Still playing the blues

After two divorces, six children, hundreds of child support payments and more lonely Christmas mornings than he'd like to count, Richard Taylor is not having an easy time of it.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO EVAN WILLIAMS Richard Taylor at Larry's Pawn Shop East

But at 52, he refuses to surrender his lifelong dream of being a professional musician - "a real artist, world class."

It is only being partly realized while he works long days at Larry's Pawn Shop East on Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers.

"My father was a West Point General, man," he said, blue eyes both lazy and fierce, face handsome once. He's blustery, outspoken and deeply frustrated. "I'm royalty…This world doesn't treat me like it anymore."

Occasionally he takes a guitar off the wall at Larry's Pawn and starts to play, the work of his true loves - Neil Young, Harry Chapin, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and many others - spilling out of a pawned Yamaha. "Real artists," he said. "People that have ability."

Taylor said he is full of natural ability, but that club owners still favor karaoke acts and DJs, who don't use traditional instruments.

"I'm a musician," he said. "I'm not a clown - but that's what people are filling clubs up with these days. I'll just keep trying to be the best professional I can be - and that's all you can do."

Taylor keeps playing now because he's strapped for cash.

"I have ex-wives that take all my money," he said. "I really gotta play music to get by. And I'm not having much luck. They're paying some guy to play a tape player more than me. Guys who have no ability at all. Let's go unplugged some night and I'll prove it."

Taylor grew up in Birmingham, Ala. and his life seems to have run across more than a few deceitful bosses, failed romances and shortlived part-time jobs. Taylor said he was also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.

"I'm like Forest Gump," he said. "I've worn a lot of hats. I've got 22 albums nobody's ever heard. I'm a writer - I was the best writer in the U.S. military. My brain is very artsy. I love paintings, too."

He moved to Fort Myers in 1989, selling insurance. That's when his children were growing up and the state began to force him to pay child support. He began to pawn what he said was an enormous collection of instruments after getting divorced a second time.

"My (second) wife took everything I owned," he said. "My house, my car, two garbage bags with all my clothes in 'em…"

Now, most of his children are grown, so his paychecks aren't garnished quite so much. As if he was not used to being believed or understood, Taylor produced a copy of his current paycheck, his old military ID and a state ID (His real name is Richard George Bastar III; Taylor is a stage name, but also his preferred one).

The paycheck showed that he had worked 13 hours of overtime and made $744.25. After federal withholding ($106.00), social security ($46.14), Medicare ($10.79) and Florida Disbursement Unit - his child support payment ($150.70) - Taylor was left with $430.62.

A woman came in to the Pawn Shop with a lawn mower and recognized Taylor. "Hey, Fish," she said. (His nickname he said because, like a caught fish, he's been cleaned out by his ex wives). She put the mower on consignment and Taylor gave her back $50 for it.

Taylor said his legacy is his six children - although he rarely sees them. But he likes to talk about them and think about them.

"That's what really ripped me apart, too - my children, to not be around them," he said. "That'll make you sad."

His first born Mallie, 26, is a medical student at the University of Alabama, specializing in anesthesiology.

"She's gonna make six figures," Taylor said.

His second was born on the same day one year later: John, 25. He runs a granite company in Birmingham.

Third is Elizabeth, 22, who lives in St. Petersburg and has a grandchild Taylor has not yet met.

Fourth is Richard IV, 20, who is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Fifth is Margaret, 19, who lives in Orlando and has a scholarship to the University of Central Florida.

And his youngest is Gibson, 15, who'll be going to Fort Myers High School in the fall.

"They're great kids," Taylor said. "But they all gotta shit Dad, you know? You can rest assured - I tried to do what was right, or I'd have left the country long ago."

He stood in the empty pawn shop by a shelf filled with drills and started playing The Beatle's "Blackbird." Taylor's calloused fingers moved over the strings delicately.

"'Blackbird singing in the dead of night,'" he sang, cheering up. "'Take these broken wings and learn to fly.'"

Maybe it didn't sound exactly as The Beatles intended - Taylor has an appropriately bluesy style - but all in all not bad. Not bad at all.

On May 23 he'll be playing in the Patio De Leon in downtown Fort Myers between 5p.m. and 8 for Friday Night Live. He also plays at Buffalo Chips Restaurant on Old 41Road in Bonita Springs from 7 p.m. to 10 every Saturday night.