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Call me Larry (in English) or Senor Mantequilla (Spanish) or Monsieur Bey (French/Creole) or Blanc Fou (Creole) or Nakkum (Hindi)...Working with the poor in El Salvador & Haiti & Jamaica & Turks & Caicos Islands & America-love it! 'Having more fun now than I did in my 20's. I have been photographing people in remote foreign places and American inner cities. I have worked for myself since 1994, and live modestly (by choice)... I enjoy life & travel a lot. I was a single dad of my two daughters for years. My wife Pat of 15 years is a retired nurse practitioner and ran an oncology/gynecology clinic in Chapel Hill.
We helped set up & build a school and medical clinic in EXTREMELY remote Zorange, Haiti, & have been back many times to visit new friends and photograph the population. We helped build homes for the poor in remote areas of El Salvador - that is where I met Pat (from Calgary, Alberta, Canada).
After working with the poor in the mountain jungles of Haiti many times, I went to Port-au-Prince for relief work immediately after the earthquake in January '10. I worked in a makeshift "hospital" (really, just tents) with many amputees (mostly children); took many photos and & kept detailed notes of that terrible time.
September 14, 2010: 'Just completed a 6,485 mile photo tour of the back roads of northern Illinois, Iowa, northern Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta & British Columbia. Met MANY great people (especially on the Indian reservations in South Dakota & Alberta), & had many adventures in the little towns & on the dirt roads in British Columbia.
After playing the blues & R&B for emotionally & physically crippled vets at the VA Hospital in Durham, formed a band (the PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT) and we continue to play through 2017! The band made it's Raleigh debut on October 14, 2011. It was a rousing, sweaty time with lots of dancing and laughs; LOTS of Broughton '67 folks were in attendance with a packed house.
May 11, 2011: 'Just returned from working with tornado victims in north/central Alabama. It is difficult to describe the devastation and total destruction of the places I worked. The Holt community outside of Tuscaloosa and the Pleasant Grove community, just west of Birmingham, looked like a large bomb had been dropped on them. My jobs were chain sawing trees off of cars & houses & cleaning debris from neighborhoods. I got to play some music for some sad people & they smiled.
I got to play the blues in Scotland (Dufftown & Edinburgh) and in England (Harrowgate & Leeds) in September '12 - what a thrill!
The PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT played a series of free concerts in the fall & the winter of '13 to raise funds for Haitian mid wives in the remote Z'Orange region of Haiti. These funds allowed LOCAL midwives to work full time to deliver healthy babies & keep new mothers healthy. Our last concert on October 26th raised $3,450 - we are encouraged!
'Got to play the blues at the "House of Blues" in San Diego - fun stuff!
February 11, 2013 - The band's concert on February 9th at the Pour House in Raleigh helped to raise the total of the Haiti Midwife project to over $12,000 - enough for 2 salaries for 2 midwives for a year in Z'Orange, Haiti. Mary Moseley was there - first time I had seen her since 1967! Also, several other Broughton alumni helped make this fund raiser a success!
October '13: just completed a 6,811 mile across the back roads of the US taking photographs of Detroit (a dying city), Craters of the Moon, Idaho, the Oregon & California coasts, & the wild deserts of Nevada & Utah.
May '14: Photographed & explored the "Dust Bowl" areas of the US-Oklahoma & Texas Panhandles, eastern New Mexico, & SE Colorado flat lands. Met many interesting folks & learned a lot!
Christmas Eve 2014 - 'Had the privilege of playing Christmas music at Martin House (a hospice for terminally ill young children) in Boston Spa, North Yorkshire, UK. It was very humbling...also got to play some blues harp in Northern England...those folk love the blues!
In July 2015 we took a 8,395 (almost all back road) mile trip across the most northern (passable) roads in Canada...not quite the Arctic Circle, but pretty far up there! We met so many interesting folks: copper miners, lonely beef ranchers, many indigenous people & folks that had never seen a car from the U.S. with so many bumper stickers! 'Had the privilege of playing blues harp in two different clubs in Calgary...Got stuck on a dirt PATH (not a road-the GPS was wrong) on the side of a mountain in remote eastern Oregon (no tow trucks-not even a tow horse!)...Pat and I pushed & shoved & sweated and grunted but got that Honda out of there - with a burned out clutch. We always have fun and adventure on the road....On August 31st Pat helped deliver daughter Mary's first baby (sweet Vivian) in Chicago..it was a joyful time.
The PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT continues to play/blow a lot...hope y'all will come hear us and say "Hello!".
The PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT blew the (musical) doors off of the Apex Music Festival! (9-17-16)
On the road to Colorado in April '17, Pat & I stopped in Asheville & had dinner with Debby Renn (now Wolcott) & her GREAT husband Bill; Debby & I had not seen each other in (literally) 50 years! Deb looks great (like she did at Broughton); we had a fab reunion & look forward to getting back together with she & Bill in the near future. Before Colorado, Pat & I explored some dirt & back roads in western Kansas - who knew Western Kansas could be so interesting?! Lots of small museums in tiny towns ("the Barb Wire Museum", etc.) & interesting people: farmers, cowboys 'High Plains hippies', small town 'just folks' & small town weirdos - they were all great! After visiting family in Denver & Boulder we stopped in Kansas City & heard some terrific Kansas City jazz - & ate the BEST ribs ever. On May 6th the PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT played a hot gig in downtown Apex...& David Rowland & Ted Margeson & Mike Ferrell showed up!! I had not seen Mike in 50 years (heard this before?) & the next day we talked for a long while & tried to catch up - wow! It was really good to see those guys!
The PEAK CITY BLUES PROJECT played in downtown Apex on June 24...Frank Holt, Bernie McCants, Ted Margeson, George Ball, and Donnell Johnson (all class of '67!) and his wife Judy showed up to hear the band and have some fun! GREAT memories and warm feelings seeing those guys in the audience!
July 2017: 6,806 miles on back roads through northern Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado & British Columbia. 'Met some of the finest people the U.S.-and Canada-have to offer. Dirt back roads are great for meeting the 'salt of the Earth' folks. Enjoy your time while you still have your good health!
