R.I.P. Chris Pedigo (1971-2006)

Chris was a regular visitor at the Pink House, and one of my good friends at UNC. He was hilarious, generous, kind-hearted, and a co-conspirator in many capers.

For several years Chris lived in the gorgeous, decaying mansion known as the Russian House. He spoke Russian, French, and was fluent in a couple other languages. In the spring of '92, I was his campaign manager when Chris ran for Senior Class Vice President on a ticket with Caroline Philson in the top spot. We lost, but it was a very fun campaign, and the Caroline and Chris team had the coolest posters of any candidates for student office that I saw in my entire time at Carolina.


In the summer of '92, our paths memorably crossed for several weeks in Paris, when my brother and I took a trip over there and hung out with Chapel Hill ex-pats like Pedigo, his friend Aaron Gannon, globe trotting journalist and Pink House roomie Kyle York Spencer, and future Pink House couch surfer John Hamilton Palmer.

Chris was gay, but closeted in college, even after he contracted HIV in Paris and returned to Chapel Hill. Living with HIV was hard for Chris in the early 90s. A full decade after the epidemic burst into the public eye, progress on developing life-saving drugs remained painfully slow. It was a direct result of right-wing politicians like Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) underfunding the nation's public health response, under the criminally homophobic, warped belief that AIDS victims deserved to die.


Chris enrolled in numerous experimental trials of AIDS drugs at Duke University, which kept him alive until more effective treatments came onto the market a few years later. As time went on, Chris’ medical condition left him facing increasingly perilous financial straits. But he kept his sense of humor and refused to give up. Sadly, I lost touch with Chris after he moved to Florida in the late 90s, where he lived and worked in West Palm Beach.

Death Notices - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 1/2/07, B6

Christopher James Pedigo
MARCH 9, 1971 - DECEMBER 29, 2006

Christopher James Pedigo, 35, passed on Friday, December 29, 2006.

He is survived by his loving mother; Elizabeth Ann Pedigo; father, James; younger brother Taylor; and friends.

Despite the many obstacles set before him due to a long battle with compounding physical ailments; armed with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge he achieved various levels of advanced education and was fluent in several foreign languages, along with being an accomplished pianist, for all of which we are very proud.

Chris, your enthusiastic conversation and bright eyed smile will be missed, yet will remain in our hearts forever.

On the way to the Pink Party at the Pink House

"Lettuce: The Anti-Drug," Adam's Blog, Right?, 9/26/06

By ADAM WRIGHT

Recently, slightly intoxicated and dressed in pastels, I found myself off to the Pink Party at the Pink House. (Which, FYI, is the same house where I park my car, and also the same house where Ben Folds used to live, putting me one degree closer to the singer. But I'm already one degree away from Ben, considering the fact that I already met Darren Jessee, so I guess that just gives me two, distinct degrees of separation of Ben, or maybe it just forms one, communal "Blow Ya' Mind, Fuckas" degree of separation, but none of this is really important to the story at hand.)

My friends and I hopped on the P2P to make our way to the night's festivities, only to find a man in the back of the bus cradling a head of lettuce. I thought maybe it was the vodka talking, but after much confirmation from my fellow passengers, I concluded that there really was a man in front of me cradling a head of lettuce, preparing me for what is surely to be one of the oddest exchanges of dialogue I will ever have the opportunity to witness between two people.

P2P Driver: "Sir, please bring the lettuce to the front of the bus."

Lettuce Kid: "Dude, it's just lettuce."

P2P Driver: "Sir, bring the lettuce to the front, now. I will not continue driving until you hand over the lettuce." (P2P Driver stops the bus)

Lettuce Kid: "What?"

P2P Driver: "SIR! LETTUCE! FRONT! NOW! I don't think your fellow passengers will appreciate you holding them up!" (P2P Driver stands up, walks to Lettuce Kid, takes lettuce)

Lettuce Kid: "Sorry."

P2P Driver: "Thank you." (P2P Driver returns to the front, jamming the head of lettuce between his seat and the wall of the bus)

Then a semi-riot broke out from a group of frat guys in favor of lettuce freedom, but the P2P Driver just sat in silence and listened to his Fergie and pretended not to hear them.

The undercover cops didn't even wear pink!

Scene report from the Pink Party, Fall '06, almost exactly fifteen years after we moved in and threw OUR first Pink House party. The more things change... I love how these girls told the Chapel Hill fuzz which end was up re why kids scattered when the blue lights arrived - "you see a cop and you duck...you just don't want to be around cops." Priceless!

From The Pink House of Chapel Hill:

"Our first Pink House party was fabulous. It was a pink theme, and I am happy to report that a lot of people followed the rules. It is Chapel Hill, after all, so it shouldn't have been too hard. The girls and I spent all Friday late afternoon decorating. Seriously, we went all out. We doused our house with pink streamers and balloons. We strung up white lights in the backyard and in the shed. Put pretty pink table cloths over the beer pong table and the flip cup table.

Our house was so cute. We made pink pj, got a keg, got some pink wine and made pink jello shots. About 150-200 people showed up. We all dressed really cute in pink (pictures coming soon), and everything was going perfect.

Then the Chapel Hill police show up. They check mine and the girls' IDs, then tell us that there had been a noise complaint about our party and that we shouldn't have underage drinkers there. I responded that most of our invitees were 21 or over, but the cops retorted that our guests must be underage since 3/4 of them left.

I told them that's just instinct. You see a cop and you duck. regardless of whether you're doing something wrong or illegal. You just don't want to be around cops.

Well, I was a little skeptical that there was really a noise complaint. We live right beside a fraternity that keeps me up every night with their music. We live behind three very large bars, and there are students up and down our streets. I highly doubt that anyone complained. The cops stayed across the street for a while, and some undercover cops had even been chilling at our party for some time. They even cited two of our underage guests in our backyard!

I walked across the street to ask the cops if our party's noise was up to par since they cleared out 3/4 of our guests and since we turned down the music. It was only 1:30 am. Then, we got to talking about how and why they busted our party. Apparently, one of them told me, there was a "911 call" about the Pink House party. The cop even used the lingo, "the Pink House."

That makes me think that they were just on the prowl for parties that night. That, and the fact that today's police log shows the police activity from Friday night and it seems like every party in Chapel Hill was busted. One observation: when there's a noise complaint called in by a neighbor, I highly doubt the Chapel Hill police scurry up all the undercover officers they can and come chill at a party. Seriously. And the undercover cops didn't even wear pink!

From today's police log: society victim of loud music/party/other noise, at 130 north street, chapel hill, nc, between 00:18, 09/16/2006 and 00:18, 09/16/2006. reported: 09/16/2006."

- "cops don't like pink" by Shanny (aka Shannan Bowen)

Regardless of the facts, I still suspect Larry Short made the 911 call. Thanks to Shannan for the photos and on-scene reporting, and co-hosting (along with her 2006-07 roomies) such a worthy addition to the house's long line of legendary parties!

A sort of charisma only a Pink House would have

After Sylvia had a string of good luck with docile tenants like the Mormon missionaries and nice Christian gals (late 90s – early 00s), the place got passed on to a gaggle of sorority girls who re-inaugurated the Pink House party tradition during their residence from Fall '04 – Spring '05. The next year, a bunch of guys with a "weird stinch" moved in, thereby reviving the slob tradition. They, in turn, handed the house over to a group of girls who decided on the place partially because of its infamy. In their year there, they tangled with the police while throwing parties, and otherwise did the most to carry on the Pink House legacy of any post-'97 crew. How do we know all this? Well, I found some deleted blog entries dated Fall '06, which brought the house's recent history to light.

Shanny (the author, a DTH staffer at the time) deserves props for being the first resident to start a blog solely devoted to the Pink House. Even though she later deleted the whole thing. Luckily, the internet has a long memory.

From The Pink House of Chapel Hill:

"The Pink House was built a long, long time ago and has served as a home to many groups of UNC students and those who just never wanted to leave Chapel Hill. Groups have associated their college years with this house, and the current residents have not forgotten the legacy of this place.

I have to admit, I actually had never been to the Pink House and had hardly heard about it before we moved in here. Around February, Jess, Maile, Lindsay, Tara and I were looking for a house to move into together for the next school year. So Jess saw a picture of the Pink House hanging on the office door of Dunlap Lilley Rentals. We contact Mr. Jim Lilley and ask him if it's available. "I don't know," he responded. "Go ask the guys living there."

So, we knock on the door and ask the dudes to show us around. It's a typical college pad, complete with beer cans and a weird stinch (they were guys). They told us the fireplace didn't work, the plumbing and the floor in the downstairs bathroom were really bad, the repairs weren't getting done, and the energy bills and rent were really high. But then they told us that the place was famous. It had a sort of charisma that only a Pink House would have. It was old, and many people have lived there and many memories were made there. Ben Folds lived there. There was a movie made about the place, we were told. Wow. I think that - and the fact that it was pink and big - had us sold.

We moved into the Pink House this summer. Well, we moved our belongings into the house this summer and subletted while we were all away at internships and other summer places. Now, we're all back together. School has started, we've already lost two football games, I have a paper due in a week that I have no idea about, we've called our landlord to fix repairs more than 10 times, and we are finally throwing our first Pink House party!"

- "the pink ... what?", by Shanny (aka Shannan Bowen)