4 The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday. February 9. 1977
Mixed drinks and music
Pittsboro becomes part of the nightclub circuit
by Deborah Duffy
DTH Contributor
l.iqour by-the-drink inChapelHill?
Well, not exactly, but Gryphon, a new
bar, comes as close to offering that as is
possible in North Carolina. Instead of
serving setups as most brown-bagging
places do. Gryphon offers drinks mixed
by professional bartenders. No longer
does a person have to settle for cola with
his liquor. The bartenders fix. whiskey
sours, tequila sunrises and a wide
variety of other mixed drinks.
Besides being the only bar in the
Triangle area featuring full bartending
services. Gryphon offers an intimate
atmosphere for listening to all kinds of
live music. Doc and Merle Watson,
South Wing, Red Clay Rambfers and
Preservation Jazz Band are just a few of
the groups that have played there.
"We hope to get name people from all
aspects of music," said Ken Watkins, co
owner of Gryphon. "We get a lot of
bluegrass because a lot passes through
this area." Watkins and his partener,
Charlie Dysart, constantly work on
pulling in big-name musicians or groups
who aren't necessarily nationally known
but are on their way up.
"One way we hope to get name people
in such a small place," said Watkins,"is
through block-booking opening the
lines of communication between
different clubs in surrounding states and
booking people on the east coast club
Correction:
P is for....
The "How does she do it?" picture
which appeared in the Tar Heel
yesterday was not a member of the
Pilobolus Dance Theatre but Jeannette
Triomphe of Pegasus Theatre Troupe,
also appearing on campus this week.
Pegasus, a modern band of strolling
players, will perform a medicine show at
noon Thursday in the Great Hall and
"Reflections in Flight" at 8:30 Friday
and Saturday in Hill Halt Auditorium.
circuit. Those would be mostly medium
name irts "
It seems rather odd that this place is
located in the country, out of the
mainstream of Chapel Hill night life.
Watkins admitted the reason was an
economic one; rent is cheaper, a ndAvhen
he wanted to start a bar, the building
(located a few miles ' down 1 5-50 !
towards Pittsboro) was empty.
Watkins opened Starpoint Tavern at
that same location with a friend, Bobby
Jacobs, in the fall of I975. "We were
sitting around one afternoon, applying
for jobs,'" Watkins recalled. "Then we
decided.'Well, hell, let's open a bar We
signed the lease three days later."
Starpoint was a tavern, offering beer,
pinball and live music. It began to pick
up a reputation as a "redneck" bar after
a few fights brolce out. "Things were
getting kind of hectic," explained
Watkins. After eleven months, he
decided to sell it.
Then Dysart came along, wanting to
buy the bar. He had formerly been
assisstant director of Penland, a school
of arts and crafts in Spruce Pines, N . C.
He worked at Starpoint a few weeks to
see if he really wanted to get into the bar
business, then decided to buy it and
change it. After much discussion with
Watkins, the two became partners and
closed Starpoint down to renovate.
"We wanted to have a good listening
room with brown-bagging," explained
Dysart. Starpoint underwent a
Monday through
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complete transformation to become
Gryphon. Out went all the pinball
machines. I n came tables, carpeting and
a good sound system.
Much of the bar's decor; such as the
carpeting and the wood-panelled walls,
is there to ensure good acoustics. The
sound system, acknowledged Watkins,
"is our biggest and most consistent
compliment from musicians. And it's a
big thing to develope a good reputation
among musicians."
Gryphon is open in the afternoon so
that musicians can have a place to
rehearse and customers can enjoy some
informal jamming.
The friendliness' of the two owners
adds to the attraction of the bar. Either
Dysart or Watkins greets everybody at
the door. They make a point of getting
to know the people that frequent
Gryphon, which helps create a more
relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
To gain admission to the bar, it is
necessary to buy a membership card or
be with a member. This is required by
North Carolina law. In order to have a
brown-bagging license, a place must sell
food or memberships. Gryphon has two
levels of membership. One costs $2.50
and is good for a quarter of a year. The
other is a "perferred" membership that
costs $25. With the higher-priced one,.a
person gets a liquor locker and priority
on tickets to big-name groups that may
sell-out. . .
For those people who get the urge to
go to a nightclub but lack the time and
money to travel to New York or
Atlanta, Gryphon is the closest
substitute around.
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Start photo by Rouse Wilson
Local musicians perform at the Gryphon, the recently renovated Starpoint Tavern.
Gryphon is noted for its excellent acoustics.
2
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s. V nil'
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The villain behind this time significantly retarding
Magnified, you can see record vinyl wearing away.
? I - .
With same magnification, record vinyl shows no wear.
' If you ve played any
record often enough, you' ve
heard the inevitable occur.
It wore out
While "pops!' "hisses';
and other surface noises
began making their appear
ance on your favorite
records, high frequency
sounds like violins and
flutes began disappearing.
i destruction is friction. (If a
. diamond cuts through steel,
j you can imagine what a
H diamond stylus does to vinyl
records.) Fortunately, from
outer space has come a solu
tion to record degradation.
It's called Sound Guard?
A by-product of re
search into dry lubricants
for aerospace applications,
Sound Guard record
preservative puts a microscopically-thin
(less than
0.000003") dry film on
records to protect the
grooves from damage! Yet,
remarkably, it does not
degrade fidelity.
Independent tests
show that Sound Guard pre
servative maintains full
amplitude at all
" I audible frequencies,
while at the same
increases in surface noise
and harmonic distortion
In other words, when
applied according to in
structions, a new record
treated with Sound Guard
preservative and played
100 times sounds the same
as one in "mint" condition
played the first time!
Sound Guard preserva
tive comes in a kit (complete
with non-aerosol pump
sprayer and velvet buffing
pad). It is completely safe
and effective for all discs,
from precious old 78's
to the newest LP's including
CD-4's.
Recently introduced-
to audiopKfles; Sound Guard
preservative is now avail
able in audio and record
outlets.
For complete test
results write: Sound Guard,
Box 5001, Muncie,
Indiana 43702.
- ,mmmm-. Ml J "
S it-, rf 1
ij
iQvaitii GuartiEieep5 your good sounds sounding good
Sound Guard is the registered trademark of Ball Corporation for its record preservative. 1976 by Ball Corporation.
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