Interview with musician Danny Singleton on homelessness and music

All right, children, settle down. Settle down. Come on. We only have two days to get this right. Come on. All right, I need my boys on the left, and I need my girls on the right. All right, you already know the dance moves, but I need you guys to focus. My hips are not stepping up. You've got to do a great job for this performance, okay? All right, boys, do your monkey dance. Arms up high. Arms up high. Come on. There we go. Girls, move your hips. That's right. Move those hips. All right, boys. Looking for a better place. backing backing backing Is there a place, a place there in your dreams? You are looking for a better way. You are looking for a better way. Looking for a way. Is there a way? A way in my dreams. A way there to your dreams. Freedom and equality. Is there a way? A better place by positive light ministry. Willis and Shante. And a shout out to Willis Boyd and Shante Duncan. Their short play about a Vietnam military veteran, Kiara in Wendell, would be one of the highlights at the second annual downtown military stand down that said, November 12th, Saturday, November the 16th, 2013, at the Vortex, located at 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. We will have more about the event in our community calendar. Welcome to the Conran 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 with my co-host Earlene Anthony coming at you from the Vortex. Welcome to the Conran Report. I'm from Skid Row Studios. Our call in number is 800-893-9562. Listen to us live or download our show and any past show by Googling in skidrow.la and hit Conran Report. This week on the Conran Report, we will be hearing some creative voices from the Skid Row community. And I'm delighted to have with us in the studio musician, Danny Singleton. Danny, welcome to the Conran Report. Thank you. Look, can you tell our listening audience, tell us a little about your background. Well, my background. Mm-hmm. Well, I happened to be born, I was born in a place called Heidelberg, Germany on August 2nd, 1958. My father was a career army soldier. Mm-hmm. Well, served 30 years in the military, in the army. And our family moved around quite a bit. And I happened to be born there. And they, my parents were from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My father was born and raised there. My mother was born in West Virginia, Welch, West Virginia, and moved to Philadelphia at an early age. Mm-hmm. And they met there. And our family, let's say, we were born in the United States. Mm-hmm. And that's the, well, basically, that's my origin. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Now, how was it going to, do you have to go to, how do you go to school when you're like a military brat? Do they have high schools on the base and all that kind of stuff? How they handle that? Or do you go to school in the closest town where you're located? Yeah, yeah, it's more like that. Yeah. Yeah, over to. Now, how was the language thing over there in Germany? You went to all English class? Mm-hmm, yeah, it was an American on a base, and it was all, but, yeah. Mm-hmm, now, did you pick up any German? Yeah, I had German, I had German classes, yeah, yeah. How about, did you get a chance to speak, and you still? Well, well, people don't notice about me, but I happen to be a linguist, I'm a linguist myself, I study language, yeah. Mm-hmm, yeah. I study several languages, actually. Mm-hmm. And including German, Spanish, French, Italian, and a couple others. Okay, so you. People don't know that about me. Yeah, but you can get back. Yeah, but I started, I developed an interest in language. In 1982, I was sent to Germany in the Air Force, I was in the Air Force. Mm-hmm. And I said, you know, I think I'd like to study German a little bit. Mm-hmm. And so I went and purchased some books, and began learning phrases, and, you know, stuff like that, and that was the beginning of it. And I tried to use them off the base, you know, my order and stuff like that. Mm-hmm, by talking to other German people. Yeah, I still remember that stuff. But then, you know, then I left, I forgot about that later, because I was, you know, when I came back to the States, I just, you know, I didn't have a chance, opportunity to use any German, so. But then, then I lived in a neighborhood where they had, I lived in Newark, New Jersey, and in my neighborhood, they had a Spanish store. I think Puerto Rican, and I saw in Puerto Rican, I saw newspapers in Spanish, and I was curious. I said, you know, what is Spanish all about? I think I'd like to learn it. This was 1980, I'd like to, I had an interest in it. It was 1987. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I think I purchased, I didn't know how to go about it, but I purchased a newspaper, and I took it home, and I said, didn't know what to do. I used to turn on the radio, but then I ended up in Miami, and I, you know, I ended up, my beginning was, I purchased a dictionary and a paper, and I started beginning to translate it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, in Miami in 1987. Mm-hmm. And I was there just for a month and a half, and then I ended up back in New York. So I went to the New York library, and I bought a book called a Living Language Course, and it had the, it had a dictionary and phrase book and stuff. So I began studying Spanish in 1987, and I've been with it ever since. Mm-hmm. So you get a chance to speak a lot of Spanish. Yeah, I know, yeah. I read, write, and speak Spanish very well. Oh, man, that's beautiful. And yeah, and I discovered some other things about Spanish. When you know Spanish, you can know Portuguese and Italian. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you know, yeah, they're very similar. Italian is closer to Spanish, too. It's similar length. Yeah, they're very similar. You can hear, a person that knows Spanish can hear Italian and understand quite a bit of it. Not, you know, you miss a lot, but you understand a bit of it. Mm-hmm. So, you know, so I decided, when I, well, I, I decided, well, I heard, I was listening to Italian radio, believe it or not. They had it on a broadcast in the 90s. Mm-hmm. And I said, what's the, I said, I was understanding, but I didn't, I said, what is this? This is Italian. So, well, I think I'll, you know, brush up on it a little bit. I'm Italian, so I did. Mm-hmm. You know, and now I kinda. That's great. Now, well, let me ask you this then. Yeah. I also saw that you got off into sports. Oh, yeah, yeah, I was in sports at a young age, at, let's see, I think nine years old. I started playing little league baseball. I played several years. I played about six years of baseball. I played little league, little, people went P-League, little league, Babe Ruth League, high school. Mm-hmm. And then, yeah, and same thing with football. I played about six years of football. In Germany? Yeah, I started in Germany. Started in Germany. And then from, I was at the age of nine to 12. Our family was there from December of 67 to December of 70. I was nine to 12 years old. And yeah, started playing sports there and continued when we came back to the States, to New Jersey. Yeah, we ended up in New Jersey and. Mm-hmm. Now, what was the, what was it like, the racial situation when you was in Germany? Where, when, at what time? Yeah. When you was growing up in Germany? When I was a kid? Yes, coming up in Germany. What do you mean by that? Uh, I mean, how, how did the different, what was it like being an African American black man over in Germany at that particular time, coming up? I don't know. Was it just a small. I didn't really think about race too much, but I just noticed it was, it was well integrated. Yeah. Well, you know, the base we lived on, well integrated, you know. Yeah, so no problems. Yeah. Like that or anything like that. No, yeah. Uh, uh, now, uh, uh, how did you become a musician? When did you get off into that? Well, let's see. At the age of, when our family moved back to the United States in December 1970, we lived in, we moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey. And for Christmas, I got received a guitar. That was my first real instrument. Mm-hmm. It was acoustic guitar. And that was 42 years ago when I still have that guitar. My first guitar ever. Oh, you still have it? Yep, it's in my mother's house in our attic. Yeah. I played it last December. I was back east and it's still playing. Still in, still in good shape. Yeah. Yeah. Those things on there. I was telling them, I said, this guitar is 42 years old. Tell it all my nieces and nephews. I was there, I played, you know. So that was the first instrument that you learned, was a guitar. Yeah, the first, my first instrument was a guitar. And then how about the flute? The flute, that came a little later. It happened to be in the family because my little sister received the flute at some point. I don't know what, I don't know if she was, I forget what grade, I think fourth grade she was in. Mm-hmm. And then I tried to jam with her. I didn't really pay it any mind, you know, early on. But I noticed it and I heard her playing. I used to hear her practice, because she played in school. Mm-hmm. You know, she played in the school bands and stuff like that. I didn't play any music in school at all. Mm-hmm. I played outside of school and I had some lessons outside in corner stores. Mm-hmm. But, let's see. Well, can you play something for us now? Let's play a song for us now. Okay, like, okay. And I'd like to tell you how I got involved in that. Well, I used to, me and my sister used to jam. I used to try to get to her, to have a little jam session with me. Mm-hmm. And then I remember a couple times I said, let me check that out. You know, let me check out your flute. And that's how it started a little bit. And then, and the summer, way back in the summer, I started really playing flute back in the summer in 1978. That's what, 35 years. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, and there's more to the story. I'll tell you more about it. Okay. How I really, you know, got into it. What are you gonna play for us? I don't know. Let me just do a little improvisation first. Mm-hmm. Does it sound any good? Mm-hmm. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Do I have time to do a little bit more? Okay, I have a song prepared. Go ahead. It's a tune by Stevie Wonder that I really love. It's called Bird of Beauty. Let me see if I can get through this. I have time to do it? Yes. I have time to do it? Yes. I have time to do it? Yes. I have time to do it? I cut it short, but that's a little bit of Bird of Beauty. Is that your favorite instrument? The flute or the guitar? Well, yeah. Although I started on guitar, I kind of favored the flute a little more now. I had a different inspiration for playing. There's a story behind it. I happened to be on a plane, and I headed to Germany again. This was in Germany. This time for a visit, just for a visit for a month. I was going there to visit my family. It happened to be over there. It was December 1970. I was listening to, you know, I had the headphones on, listening to some music. It had about ten songs on the track, and it kept coming around. But I heard this song, it had a flute in it. And when it came on, I heard a little solo. And then something just woke me up. It just cut it. It like blew my mind. I heard this thing, this flute playing, and I thought I heard angels outside the plane. It really is. I'm serious. It's really, I can't, it's hard to describe, hard to explain, but it's just. And then I didn't know who it was or what it was. You know, I found out later who it was. It happened to be a jazz flutist named Hubert Laws. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hubert Laws. Yeah, he's great. Yeah. Is that one of your favorites? Hubert Laws? Yeah, Hubert Laws is great. It's another flute player. Is it Yusef Lateef or something like that? Yeah, yeah, he's great too. I heard, I listened to him a few times. But Hubert Laws is. Yeah, that's the first person I heard that inspired me to really want to get, you know, to pursue the flute. One of the best players. Let's talk about your Air Force experience. Tell us how did you come about going into the Air Force and talk about your experience in that. Well, I didn't go in the Air Force right out of high school. I was there like four years later. I was, I happened to be, what happened? I was, I was, I was, I don't know. I was working, let's see. I had a job at a fast food restaurant in Philadelphia. And it happened to be, it was a Burger King. As a matter of fact. And I did that. I think I worked there for a year. And I don't know. I think I happened to be walking, I was walking down the street one day and I saw a recruiter. A recruiter. A recruiter. A recruiter. A recruiter. A recruiter. And I saw planes going up, you know. And they talk about come fly with, you know, come join the Air Force. And I looked into it, you know, and they ended up joining. Yeah. Yeah. What was your experience in it? What was your MOS? What was your job in the Air Force? I was, the title was Munition System Specialist. And I worked in a bomb depot. I had to do with storage and handling of bombs. You know, worked in. Was that during the time of war? No, that was peacetime. It was peacetime. It was in 1982. Mm-hmm. Yeah. In the half. From January, yeah. Now, how did you first come to Skid Row? Let's talk about that for a little while. Okay. First time, my first time in L.A. was, I came here in June 1986 for the first time. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And the bus let me off right there downtown. It was the 7th and. Oh, the old Greyhound bus station. Yeah. On 6th and Los Angeles. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right there. And that's what I knew of Los Angeles. Right downtown. You just get out and walk around. Yeah. This is Los Angeles, okay? Mm-hmm. And. And, you know, and then people told me, started telling me what to do around, you know, in the area where things were. If you want to get a hot meal, go to the mission, the L.A. mission. Mm-hmm. And the missions were spread out then. You know, they were. Yeah, they were different. They weren't all close together like they are now. You know, they put them on, they moved them all together. But the Union Rescue Missions was way on 3rd Street somewhere. Los Angeles Missions was 7th and something, Maine, or Los Angeles. Mm-hmm. You know, they were spread out. Yeah. Right now. And I don't think they had the midnight mission yet. Yeah. I think it was there. It was there. Wait a minute. I don't know. It was in 86. It was another location. But it was definitely, yeah, it was at 4th Street later. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I don't remember. Oh, yeah, it was there. It was there. I remember from being, because I got kicked out. I got kicked out one night in 86. Because I washed my socks. They told me, you know, they said you can't, you weren't supposed to. I snuck and washed the socks. I got busted. Yeah. And they kicked me out. But I had a little tent. I had something that I laid on the sidewalk. I had a sleeping bag. And most, because I know most of the homeless during that time, they used to have the 99-cent movies up and down Main Street and all of that. Did the movies? Yeah. That ran all night. Oh, yeah. And that's where most of the homeless stayed at. A lot of homeless. I remember those theaters. Like, yeah. They still around. They redrawing them, refurbishing them now. A lot of Palace, Globe, all up and down. I remember those theaters. They were sitting all night. They had some on Broadway, I think. Mm-hmm. I remember. Now, what were your thoughts on Skid Row when you first came? What are your thoughts on Skid Row and the homeless down there? I don't know. Mm-hmm. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just, I thought it was nice that they had all those, the missions there to help out people, you know. Mm-hmm. I thought that was a good thing happening, a good deal going there. Mm-hmm. The missions, you can go get a hot meal and get a bed if you need one. Mm-hmm. But, you know, they cut back on services now, though. I think they used to have more service on beds like that back then, you know. Mm-hmm. Well, it's definitely a different. What do you think, what's the biggest challenge for the musicians down here? In the skid row area. Mm-hmm. What do you mean? Yeah. What do you mean by that? The biggest struggle that they have being a musician and down, because, you know, we know a lot of the musicians down here. There's a lot of musicians that go through programs down here. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, a lot of them get involved in the substance abuse out in the world. And this is their chance to clean up in some of the programs and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. . Yeah. . I don't know. They're just, I think they're all the same to me. You know, music is, I love music. I love, you know. And they're so similar. You know, gospel and blues and jazz. I think they're related. They're closely related. How about the interaction between the audience, the interplay between the audience and the musician? Mm-hmm. All right, all right. Yeah. Can you come up just a little closer to the mic? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Now, talk about how did you first come playing with the Praise Team? Oh, that started when I went to a Bible study. That was, it's been six years now. And I happened to have this instrument with me in a bag. I went to the Bible study. And when the Bible study finished, they started rolling out these instruments. You know, people started coming out with stuff. And I said, what's going on, a jam session? I did. I said, they're having a jam session. I said, I think I'd like to get involved with joining it. You know? Mm-hmm. And I asked them, I said, what's happening here? And then I started meeting people like Joseph Warren, you know, music director. And I think he told me, yeah, this is the Praise Team. And he said, you can be involved. You know, would you like to be involved? And I said, I think I said, yes, I'd like to. And that was the beginning, you know, there. I've been there six years now. Six years. Do you also go over to the karaoke and play over there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was there two weeks ago, three weeks ago. I played. Yeah, I jammed with about 10 singers. They liked it. Uh-huh. I think I'm going to go Wednesday night. Okay. I didn't make it last week. I had to go be somewhere else. Mm-hmm. But, so. Now, how do you compare the musicians in the Praise Team with the musicians that you play out, like with the jazz and the blues? I don't compare them. Same quality? Some of them better? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. They did. I don't know about the same, you know. Mm-hmm. I think, you know, musicians, let's see, horn players. You mean, what do you mean? The quality or the musicianship? Yeah, yeah. The quality. You know, some people have just a gift. Because I know Highland. You know Highland also. Yeah, Highland Burke. Yeah, Highland. He played. Yeah. He played with, because I know one of his regular things is he played in the church. Yeah, you ask him the same thing. He played in church on Sunday. Mm-hmm. But he also, Saturday night, he can play in the jazz clubs. He played in the blues clubs and all that kind of stuff like that. At the Staples Center? Yeah. He played around at the Staples Center and all that kind of stuff like that. Yeah. Wow. And we're trying to get Brother Joseph up in here, too. He said he's going to bring a couple musicians up in here. So we can sit down and talk about the praise team, the whole history, and all of that. Now, how about your other family members? Your sister, did she go on to become a musician? The one that used to play flute? Yeah. No, no, no. She put it down after high school, and she didn't pick it up. She works in the medical field. She's an electrocardiogram specialist. She's been doing that for 25 years or more. Now, what are your thoughts on the homeless? What are your thoughts, Rob? I don't know. I was thinking about that today, and I don't think that can be solved. I think there's money. That can be cleaned up. I believe it can. I think there's a lot of this money there that's just not being done. I don't know. I don't have the money, but there's money that exists. There's money out there for it. You mean to get people off the street? Yeah, get people off the street. I don't know. I don't know how many. I mean, people are on the street right now at any given time. Well, according to the stats, at any given time, there's between 80,000 to 100,000 people that sleep on the streets of L.A. in the county of Los Angeles. In the whole county. In the whole county. And that's a lot of people. You know, 100,000 to 80,000 people living on the streets. And, you know, the ironic thing about it is the fact that, you know, Los Angeles also has one of the highest rate of millionaires that lives out here. You know, yeah. It has a rate of millionaires. And then at the same time, yeah. And then at the same time, you got all of these people living in the streets and stuff like that. I agree. I think something can be done to solve the homeless problem in the Skid Row area and stuff like that. Maybe we can. I mean, yeah, they can build a bigger, like, I don't think they can. You know, a giant mission, you know, with more beds or something. I don't know. I don't know about 80,000. How many people? 80 to 100,000. 100,000 beds. That's a lot. Yeah. That's a lot. But, you know. And see, you being a military veteran, and we always felt that the first step in solving the homeless problem was make the homeless problem the homeless veteran problem. Okay. And then get the federal government to subsidize a study to find out the solution. The solution to the homeless problem. In other words, put up the money and get the best mind, create a think tank, and then the solutions that come from that, roll it out, you know, for the rest of the homeless population. That's something that's long-term. But something that's short-term that we always felt that the community could do is get some of these interfaith organizations, these churches, to get some of this city property, all these empty cities, empty properties, and begin to bring people from down from the Skid Row area and make them a part of the church, the mass jizz, the synagogue, whatever like that. I think it's going to take that effort because, you know, we've been working down the Skid Row area now, what, eight, nine years or something like that. And I think the major problem in the Skid Row area is not that you don't have a lot of resources. It's just these resources have become overwhelmed. And I think that's the problem with so many people down there that don't need to be down there. You know, they're mostly down there because of economic thing, because of they just lost their job, or they just lost their house, or they're just coming out of prison. And then you also got a huge amount of mentally ill people. And I think these are the ones that they should concentrate on because it's the mentally ill people that need to be around their support system. See? And you got all of these normal people who problem is just, it's a money problem, financial problem. And they find themselves stuck down in these SROs where they paying $50 and $60 a month. Why pay $800 or $900 a month out in the community when you can get a pad, a SRO for $50 or $60 a month? But at the same time, that jams it up, you know, and most of, so many of the people that we've seen laying in the streets of the streets, the people that's dealing with mental problems. And these are the ones that I always felt that should be in these SROs like that. But anything you want to say on that, Darlene? Well, when I was homeless, I just noticed a lot of the, with the missions that I lived in, a lot of times, let's say when donations come in, a lot of it wouldn't get to the people that really needed it. The people that lived in the mission, a lot of it was stopped at the staff because I was working like a volunteer, whatever, distributing or, you know, sorting out things. And a lot of times, the staff would come and get out of the donations what they wanted. And then what was left over, they would distribute to the residents. So, I think a lot of the homeless problems is it stops at the top. Probably the salaries, the staff, and so on. Because if there was no homeless, a lot of these people, the staff and so on, would be out of a job. So, I don't think no one is really in a hurry to solve the homeless problem. They talk about the homeless, the homeless, the homeless. But, you know, I think that's the problem. Thank you. They're really not out to solve the homeless problem because a lot of the upper people with staff and so on, they would be out of a job. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention, I have some experience, well, being homeless. And actually, a few years, you know, I lived, but I had to live outdoors. Talk about that for me. How did that come about and how did you overcome it? Well. I, uh, had a, okay, I don't know, I didn't know where to go. I didn't have the money to rent a room or apartment. And so, I was forced to, you know, find a place to stay, a spot to sleep. And I did. I found a couple of good spots. And I stayed there. I tried to stay, I ended up staying for an extended period of time, you know, and one or two. And then, and then, and then, the last place, okay, but for the last 11 years, I've had a place, a room. I've had a room. And now I'm in SRO. Our building was turned, converted to SRO about a year and a half ago, or two years ago. It's called the Roslin Hotel. Mm-hmm. But a friend, I had a storage, I had a storage in Hollywood. And I asked a friend, I said, where, you know, I'm from, where I can get a room at anywhere? So, he said he preferred me to the Frontier Hotel in, on, on, on. On 5th. This was, yeah, on 5th. But this, that was May 2002. That's when I moved in there. I've been there ever since, 11 years. But I moved, I was four years there, and I moved across the street to the Roslin. And I've been there seven years. Yeah, because the whole Frontier used to be something else. Yeah, yeah. It was no joke down there at that Frontier. But when I rented that room. Yeah. For that month, I felt so relieved. I got in there, I said, look, I have a place for a month. Yeah. Yeah. But I ended up staying there four years. I was like, I was, but I was relieved. I was like, I said, wow, this is great. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't really know how the, you know, the reputation of the hotel, I found out later. You know, I just, it was, you know, it was a crowded hotel then. Mm-hmm. You know, it wasn't too bad. I thought it was pretty cool. They had a storage down at the bottom. Mm-hmm. You know, and, you know, they had, you know, so. Yeah. Places like microwaves downstairs you could use. And they had a laundry room. Mm-hmm. But I didn't, and the other stuff, I don't know. Yeah, I stayed at the. I wasn't involved. Yeah, I stayed at the Alexander for a couple years myself. Oh, yeah. Right, right on that corner. Mm-hmm. Now, because I always felt that, you know, one of the things that they always, that they always talk about in relationship is the fact that you're not the only one that's in the room. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, Right on that corner. Now, because I always felt that, you know, one of the things that they always talk about in relationship to the homeless problem, they always utilize the term affordable housing when it comes to the homeless problem. And I just recently began to understand that that's a term that really don't describe the problem. And I think a better term is low-income housing instead of affordable housing because a millionaire can afford, you know, you could have people that make $1,000 a year. What's affordable housing for some people is different from affordable housing for another group. But low-income housing, you know, I think that's at the center point of one of the causes of the homeless problem. Right. And maybe we get a chance to talk about that a little bit deeper. Let's take a break for our community calendar and then we come back and talk to our guest, musician Danny Singleton, and play a few more performance songs. This is the community calendar for the month of October. Tuesday, October the 8th, that's tomorrow, Tuesday, from 5.30 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Veterans Community Theater Workshop will continue once again. And this workshop is open to veterans as well as non-veterans. And the location of the Vortex is 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. That's right at the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. The Metro Bus No. 60 and 66 stop right at or near the corner. And the participants in the workshop are currently being trained to be stage managers. And if you would like more information on this event, you can call 213-479-1764. And this is a two-day event, Saturday, October the 12th, and Sunday, October the 12th. The Los Angeles Poverty Department presents this is a festival for all Skid Row artists. It's from 12 noon to 4 p.m. And it's at Gladys Park. It's a free event. And this is the fourth annual festival for Skid Row artists. And there will be featuring more than 80 artists living and working in Skid Row. They will assemble in Gladys Park. And Gladys Park is located at 6th and Gladys Street, featuring rap, reggae, gospel, rock, dance, poetry, art exhibits, drama, and much, much more. Thank you for watching. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. music and improvisational and much, much more. And on the 21st, we will have OG and Company. He will be talking about the three-on-three basketball and a new line of skid row clothing. And we're asking you to save this date, Saturday, November the 16th at 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The second annual downtown Los Angeles stand down will be presented. And the location will be the Vortex, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. And if you or your organization would like to participate, you can contact Judith Bowman at nomoretime2right at gmail.com. Or you can give her a call, 626-703. 1-2-3-0. And we will have much more information about this event on upcoming shows. And 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 a reminder, the call-in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now back to our host. Thank you, Miss Earlene Anthony. Now at this time, I would like to introduce a new section of the QMRA report entitled Community Comments, where we will hear from some of the many organizations that's contributing to the community and how to contact them. This week, our community comment will be from Shante Duncan of Positive Light Ministry. Shante, can you hear me? Positive Light started programs and started doing stuff for kids and youth in 1998. And we were formally established as a nonprofit in 2004. We are a catalyst for inspiring the youth and anyone else who will listen, creating opportunities and giving hope to all who will participate. PositiveLight.org. You can like us on Facebook at facebook.com slash wearepositivelight. Okay. Okay. That's Shante. Shante Duncan, Willis Boyd, and Denise Boyd, who's doing such a great job working with young people over there at Positive Light Ministry. Now we're back with our in-studio guest, musician Danny Singleton. And Danny, let me ask you this. Can you talk about what are your thoughts on the homeless veterans, what's happening with veterans who are homeless? Because there's a lot of homeless veterans in the Skid Row area. I know. But I heard of this program called the VA Section 8. They call it BASH. Mm-hmm. And I understand that that's a great, good program to help veterans get housed. Have you dealt with them? Yeah. Well, I attended not a seminar, something like that about the... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Now, what do you think? Because I see a lot of veterans who are dealing with issues. You know, did... Dealing with so many issues from... Substance abuse and stuff. Yeah, substance abuse or memories and stuff from distress. Post-traumatic. You know, post-traumatic stress from the military service. Mm-hmm. And, you know, a lot of them, these are the ones that I'm talking about that need to be around to support services and stuff. And these are the ones that's laying in the streets and stuff like that. But you're right. The BASH program is a good program. Mm-hmm. There are a lot of resources. That's one of the reasons that we're doing the military stand-down on Saturday, November the 16th at the Vortex. Because we're bringing all of these VA services right down to the Vortex and make them available to veterans. And at the same time, they'll be bringing clothes, et cetera, like that. Hygiene kits will be food, entertainment. It will be medical. It will be dental. It will be legal help. Anything that the veteran would need on that particular day. Excuse me. What's the Vortex? Where is it? The Vortex is a new location that we're working on. It's right on the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. And the address is 21... 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. Yes. And it's got a nice stage in there, studios. We're trying to make it available to musicians, especially the musicians in the downtown Skid Row area. One of the pioneer musicians in the punk rock scene. His name was Gazer X. And we had him right in here to do some interviews. He just completed a studio right over there for musicians to come over there to do something. And that's what we do. So, we do our workshop at the Vortex. Yes. So... And the Metro bus number 60 or 66. It stops right at the corner. Oh, okay. Uh-huh. Wow. Great. Good to know. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Before we get back into the interview, what else you gonna play for us? Don't know. You wanna play something else? You gonna play something with the guitar for us? I know so many. Yes. So many songs. I have no idea. Well, but I have an idea. Okay. Play something for us. But let's see. I like this tune. This is kind of... Okay, Danny Singles. Playing the flute. Yeah. This is a tune called Once I Loved. And let's see. This is a tune called Once I Loved. This is a tune called Once I Loved. This is a tune called Once I Loved. Is that enough of that? Beautiful. Cut it short. Yeah. So tell us a little about your future plans. What are your future plans as a musician? What do you like? What do you like to accomplish as a musician? Well, I'm hoping to get a few more gigs, you know. Well, recently I worked on a festival. I have a friend that works with the Korean community. And I'm kind of working with him now. And we did a festival in Koreatown. Yeah. And about two weeks ago, a week and a half ago. That was nice. I got to play with two bands. It was an American band and a Korean band. That was nice. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Playing the flute? Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It was a big old Korean festival. Mm-hmm. What was that like? How is that playing with an American band and a Korean band? Well, no. They're almost about the same because the Koreans were playing American music. Mm-hmm. They played three songs. And they played, you know, the songs they played are American songs. I know them. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But I played with them before that, before the festival at a club. I think twice they played. But they're playing American songs. I think they do some Korean songs, but I haven't done that with them yet. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, I think they do them. But tunes I know, I was familiar with. Did you ever get a chance to play with Oddwork Jamal? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you came over to play with him at the exchange. Yeah. Yeah, at the exchange. Yeah. And what are you thinking? Because I thought he was a great blues musician. Yeah, he was great. Yeah. Now, how is it, what kind of adjustment do you have to make when you, I've always wondered about this because I've talked to different musicians, and I ask them, what kind of adjustment do you have to make when you sit in? When you're sitting in the audience and they're jamming and all, they're getting down to jamming, and then they may give you a nod, and you get up with your flute and come jam. Yeah. What kind of adjustments do you have to make? Or are you just getting in with the flow? Okay. Well, yeah. Well, one thing that makes it, okay, the easier to work to do that is if you know the keys, all the keys on your instrument, that way you don't have a problem because they call it whatever key it is you can work with. So it helps to know all the keys. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So do a lot of musicians in the Skid Row area, are they trained to know the keys and all of that? Yeah. Mm-hmm. There are a lot of good musicians. Mm-hmm. In the Skid Row area, yeah. Now, have you met a lot of musicians that was just gifted? I mean, just had to gift down there in the Skid Row area? Mm-hmm. I'm trying to recall. Yeah, I'm sure I have. I'm just trying to. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think so. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Now, we've had, just a couple weeks ago, we was talking to a great musician vocalist that we had him in here, Dante. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Dante Chambers. We was talking to Dante, and I was asking him what he thought was the most important thing in relationship to, or what advice would he give those trying to break into the music field. Right. And I think he said something like, the importance of working on your craft. Mm-hmm. The importance of constantly working to get better on whatever instrument you play. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I agree with that. Rehearsing. So, do you have time to rehearse a lot? Do you put time off in the day to rehearse? Yeah. Yeah. I try not to over-practice, but I put a little practice in, you know, and, you know, because, like last night, I like to listen to K-jazz, the jazz station. Mm-hmm. I like jazz. Mm-hmm. And I learned a new song last night that was on there, and just by listening and playing along with it. Yeah. I picked up and pulled out the instrument and started playing it. Mm-hmm. And then I found out, I listened to it, found out who it was, and then I searched on YouTube and on the computer, I think today, or yesterday, and found out who it was. I wrote it down with the name of it. There was one song by Horace Silver. Mm. Yeah. I think it was called the African Queen. Yeah. Yeah. Horace Silver. Heavy. From Cape Verdean Blues. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I wrote it down. Great musician. That was a pretty... What are the musicians that you like that really influence you a lot? I like so many. One of my favorite groups of all time is Kool and the Gang, and I like their horns. I like their horn player. I think it was Ronald Bell. I love him. They... Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because of the combination of the music, Kool and the Gang, because they definitely brought in a different sound. Yeah. Yeah. They had... Mm-hmm. Well, I just love... Yeah. I love their playing, their style. Like Ronald Bell, the saxophone player. He was a multi-instrumentalist. He played the saxophone and keyboards and stuff like that. He was amazing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, he was... Robert Kool Bell played bass. That's Kool and the Gang, and he's... But his brother was Ronald. Ronald. Mm-hmm. And he was a great musician. Yeah. He was great. That's one group. And others... I kind of like Parliament. We're going to run out of time. Parliament Funkadelic. Mm-hmm. And Earth, Wind & Fire. Great musician. Yeah. Hurley. James Brown. You have a question. You want to ask Danny? Love James Brown. Wow. Let's see. Yeah. Of all the groups you played with, the bands, you know, probably some of the people we know, who do you like playing with? Who do you really, you know, when they call up and say, hey, Danny, come and play with us, who do you really like to go over and jam with? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Anybody particular? No. No. We just want to let them know about backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing You know, everything has to be so-so. Yeah, she's great. And that's a good place to play, too. The world stage? Yeah, because there's a lot of great musicians that show up there. Come through there. Yeah, all kind of instruments, you know, everything. Okay, look, let us give you some closing comments, you know, what you want to talk about, and then also give your contact information for those who would want to have you out as a musician. Sure. So any closing comment, anything that you want to say about the musicians in the skid row area, anything like that? Well, I would say to stay at it, keep at it, you know. If you love it, continue to do it, to practice, you know, pursue it. And there are opportunities out there. You know, to perform, you know, and to just continue to stay with it. Okay, well done. And then what is your contact information for those who want to contact you for a gig or something like that? Okay, like here's my email address. It's my name, dannysingleton82 at yahoo.com. And I check that about six days a week, five, six days a week. dannysingleton82 at yahoo.com. That's my email address. Okay. Should I give a phone number? Yeah, you can give a phone number if you want to for those that want to contact you, musicians. Okay. The number is 732-912-5279. Yeah. 732-912-5279. 732-912-5279. Mm-hmm. That's what I can do. Yeah, because if you talk to Harlan Bird lately, because I just got contact information from him that he got a reggae band that he's jamming with now. Okay. A reggae? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's cool. A reggae. All right, then. Thank you very much, musician. Well, yeah, Danny Singleton. Can I close out with one of my originals? Hold on. Yeah, go ahead. Close out with. Yeah, this is Danny. And I want to extend a special thanks to Danny Singleton. He's going to play one of his originals. It's called A Place in the Sky. I put this together a long time ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's Danny Singleton playing in the background. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombran Report. From your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson, and my co-host, Earlene Anderson, may the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. Thank you. Thank you. Danny Singleton. Danny Singleton. Great interview. Great. All right, children, settle down. Settle down. Come on. We only have two days to get this right. Come on. All right, I need my boys on the left, and I need my girls on the right. All right, you already know the dance moves, but I need you guys to focus. My kids are done sleeping up. You've got to do a great job at this. We're going to do it. We're going to do a great performance, okay? All right, boys, we're going to do your monkey dance. Arms up high. Arms up high. Come on. There we go. Girls, move your hips. That's right. Move those hips. Ah, looking for a better place. Ah, looking for a better place. Looking for a better place. Looking for a place. Is there a place? A place in my dream. A place there in your dream. Freedom and equality. Is there a place? For backing me. A place there in your dream. Looking for a place. Is there a place? A place in my dream. A place there in your dream. Freedom and equality. Is there a place? For backing me. A place there in your dream. You are looking for a better way You are looking for a better way Looking for a way Is there a way A way in my dreams A way there to your dreams Freedom and equality Is there a way For backing me backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing Got to keep moving on. Dreams by Langston Hughes. Hold fast to dreams. For when dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams. For when dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow. Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. Yes, yeah, yeah. We're listening to Skid Row Studios. I'm not doing it with you. Please do it with me. Fuck that. Will you please have sex with me? At Skid Row Studios? At Skid Row Studios. Maybe. Okay. Hey, this is Eddie Solis, producer and host of Los Angeles Nisa. Make sure you listen to the show live every Monday night, 9pm to 11pm. Pacific Standard Time at skidrowstudios.com and make sure you download the Skid Row Studios app or your iPhone. Get into these eyes! How much do you want? I don't know. It's been a while. How much is an ounce? This is totally decent and it's $300. Wow. This shit is top of the line. It's called G13. It's genetically engineered by the US government. It's extremely potent for the completely male eye. No paranoia. Is that what we spoke last night? This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke. This is all I ever spoke.