized carbon copy bar.
How about the time Punk Rock Jamie got caught graffitting the hallway between the Shamrock and Smoke. Those crazy Smoke kids who just hung out and skateboarded all the time. The Ambivilance and the mobile peircing unit. The half pipe in the back.
Oipolloi playing their first US tour stop in Gainesville. Kelly and Gutterpunk Ken got drunk and made out, then she swolled his tounge ring. Ken stole Kelly's car and drove to Atlanta giving her the coordinates of the car.Joe looking the other way as we drank quarts of Mickey's Ice that Ken bought us. The donuts in the donut chest in the back of Krispy Kreme.
Peeing on the TQ's door. Banging on their wall to knock bottles off when you ran through "the hall." Jesse the Rat buying cigarettes for me when I was underage. Wild shows at the CMC, Joe Matic playing with the Asthmatics. Tim Hutchins and the rest of the COHI crew.
The WEST mafia, led by notorious criminal mastermind Hawian Bryan. The wild garage party days and the misadventures of missing classes. The haze of constant bong smoke over downtown Gainesville as the hippies ride thier bikes. The protestors on the side walk of 13th and University. Mauds coffee house. The shitty Connect Four game that never worked.
The Civic Media Center bathroom that smelled of week old bread and urin. The free fridge filed with organic vegan food, ramen noodles, and soy milk. The toaster that nearly set the CMC on fire. The condom wrappers in the parking lot.
When Margarita fucked Punk Rock Jamie in his car just to shut her up about it.
That's the town I live in. Those are a few of the stories. Sometime if you're the wronge place at the right time, you'll get to hear the tales that are Gainesville. If you ask one of us nicely we might even divludge the legend of the "Curse of Gainesville." It dates back farther than you think.
I don't know if i'll ever write about any of this again. Or if this is just a state of mind I'm in. But this town really does make Dante's Inferno look like Winnie the fucking Pooh. So long for now.