About four years ago I shared the story of David McKnight, the Violinist of Hillsborough Street. I ran into him again yesterday while getting lunch, and he was kind enough to play excerpts from the fight songs of the “Big Four” of the ACC: Duke, Carolina, Wake Forest, and NC State in honor of the tournament now underway.

David has been playing the violin on Hillsborough Street for about fifteen years.

The year was 1966, and the gilded luster of the aged grande dame had faded long ago. With great trepidation I walked up to the front door. My buddy and I had been roving Blount St. for more than a year by then, exploring and photographing the once elegant mansions being demolished by the state in the late 1960s. And of course I always had my trusty Kodak Instamatic camera in tow.

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For me, nothing can bring the sadness and despair brewing beneath to the surface quicker than the holidays. I captured this photograph on a cold night in a strange bar.