FAST BUCK FREDDIE’S

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All good things come to an end. Nothing is forever.

Fast Buck Freddie’s closed down three years ago. Support for a store of its quality no longer existed.

I loved Fast Buck Freddie’s! Great stuff! Expensive prices! Nothing cheap. It was not a place you shopped in often. Anything purchased there was a treat.

I recall 15 years ago buying my wife a mask for Fantasy Fest. A gold eye mask with big green feathers. Looked terrific! It should have. Cost me $125. The mask sits to this day on my bedroom dresser on top of a glass head. I got it in the divorce.

Whenever I made a Fast Buck purchase, it was based on impulse. I walked in one day and saw this elephant chair. Short. Heavy. I could never have lifted it. With a pair of two foot tusks. I knew immediately where it would look good in my living room. $1,000.

My Boston granddaughter Samantha was visiting. She was 12 at the time. Grandpa offered to buy her a tee shirt. Why or who or what directed us to Fast Buck Freddie’s for the tee shirt, I cannot recall. I remember however that the tee shirt for my 12 year old granddaughter cost $60.

I am not listing complaints. I loved every minute I spent in Fast Buck Freddie’s and every penny I spent. The place was the Taj Mahal of Key West!

Its street windows were long and huge. The best window displays in Key West! I doubt anyone would dispute the representation.

Over the years, the building housing Fast Bucks was owned individually or jointly or whatever by Tony Falcone, Jimmy Buffet, and David Wolkowsky.

Tony Falcone operated Fast Buck Freddie’s for 37 years. The store has been empty for three years. Falcone has done everything possible to get a Key West type occupant in the store. To no avail. CVS is going to open a drug store in place of Fast Buck Freddie’s. Falcone feels bad. However, he had no choice. No one can blame him. Money is money. He hung onto an empty store way too long.

CVS in its new location will be blight on Duval Street. Such is progress!

My house was shown two times yesterday. No one bought it.

There were two highlights in my day yesterday. A visit with Jim Wallace at Joy Gallery. He has my Jack Baron’s for sale. The other was dinner with Lisa and the family last night.

Cameron is back from Turkey. He brought Robert and Ally each a fez. Bright red with a tassel. Robert wears his all the time, except when sleeping. He looks Turkish. Ally was not thrilled. She never wears her fez.

After dinner, I did something I never do. I was driving home. Suddenly had a desire for a soft chocolate ice cream cone. Dairy Queen! Oh, so good!

Enjoy your day!

TONIGHT…..JACK BARON EXHIBIT AT JOY GALLERY

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My dining room walls are empty. So too my center hall. Two spots in the living room. Three wall spaces upstairs.

My Jack Baron paintings are gone!

Tonight from 6-9, Joy Gallery at the corner of Simonton and Eaton is exhibiting Jack Baron’s works. More than fifty. Fourteen of which are mine.

The exhibit is a tribute to Jack Baron. Jack was my friend. A close friend. I miss him to this day. He passed on some six years ago.

An e mail announcement went out yesterday by Jim Wallace. Jim is the curator at Joy Gallery. It announced the exhibit this evening. Two Baron paintings were shown on the face of the announcement. Both mine!

My home is naked. My dining room was all Jack Baron. Except for two mirrors, nothing remains. A lonely feeling.

I suggest you visit the exhibition this evening. From 6-9. See the great work Jack did with acrylics and black people.

The season has changed in Key West. It is now humid all day. Need air conditioning all day. Besides being uncomfortable without it, the humidity invites mold inside a home.

I spent my daytime yesterday working on next week’s KONK Life column. A story about Thomas Jefferson and how he died poor. The title: He Died Broke.

Bocce last night. We have not done well this season. To say we sucked would be accurate. Not last night. We played the #2 team. They will end up #1 before the season is over. They have been champions three times.

I stayed for the first two games. Played in the first. We won both! The first one that I played in 16-8. The second 16-15. My ass was dragging so I left at the start of the third game. The two wins a major victory!

John and Ali are good friends from England. They live outside London. They spend every December in Key West.

Last night Tom introduced me to Phil and Joelle. They live in Guildford, just outside London also. Phil is into landscape gardening and Joelle works for an engineering exhibition company. They have visited Key West six times. This year for two months. Joelle said, next year for three!

Phil and Joelle are good friends with Tom. I figured they should be good friends of John and Ali, also. I called Larry Smith over. Made the introductions. He is going to contact Tom to set up a meeting between Phil and Joelle and John and Ali.

My age was evident last night. Someone asked me Erika’s name. She was score keeping. I know Erika. I love Erika. I could not remember her name. I asked team mate Norman her name. He is 15 years younger than me. He looked at her with a blank expression. Finallly, her husband Hershel said…..Erika.

This Russia/Ukraine mess appears to have no end.

The book I recently published The World Upside Down contained a chapter entitled Floras’s Story. I also wrote a blog about Flora last year while I was in Greece. Flora lives in Albania. She was in Greece working at a summer job.

Flora is 41. A school teacher. She has lived in Albania her whole life.  Albania was part of Soviet Russia as Ukraine was. Flora lived her first 21 years under Russian rule. She told me being independent was better. Things were very tough under the Russians. I mentioned her comments in this regard in Flora’s Story. You might want to read the tale in its entirety.

I have a busy day today. A business meeting at 2. The Baron exhibit at 6. Two things in one day is busy for me!

Enjoy your day!

DINNER WITH STEPHANIE

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Always an interesting evening. Dinner with Stephanie Kaple. Last night at the Hot Tin Roof.

She was a few minutes late. She had to park her bicycle at the Pier House and walk over. She came flying through the doors. A sight to behold. A knockout white sundress with multi colored small flowers. Her long hair flowing. She hugged me, kissed me, and kept repeating how sorry she was to be late.

Stephanie impresses me. She is 30 years old. A good two generations behind my 78. The world excites her. She is involved in everything. I am surprised she even had time to have dinner with me.

Stephanie is deeply involved with the homeless. Her vocation in life. They are lucky to have her.

She is also the Key West Shoe Girl. Loves high heeled expensive designer shoes. Last night she was wearing Giuseppe Zanotti shoes. Also, Channel earrings. Stephanie saves and spends her money on designer shoes. They are as important to her as the homeless. Maybe more.

We enjoyed a drink and dinner. Both ordered the snapper. Excellent!

Stephanie started playing bocce about three years ago. She is now captain of her team. I would not have expected less. Her team is relatively new to the sport. The team is in second place. Me and my team are experienced. We have been around the block many times. We continue to play poorly in recent seasons.

I walked Stephanie back to her bicycle after dinner.

Stephanie’s mother reads this blog frequently. I am sure she is reading it today knowing I was out with her daughter last night. Mrs. Kaple, worry not! Stephanie behaved herself.

I lunched yesterday at a place I have not been to in at least 5 years. The Hurricane. An outdoor place on the water. The first road off US 1 after leaving Key West. A pleasant place. I prefer Hogfish and Geiger Key. I do not know why.

Someone told me Joy Art Gallery at the corner of Simonton and Eaton was selling Jack Baron paintings. Jack was a dear friend. I have about a dozen of his works. He died a little over six years ago.

It was noon. The gallery was closed. A sign on the door…..Back in 15 minutes. I returned fifteen minutes later. Still locked. I am going to try to stop by today.

I am ashamed. Thursday April 10 was my Father’s birthday. He would have been 99 had he not passed away last year. I forgot. Belated happy birthday greetings Dad!

I apologize. But I must ask him this question…..How is Mom?

The World Upside Down is still out there selling. I am impressed. If you wish to obtain a copy, the book is available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Enjoy your day!