Last week I escaped to Florida to visit my brother's digs in Pompano and to see Key West for the first time which, for me, meant a mandatory pilgrimage to the Hemingway House. I became acquainted with Mr Hemingway in 1979 via my writing professor Jack Salamanca who hammered into me a lifelong respect for spare "muscular" prose and authentic dialogue.
When he wasn't writing, Hemingway liked to drink and fight. And fish. He also loved women and married four of them. The Key West house was a wedding gift from his second wife's uncle.
At some point the 1851 Spanish Colonial "fixer-upper" was upgraded to include a catwalk which connected the master bed room to Hemingway's writing studio where he worked every morning. To me the room feels a tad too clean and uncluttered to have been a writer's lair, but descendants of Hemingway's polydactyl cat "Snow White" still prowl the property keeping a whisper of his ghost alive.
Key West has its tropical allure, but I'm glad to be back in DC where I can be hopeful for snow although there's not much chance of sled time this weekend. We do have lots of live music choices starting with the quandary of Dave Chappell at JV's or The Thrillbillys at Takoma VFW on Thursday.
Friday Vintage #18 plays the DC Blues Happy Hour at the Silver Spring Legion while the Black Cat hosts "Canvas Vibes" - a no cover music and painting event.
Black Masala's playing at the New Deal Cafe, and Newmeyer Flyer presents a big fat Jimi and Janis tribute show at the Birchmere - both on Saturday.
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