Frenchie Joy and Michael Blaze on Skid Row arts and recovery

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Take Me Back by Frenchie Joy. Welcome to the Coon Round Report. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson, and I'm in the studio with my two co-hosts, Earlene Anthony and Tyrone Robinson. This week we will be talking about the artistic life of the Skid Row community with a person that I consider to be a legend down here in the downtown and Skid Row area, Michael Blaze. Founder and guiding spirit of the Skid Row photography. Also, an in-studio interview with singer, actor, and comedian Frenchie Joy. Frenchie and Blaze, welcome to the Coon Round Report. Thank you. Frenchie, I'd like to start with you. Can you tell us a little about the inspiration for the song that opened the show, Take Me Back? Yeah. I had a friend. This girl was... Like hell on wheels. She went through men. Like, you know, it was just crazy. She, you know, love them and leave them type of woman. And then one day she met somebody who turned the, you know, turned it around on her. Turned the tables. Turned the tables around on her and she saw what it was like and she got some payback. So... That's the inspiration. That's it. Can you tell us a little about your background and how you got into singing? And acting? Yeah. I'm from Detroit, Michigan. Yay, Detroit! Woo-hoo! And hi, everybody back in Detroit. And, you know, I've really been singing since I was a little kid. All of my family, they're singers and, you know, kind of creative people. I'm really the only one that kind of went into it as a profession. And then I started getting into acting a little bit and then I moved out to L.A. And, you know, it's just kind of going on from there. Started writing my own songs and just, and I'm actually producing and directing my own videos now. So it's kind of progressing, which is a good thing. Okay. Now, you performed in a play a few weeks ago called Reckoning with Torture. And during the Q&A period about the SHU in prison, which is the security housing unit, we talked a little about how we related that to torture. And we had a heated discussion about you being a victim of crime. Can you comment a little on that, what we're talking about? Yeah. We were talking about, I guess, really sympathizing with the prisoners. And as I said, I grapple with the thought of, excuse me, sympathizing 100%. I just can't do it because, you know, our home has been burglarized like twice back in Detroit. Right. And it's an invasion. It's not just an invasion on your property. It's an invasion, you know, on you in general. And it makes you angry and it makes you want to get revenge. And that's how I feel about prisoners, some prisoners. Oh, some prisoners. So, you know, I just cannot give you 100% sympathy on that. You know, sometimes you have to be punished. Sometimes you gotta. Yeah, I understand that. Now, when I lived in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Ypsilanti, Michigan, Detroit had a population of over 2 million people. Now it's under a million, something like 850,000. Can you comment on what happened to that area? Well, you know, Detroit has had problems for decades, really. I guess the most recent thing would be the auto industry decline. But it's been for decades. Probably since the 60s riots that there was a white flight from the inner city into the suburban areas. But it's been progressing over several decades. So it's not a surprise, really. But Detroit is slowly coming back, which is, and we're all hopeful that things will get better. And they are. And they are. It's happening slowly, though. Okay. Now, what are some of the challenges that a person faces, especially a female, in trying to break into the music and acting business out here in California? Oh, yeah. It's a huge challenge, especially female, especially African American. It's just a tough industry anyway. And then, you know, unfortunately, still in the 21st century, sometimes people don't take you seriously when you're a woman and when you're black. But, you know, who cares? I'm going to do what I do anyway. I don't really care what anybody else thinks. Do you think about marriage and family? What's your comment? What's your thoughts on that? Oh, Jesus. Okay. Okay. If you really want to know, I'm going to tell you. I don't believe in marriage. I believe in love. Mm-hmm. And that's really all it takes. It doesn't take a piece of paper. It doesn't take a ring. All it takes is two people saying, I love you. We love each other. Let's make this commitment to ourselves. And we don't have to prove anything to anybody else. Mm-hmm. So that's it. You know, it's interesting that you say that because next week we will be dealing with the— we have a guest on here who's a professional writer, and he's gay. And we can talk about that prophecy. Proposition 8. Proposition 8 concept. And I always thought, you know, they're dealing with this whole thing about marriage also. And I always thought that the most important thing about that, that make me understand where they're coming from, is from a legal point of view as far as inheritance, property, and all like that. So what are your thoughts in relationship to the legal aspect of marriage? You know, love is great. Uh-huh. One of the partners. One of the partners. Die. The family come along, scoop up all of the property and stuff like that. Well, you know, you can have living wills, and you can make a will that gives property to your partner. Mm-hmm. And let me just say this. I am a definite advocate of gay marriage. Mm-hmm. Anybody who wants to get married—who wants to get married should be able to. And I'm disgusted that people think that it's still okay to discriminate. It's not okay. Mm-hmm. It's not okay. It's not okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's going to stop. Mm-hmm. You know? But I personally don't think it's necessary for me. Mm-hmm. We can draw up legal papers if we want to and still be single people. Mm-hmm. I think people should be able to leave a relationship whenever they want. If you're not in love—if one of you is not in love, don't stay together. Why? It's ridiculous. Mm-hmm. So, you know, as long as you two love each other, you trust each other— Mm-hmm. —and respect each other, that's really all it takes. I don't need to throw a big party with a white dress on to prove something to somebody. I'm here to tell you I love you. You tell me you love me. Mm-hmm. It's real simple. It's not that complicated. Mm-hmm. How about when that other element come into play, like a third party, where, you know, two people come together, they produce a kid. Oh. Or individual or something like that. That can make it a little bit more complicated. Not really. Why would we— In terms of leaving. Oh. Well, you know— Not really. Okay. Because you can still share custody. It doesn't take a court to force you to share custody. Mm-hmm. If you're two grown-ups, you should be able to do that. Okay. Okay. Good point. Okay. Thank you, Francie. Thank you. We've been hearing from you and the voices from the ether portion of the show. Looking forward to that. Thank you very much. Okay. At this time, I would like to turn it over to Ms. Earlene Anthony for our community camera. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is the community calendar for February. This coming Sunday, February the 26th at 2 p.m., Drama Stage Cool Run Community Outreach Program, also known as DCOP, D-C-O-P, will be distributed in hygiene kits or hygiene items and clothing to the community of the Skid Row area. For more information on this event, you can call 323-850-7000. The location will be at the Exchange, which is 114 West 5th Street in Los Angeles. And also Tuesday, February the 28th at 8 p.m., the Emerging Leader Program at USC is presenting Drama Stage Cool Run in performance of a stage play called Nail Heads, written and directed by Melvin Ishmael Johnson. This play focused attention to the health and safety of the community. And also, the program will focus attention through drama, poetry, and music on the 80,000 to 100,000 homeless people in the county of Los Angeles on any given night. And this is a free event, and all are welcome to attend. The location is 3501 Truesdale Parkway at the Mark Tabor Hall of Humanities, Lecture Hall number 102. And the location is next to the intersection. The location is next to the intersection of 34th Street and Truesdale Parkway. And this is on the campus of USC. For more information on this event, you can call 323-850-4436. And this is just a reminder, if you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com, attention Earlene Anthony. And once again, our call-in number for the show is 850-850-4436. 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Earlene Anthony. I'm honored to have on our show tonight longtime artist and activist Michael Blaze. Blaze, one thing I want to say to you is that since the founding of Drama Stage Coombran, you have always made time to come to our event and film it. And send it to us and put it online. Always high-quality work, and I would just like to thank you very much for that. My pleasure. Now, can you tell us a little about your background and how you got into photography? Well, my name is Michael Blaze. I'm a Brooklynite. You know, I happen to live in Skid Row right now, but I'm a Brooklynite wherever I land. And the photography thing, I'm actually a filmmaker for about four years. I have a lot of experience. I have a lot of experience. I have a lot of experience. I have a lot of experience. I had a show every week on public access called The Arts, Culture, and Us. So I'm actually a producer and a filmmaker when I can be. During that period of time, I was up against unbelievable odds. I could never get technology. I could never get a camera. I had 50 shows before I even had a camera. You know, but my love of filmmaking motivated me beyond that. And I begin to realize now that... There's a special thing about being an artist that struggles because, you know, the creativity that you're able to manifest in order to overcome barriers. Even when you reach... Even when you're like at the exchange, people have no idea what you had to go through and how many blessings God had to bless you with to even make it. So I got to a point where I wanted to give back to the community. Skid Row Photography Club is really not about photography. It's about people. Disparities is really what it's about. It's about people that don't have access to technology in the 21st century. I remember the first... So anyway, so I began Skid Row Photography Club under the same theme. These people, they're innately brilliant. All the people of Skid Row that I've come in contact with are some... I don't like to say artists, but they are artistically inclined. You know, innately brilliant. They do magnificent things, right? So I felt if I just put a digital camera in their hand, it would work well. I'd like to stop and give a shout-out to Charles Porter, who works at USEP. He helped me put the idea together. He helped me. He listened to what I was feeling because it was like an inspiration from God, right? Because I had never touched a camera. I was a filmmaker, but I had never touched a digital camera personally. I want to commend Earl. Earl is one of our original members, and she still has her camera. I forgot it tonight, but I still have it. But she still has it, which is, you know... Mine went like two years ago quietly. Yesterday was like the fourth year. I didn't announce it or get into it. You know, it represented to me that I've been able to do something consistently, you know, twice a week for four years, other than when I was in the hospital. So that was a real blessing to me. Because years before that, when I was an addict, I could never show up on time for anything. I don't care how important it was, how badly I wanted to be there, how, you know, what it meant. Hey, after this, you can get 20,000, just be there. I could never be anywhere on time. So this being able to be consistent, you know, is a real blessing to me and a demonstration that I've improved as a human being. So let me just say, so Skid Row Photography Club is very relatively successful. It's not about... It's not about photography. It's in the heart of a place where there's drugs sold all up and down. You know, I close the blinds. There's people all outside, all around selling drugs, right? I mean, all around selling drugs. I guess it's like the poor man drug dealer stands on the corner. I'm not really sure. It's an interesting phenomenon for me always. I've always been amazed. How can you be out in broad daylight selling drugs to total strangers and who could be police? I've always been impressed. So anyway, so it's a... It's a safe haven. Yeah. Myself, OG Man, and Wendell Blassingame, and one or two other people were at the James Woods Center when it first opened for SRO. And need to know, some people like to ask us, what do we want to do with the center? I'm not going to get into that. The center wouldn't allow us to do what we wanted to do. I'm not going to get into that. But it helped us to say we're going to do different things. So OG Man, he went off and... Wait, let me just say it. Let me just say it. So the original members of the Skid Row Photography... The photography club are General Jeff, who is now on D-Link, and, you know, a hip-hop guy. OG Man of OG and Services, Skid Row 3 on 3, and the street cleaning where they cleaned the street. Yeah, Street Begay for the last several years. Did murals have been acknowledged by the mayor and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Earlene Anthony, drama stage coon Ron. Don Garza, the Los Angeles town crier. And many other notable people who in Skid Row. Coach Ron, who has fun zone. Yeah. You know, so many other people who became members of the Skid Row Photography Club. Susan Murphy. Huh? Susan Murphy. Susan Murphy. Susan Murphy's about the most consistent member, you know, even now. You know, she comes and does her thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so it was started with a lot of people that already had a lot of positive energy going on, but we weren't really coordinated. So somehow my task as a filmmaker began to capture what people were doing that was positive. You know, I film every single day. Even now, you probably noticed we were sitting here, I'm filming, I'm shooting, I'm filming, right? Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. a picture of anybody with a needle, anybody's laying on the ground. I got 500 videos, and about 200 of them are on Skid Row. There's nobody getting high. There's nobody drinking. I only have two where police are involved. It's only because people I knew wanted me to do it for them. So the only thing I project on everything in Skid Row is positiveness, and I'm honored and happy that the people that were a member, and many people who were not known became members. Now, many of those original members, they didn't even have an e-mail at the time, right? They didn't know what the e-mail was if they had it. So it was a whole progressive thing with the Skid Row Photography Club that every time you get a camera, you also get a CD. Am I going too long? No, no. You also get a CD. So lots of people think Skid Row Photography Club is about photography. On the flyer, it says we do blogs, we do websites, we do photography. It's multimedia. It's a means for people to communicate what they're doing, a way for people to capture what they're doing, get in on a blog. We do websites there. So all those other people like General Jeff and OG Man who still have their cameras. I lost mine about a year and a half ago. Who still have their same cameras from four years ago yesterday. That's when they came out. That's when they started. Because she didn't know your camera's four years old. That's great. Those people, for instance, I had the chance to watch them. They did some things with hip hop. You may have heard. We're going to talk about that in a minute. I'll leave that alone. We'll roll on. How did you first come to Skid Row? How did you first come to Skid Row and then some of your observation when you first came down here? Well, I got here. I slid down here. It's called the bottoms. So I slid to the bottom for whatever the reason. It's too deep to get into a lifelong thing. But I slid to the bottom and recognized that Skid Row was a place where you could come back up. You could get yourself in order. So I went through some things for about three or four years there. I'm still back. Battling with cocaine and things like that back in the late 90s. Still battling with cocaine and things like that. So I was there sort of like where I was. Everybody else was dealing with drugs. It wasn't like, you know. It was just a strange thing where I fit in and I began looking for recovery. Now for me, the big book, you can keep it. If it's not about God, I'm not interested. If it's not about something about a doornail, I know a lot of people use it. That's cool. But the last thing I wanted to be was an addict every day or to go somewhere. I'm an addict every day. Man, that can't be all of me. That's not what my mama put in me. That's not what I was raised to be. I wasn't that. I was somebody like many of us who was drawn in to become a drug addict. You know, like I'm from New York, right? Every morning in New York, you get out on every corner and have these little grocery stores and they have plexiglass. You go up there and you say, I'll take a quart of milk and a nickel. I'll take a bag of weed. I'm serious because they got some strange law where you can do that without really getting busted. I'm very serious. So you come out of your spot and on the corner, the supply and demand competition keeps quality higher. So every corner there's somebody selling drugs, right? And we used to wonder, well, where do these drugs come from? So I said, well, South America. How did they get to my spot? You know, did any of y'all make any money on this? No. How did it get here? Right. So anyway. That's a whole other story. So people who are drug addicts are more victims than just weak or something like that. It's a major, major thing. And so the whole thing in drugs and Skid Row, I wanted to be free and I started doing things. I made a deal with God. I don't know. Have you ever made a deal with God? So I made a deal with God. I said, look, every day I'll just go out and try to help a total stranger every day, at least one. So at that point, I began working at Chrysalis for about four years almost. I think I started the pre-retention there and retention, which I'm honored to know that they still practice there. You know, so during that period, I was able to get some freedom, some clarity because, you know, I had, you know, the Superman thing, right? So I'm Superman. I'm Clark Kenton. I'm cool. I'm Superman. I'm, you know, getting high. Yeah. So gradually, that left me. I don't know what day. I don't know when. I just know finally it was just over and I went on with my life. And my life was, you know, being positive, being joyful, and being helpful to people. Hence where I met you guys. How long did we meet? At the Union Rescue Mission? No, no. You and I met on a bus. We were both working out. Telemarketing. No, no. We weren't doing telemarketing. We were a step up from that. We were working out there at a Teletech Telecommunications and probably some AT&T third-party verification or something. Yeah. We never sold a thing. Well, that was when I was still, that's when I was still in the category of being a functional addict. You know, I was able to get through work and then all my money's gone. Right? But I could get to work, you know, be alert and all my money's gone. That was a strength. Let me ask you this. Wait, wait, wait. I just say that because there's so many functional addicts and I want to clarify, I'm not talking about illegal drugs. I'm talking about drugs. You know, I just went through a big thing where I was sick for a couple of years. I know. Everywhere I went, the doctors are giving me drugs. I'm like, look, I'm not a drug addict. I don't want no, I'd rather you cured me. I came to be cured. Let me ask you this. One of the, a person who had a big influence on Drama Stage Coomera continuing was Leslie Taplin. She was very important to Drama Stage Coomera. Can you just talk a little about Leslie and your contact with Leslie also? Well, Leslie Taplin, Leslie Taplin's her other last name. Anyway, Leslie Taplin will just stop right now to come to me. You know, may she rest in peace. She was, a very unique individual. And, and intellectually, you know, she had relationships with everyone. Once I was privileged to read three or four different people's emails and I realized that she communicated with each person differently. You know, she might use high vocabulary or simplicity. She accordingly dealt with each person according to the best way they could receive her. The thing that got my interest in her, she also, she not only, I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say I want to say for her transition, we'll say, right? And we want to thank Tom Gilmore for giving her that spot down there. That was really a fantastic saying goodbye place. He even, Tom Gilmore, he even, the electricity wasn't working. Tom made a call and they came and cut the electricity. I said, whoa. Contact. Trucks, all of them, right? So my first involvement with her, you know, so you did the phone. And OG was like, what do they know? I said, OG, she had relationships with all of us, separate and very independent, depending upon our needs. I said, she had a relationship with them, you know? Period. He thought it was just him. You know, so when I first met her, she would call me from up north. She lived up north in Dallas. She's like, well, I got to go. Where you going? I'm going to the three-on-three streetball league in Skid Row. I said, you know what? You driving down here just to be, yeah, I got to go. And that was the type of person she was. So she took a liking to the Skid Row Photography Club and she sponsored it. Now, she was also a big part of D-Link, you know, and even now I don't really mess with D-Link because they don't come to the hood. Skid Row is a part of downtown. It's not separate from downtown. You know, it's not, you know, the whole gentrification thing is too deep. I don't know. I rode with that 35 years ago in Harlem. Our cry was the same. You're showing all these poor people and you're getting all these block grants you never have to pay back. All we want is a job. Yeah. We'd be happy to leave these racks, right? We'll move somewhere. Give us a job. That's what, you know, I just saw, I was watching some of Malcolm X. He said, that's always the cry. Give us a job. That's always the cry, you know. But anyway. Yeah. So. So she came to Skid Row. She photographed it. She had personal relationships with lots of us. What do you remember about her? Well, I'll tell you the most amazing thing about Leslie. Amazing. That's the word for her. Yeah. To me is, I wrote this play called Catch the Tag, which was about Marcus Garvey and J. Edgar Hoover, right? One of my favorites. Yeah. And when Leslie. I just saw the white dude. What's his name? J. Edgar Hoover. No, the guy that plays the role for you. Uh-uh, uh-uh. Where's the hat? Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Allen. Oh, Allen. I forgot his name. Yeah, Allen Evans. Yeah, Allen. Well, what I found out from talking to Leslie was that years ago, she had wrote a screenplay on Marcus Garvey, presented it to Hollywood. It went all the way up to the top. And because a white person wrote this information on the black national Marcus Garvey, they wouldn't produce it. See? And so that was the amazing thing about. And when we performed Catch the Tag at USC, she was there. Yeah. She was there. She was always there for us. Yeah. Danny was there. And she also. Daniel Taylor. Daniel Taylor. You know, very important person too in our development. My first camera. Yeah. It was Danny. And she also put us in contact with Tom. She was the one who put us in contact with Tom Gilmore to do an event over at the Regents. Regents. You know, we did a black history, not black history, honoring Dr. King. Let me just say, so that's her distinction is that she walked the four blocks. That's all they are. They're four blocks away from Skid Row. She walked and got into Skid Row, you know, and made people in D-Link, hey, this is part of their community. Yeah. Yeah. She's a wonderful person. And I really miss her a lot. Also, let's talk about some of your projects because you were talking earlier. And they seem to relate to recovery. The one that I really want to talk about is your father's program that you used to do every year and the inspiration for that and the importance of that. Can you talk a little about it? Well, at the time when I was at Chrysalis, it was like in the late 90s, I was one of the few people that was really able to get on the Internet and find information. It was a lot easier then. It wasn't. All that garbage. Now there's a lot of lies and game. But at that time, I want such and such, and there it is. So I was a person that found out information from people at Chrysalis. They used to call me Mr. Information, right? Whatever it was, like a challenge. Yeah, what do you need to know? And I wanted the most greatest challenge. Let's find it, you know, bringing in. I'm always pushing that people get into technology, that they have control over that, right? And so someone came. Oh, we can mention the individual. We didn't have a fight for the last year. But it's cool. Life goes on. And he's known now as Skid Row Twin. Skid Row Twin. Skid Row Flowing. Yeah. He was there at Chrysalis, like 99 or whatever it was. And he was going through a lot. He had been going back and forth to prison, back and forth to prison, back and forth. So he would come to our retention class. And somehow we were able to reach him. We had a lot of information for him to break the cycle. And then he said, man, I guess I don't have to go back to prison. It's interesting. People think I'm just hanging out until I go back to prison. They're conditioned to I'll be going back sooner or later. And they don't really build or look at other possibilities. So he had a child. He had a son who is with a lot now. And he wanted some information on how to deal with that son. Yeah. He had one of those mothers that's real hostile. Yeah. And he wanted you to see your own child and hateful and all that kind of stuff. I don't know if he deserved it or not. So we overcame that. And then eventually two or three other brothers came looking for help with their issues with child support and so on. So I got qualified enough that I said, well, I'll just start Unified Fathers for Life, which is dedicated different than most places in Skid Row. It's dedicated to reuniting families. One father at a time. So throughout the last eight years, there were hundreds of fathers. I actually had something like a 90% success rate for what they wanted, you know, for what they came for. Maybe reinstatement of driver's licenses, maybe visitation rights, maybe need to go. What court should I go to? You know, I think the greatest thing with fathers is they don't really have anyone to talk to. So my thing ended up being, well, I only take two of them for an hour and actually just listen to them, just listen to them. Just listen to them. Just let them get out, whatever it is. Identify if they're a threat to the success of their child by having a poor attitude, not wanting to change, not, you know, not wanting to forgive, not willing to work two jobs or whatever it might be. And so I got better and better at it. And what I did was I took out the element of them going to deal with people. I used to send them to the courts, right? And everything I started doing over the last four years has been over. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You want to keep your child. You lose your job, right? They want to take your child because you can't. But the person they give that child to, they'll buy them a house. They'll give them credit cards. They'll give them allotments. But they won't give you the money to take care of your own child. And that child, people are making money off of early. You know, one of the biggest crises that's going on is they're giving these children medication they don't really need. They're drug addicts. They get paid by the pharmacies to do this, right? But they're not qualified. It's like teachers putting kids on Ritalin. How are they qualified? How are they supposed to say this child isn't supposed to be this active? My grandma used to say whatever it was, you're going through a phase, you'll outgrow it. Yeah. Move on. Just going through a phase like all children are all creatures, and you'll outgrow that. And all of us do eventually. So make a long story short. So Unified Father's Life still goes on. People still call me. And I'm able to do it in such a way that I don't have to bring them there. Most agencies in Skid Row, they need a signature so that they can get grants. So they can say these many people came. But if these, when I first started, it was like eight, ten people, I realized I'm not giving them enough time. You know, I'm not, you know, I'm just shooting them in, shooting them out, shooting them in, shooting them out. And I didn't think that you should be doing. I'm not doing that with someone's family, someone's children, without taking the time to be thoughtful and at least listen. So that's where I'm at with Skid Row. I mean, with Unified Father's Life. It's the most important thing and rewarding thing that God has ever led me to do. Yeah. And interestingly enough, I think Skid Row is a place where there's mostly men. Right. And they always act like, you know, they want to separate the men from the women. And as if these people don't have children. And if those children aren't there, they have a term that's called separation anxiety. Right. All parents want to see their child every day. Every day. It's just natural. I want to see my child every day. Right. So in Skid Row, I didn't really want to keep doing Unified Father's Life. But there was no one else doing it. So all these multi-million dollar places, they don't care anything about the children. They talk about recovery. How can you recover? You know, recover to your family, to your heritage, to who you really are. You know, is the encounter with drugs or is it with the pale face? I'm also a Blackfoot. Or is it with the pale face system that doesn't understand our earthly loving ways? So. Well, it's an excellent program. You still do the dinner every year. We've been looking forward to. I slowed down this year. Yeah. Because I got like. I got sick a few years ago. It took me years. So finally, I went to a doctor the other day. Doctors are a trip. But I went to a doctor the other day. Oh, you're just fine. You're kind of like wasting time. You're OK. Here, take this pill. So I'm like, hold it. Let me go get my medical papers. Read this. So she said, wow. You're a phenomenon. Oh, cool. So I'm all right. Yeah. Now, at the time when I was sick, they were like, well, we need to operate. We need to do this. You got to get on the aisle. I said, you got to this. You got to that. And I'm laying there. I'm delirious. I'm thinking, they're asking me to make life-changing and threatening decisions while I'm on drugs. I get addicted. I'm insulted. Like, they can see I'm out. Well, just sign right here. Hold it. Everybody, back up. Let me out. Right? So they make me sign all these papers. You know, you're going to die in four days. Yeah, I'm going to die at home, homie. Yeah. So I came out. I'm going to die at home. But during that time, I had to slow down a lot of things in order to actually heal. I was seriously, seriously. I think I should mention it. You know, men, you have this thing where you start getting older and your urination stops acting right. Or what is this I had messed up? The prostate. Prostate, right. And so your prostate gets larger and it becomes more difficult to urinate. Okay. And this can be compounded with certain foods that you eat. Yeah. Or the enemy of the black man, which is unnecessary stress. Right? Not just poor eating, but unnecessary stress. So this is what I have. So that means all my urine backed up and all this poison was in my system. And I had a coma. And again, Daniel Taylor came to my rescue. You know, I haven't seen Daniel for a while. He's going through whatever. Disappeared. Disappeared. Well, hopefully he's just, you know, going through something. He'll be back. But at that time, when I was at, you know, my lowest, I had never been ill before. I never felt like I couldn't just get up and kick everyone's ass if I had to. Right? I never felt like that. I felt like, you know, I'm a man. And so at that point, I was so out of it. I lost my ability to walk. I couldn't do anything. Right? So I'm in the county hospital and Daniel comes and he tells him he's my cousin. Right? So now I tell him what I've been telling the doctors I want done on my behalf. They wouldn't accept it from me, but they accept it from a white guy. It was so deep. Right? And, oh, your cousin said, so we're going to, and I'm saying, I've been in here mumbling that I was about to spit on y'all. And I found out through Leslie. She's the one that called me. Yeah. So Leslie walked. The way the captain came. Yeah. She came. You know, I wrote her a thing about, you know, I went somewhere. But, you know, everywhere I went, they were like doing things to me. And I kept asking, well, am I getting better? Will this help me? And they were like, no, they're vague. They're real vague. I'm like, why are we doing this? I mean, do you have something that works in me? Like lots of people have prostate problems. Right? Yeah. So I went through some procedure and I came to and she was standing, her, General Jeff, an OG man. Right? And I'm straight delirious. And I'm thinking, ah, I died. Cause she's blonde hair. You know, my image of an angel. Right? And I'm like, and finally I said, oh, Leslie. And then my mind says, because she's actually like, you know, a star. She was a star, a movie star for a long time. You know, she's a very prominent person. She lives in two different places in the state. Here I am, a guy from Skid Row laying in the old county jail, which was, ooh. Anyway, right? And I'm like, wow. She cares. So I got this new urge. I think it's important. I say this because if you know people that are sick, you should go see them. It really makes a difference. Makes a big difference. Let me ask you this. I looked at the. But wait. So the old 40. Okay, go ahead. You need to go get your prostate checked. That's all there are. If it's enlarged, it can be reduced before it becomes an extreme complication like in my case and about a million other black men. So the old 40, you just go get it checked. This is the best thing you can do. Yeah. Yeah. Because most most African-American experience that when you hit towards 50. Wait. So yeah, this is really funny. So it's like seven weeks and I can't. I've lost my ability to walk. I can't even walk. I can't move. I can't get up. I'm like out of it. Right. And so a doctor comes in and plays. We realized we misdiagnosed you. So I'm like, wow. So they. So special. Whoa. I'm excited. Right. So this Korean dude gets up on the bed. Like, I'm like, what? And he said, don't worry. He's a specialist at this. I said, at what? So he takes his tube and he sticks it down my penis. Right. And he starts. I'm in such. But I'm in such a bad way. I like this is going to work. Yeah. This is what you normally do. Yeah. But immediately. About two big bags of urine came right out. So. So you want to go check your prostrate before you do like I do. Yeah. You have every indication because you have to urinate a lot. You might get up two, three times a night. It's really one of the greatest killers of black men in their 50s. Yeah. Prostate. Let's talk a little about. I saw the the the film that you did on the hip hop news conference. Can you talk? A little about the Chuck. The Chuck. The flavor flavor. All of them. General jail sitting there. Can you talk a little about that? Sure. Sure. In filming it, you know, is really what I'm into. There's a gratuity about filming where like in filming you. I picked up all stuff about, you know, quam quam run and all the different things. And so there is a gratuity is other things happening. That you benefit from. So what I got out of it was, you know, here's public enemy and flavor, flay and several other groups that were in this room. There had been like 25 of them a week before that or a week and a half before that at Gladys Park. Who all came to Skid Row to perform for free. Right now, I'm knowing I was a promoter for many years. They're like international guys. They can fly anywhere. They've chosen three or four times now to fly to Skid Row. Right. And I'm impressed. I'm literally impressed. They don't have to do this. They've been together for 25 years. So they don't perform every week. They're not together every week. They live in different. They have to coordinate to be anywhere at one time. Flavor Flav lives in Vegas. He does a television show. So I'm sitting there. I'm filming. Right. And the thing that they were saying was, we have a voice as hip hop artists and we want to do something positive for people. So they hooked up with Pete White. L.A. Can. What's the righteous name? L.A. Can. No. Los Angeles Community. Los Angeles Community Network. Action Network. Action Network. Thank you. And what's the woman's side of it? Becca Denison. The W, whatever, the woman's side. The one that Becca runs. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. So Pete White and Chuck D had met, actually, I discovered during the interview, like years ago. So this didn't just happen. They have tried to figure out, well, how can we make a difference? What can we do? So it progressed over a year and a half or something like that. And they found, OK, well, now's the time. We've contacted enough artists. And it was like old school superstardom. All the artists that were there and all. But their message is, you know, we want to help our people. And the thing that happened was all. Police came out in riot gear expecting hip hop to equate to some type of riot or problem. But they're like, you know, these are our people. You know, and during the interview, I got a short one and a long one. And I want to thank General Jeff. I can't say enough about what he's done. I was at the three on three city hall gathering. They had two. It was a little jam. A lot of people came. And he was saying something. I'm going to. I'm going to translate what he was saying is that he would have never done the things he's done being a member of D-Link. You know, he's on CNN. He's the mayor of Skid Row. He's got videos. He's really made. He rebuilt Gladys Park. He himself rebuilt Gladys Park. Got Nike. All these people come. You know, now there's a full court. You know, he himself. So he was saying the only way he did that is because he ran into OG, man. So I just want to give OG his credit. You know, as being inspiration. Those of us that know OG, he's like, you know, strange individual to deal with. He's real extreme. And I say all of us are Zulu warriors. Right. All of us do what we do with no money. Right. So let me come back to Pete White. So Pete White at L.A. Can finally put all this together and had the fortitude to stick with it until it was right and drop it down. Now, they're thinking that maybe it wasn't as much as they needed. And I felt like I said, they could have landed anywhere. You know, they got enough money. They got planes. They could have landed anywhere. And they landed in Skid Row. So it's the beginning of something really great. Okay. I know Tyrone. Let's get a quick question from you and Earlene. And then we move to the ether section. I know the time is tight. It's really not a question. It's just I'm very grateful, Mr. Blaze. I was on the street for a very long time. And I was introduced to Mr. Blaze in Skid Row photography and Skid Row film by Danny Taylor. And reintroduced. Reintroduced. Okay. Yeah. Actually, it was a reintroduction. And Mr. Blaze gave me a place to go every week, you know, to help him work on his site and help him through his technical difficulties back in the day. So thank you, Mr. Blaze. Thank you. Thank you for that wonderful opportunity. Just briefly, tell me one or two other things that you really like about Skid Row, the community. You said briefly. That I really like about it? Well, the only thing that I like about it or any other shanty type location. Because I work in regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional regional It's a place to come to recover, and I don't mean from drugs. Many of the people I deal with are here because jobs in Detroit have closed down, got divorced, have to pay child support. Many people are down for economical reasons. Now, if you want to come to Skid Row to regroup, it's the perfect place to be. Like in the Weingart, for instance, they have lots of programs where you work and you save 80% of your money, period. As people, they've got thousands, right? And can get out and reestablish themselves. It costs to live, right? So if you come to Skid Row and you're looking to be here temporarily as transient, so to speak, and regroup, it's a great place. Meaning if you have your perspective together, it's a great place. I've seen people come and leave, build themselves up, and not understand the basic principles of money. And that's what I'm saying. Management. And just leave and come back and rebuild again. I've been here long enough now to see that three or four times. So it's great if you come with the right perspective. But, you know, I'm about to leave. I'm going to probably move up to the Alexandria, which ironically is only four blocks away. And where I used to stay, my old home. But I'm not in Skid Row anymore. It's so interesting. For those who want to get in contact with you, want to be involved in your program, where's your contact information? I guess I must have too many. Yeah. But let me just say, what I'm doing right now in media, what I'm doing right now in media, I was wondering if that was me. What I'm doing right now in media, I'm in real need. You know, we're making some pushes, some improvements, like with the Unified Fathers for Life. I need manpower. So what I'm really looking for right now are interns that want to come to Skid Row and learn. You know, I have like over 500 shows and things. So you'll learn something. But that's my plea right now. And how do they get in touch with you? Intern places. You can contact me at skidrowphotography at yahoo.com. Okay. All right, then. Thank you. Thank you, Michael Blaze, founding and guiding, spirit of Skid Row Photography. Now, our last section for tonight is from Voices from the Ether portion of the show. If it's Monday night, about 15 minutes to 9, then you are listening to Voices from the Ether. There's a phrase, the elephant in the living room, which purports to describe what it's like to live with a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abuser. People outside. Such relationships will sometime ask, how could you let such a business go on for so many years? Didn't you see the elephant in the living room? And it's so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer that comes closest to the truth. I'm sorry, but it seemed, but it was there when I moved in. I didn't know it was an elephant. I thought it was part of the furniture. There comes. An aha moment for some folks, the lucky ones, when they suddenly recognize the difference. That was penned by Stephen King. My in-studio guest, singer, actor, comedian, Miss Franchie Joy. Tonight, the Ether will look at the abusive mind. Miss Joy has composed and sings our featured piece tonight, What Good Is That Man?, which deals with abusive relationships. Welcome to the Ether, Franchie. Thank you for having me. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Last time you were such a great kitty cat on the show. Thank you so much. Certainly. Before I play What Good Is That Man?, I like to put on the mind of our listeners some aspects of the abusive mind. So as they listen to your song, What Good Is That Man?, we can be on the same page for the conversation to follow. Okay. Abusive people typically think that they are unique, so different from other people that they don't have to follow the same rules. But actually, abusers have a lot in common with one another and share many great thinking patterns and behaviors. Some of these may include blaming, excuse-making, they like to make fools of others, emotional dependence, lying, rigid application of traditional sex attitudes, ownership, poor anger management, minimizing self-glorification, and the inability to... Okay? Now we're going to listen to your song in its entirety, What Good Is That Man? What good is that man if he can't give himself freely? What good is that man if he can't supply what he needs? What good is that man if he can't fix? What good is that man to me? What kind of man will take my dreams and hush them? What kind of man who doesn't believe in them? I don't understand what I see So what good is that man to me? Yes, See, I'm trying to tell you not to leave him But he makes it so hard I need to get away and make a brand new start I don't need that man to touch me, to fear me I now understand What it means to be free I'm leaving that man Cause he can't please That man, he's no good For me Thank you! Thank you! He's no good for me! That's right! That's right! Franchi, what was the inspiration behind this piece? Well, it came from seeing people that I care about going through this. People in my family going through this. It just made me angry. My first question is, Why would anybody put up with it? And I still don't really understand it. But I guess a lot of it comes from fear Of not finding something better or being out there on your own. Especially with women, you know, back in the day, Women were afraid to be out on their own. With children, afraid to be out on their own. Right. Afraid to be out on their own. So they stayed with these abusive men. But it's never okay to stay. Because eventually you're either going to get killed Or this is going to be passed on to your children And the cycle will continue. So the people that I care about who went through this Never learned. And that's what makes me really sad. They never learned. And they died in this. They died in these situations. So my question is, What good is somebody, not even just that man, Because it happens both ways. You have abusive women as well. What good is anybody who makes you feel less Than a human being? What good is anybody who does that? So you have to leave. You have to get out. It's not easy. But you have to go. And then you deal with the emotional aspects of it Away from that person. But you got to go. You got to go. Got to get away from it. Got to go. A lot of my information comes from a website called Men Hurt Too. It says, they stated that a majority of batterers, Whether it be male or female, Had experienced or witnessed some kind of childhood violence That had left them with low self-esteem, Poor role models, And very often times traumatized, Which eventually carried over into their adulthood And into their relationships and their new families And things of that nature. So Franchi, what would you suggest to our listeners Who might be in abusive relationships, What to do and what actions to take? And whom to seek out for help? Well, like I said, the first thing you got to do Is just get out. Secondly, as I said, you deal with the emotional aspects of it On your own, away from that horrible situation. Because it's not normal to live like that. Get into a normal lifestyle. Get away from that person. That person's going to have to take care of themselves. They're on their own now. You can't save them. You can't save them. They have to save themselves. So just get out and then take it from there. So where can the listeners download your music from, Franchi? You can go to CDbaby.com And you can download those songs. Do you have any upcoming projects or performances That you might want to mention? Well, we're going to be performing Nailheads At the Exchange. At USC. At USC? Okay. When are we going to be doing that? This coming... It's right there on the card. I can't see. It's coming... Yes. It's next... It's going to be next Tuesday. February 28th. 8 o'clock. 8 o'clock. February 28th at 8 o'clock. 8 o'clock, yes. Mark Taperhall. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Franchi, we want to thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you for having me. In the ether, for sure. And Tyrone, thank you for not saying my little song. Oh, yes. We know it is a big song. And we know that you're a big... He's always going, here's your little song. Thanks, Tyrone. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Certainly. Certainly. So a closing thought. One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized, and cruelly mocked. But it can never be... It can never be taken away unless it is surrendered. Yes. And that was said by one of my favorite stars, Mr. Michael J. Fox. Wow. That brings this week's visit to the ether to an end. Now back to our host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson. Next week, we will be closing out our Black History Month with a short reading from the play Catch the Tag featuring Lee Shaw as Marcus Garvey. I would like to extend a special thanks to our in-studio guests. Michael Blaze and Franchie Joy. My co-hosts, Tyrone Robinson and Earline Anthony. And a special thanks to Jeremy, Sonia, and the Skid Row Studios. You can check out our past shows of the Coombram Report on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Skid Row.LA, or www.dramastage-coombram.org. I'd also like to put a shout out to our guests, to my mother, who had a birthday yesterday. She was 93 years old down in Greenville, Mississippi. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombram Report. And I leave you with the song that opened the show, Take Me Back by Franchie Joy. Woo hoo! I'm feeling the one that left behind me Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself I'm feeling the one that left behind me Somehow I've lost track Realistically I know I can't but I wanna go back There was a time I knew where I was going No one could tell me more than I was knowing My friends said please slow down Said you're bound to get hurt the way you fool around But obstinance had the best of me And so did a lesson too and what's that they gave me I played around and hurt so many others But they didn't hurt me And I thought I'd found my perfect lover My friends said he's no good for you I used you and then this time you'll be the one abused But love's trance took control of me And so did a lesson too but you they were telling me I'm feeling the one that left behind me Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself I'm feeling the one that left behind me Somehow I've lost track Realistically I know I can't but I wanna go back Oh take me back I know that I've gone a long way I'm feeling the one that left behind me I know that I've gone a long way to go Until somehow I find a kinder woman than I used to know It's a struggle within my mind And it's gonna take some time So you'll be trying to find me in time And now I can't Oh Can you pay the liens Can you find me Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself I'm feeling the one that left behind me Somehow I've lost track Realistically I know I can't but I wanna go back Just listen to me I'm feeling the one that left behind me Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself I'm feeling the one left behind me I'm a real ace, somehow I lost track Shrug of a stick, I know I can't And so you wanna go back Listen to me, I'm a real ace Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself I'm a real ace Shrug of a stick, I know I can't And so you wanna go back And so you wanna go back Please take me back Take me back where I know I lost myself