February 2017 – Page 2

February 18, 2017 Vic Socotra

Carol and Billie

(Tinker Belle and her distinctive ink behind the bar at Willow). Tinker Belle was serving the drinks behind the Willow’s long bar when I came in off the street. Admiral Mac Showers had already arrived, and I brightened when I saw that he was permitting himself an Anchor Steam beer, which meant that his session […]

February 17, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind

Is there anything a man don’t stand to lose When the devil wants to take it all away Cherish well your thoughts, keep a tight grip on your booze ‘Cause thinking and drinking are all I have today – chorus from the Grateful Dead’s Mexicali Blues The road had thought differently about the bikers’ plans […]

February 16, 2017 Vic Socotra

Higher Education

(Panoramic View of the Naval War College campus at Newport, Rhode Island). Willow was quiet that afternoon. It was a bit early for Old Jim to limp down the block for happy hour, and Mac Showers and I had were the only customers inside. A couple tables were full out on the patio, but the […]

February 16, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: Eff-Ell-A

Their bikes had been grooving and gliding the past two days. They had made good time and covered beaucoup miles across the southwest desert emptiness. If the bikes had been their dancing partners, they would have said that they were cutting a rug like they used to say back in the 1920s. None of them […]

February 14, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: Simply Slabbing

During the previous day’s wanderings, they had another near out-of-gas experience in the west Texas outback along US 380. It seems that these desert Bible-belt, God-fearing folks don’t operate their gasoline stations on the Lord’s Day. Their engines-off coasting into a Rotan Texas gasoline and quickie mart station occasioned several new candidate nicknames for Augustus […]

February 13, 2017 Vic Socotra

Blue Ribbon Panels

Willow was just starting to take on the energy of the post-work Happy Hour Crowd. Liz-with-an-S was behind the bar, and working some of the questions for admission to the Virginia Bar. She is already admitted to New York and New Jersey- but that wasn’t quite good enough to crash the protective gates of the […]

February 13, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Cheesy Motel

Editor’s note: Plain everyday observation and recording of yesterday’s long ago road roam came in dribs and drabs in the author’s journal over many years. Most was a kind of reporting, actually a remembering of the ‘seeing,’ ‘hearing’ and ‘feeling’ from that one night. It was carefully transcribed on found scraps of paper whenever the […]

February 13, 2017 Vic Socotra

Arrias on Politics: Watchers at the Gate

Presidents are charged to defend the Constitution. Virtually all of them have stated at one time or another that their prime duty, which comes before all others, is to defend the nation. But defending the nation begins with recognition of threats, and then an acceptance of certain risks. For each president the acceptable level of […]

February 12, 2017 Vic Socotra

Why One

Peter was behind the bar, which means that this undated interview happened sometime before he either got fired or decamped downtown on his own volition. There is no one who could pour a more infuriating martini- the surface tension alone held the precious liquid in the glass, making it almost impossible to take the first […]

February 11, 2017 Vic Socotra

Life and Island Times: Road Room

The room was one of those certain places where road pilgrims sometimes find themselves. They are located in an unseen world of lost opportunity, health and fortune. Most are found within two floors of artless, right-angled shelter that guests look at as a kind of oasis. Modern America sparks from multiple collisions of its tradition […]

Month: February 2017