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Summer's last gasp at Carolina The Buffet ( & i ;....an ' - AI -L, -iP -'a 'ye 7? U ti~* .oncert For one blazing Saturday afternoon, the intramural athletic field became part of the Wonderful World of Carolina. Impending mid-terms, anxiety and thoughts of tomorrow melted away in the face of good music, cold beer and a general laid-back buzz on this searing, sun-splashed day. Students swarmed in by the hundreds to catch a breath of what was surely one of summer's last pleasant gasps. Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefers shoved the act into fourth gear, throwing out country tunes to the throngs and relating the woes of being hounded by drunken 15 year-old groupies. While the audience came to enjoy the music, the white-hot affair was more of a big, mellow social blast than anything else. Students spread out the blankets, broke open the coolers, stretched out and smiled. It was one of those days when, as the sun pounds away with enough fervor to burn, nothing can go wrong. Everyone got in on the act. Tiny, diaper-clad tots wandered around and laughed. An occasional Frisbee split the air and disappeared into the masses. Dogs stumbled about sheepishly, not understanding, but accepting any and all head-pats graciously. Buffet continued with his successful rapport with the audience. Many listeners could not resist ad libbing some of the more catchy stanzas. Some stood up and danced feverishly, while others were content to sit back, tap, nod and sip. As the afternoon slowly drew to a close, students were feeling all right. They let Jimmy Buffet know it, so the old-country boy behind the sunglasses had to come back out and play two encores. He didn't mind at all. When it was through, the spectators reluctantly had to drag themselves up, get their balance and shuffle homeward, wherever that was. They took their dogs, their kids and their empty coolers with them. Con fronting them was tomorrow, postponed decisions and autumn's creeping, subtle advances. But there was that one afternoon they had, one they could grab onto someday and muse, "Now wasn't that great?" COO' *A