On October 13th, 1992, Jack Viglitura wrote to close friend Mary Shortt from the UF where he was balancing midterm stress with a major milestone for his band, Gorby’s Transmission. He announces that he, Travis Tooke and Bill White have officially rented a practice space. By splitting the rent with another band, the trio cleverly scored access to a massive stockpile of shared equipment—including a P.A. system and a four-track recorder—to power up their rehearsals. Amidst these rock-and-roll logistics, Jack raves about R.E.M.’s brand-new album, Automatic for the People, declaring that it completely “rules.”
October 13, 1992
Dear Mary,
This letter comes unaccompanied by tapes because of the outrageous cost of mailing them! So I’ll just bring them to you when I come home. They came out pretty good. Michael got a lot more serious over the years, I’m sure you’ll find them very entertaining. I’ve also come across some very cool vinyls of them in concert in ’81, they’re really weird looking. Michael looks like he’s sick on one of them.
I’m sitting outside the computer science library on a picnic table. It’s a beautiful day today, too bad I’ve got German midterm today. Then tomorrow I’ve got my Statistics midterm so I’m not stressing out or anything.
How are things going with you? I hope you’re enjoying your last year of high school – soon you’ll be in the real world (or college).
It looks pretty good about us playing at your graduation.
We just put money down on a garage we’re renting with Josh Serman’s band. We only have two guitars to store in there but they’ve got all this equipment – guitars, effects, a P.A. system, a huge drum set and a four-track recorder so we’ll be mooching basically but don’t tell anyone.
Oh yeah, how about “Automatic for the People”? Pretty awesome, huh? I think it rules over Out of Time and is one of their better albums. It’s no MURMUR or Life’s Rich, but it’s just as cool with a different style. Nightswimming is my favorite track on the album with Try Not to Breath and Everybody Hurts running a ever-so-close seconds. Sidewinder Sleeps is their next single.
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write back and I’m sorry I disappointed you about the tapes. I didn’t think it would cost me so much money. Sorry.
Say “Hello” to everyone for me. I have to go fail a midterm. Write me back soon.
Love,
Jack
Loved reading the letter about REM…Night Swimming is one of my favorites too. Jack’s personality sh I was through in his writing…busy. bouncing around, random thoughts He was such a fun man.