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Monday, July 21, 2025

El Caimán

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

As a listener and a performer, give your local music scene a chance

Since I was 13 or so, I’ve done my best to be as involved as I could with music wherever I am. It started when my two friends and I were contacted via Myspace by a local guitarist’s girlfriend to see if we’d want to come see him play. We became good friends after that, and my friends and I sold his CDs at his gigs at the Daytona Beach Bandshell all summer. Through that, we met a lot of musicians and bands. We took every chance we got to see them play at the Bandshell, at the mall or any of the other venues my hometown had to offer to minors when its music scene was still thriving for the younger crowd. I lost connections with most of the musicians I met because I was so young when I started to get involved. But now that I’m a more appropriate age, I’m pretty immersed in the local music scenes of both Gainesville and the Daytona area, and I’ve never been happier.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels: September 30, 2016

“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” your father says, sitting down at the edge of the bed. “I was young once too, y’know.” He chuckles to himself. “I remember when I read my first Darts & Laurels. I was just 17, a freshman at UF. All my friends were reading the Alligator. I figured, if I read it too, maybe I’ll fit in. Maybe I’ll be cool.” He sighs and looks back at you. “You’ll always be my child, and I love you for that alone. But please, make good choices. Keep a good head on those shoulders. I know it’s harmless, but some good people get caught up in some bad things when they read…



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