Larry & Joe at The Screen Door

Very shortly before seven last evening Sheila told me about the concert to be held at Monica Sheppard's new little venue on the Cotton Block: The Screen Door Room. [Maximum seating: 50] Sheila wanted to go so, of course, I brushed my teeth, donned a clean shirt, and we hopped in the Camry and managed to walk in the door at 7 sharp.

What a delight! Larry & Joe. Their show was a joyful, varied, and fascinating mixture -- and even fusion -- of Venezuelan and bluegrass music.

The songs are mostly the creations of one or both of the musicians. Larry played mainly the cuatro and the Venezuelan harp and Joe the banjo and fiddle. Both are masters of their instruments. They both sang.

Larry spoke often and in espanol; then Joe would translate and add his own words. They sometimes invited audience participation.

Larry & Joe mixed enough storytelling into their song transitions to almost qualify for the storytelling circuit in my book. I wish we could have had our daughters and sons-in-law with us; they'd have loved it. Next I hear of them performing anywhere in north Georgia I'm gonna try to hear them. Larry and Joe are headquartered in NC. Eddie's Attic? Red Clay Theatre? Or even Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival? StoneSoup Storytelling? Hagood Mill?, John C. Campbell Folk School?, etc. Are you listening?

Also, The Screen Door Room would be a great venue for small scale storytelling. If someone on the national or regional storytelling circuit has a hole in their schedule while on a southern tour and are up for a relaxing intimate evening at a small venue they orta contact Monica at The Screen Door Room on Facebook.

One Man's Trash...

I am the son of parents who grew up during the depression. My Dad was a great believer in taking something old and worn and creating something new or rejuvenated out of it. Or just finding a bargain.

On my morning constitutional yesterday around Lillian and Jordan's neighborhood I happened upon this chair put out at the street at a house in the midst of a remodel. It seemed sturdy, if a bit rusty. After conferring with Sheila I squeezed it into the back seat of the Camry and we brought it with us back to Rome in the afternoon. While Sheila went off to a meeting, I broke out a wire brush and gave it a good going over, then sprayed it with white Ace Hardware "Rustb Stop" paint.

Chair as I found it by the street.

Now white the Chair sits in "Bea's Garden" in our side yard.

Neighborhood signs

 In my walks around the neighborhood adjoining the Little Creek horse farm in Dekalb County I was pleased to see signs of civilization...

Nedra Manners 1952-2025

Nedra holds a clocktower painting by Ken Gentle that she
donated for a Coosa River Basin Initiative silent auction in 2017.

 

Sheila and I attended a memorial service today for Nedra Manners who died last month after a short illness.  We were often thrown with Nedra because of shared interests. 

She opened a small antique store on Fifth Avenue near the Oostanaula bridge. Sheila and I have always enjoyed poking around in antique stores and junk shops, and Yellow Door Antiques is only a few steps off the Riverwalk where we walk regularly. Nedra also was one of Rome's premier estate sale businesses. And Sheila and I visit those regularly as well. 

Nedra was a committed Methodist and shared our dismay and heartbreak over the breakup of our denomination over the last few years. She commiserated with us over the turmoil and rancor in our church of over fifty years, Trinity United Methodist, and invited us to visit her church, First UMC, after ours disbanded.

She was someone who believed earnestly in the tenets of American (small-r) republicanism and liberty and justice for all. That meant she and we often ran into each other at One Community United events and Democratic Party events and at campaign headquarters for Democratic candidates. Brig. Gen. (ret.) Shawn Harris says Nedra was the first to suggest he run for Congress.

I am a collector of American political items and Nedra let me know whenever she found interesting ones in her estate sales. I bought several posters and pins from her and FDR shot glasses. She gave me a box full of some neat Obama pins. She also gave an Ike poster to me one time. Turns out it was a repro -- she didn't know that and I never told her.

Valerie Loner, pastor at Nedra's church, Rome's First United Methodist, delivered the message at the memorial service today. I wish I had the whole message; I'd share it here. She built her sermon around the Great Commandment and its corollary that can be summed up, as she indicated, in four words: "Love God; Love neighbor". I agree with Valerie that Nedra embodied that. Of course I also believe that in Nedra's case the "apple falls not far from the tree". Valerie shared a story of Nedra saying at her mother's funeral that her mom was "loved by many and feared by some." Nedra was fierce in her belief in and defense of "liberty and justice for all."

Nedra holding one of the FDR "Happy Days are here again" shot glasses that I bought from her in 2019.

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Nedra Manners Obituary

Obituary published on Legacy.com by Cremation Services of East Alabama, Inc. - Anniston on Aug. 15, 2025.

Nedra Lee Manners died in Rome, Georgia peacefully surrounded by friends on August 12, 2025. Miss Manners, who is originally from Jacksonville, AL, was a long time resident of Rome, GA She has her undergraduate degree from Jacksonville State University and her Masters degree from University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was the owner of Yellow Door Antiques and Art and Two Geminis Estate Sales. Miss Manners was very active in community service throughout Rome. She had served as Patient Advocate at Youth Villages in Douglasville, GA for 26 years. Miss Manners will be greatly missed by friends and family. Miss Manners is preceded in death by her parents, Lee and Jetta Faye Manners. She is survived by her two brothers: Johnsey Duffer Manners (Karen) and Roy Keaton Manners (Mindy); 4 nieces: Alicia Ransom (Jesse), Anna Harrell (Jimmy), Amy Manners, and Morgan Manners; nephew Tyler Manners (Shelby); 4 great-nephews: Jameson and Isaiah Vasquez and Lawson and Cooper Harrell; Brody and Coby Ransom, and Janet Manners. A Memorial Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 200 Clinton Street SW, in Jacksonville, AL on Saturday September 27, 2025 at 1:00pm. There will be Memorial Service at Rome First United Methodist Church, 202 E 3rd Avenue, Rome, GA at a date and time to be determined. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the Lee Manners Scholarship Fund at give.jsu.edu/fundraising or by check to JSU Foundation, 700 Pelham Road N, Jacksonville, AL 36265.