Key West,
Florida
A not-so-brief
overview Part 2
Howdy All
and Welcome Back.
As the
title suggests this is Part 2 of my not-so-brief overview of Key West. So if
you’re just tuning in now, you may want to go back and read Part 1.
After all,
if you’ve never seen The Devil in Miss Jones, how can you ever hope to follow
The Devil In Miss Jones Part 2?
…or even
The Devil in Miss Jones 3!
And forget
about The New Devil in Miss Jones…
Anyway,
like I said, if you haven’t read Part 1, take a second and give it a good once
over. It’s ok, we’ll wait.
Ok, now
that we’re all up to speed, let’s begin.
As I
mentioned in Part 1, Key West Florida is a place like no other. I can sit here
and type all kinds of obscure adjectives to help further my point, but the
truth is, you have to experience it to fully understand how distinctive a place
it truly is. And again, as previously mentioned, it’s the locals who play a big
part in making it so unique.
During the
past 20 years I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and get to know an amazing
cross section of people that not only live and work in Key West, but help to
define the rhythmical culture of the island. Some encounters have been nothing
more then a memorable handshake, while others have become close friends.
Some of
these people have since moved away from Key West, some remain and some have
shuffled off this mortal coil into the setting sun.
For
example….
Shel
Silverstein:
If you
don’t know who Shel Silverstein is (more appropriately, was) then all I have to
say is, Really? You’ve never heard of Shel Silverstein? Shame on you.
Shel
Silverstein was a poet, an accomplished author, a prolific and Grammy award
winning songwriter and a bigger then life personality. If you don’t know him by
name, at the very least have to be aware of his work.
Songs like
“A Boy Named Sue” and “25 Minutes to Go”, both made popular by Johnny Cash. ”The
Cover of the Rolling Stone” sung by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show as well as
hits recorded by Loretta Lynn, Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings and others.
He’s also
the author of at least a dozen best selling books including “Where the Sidewalk
Ends”, “The Giving Tree”, “Falling Up” and “A Light in the Attic”. If none of
this seems at all familiar or is not ringing a bell, please have someone
smother you with a pillow.
Meeting
Shel Silverstein is stand out memory for me and one I’m not likely to forget.
It also best illustrates the somewhat “surreal” quality of Key West where this
kind of chance encounter isn’t that far from the norm.
The story
goes like this…
My wife and
I were standing in front of a fish tank inside the Conch Republic Seafood
Company- a popular waterfront bar and grill. I looked to my left and standing
there was a short bearded guy, totally bald with dark sunglasses on. We’re both
just staring at the fish in the tank when he turns toward me and in a gruff
gravely voice, says “Nice fish uh?” I respond with a polite “Yea” and then this
strange little man with the voice of someone who has been sipping broken glass
from a paper cup starts point out each fish and explaining what they were. “Ya
see that one there…that’s a red-toothed Triggerfish…and that one there – that’s
a Foxface.” This went on for a few minutes until we somehow segued into “life
down in the Keys”. He said he lived here part time, more now then before and
that he loved it. Said he had spent a lot of time in a bunch of different
cities, here and overseas, and that this was one of his favorites. It’s to my
detriment that I didn’t ask any follow up questions as I didn’t really give it
any thought. I said, “Great talking to you”, shook his hand and joined my wife
at a table. Not once did I realize whom I had just been speaking with.
About 2
months later I came across his obituary in a local paper and there in grainy
black and white was the unmistakable face of the gruff little man I had been
speaking to. The article said that Shel had died of a heart attack in his home
in Key West.
And that is where the symbolic sidewalk ends.
Tony Tarracino:
Not as
famous as Shel Silverstein but no less a celebrity, Tony Tarracino was referred
to as the “city's most beloved resident” and undisputed soul of Key West. If
there were a way to build a human being out of parts of Key West, the result
would be Captain Tony. Part bar owner, part boat captain, part gambler, part
politician, part liar, part prophet, Tony was as real and raw a person as you’re
ever likely to come across. As a one-time, two year Mayor of Key West from 1989
to 1991, Tony’s main objective was to “limit Key West's
growth and to keep its reputation as a refuge for eccentrics and renegades who
had found their way to the southernmost point of the continental United
States." as well as preserving Key West's daily sunset
celebration. Tony died in November of 2008 but his name and reputation live on
at Captain Tony’s Saloon located at 428 Greene St.
I had the pleasure of
sharing a drink with him during a Conch Republic Independence Celebration
event.
Michael McCloud:
Michael McCloud
is a lot of things.
Singer, songwriter, storyteller, entertainer.
He’s also a grumpy, cantankerous, cynical scholar who somehow
manages to see the world through a drunks eyes while remaining stone cold
sober. He’s educated and worldly yet jaded and crude. Sharp and caustic yet
altruistic and complex. He is the person Jimmy Buffet claims to be.
More then just “an alcoholic-powered juke box machine”,
Michael McCloud is a true Key West legend in every sense of the word and can
usually be found performing at the Schooner
Wharf Bar every Wednesday through Monday from noon until 5 PM.
Stop in, order a bucket of beer and catch a set.
I command it!
Dominique LeFort:
Ok, this is a tough one….
Dominique LeFort, also known as The Catman of Key West is a
Sunset Celebration performer, a highly talented cat trainer, an animal activist
and quite possibly the most bat-shit person I’ve ever had the pleasure of
talking to.
Always friendly…always gracious and always happy to make my
acquaintance…every single time he’s made it over the past 20 years.
Dominique is eccentric.
Dominique is unconventional
Dominique is a great guy…but make no mistake, Dominique LeFort
is fucking crazy.
But only someone this crazy could be so compelling.
Watching Dominique perform with his army of trained cats is
like watching The Sorcerer’s Apprentice scene in Fantasia. It’s a combination
of kinetic energy, whimsy and dreamlike fantasy. Only instead of marching
brooms, it’s a bunch of jumping cats and instead of Mickey Mouse in wizard
robes, it’s a diminutive French man in black socks barking out orders in broken
English. Dominique, his cats and his act exist in only two places…Key West
Florida and my nightmares. (I’m allergic to cats)
I don’t mean any of this in a negative way. There simply is
nobody else on this planet like Dominique that isn’t either locked up somewhere
on heavy sedation or on the next episode of Hoarders.
His skill is beyond question and his patience and love of
his cats is undeniable and for that he should be both respected and commended.
I however would not want to be trapped in an elevator with him for any extended
period of time. That being said, make sure you catch his show. He performs
nightly at the Westin Dock by Mallory Square.
Paris Dennis:
Paris Dennis is just one of a thousand musicians that
perform in Key West. A somewhat imposing dreadlocked Jamaican singer/songwriter
who plays a custom made rosewood guitar with the face of a lion carved into the
body. However, a Paris Dennis performance is unlike any other you’re likely to
see…and if you’re lucky, you’ll be pulled into the show.
Let me set the scene for you…this was my very first
introduction to Paris Dennis…
It was Memorial Day weekend. Not sure the year…maybe 1998,
maybe 1999…who the hell can remember…and myself, along with my then girlfriend/future
wife and three of our friends (who had never been to Key West before) walked
into what was, at the time, Rumrunners. A large but dank, smelly toilet of a
bar with a bad reputation, located right in the thick of it on the lower end of
Duval Street.
The music was loud.
The crowd was in a frenzy.
We walked in, strolled up to the bar and ordered our drinks.
Performing onstage was Paris.
Raw and unrefined…drenched in sweat and surrounded by half
naked women grinding each other. The five of us watched unblinking. That is, until
he grabbed a young and very excited blonde woman from the crowd and had her
jump up on the bar right where we were standing. He then told her to pull up
her skirt – which she did- sprayed whipped cream on her inner thigh and
forced…seriously, forced - my friend Matt’s head into it and demanded that he
lick it all up. – which he did with a combination of uncontainable excitement
and trembling fear.
Paris was like the ringleader of some depraved Bacchanalian
Circus. Equal parts Caligula, PT Barnum and Bob Marley. To this day, I’ve never
seen anyone command an audience like he did that night.
A few years later, I hired him to play my wedding.
Think I’m kidding?
Look at this…
 |
| Actual photo from my wedding |
Paris moved out of the Keys a few years ago and now resides
in and around Tampa.
John Allicock:
John Allicock (yea yea, I know it’s funny) also known as Dr.
Juice is, like Dominique LeFort, a performer at the famed Sunset Celebration in
Mallory Square. He’s a tumbler, an acrobat, a comedian and can do things with
his body that don’t even seem remotely safe or even possible. He’s also in his
mid 50’s and is in better shape then anyone I know.
But aside from being extremely entertaining, he’s also a
hell of a nice guy with a lifetime’s worth of knowledge about Key West and the
people that have lived there. He’s the guy that has “seen it all” and is happy
to share his experiences with you. I’ve had this opportunity a few times over
the years. The first was at Ricks Bar on Duval Street during Mel Fisher Days.
For those that don’t know, Mel Fisher was a treasure hunter and Keys resident
responsible for finding the “Motherlode” of over 40 tons of gold and silver
from the sunken Spanish Galleon, the “Nuestra Senora de Atocha”, or simply the
Atocha. Every year, Key West celebrates his life and his accomplishments with a
series of parties and events.
Every time I’m in Key West, I make it a point to watch John’s
show at Mallory Square, compliment his performance and do one of those “Hey,
remember me? I’m the guy that…etc etc”
He always says he knows me, which is nice.
Whether or not it’s true is irrelevant. He’s a great guy,
with some great stories.
Whether or not they’re true is also irrelevant.
Welcome to Key West.
Pam Hobbs:
Key West is, to put it simply, an artsy town.
There are as many galleries as there are bars and as many
artists as bartenders.
In fact, many bars actually sell paintings….of their bars….that
you can buy in their bars…which is some kind of weird paradoxical wormhole type
bending of the Eddington Limit Law of Physics. It’s been well documented that
if you buy a painting of the Albert Castiglia Band performing at the Green
Parrot, while sitting in the Green Parrot listening to the Albert Castiglia
Band, you’ll go back in time.
Galleries of all types, sizes, shapes, colors and flavors
can be found on virtually every street in Key West and one of my favorites is the
7 Artists Gallery on Duval Street, mostly because that’s where you can find Pam
Hobbs.
Pam stands out on this list in that she’s the only one not
likely to frighten your children.
She’s a genuinely sweet woman who is happy to tell you
anything you’d like to know. Be that about her paintings, her perspective or
how best to avoid a parking ticket.
She’s also able to capture the spirit of Key West better
then anyone else I’ve ever seen.
The truth is, Pam herself could be a metaphor for Key West.
Outgoing and friendly and at first glance, unassuming. But stick around …get to
know her for a few minutes, things are about to heat up.
Pam’s ability to capture the lyrical qualities of Key West
is uncanny. I talked about her paintings being “real art” in a previous post
and I meant it. I think her personal style is successful because not only do I
understand it and understand her, but it resonates with me as a completed
piece. Yes, it could be considered “cartoonish” in an illustrated sort of way,
but that’s one of the reasons it works as well as it does.
Key West is a “cartoonish” town. Things happen here that
couldn’t possibly happen anywhere else.
Do you know how Key West celebrates New Years Eve?
While the whole world is watching a big shimmering ball
descend in the middle of Times Square, the people in Key West cheer loudly as a
drag queen gets lowered into the street in a giant sparkling shoe!
I defy you to find anything more cartoonish then that!
But to dismiss Pam’s paintings as simply “cute” or “quirky”
is to do yourself a major disservice. Pam’s art can show you more about Key’s
life more then any guidebook can.
She’s not painting a house. She’s showing you the lives of
the people that live there.
She’s not just painting a bicycle, she’s telling
you about the person that owns it.
Are these images deep and thought-provoking?
Maybe…maybe not. Who can say?
Will they spark a lively debate as to their cultural
significance and place in art history?
Probably not.
Are they memorable?
Yup. They sure are.
Will they make you think fondly of your time in the Keys?
You bet your ass.
I’ve never looked at a Rembrandt and wished I was there.
And that my friends, is what you call, a positive reaction.
To see more of Pam’s work, check out her work online at:
www.hobbsart.freeservers.com
Or her blog at:
http://www.pamhobbs.blogspot.com
Or hey, here’s a novel idea…go say hello to her live and in
person at the 7 Artists Gallery located at 604 Duval Street
Well that wraps up Part 2.
Stick around…Part 3 is in the works.
Remember…close cover before striking and never look a gift
horse in the bush.
The road is calling and it’s best not to keep her waiting.
See ya on the flip flop.
Oh and one more thing…
Woman eating a banana.
Cheers!
