Myrtle Beach
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Bermuda Shorts—1968
The best part of me lives for the rhythms of summer, in the neon glow of youth where the songs on the jukebox never change. That old gold music reminds […]
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History of the Dance
Twenty-three years ago, I wrote a book called SHAG, THE LEGENDARY DANCE OF THE SOUTH. At Christmas time, in 1995, SHAG was the hottest selling book in the Carolinas, second only to Howard Stern’s Private […]
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The Next Breath
Once, in the sixth or seventh grade, my father took me to a high school football game. We stood in the end zone watching the last gasp of another gridiron […]
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Center of the Heavens
All I wanted in high school was a date with Francine Little, the Pekingese puppy. An inexplicably magnetic agglomeration of parts she was. Seemingly mismatched parts if viewed separately, and […]
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Granddaddy Grandeur
My grandfather came to Myrtle Beach in 1902. First hand, I don’t know much about him. James Edward Bryan, nick-named “Big Jim” died a good ten years before I was […]
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The Measure of Wealth
In my hometown, real estate is the only wealth proper to a man. The same is said of oil in the Middle East. Cattle and horses were more valuable than […]
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Garden of Fire: Myrtle Beach 4th of July
The gunpowder flowers bloom just after dark, MYRTLE BEACH FOURTH OF JULY. A display of fireworks UTTERLY UNIQUE, miles and miles of gunpowder flowers ABLAZE: flaming roses, orchids of white […]
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My Pillar Fire
It was the year everything changed. Childhood was ending. We were leaving the elementary school that had been our winter home in daylight hours for seven years. The school building […]
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Boys and Their Toys
My most frequent companion in high school was an automobile, a 1965 Mustang. Not one of the hot ones, only a six cylinder. Aside from the hours of sleep, and […]