The South Tampa News & Tribune
Holland Remembered At Service
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Published: December 8, 2007
Updated: 12/06/2007 06:23 pm
TAMPA HEIGHTS - Friends and family came from the Tampa Bay area, California, Boston, Sweden and places in between to celebrate the life and legacy of Mark Holland.
They remembered him mostly with poetry and the music he loved to hear and often played through the night at Gram's Place, the bed and breakfast/hostel that put Tampa Heights on a worldwide map.
"It's a sad day but in many ways it's a day of release for Mark," his brother Bruce Holland told about 100 people at the memorial service Dec. 1 at Plymouth Park, across from Gram's Place, 3109 Ola Ave.
Mark Holland opened the European-style hostel in 1991, naming it in honor of country rock legend Gram Parsons, a Winter Haven native who founded the Flying Burrito Brothers and The Fallen Angels, and died at age 26.
Holland committed suicide Nov. 4. He was 56.
"He was an inspiration to me," Bruce Holland said.
Tampa musician Waz played an instrumental "Amazing Grace." Don Barshay recited Walt Whitman's poetry and called his friend "a lover and a lover of travelers." Many more shared stories, favorite songs and their own poems about time spent with Holland at Gram's Place.
"Mark's place was just an amazing retreat," said Boston artist Lainie Senechal, who visited at least once a year. "When I was totally burned out ... I was both grounded and uplifted. He saw a Utopia and built it and I could stay there."
Holland bought the house on Ola in the 1970s. There was a "little problem," his brother remembered. "A gang was living in it."
Evicting the squatters was the start of Holland's efforts to push drug dealers from Plymouth Park. Many credit him with jump-starting the neighborhood's revival, and the Tampa Heights Civic Association has submitted his name to the city, which is considering renaming the park.
Over the years, Gram's Place became a honeycomb of music-themed rooms, tropical patios and an outdoor deck with a staircase. In the 1990s, Holland bought an adjacent property on Plymouth Street.
He called his creation a cross between Key West and Amsterdam.
Ricky Pierce remembers his friend as a religious, passionate man.
"He had faith in God that at the end of the day it would work out," he said.
Holland dreamed of bringing The Fallen Angels together again; the band toured for six weeks in 1973 with Parsons and Emmylou Harris.
For his memorial service, there was a reunion of sorts.
Though they have stayed in touch, two band members met for the first time in 30 years - pedal steel guitarist Neil Flanz and drummer N.D. Smart II.
Flanz lives in Austin, Texas, and in the past decade has visited Gram's Place about eight times; Smart lives in Tampa and had worked with Holland since June on a CD of original songs and Gram Parsons covers.
"The day he died was the first day he missed rehearsal," Smart said. "It's a shame to lose him on the verge of this."
At the memorial, Smart and his son Jesse performed a Parsons' song, "The New Soft Shoe."
It took nearly 10 years of persuading for Holland to get Flanz to visit the hostel. But once he came, Flanz returned again and again.
"We just used to pick all night long," he said.
In the weeks before his death, Flanz said Holland "used to call me and tell me how happy he was because of the band."
Lance Smith, formerly of Lewd and Lascivious, frequently shared in the all-night music jams.
"It was great having him (Holland) excited about what we were doing for his quests," Smith said.
Senechal would drift to sleep hearing their music and awaken in the morning as they still played.
Work on the CD will go on, Smart said, with Flanz adding steel guitar tracks from Austin.
Bruce Holland said his family hopes the hostel can remain open, although a decision has not been made. Smart and his family are managing Gram's Place at least for the next year.
"I can't walk out on the hostel and the music," Smart said. "I'm not going to give up on any of it. There will be other music here."
Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.
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