#flashmemoir — Public Fediverse posts

"Since 1890" #writing #FlashMemoir #poetry #CountryClub

"Since 1890" #writing #FlashMemoir #poetry #CountryClub

"The Best Shrubs"

As I was in high school a vice principal was a good man with a go-to pep talk. The talk would start off by declaring that some of us were "shrubs" and not trees. Then shift to excitedly yelling that we should all be "THE BEST SHRUBS WE CAN BE!!!" He was not very discriminating about when he gave this speech. I heard it in a year book class, before a Hi-Q team trivia playoff match, and as I ate my rectangular school lunch pizza. Constant reminders to be the "best shrub you can be!" #writing #FlashMemoir #florida #PepTalk

"Tracy Pendarvis"

Small town cemeteries are a lot like a really complicated novel. There are hundreds of characters and it isn't always obvious how they are connected. Growing up in the area might give you a few hints (or at least let you find the cemetery without getting lost) but doesn't help clear up many mysteries. I'm visiting this cemetery because I grew up in Dixie County, Florida and never heard anyone mention Tracy Pendarvis.

Tracy Pendarvis left Dixie County with a couple friends for Memphis in 1959. They wanted to be on Sun Records and were confident enough to make the 10-hour drive without even calling ahead. When a story starts this way you generally only see one of two endings. Either the hungry, young musicians get a door slammed in their face or get signed and race to stardom. Tracy found a third option. He was met at the door by Ernie Barton and got an audition with Sam Phillips before being signed on the spot. The result was a few solid rockabilly singles such as A Thousand Guitars, Southbound Line and Belle of the Suwannee but little commercial success. Shaun Mather has suggested that "Tracy was unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. He was trying to sell rockabilly records to a public that was more interested in The Night Has A Thousand Eyes than A Thousand Guitars."
A few years later Pendarvis left Sun and spent the next 30 years playing honky-tonks on the outskirts of Chicago and recording the music of others. We do get something of a happy ending though. Three decades after Tracy's Sun dream became reality A Thousand Guitars was rediscovered in the United Kingdom and he was invited to play the 1992 Hemsby Rock 'N' Roll festival. This had to have been the type of big stage Tracy dreamed of as he gassed up his car and headed to Memphis in the late-50s. Five years later Tracy Pendarvis died and was buried in this cemetery.

The mid-90s Alternative Revolution mostly missed Dixie County, Florida. The only local radio station was run by a retired pro-wrestling promoter who alternated between long monologues and classic country. Since this was the only consistently static-free station at the time it provided the background music for every local barber and country store. I never heard A Thousand Guitars on this station. A decade would pass before I would hear anything by Tracy Pendarvis and more time still before I realized we shared a hometown. It is somewhat mysterious to me why Dixie County would not fully embrace a local son who spent time on Sun Records. When the local paper's masthead has spent decades celebrating being the "Home of the World's Only 4-Headed Swamp Cabbage" it seems even a cult rockabilly figure would be of interest.

Dixie County, FL was created in 1921 by splitting off the southern part of another county. The early years were hard and this cemetery has rows of children and teens who died in that first decade. Years passed and people lived through massive floods, a gill-net fishing ban and the closing of saw mills that wiped out much of the local economy. The local kid who made it to the NFL had his career cut short by injury. Things never seem to have got much easier for the children of those first settlers. Tracy Pendarvis set out for Memphis in 1959 to become a big star and for a number of reasons didn't quite make it. When Tracy died too young in early 1997 his ex-wife Margaret Pendarvis said ''He never was bitter, but he was disappointed – not really for himself but for all those who never made it.'' Now Tracy Rexford Pendarvis is buried here in his hometown. The graves are scattered randomly over a large, quiet area. The only noises are the faint sounds of cars from a distant highway and the hum of sand gnats. Families are clumped together except when old, forgotten feuds exiled someone to a distant corner. A few lived well into old age but many here just worked too hard and died young. It'd be easy to suggest the connection in this cemetery is the resting place of those who "never made it" but that is only part of the story. Tracy set off for Memphis with a dream just like his relatives settled wild swampland with a dream. Everyone buried here spent a lifetime chasing their dream. #writing #FlashMemoir #music #rockabilly #SunRecords #florida

"B-Roll"

Errol Morris' 1981 documentary "Vernon, Florida" helped rural FL to become known for its quaint settings and quirky characters. This image is at odds with the film's production. Plans to make a "Nub City" film (due to a high number of lost limb insurance claims) were scrapped after threats and violence from residents. Someone tried to hit the cinematographer with a truck and plans changed. "Vernon, Florida" was cobbled together from B-Roll footage. Rural Florida can be quaint and quirky but originally you only talked about it after death threats prevented you from mentioning all the intentional amputations. #writing #FlashMemoir #florida #movies #StorySunday

"B-Roll"

Errol Morris' 1981 documentary "Vernon, Florida" helped rural FL to become known for its quaint settings and quirky characters. This image is at odds with the film's production. Plans to make a "Nub City" film (due to a high number of lost limb insurance claims) were scrapped after threats and violence from residents. Someone tried to hit the cinematographer with a truck and plans changed. "Vernon, Florida" was cobbled together from B-Roll footage. Rural Florida can be quaint and quirky but originally you only talked about it after death threats prevented you from mentioning all the intentional amputations. #writing #FlashMemoir #florida #movies #StorySunday

"Secret Plant Cave"

Outside the old Burdine's entrance to the Oaks Mall in Gainesville there were these tall bushes. You walked up a little slope and ducked under some vines to find yourself inside a secret plant cave. Out of sight. Surrounded by Nature. I'd go there as a teen. Mall trips were very long back then. Kevin Smith was not exaggerating in "Mallrats." Once after CD shopping I headed outside. A plant cave is a good place to read My Bloody Valentine liner notes. Ducking under vines I saw a teen girl was already there. With a loud "Dammit!" I crawled back out of our secret place. Life gave us more meet-cutes than privacy back then. #writing #FlashMemoir #MallRats #MyBloodyValentine #MeetCute