Flash Memories

Short memoirs

This is a collection of short writings, and memories by Conch contributors, who posted their contributions under the category ‘flash memories’. The list of Flash Memories below is automatically organized with the most recent post at the top. Click on the title link to read the whole thing, and don’t forget to leave comments at the end!

  • DD Memory, by Roberta Warshaw

    • Once again our hearts are broken with the loss of one of our Key West clan, DD West.

  • D.D. & Rick, by Conga George

    • I’m happy to say that I was close to Rick Fraley and DD. Both of them were very beautiful souls and very kind.

  • Conchconicity in New York City

    • Wendy Sheridan

    In 1980 I left the island for about six months and went to NYC, doing solo gigs in the Village and showcases and shit. One time I had this gig in the “Other End” on Bleeker Street and lo and behold, as the people came in, one after another were from KEY WEST! Half [...]

  • How Dan Akkroyd Could Have Changed My Life (But Didn’t)

    • Wendy Sheridan
    Remember in 1977, when Saturday Night Live was new on the tube, and Dan Akkroyd wasn’t too famous yet? He was sitting there at the bar in The Bull, alone. I started a conversation with him during my break and he told me he loved the way I played the blues, that he played [...]

  • Conchcronicity and How I Almost Became the Rose

    • Wendy Sheridan
    A girlfriend from Key West, a sexy little stripper named Chris, who was Rick Fraley’s (Pacific Orchestra-bass) wife at the time, told me this story:
    She was in Chicago, working as a playboy bunny, serving a table of Hollywood bigwigs. When she said she was from Key West, they asked if she knew a certain “Wendy [...]

  • The Boat Bar’s Stiff, by Sally Reno

    • Around 2 o’clock in the morning, Wild Man beat a shrimper to death with a pool cue in the Boat Bar.

  • A Bigger Boat, by Sally Reno

    • Mango said that living in Key West was like being trapped in an out-of-control dating service that keeps trying to send you on a blind date with your ex-wife.

  • It’s The Heat, by Sally Reno

    • One hellish hot afternoon John Coley was accosted by a distraught sweat-spewing man who was shouting,
    “Hell-fire is eatin’ up this street!”

  • Oye Como Va?, by Sally Reno

    • There was the wasted-acid-freak kid who worshiped Carlos Santana and hitch-hiked to Key West.

  • Hard Magic, by Sally Reno

    • When your custom Magic Shoes were ready, Murphy put them on you himself and he’d say…