Larry Strickland – having the time of his life
Larry Strickland was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. There wasn’t any music in his family and he never studied music. He was the point guard for the Bishop England high school basketball team, graduating in 1985. He walked on at the local College of Charleston basketball team, played his final two years of school and became a local fan favorite, graduating in 1989. Ironically, he was a “walk on” singer/musician as well. He was invited on stage by a friend one night to sing Bill Wither’s song “Use Me”. It was a dream come true.
Not long afterwards, Larry was working in the mortgage business in Atlanta and another Charleston friend, that had heard him sing, challenged him to return to Charleston and join their band which he did in 2000. Larry continued to sing and play percussion (congas) with a number of different groups, dabbling in the mortgage business by day. He’s been rocking the mortgage world ever since.
Several of the groups would be booked for week long gigs at Margaritaville in Key West. Larry played Margaritaville for the first time in 2003. Every time he visited, he travelled around town enjoying the other musical talent.
Tim Bender, sound guy at Margaritaville, and Larry became good friends. Tim had a side hustle as a solo guitarist at Captain Tony’s and Larry kept threatening that he would move to Key West to play a duet with Tim. In 2008, with the financial meltdown, Larry quit the mortgage business and contacted Tim, telling him to start booking them as a duet. In 2010 Larry and Tim started to gig as the Margarejects, five days a week for over two years.
In 2012. Larry started performing with Ben Taddiken, playing congas and singing. They played at the Galleon, Island Dogs, Margaritaville and other clubs around town. His mother became ill and he moved back to Charleston, in late 2012, to care for her. He continued returning to Key West for gigs with Ben.
One day in April 2018, Larry was longing for Key West and wanted to return and play music full time with Ben Taddiken. He received a phone call from Ben who was then living in Kansas City. Ben asked if Larry had ever considered moving back to Key West. 
They had a three-week gig scheduled in July at Margaritaville. Larry told Ben that while staying in the band house for their gig, he planned to find a place and stay in Key West.
Ben made the decision to move back as well. He found a place to live on Amelia Street. It was a three-unit house with Pete Jarvis and his wife Sandy living in the front unit. Ben and Pete became friends. One afternoon, Pete offered to book Ben and Larry with him for a Saturday afternoon gig at Sloppy Joe’s. Naturally, Ben and Larry were excited about performing with Pete at the famous Sloppy Joe’s Bar.
They were scheduled to play their first Saturday gig with Pete at noon on September 16, 2018. Pete’s long-time partner Wayne Hammond (Pete & Wayne Show) passed away on Friday evening September 15. Ben and Larry offered to do the gig alone and allow Pete to grieve but Pete insisted he needed to get out of the house and play. Pete played a bass guitar for the first time ever. It was one of Wayne’s bass guitars and Pete learned to follow Ben easily. Larry’s percussion and vocals rounded off the gig. By the end of the gig, the trio was getting solid.
The Pete and Wayne Show had performed 5:30P-9:30P every Thursday, Friday, and Monday for 22 years at Sloppy Joe’s. Pete was so happy with Saturday’s performance with Larry and Ben that he invited them to join him on Monday and fill the Pete & Wayne slots until he could figure out what to do. After the first week, Pete decided they had a good band together. The trio continued to perform together until the 2020 pandemic.
After the pandemic, Ben was forced to move to Ormond Beach. Pete and Larry decided to continue as a duo – “Sloppy Seconds” was born. They get along great on and off stage and would continue the same summer tour up the East coast that Pete and Wayne had done annually for decades.
They perform at 80% of the same venues. They usually meet up with Ben Taddiken along the way, then take off through Larry’s Carolinas, then on to Lake George in the Adirondacks, and usually two weeks in Put-In-Bay, Ohio. This year, they took in a Cleveland Guardians game and ended up on the jumbotron screen. By the time, they returned to Key West, they had come up with a few more parody songs and a bunch of new jokes for their gigs. Much the same result as Pete and Wayne’s summer tours.
After the passing of Jimmy Buffett, Pete and Larry began performing a tribute medley they call “Jimmy’s buffet” combining classic Buffett songs, along with some Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson, celebrating the Trop Rock genre.
Everyone that works at Sloppy Joe’s appreciates the history of the famous venue. Many moons ago, Larry was in Key West for a gig and was in Sloppy Joe’s early while Pete & Wayne were setting up. Pete grabbed the mike and told the audience, “there would be no foul language in their performance tonight and we apologize for any previous offense.” The next comment by Pete was, “…and for the one guy in Ohio who’s watching on the webcam, we’re going to start the show with that same f….ing song.” Larry stayed for more and was almost late for his gig at Margaritaville. Now, he is performing in Sloppy Joe’s helping to keep the Pete & Wayne tradition and having the time of his life.
Addendum: (not enough room in the KW Citizen story)
In early 2021 before having a chance to get vaccinated, both Pete and Larry contracted COVID. Their early symptoms happened almost simultaneously probably contracted at the same gig. They were quickly hospitalized in intensive care next to each other’s rooms. It was very serious Pete went into a coma almost immediately, they pulled through after a couple of weeks of great care at the Key West Hospital. It took a few weeks longer, but Pete and Larry returned to perform and began their “Staying Alive Tour” at Sloppy Joes.
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