At a bar straddling states, music that unites

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At a bar straddling states, music that unites

There’s a guy and he makes music at a beach bar, Flora-Bama, a one-of-a-kind, sprawling, right out of the movies, wooden roadhouse so named because it straddles the state line that separates Florida and Alabama.But this guy, Bat Bennett, never straddles. He jumps into every song, all kinds of songs — country, rock, oldies, the Beatles, Sting, John Denver, Neil Diamond. From Van Morrison to the von Trapps, he plays it. He sings it. And he rocks it.He stands on a stage, any stage — Flora-Bama has five — and with just his guitar makes time and place and whatever bad things that are happening in the outside world disappear…

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A phone call. A pat on the head. Simple acts of love.

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A phone call. A pat on the head. Simple acts of love.

It was a pat on the head from my grandmother. That was the best she could do. A half smile. And, for a split second, something soft in her eyes. That’s how I knew she loved me.

She’d give me a dollar sometimes, for Easter, for my birthday, furled like a pixie stick. A new dollar that she got from the bank, not the butcher. She’d place it in my hand, her fingers touching mine. And again, for a split second…

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