Vera's First Show

Hope and I traveled to Tampa this Saturday to watch Vera play their first show at the Crowbar in Ybor City. They were the unadvertised opening act and were only given 15 minutes but my totally based opinion is they killed those three songs. The were well received by the crowd and it was a great way to get their feet wet in a live venue. As Will said from the stage, "It's our first show but it's also the best show we've ever played!" And, yes, I video taped the entire show. More to come...

The members of Vera outside the Crowbar before going on:
Calen (Management), Erich (keyboards), Jordan (drums),
Will (guitar/vocals), Rob (bass) and Patrick (guitar).

Daily Detritus: Day Seven

Daryl pulled on the drawer handles, yanking the wooden receptacle past an obstruction that made it stick halfway. His father had passed away three weeks earlier and he was just now getting around to clearing out the house. The closets were easy, he didn’t own much, but now he needed to go through the top dresser drawer, a repository of his dad in symbols.

He and his sister had always been curious about that top drawer. While the rest of the dresser held the usual—t-shirts, underwear, shorts, socks—the top drawer seemed to be the catch-all for everything else. He remembered his mom constantly harping on his dad to clean it out, to throw away that “junk,” to make room for... more junk. And now it was his turn to grant his long gone mother’s wishes.

It was full. He could barely get the drawer pulled out far enough to look inside without some of the contents dropping off the side. At first glance it was a mess, a hodgepodge of papers, cards and trinkets, randomly shoved in the space, probably to deal with later. But with no one around to berate him into cleaning it out, his dad just added to the menagerie.

Daryl started pulling the papers from the top layer, mainly old birthday cards and letters, and he tried to focus on the task at hand—to clean the entire drawer—and did not stop to read their contents; he could do that later. He quickly pealed back several layers, dropping them in the brown grocery bag at his feet, and felt he was making good headway. This was going to be easier than he had anticipated.

Then he spotted a small box in the right, front corner. He knew right away what was inside and he wasn’t sure he wanted to look. But he knew he would. He took a deep, cleansing breath and pulled back the lid. Inside were all of his dad’s tie clips. There were at least twenty of varying shapes and sizes. Daryl pushed them around with his finger, reviewing the contents and smiled.

His dad always wore a tie. It didn’t matter the time of day or the state of the weather, he felt a true gentleman was always more presentable in a necktie and he considered himself to be a gentleman. It wasn’t until Daryl’s mom died that he wore them less and less. Daryl chuckled. “Maybe mom was the one he was trying to impress all along.”

He picked up one of the tie clips and held it up for examination. “I think he wore this one at my wedding,” Daryl mused. “Odd how I remember things like that.” He picked up another one and tried to lock in on a time and place to associate it with, but he couldn’t raise up a memory. He fished around in the box and spotted one of his dad’s favorites, a black and gold rectangle that he always felt made him look a little more classy. Daryl leaned forward, resting his arms on the front of the drawer, turning the tie clip over in his hands. “I’m pretty sure he had this one on the day he got arrested...”

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Daily Detritus: Day Six

Jimmy turned the page of the magazine, adjusted his glasses and scanned the text, vaguely hoping for something of interest to dig into. He was not disappointed that nothing piqued his interest; he would rather feign reading and let his mind rest. The last two weeks had been a drain both mentally and physically and he cherished a rare chance to sit and do nothing. It wasn’t long before his eyes gave way to his body and slowly closed, his hands gradually resting on top of the magazine in his lap. Sleep may have been an intruder but it was not asked to leave.

“Jimmy.” The voice was in the distance, barely registering, but unfortunately cutting into his rest.

“Jimmy, are you awake?” A little louder but still not enough to respond.

“Jimmy...Jimmy. Are you awake?” He wanted to answer “obviously not since I am not responding” but couldn’t muster the strength.

Jimmy!” The voice was more urgent and accompanied by a shove to his shoulder. He opened one eye, slightly, and saw an out-of-focus mass, somewhat shaped like his wife.

“What?” he whispered.

“What, indeed!” She shoved something toward him, quick enough to make him flinch. He was slowly gaining consciousness, although the object in her hand was too close to his face to allow him to get it in focus.

“What is your problem?” he croaked, trying to regain his senses and his full voice. “What is that?”

“No, that’s my question.” She stood to her full height and defiantly placed one hand on her hip, elbow out, a small bar of hotel soap displayed in the other hand which she centered in front of her chest. “Where did this come from?” Her entire body and soul asked that question.

Jimmy was now fully awake. “I have no idea, Beth.” It was a weak response, he knew that, but it was a stop gap, something to throw out there to slow her down until he could form a better defense.

“You’re going to have to do better than that.” She was not going to move, that was obvious. “I’m waiting.”


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Daily Detritus: Day Five

“Hey, watch this.” Wade clicked on his book light and pointed it toward his bedroom wall, the one directly over his cousin Drew’s bed. He put one hand in front of the glow and eventually centered the created shadow in the middle of the light beam. Contorting his hand, he was able to create something that resembled a rabbit and both boy’s laughed as he moved it up and down like it was bounding across the room.

“Do something else.” Drew’s request was followed by a weak attempt at an alligator head but, with some slight adjustments, he was able to make the mouth open and shut using his thumb as the bottom jaw. The boy’s got another chuckle and then tried to decide what to create next. Wade’s mom had insisted they go to bed way too early, at least for a Friday night, and neither boy was near ready for sleep.

“I’ve got an idea,” Wade announced. “Watch this.” He manipulated his fingers to create what looked like a “C” and then poked his middle finger down just enough to resemble a tooth. He moved his fingers up and down in a chomping motion and added the requisite sound effects. He slowly lowered the light source and his hand toward Drew, gnashing and biting, growling and moaning until he was right on top of Drew’s head, which was now hidden under a comforter but shaking as Drew laughed and feigned fear.

With one final bite, Wade’s shadow hand encircled Drew’s head and howled in triumph. As Wade’s monster noises died down, he tried to coax Drew from under the covers.

“C’mon, man, the monster has completed his reign of terror.” Drew’s bed wasn’t moving. No laughter, no giggling, not even a snore. “Drew! C’mon, you can come out now, the monster is gone.” His request was met with silence.

Wade got out of bed and took two steps to quickly cross the space between their beds and jumped, landing on top of Drew. As Wade bounced off the mattress and careened into the wall he couldn’t believe he had missed Drew on his flop. He reached up and yanked the comforter down and saw nothing but a pillow.

Drew was gone.

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Daily Detritus: Day Four

Stanley looked up from his lunch and stared at the station wagon disappearing around the bend of County Road 12. A blur, then tail lights. Here, then gone.

“Where do they go?” he wondered. “And what do they do when they get there?” He ambled over to another patch of grass, ate it and chewed slowly.

Slowly. Everything he did, he did slowly. There was no need to be in a hurry since his life was pre-ordained. Sleep, wake up, eat, drink, sleep again. The routine was ingrained, instinctual. All within the confines of a barbed wire fence, all dictated by the careful monitoring of the owner’s master plan.

Within an hour he had worked his way to the tree by the road. So far, five cars had driven by, only one honking to get his attention. Or to scare him, he wasn’t sure. Didn’t matter, really, because he had grown immune to the screech of their horns. He looked up with another mouthful of grass, content to chew, breaking it down for consumption, when he noticed something that made his heart quicken. A tree limb had snapped off and fallen on the fence, flattening an entire section. Stanley blinked, twice, and then spit the grass back to the ground. For the first time in his life he had an option. He could leave the field and finally find out where those cars go.

And what they do when they get there.

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Daily Detritus: Day Three

“Let me have those.” Jeff’s statement came across as more of a command than a request.

“Those cookies? Dude, I have no idea how long those have been there.” Alan didn’t look up from his computer but did nod his head toward the two ginger snaps sitting on the counter. “My roommate bought those last week and for all I know he’s using them for an experiment. I wouldn’t touch those with gloves.”

“Experiment? Heh, that’s funny—”

“I’m serious. he works at some lab that he won’t or can’t tell me anything about and is always taking trips to God knows where and is gone for two or three weeks at a time.” Alan stopped reading his screen and looked at Jeff. “I honestly would not touch those cookies.”

Jeff tilted his head and squinted, conducting an internal debate on the validity of Alan’s assessment. After 30 seconds he leaned forward and grabbed both cookies. “You are full of crap.” As he popped the first one in his mouth he added, “And I’m hungry.”

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Daily Detritus: Day Two

“Hurry and tear off another strip.” Angie was contorted around a rectangle package, the fingers of her left hand holding down a flap of Hello Kitty® wrapping paper, right elbow securing another and right hand awkwardly reaching toward her friend, Sabra, anticipating the requested tape.

“Chill out, dork! I can’t tear it off!” Sabra struggled with the serrated edge of the dispenser, finally ripping away a small piece of tape.

“I’m a dork? You’re a double dork! You can’t even tear the tape off right!” Sabra pushed the tape across the tip of Angie’s nose and laughed as she fruitlessly tried to reach it with her minimally free hand.

“Get it off me! I am serious! I have to finish this!”

“Okay, okay... dork!” Sabra reached over and yanked the tape from Angie’s nose, handing it to her in one arc. “Do you think she’ll like it? I mean, it’s a little weird, you know?”

“I don’t think it’s, like, weird at all. Different? Sure. But def not weird.” Angie held up the wrapped package eye level and inspected all the corners, pleased with the final product. “But we’re getting ready to find out if it’s been worth the trouble and if she’ll forgive me. Let’s go...”

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Daily Detritus: Day One

"You gonna answer that?" Peggy searched Owen's face for a hint that he had even heard the phone ring... six times.

"What?" Owen snapped his head toward her, his face contorted into a scowl.

"I said, 'You gonna get that?'"

"Nope. Nobody I'm intrested in talkin' to." He turned away from her and re-focused his attention on his tuna sandwich.

Peggy reached for the vibrating phone and was shocked at the quickness of Owen's hand grabbing her wrist, his grip tighter than required to impede her progress.

"No," his glare reinforcing the simple command.

Peggy returned the stare and growled through clinched teeth, "You have crossed the line and you have three seconds to return to a safer place."

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