In the 90s rock clubs were, and in some places still are a focal point for youth culture to embrace art, culture, and life in a unique and intimate way. The Covered Dish was a live music club, an island for many in the steamy swamps of central Florida. Among the football-worshipping hordes of Gainesville, The Dish carved out a niche for alternative culture downtown that brought together the music lovers, the freaks, the ones that got away from the mass culture. These shots were random, candid Polaroids taken by various staff members and patrons of The Covered Dish from 1992-2000. The camera was kept behind the bar, fully loaded, and came out whenever inspiration took hold or the moment demanded attention. These intimate images capture a moment, an individual, a feeling, an energy. They are specific to the club and Gainesville at the time, but also represent a universal experience that undoubtedly was occurring across the nation.
”These grubby ‘90s photos, perfect for any future set dresser or anthro-historian, show beautifully the ritualistic and communal acts that music shows are. These are pictures of ‘Florida Men’ and ‘Florida Women,’ in moments full of life, connecting and celebrating their love for each other and for living.”
— Tom Hart, best-selling graphic novelist
”Images gain more meaning over time. Marinating in whiskey and cigarette smoke while stapled to a wall doesn’t hurt either. The Covered Dish was always a favorite — if sweaty — stop for any band on tour in the South. The images grabbed by the staff and patrons in the mid ‘90s capture a time and space that is gone — and many of the bands forgotten — but herein immortalized.”
— Michael Galinsky, filmmaker, musician
”All these years later, The Covered Dish and Bill Bryson’s influence on music, culture, and humanity is still steaming out from the tinfoil of the most delectably creative bouillabaisse Florida has ever known. This book will induce a yearning for a magical time and place, whether you were there to experience it or not.”
— Rocco Castoro, former EIC, Vice Magazine
”I poured over All Of Us Are Now as if expecting to see myself or my friends in one of the images. It is so familiar I can almost hear and smell it, having spent so much time myself seeing live music, performing or on tour. Community, friends, grit, humor, sound, joy, sweat, beer… all the right ingredients. You can imagine yourself into these Polaroids that easily. An invaluable archive.
A community history. A time gone and a time to come again.”
— Robert Millis, writer, musician, filmmaker, artist
”I’ve been in brother Bill Bryson’s corner for many years, a man I’m most grateful to for making creative spaces in Florida that I’ve gotten to be part of. I can’t thank him enough and wish him big time to keep on keepin’ on.”
— Mike Watt, on bass