Arts Walk preview with Willis, Shantae, and Jessica Arnlund

Are we going to be around this town? And let what I've been saying come true? If you get off of me, I can get up if you want to understand me I can get up if you really want to help me I can get up, but in Jesus' name, I'm gonna get up If you get off of me, I can get up if you want to understand me I can get up if you really want to help me I can get up, but in Jesus' name, I'm gonna get up The people who are talking to me Are we going to be around this town? And let what I've been saying come true? Good for nothing, baby Oh, thank you Just a boy who's grown, my shit was a jigger Now we gonna stand for that? Or is that really what we're saying? I'm your brother As you stand in your glory I hope you're mine And I'll tell the whole story Part of your system I know you think you've come a long way I know you think you've come a long way As I walk the street As I see it roll You can see my hands ain't shaking And my legs ain't triggering I turn the coin, keep it for trash Look up at the street sign It says San Julian Look back down and make eye contact with my brother And now I'm feeling like I'm standing somewhere I shouldn't be He looks around a thousand of his friends That raised their crackpots to the lips of his I'm so Telling me yeah, I'm getting high I'm feeling good And sister, don't you know I'm being proud And now I'm standing here Darker than blue by Willis and Jameson, Shantae, who will be performing at the upcoming Arts Walk Thursday, June the 14th, 2012, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Exchange, which is located at 114 West 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles. 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. I am Johnson. And I'm in the studio with my co-host, Earlene Anthony. This week on the Coon Round Report, we will be talking about the upcoming Arts Walk at the Exchange, which is located at 114 West 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles, this Thursday, June the 14th, 2012, where we will be showcasing the artworks of military veterans and a photo exhibit from the May 6th, first annual downtown Los Angeles military stand-down. We have with us in the studio the special musical guests at the Arts Walk, Willis and Shantae, and Jessica Arnlund, who is a volunteer curator for the Veterans Arts Show. I would like to welcome you all to the Coon Round Report. Thank you for having us. But first we have with us on the line, Judith Bowman, who is the, Development Director for the Robey Theatre Company. And we'll be coming back to Judy in just a minute. Judy is the Development Director for the Robey Theatre Company, which is located in the downtown area of Los Angeles. And we'll be talking to Judy in a minute. But let me move right now and talk a little about positive news. And we'll be talking about the positive light ministry. I'm delighted to have with us in the studio, Willis and Shantae of Positive Light Ministry. Welcome to the Coon Round Report. Thank you. First of all, let's talk about how you got started in music. Willis, let's start with you. Well, my dad gave me a guitar when I was seven, and I've kind of been plugging away at it ever since. Just, you know, play by ear. Just something that we did. And I've been playing it ever since. And I've been playing it ever since. And I've been playing it ever since. Mm-hmm. Uh, now, uh, when you were seven, that's a long time, a long time ago, hm? Uh, well, not that long. Well, not that long. How about you, Shantae? How about you, Shantae? I met Willis through an after-school program probably about five years ago. And he offered to give me guitar lessons. And I said, yeah, and I've been learning with him and working with him ever since. Mm-hmm. And that's how Positive Light Ministry got started. And can you tell us a little about the ministry? Uh, basically, um... Um, we started Positive Light. Um, basically, um... Um, we started Positive Light. I seen the play The Lion King, the Broadway play The Lion King, which I was working downtown on Skid Row at, um, an after-school program called Say Yes. Mm-hmm. And I was working with those kids. And I didn't mean to, you know, be down on anybody, but, um, there's a lot lacking in some of those programs. And I think a lot of kids get into trouble because they reach a point and they don't have anywhere else to go. So the idea behind Positive Light, after seeing or being inspired by The Lion King, was to put on skits, plays, puppets, but give them the best that we could give them quality-wise to, um, inspire them. So that's basically Positive Light, was trying to shine a light into, um, you know, an area... Mm-hmm. ...with kids to inspire. Mm-hmm. And I know you work with, uh, puppets also. I remember we worked with you and you had a wonderful experience. Can you tell us a little about that, how you got started with that idea? Well, um, working with kids is just something that I believe the Lord, um, called me to do. They're a good tool, a learning tool. So, you know, kids and adults, you know, they, they love puppets, but it's, it's a learning tool. That's why, uh, we decided to use them is because kids learn from them. Mm-hmm. Now, um, let, let me ask you something. What do it take to set up an after-school program in the community, uh, good after-school programs? Can you comment on that? Um, I, I believe, which, there's, there's gotta be a need for it. There's a lot of needs for it, so. Uh, but it takes funding. And I think, um, like you and I were talking earlier that, um, it takes the community, it takes people that, that, um, that know that there's a need and, um, um, an effort to pull together and, um, you know, get things accomplished to set these things up. But it, it takes money. Mm-hmm. Um, also, let's talk about a song that I really like that I, I really think that's the whole essence of what's happening on Skid Row, uh, Butterfly. Mm-hmm. What was the process in, um, creating that song, Butterfly? Uh, Butterfly, um, working with kids down in the Skid Row area, um, I would walk down San Julian, and as you know, you probably hear that, that, that street is in a lot of our songs. Um, and you see things, and you hear things. And, um, it was just a process of, of taking, you know, what, what, um, I had listened to and heard and, and saw, and, um, just getting ideas like that, and then, um, um, you know, talking with Shante who helped write, you know, um, the song. He brought the hook to me, and, um, he brought the chords and the music and stuff, and he told me, um, just to take it home and write the second verse, and just whatever came to my mind, so I just kind of wrote what I experienced in my own life, and just some problems that I see in the world, and, um, just my take on it, and problems that I see in the youth, and, and our mindsets and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. What was the hook? Um, ain't, uh, ain't never seen no Butterfly down on Skid Row. Beautiful piece. Beautiful piece. Now, um, what are your thoughts on when you first came in contact with Skid Row? Um, well, um, basically, I started volunteering at the, at the LA Mission to work with the kids. I had to work there for a couple hours, because I got off of work, and, um, I was like at 9 30 or something like that. The school program after school didn't start till, um, what, 2 or 2. Yeah. So, um, Skid Row is an eye-opener. Yeah. And I, I mean, I, I was, I, I have very humble beginnings, as I say. Yeah. But Skid Row is an eye-opener. And, um, it, it's shocking. It's, it's beautiful. It's tragic. It's, it's, it's a lot of things, you know, rolled up into one. Mm-hmm. But I think, um, that you really have to be in love with Skid Row to, to be able to volunteer or to, to stay in that area. Um, the rewards are beautiful rewards, personal rewards, but, um, um, Skid Row ain't no joke. Mm-hmm. Basically. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, it's kind of shocking, but it's, it's humbling. It's, it's, it's a lot of things. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How about you, Shante, when you first come in contact with Skid Row? Um, it's a pretty scary place. Um, and it's really negative, and it's really lonely. Um, and like Willis was saying, you see people, you see beautiful things. You see people that are serving, and you, you meet, um, like at the after-school program, you meet pretty awesome people, and you make friends, and, um, volunteers that are dedicated to what they do. And I think it, seeing it just, uh, makes you want to come down and make it better. And, um, with Positive Light, how we write the music, and, um, coming down to perform for Art Walk, and we see people that really relate to the lyrics, and they'll come up to us afterwards and say, you know, I, I really like this song, or for Butterfly, or for Darker Than Blue, because they live it, and they, they see it every day. And knowing that we can inspire, and we can write songs, and, um, and lift people up, um, I think it's beautiful. Like he was saying, it's depressing, and, and there's beautiful things to it as well. Mm-hmm. Now how about you, Earline, your thoughts? Oh, wow. For me, Skid Row was like, um, really devastating. It was like, I remember, um, sitting in the Union Rescue Mission with all those women and children, and just like, uh, as they say, coming to myself and seeing, just sitting there and saying, wow, this is what you really come to. You know, to just sit here in this room, and all your worldly possessions you have in a little trash bag. But, um, then after a while, you know, after the shock factor wears off, then you just kind of start, um, planning for the day after day after day, and you know, you know, it's not gonna stay this way, it's gonna get better. But I was used to working and, you know, having my own things, and not have to, even think about where the bathroom is, or taking a shower, or whatever. But these things, um, was like, high on my list after coming to Skid Row. But it, uh, for me, it was devastating until I like, you know, came to realize that, um, it wasn't gonna be forever. And then I kind of pulled out of my, uh, I guess, depression or devastation, or whatever you want to call it. Now, Willis, what have been your results of using the R as part of your ministry? You know, the music, the writings? Um, I think it's all been pretty positive, and, um, and like Shante was saying, it's, those are the rewards. We don't do it for money, and we don't do it for, um, fame or anything like that. We're, you know, this is what we believe God called us to do. Um, but it is really rewarding when, you know, kids are singing my songs that I wrote, you know, at church. And you go places and, um, and it, you know, it feels good. But it, it's, um, it's just a teaching, you know, process, and people remember, people forget. It's life. Now, what kind of future plans do you have for, um, Positive Light ministry? What are the goals? Well, the goal now is, um, I mean, we see how the world is deteriorating, and a lot of people think that it's gonna get better, but I'm not doom and gloom, but it's not gonna get any better. And, I mean, I, I'm a Christian man, and, uh, the Bible says it's not getting any better. So, what we wanna do is try to lead as many people as we can to Christ, because that's, in our opinion, that's the only hope that we have. Um, that's what Positive Light is about. And, um, secondly, we would like to get back to San Julian Street. We used to clean San Julian Street every Sunday morning. And we used to take blowers and brooms and, um, a lot of the people in the community were really positive, and there were people in the community that wanted to help us. Or they move out of our way, and they get other people to move out of the way while we're cleaning, and they were really helpful, so. So that was a Positive Light ministry program? Right, and I actually, um, if you talk to OG, he, um, basically says that, um, we kinda kicked off the whole thing of, you know, you know how they're cleaning. Um, and we used to do it every Sunday morning, clean it up. And that street being clean gave people a totally different attitude. Sunday morning, start your week off, we cleaned it up, and people just, you know, and that's what positive is. Is, you know, if there's filth and trash, and, you know, you know San Julian. Um, if that, you know, people are walking around and laying around and that stuff, um, you know, we just cleaned it. And that's another goal is to be able to get back and doing that on Sunday mornings. Uh-huh. I think OG, they develop Operation Facelift, right? Right. That's what they call it, Operation Facelift. Yeah, we were, we were doing it before that. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Uh, starting from 5th and running all the way up to 7th and 8th where it'd be a lot of trash on both sides of San Julian. Yeah, we just, we just did, um, San Julian from, from 7th to 5th. That one little strip right there. Yeah, and then we went up, we went up to, yeah, we went up from, to 6th. Uh-huh. And then you know, sometimes we'd go down San Pedro or whatever, but, um, it was a chore, but it was... Oh, and when it was finished, it was pretty incredible. You couldn't even recognize it, really. It's, you're used to seeing it really dirty and when it's really clean, people notice and they really... And Shante, yeah, she was one of the workers. Uh-huh. Had like a couple of weeks to pay them to, to work. Uh-huh. Yeah. Do you have any pictures of it clean? Yeah. Will you send me one? I'd love to have one of those pictures. Yeah. You know about San Julian Street? I work in downtown LA. Oh. Yeah. Homeless Veteran Integration Program. Oh, uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, we just seen it a few Sundays ago and it looked pretty bad. Yeah. Well, you know, they had the big article in the Los Angeles Times, I think last week, about how the health departments have, um, um, um, forced them now. They come with a legal judgment where they have to clean up the area. Mm-hmm. Where they have to, um, they have been doing an undercover sting for the past two months. Oh. And they came out with a report last week on all of the health issues, et cetera, like that. Right, right. That was in the paper. So, yeah, that's a beautiful thing. Now, Shante, what kind of advice would you give to teenagers to help them reach their goals? Um, does your question regard teenagers like myself who, who grew up with just a mom in the home and didn't grow up with a father in the home or more so for teenagers that grew up with both parents in the home and people that... Can you touch a little on both of them? Um, I know for myself, um, I accepted Christ in my life and I, I asked God what my purpose was for me. And, um, I believe He's placed me right where I need to be. Um, I'm surrounded by positive people who support me, um, that believe in me and, um, that have me doing positive things. And I know that, I know that God has a plan for me and I think it's, it's that faith that God has a plan for me that led me here and will guide me in my future. And I think God has a plan for all of us. Yes. And I think the, the key is to find out what that is. And then try to follow it. And I think, I think that you won't lose. If you can find out what your purpose is on this planet. Just finding something, I think, you know, for me it was music and, um, serving at church. And stuff like that. Just finding something that you're interested in or something that you're passionate about. Something positive to do in your life to inspire yourself and to inspire others. Inspire your community. Now, how do you get more young people involved with the church? It's a big drop off with, um, a lot of people that I talk to, uh, they see a problem with a lot, especially a lot of the big churches. For example, we had, we, I think the show that we talked about, last week, and we were talking about why the large churches have no involvement in the downtown Skid Row area. Uh, so how do we get young people more involved uh, uh, with the church? I think that, um, like a big box of free iPods and video games. You know, you just... And a lot of rock music. Just put those things right out there in front. No, I'm just, I'm just kidding. Hey, that might work. It'll get them there for a second. Um, no, I, that's a, that's a hard one because, um, technology, uh, is geared, in my opinion, toward um, everybody's becoming more selfish and self willed because even the texting, you don't even have to hear what a person's voice sounds like anymore. It's just you're, you're texting them and it's, we're getting, what's the word I'm looking for? We're, um, compartmentalized. Yeah, we're, we're all getting in these little boxes and I, I think that's this selfishness that and our kids are, are beautiful and strong but it's where they're, it's where it's all going. It's where the world's leading. Because, and I mean, I'm trying to get a little deep but I think when Christ comes back, if you believe that, that it's not something that's just gonna happen like this. It's working. We're working up to the... Gradual. Yeah, destruction. And the people are gonna be right there when all this happens. And, you know, if we're all selfish and just looking out for ourselves, it just makes it easier to be insensitive and kill and, you know, and do those things. So, um, I think the best way to try to, to get anybody, not just children, is you gotta talk to them, show them some love and be genuine. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay, thank you Willis and Shante. We'll be hearing from you towards the, um, end of the show, uh, performing new songs and then we'll also have some, um, closing comments. Uh, let's take a break for our Community Calendar and then we'll come back with our other in-studio special guest, Jessica Arm. This is the Community Calendar for the month of June. Every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., Melvin Ishmael Johnson is conducting a Veterans Community Theater Workshop. And as a free workshop for veterans. We're currently rehearsing the stage play, Surviving the Nickel. And the workshop participants will be performing excerpts at the upcoming Art Walks in June. If you're interested in the workshop, please contact Melvin as soon as possible. The location is the Vortex 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. This is at the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. And the Metro Bus number 60 and 66 stops right at the corner. For more information, you can call 323-850-4436. And this Thursday, June the 14th, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Drama Stage Cone Run will host the Art Walk at the Exchange. We'll be featuring musical guests Willis and Shante. We'll have a guest guest comedian, Sugar. And she's with the Female and Comedy Association. And we'll have guest poet, Dr. Munga. Art exhibits will be from the BOA of Greater Los Angeles. And we'll have photo exhibits from the first Veterans Stand Down that was held on Sunday, May the 6th at the Vortex. And much, much more. Also, if you want to set up a table to display your information about your organization, give us a call at 323-850-4436. And once again, the Art Walk is at the Exchange, 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles. Sunday, June the 17th at 3 p.m., in recognition that June is Torture Awareness Month, Drama Stage Cone Run and ICUJP, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace will be hosting the Art Walk. And if you are interested in visiting us, please visit us on the website. Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! you can call 323-850-4436. And on Sunday, June the 24th at 3 p.m., Drama Stage Conron Nassana Play Reading Series presents a stage play, Surviving the Nickel, written and directed by Melvin Ishmael Johnson. And the participants from the Veterans Community Theater Workshop will be doing the performance in this play. And the location, the Exchange, 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles. And this is a free event. 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 once again, our call-in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Hey, thank you, Earlene Anthony. And I would just like to point out that the Veterans artwork is being curated by the volunteer curator for the Veterans Art Show, Ms. Jessica Arnold, not the Volunteers of America. But we'll be getting into that in a minute. Hey, I'm delighted to have with us in the studio Jessica Arnold. As I mentioned, who is the volunteer? I'm the volunteer curator for the Veterans Art Show. And we'll be displaying the artworks of military veterans at the Art Walk, at the Exchange, located at 114 West 5th Street, this Thursday, June 14, 2012, from 1 to 10 p.m. Jessica, welcome to the Coon Rap Report. Thank you so much for having me. It's awesome to be here. Oh, now can you tell us a little about yourself and how did you come to work? Your work with the Volunteers of America and the Veterans? Yeah, I just throw volunteer all over the place. So, yes, I do work for Volunteers of America. It's an amazing organization, faith-based and nonprofit and all that good stuff. And right now we have a ton of veterans programs that are coming up all over the place. I work on a veterans employment program for female veterans and veterans with families. And it's an amazing job. I get to do cool stuff every day. It's, yeah, I can't say enough about it. And it's actually my passion for working with and advocating for veterans that helped me get this job because before I came to even know of Volunteers of America, which a whole bunch of people don't know about, which is kind of amazing because we do so many great things, I started advocating for veterans. I volunteered at the downtown Los Angeles VA for about six months. And then I got hooked up with an AmeriCorps program. Operation Welcome Home. And we were out of the DPSS office on the corner of Grand and Adams. And I learned so much in a year. I don't know how my brain even retained all the information, but it has. And I, oh, I was talking about Veterans Archo. I always do that. It gets me in trouble sometimes. So Veterans Archo is this really cool thing that I started doing. And I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. My daughter actually was taking ceramics classes at a great gallery called Space in South Pasadena. It's the Space Arts Center. Hope and Katia, the amazing curator, and I guess she's the developer of Space, they gave me the opportunity to put on an art show because I came to them one day and was like, hey, I really love all these veterans that I'm meeting and there's all these great artists. Would you let me have a show for a week? And they said yes. So always just ask the question. And I said, yeah. And don't be afraid to hear no because a lot of times you hear yes. And so I got to do my first veterans art show and it was so successful that I had to just keep running with it. There was a great guy named Philip Dane who came to the first space show and said, would you like to come and do my food truck festival with veterans art show? And I said, yes, I totally want to do that. And so from there, it just kept snowballing into all of these different opportunities. And one of those opportunities, which was kind of a work, kind of a veterans art show thing, was getting to go to the stand down that you guys did at the Vortex, which was amazing. And one of the things that always kind of frustrates me about the stand downs and all the job fairs that are out there and all of this stuff, there's this great setup and there's all these resources and then the people that need the resources don't come. It's like, how do you get people to actually come to these things? And I think part of the problem is that there's so many of them. You never know which one to go to. You never know which one's going to be bogus. You never know when someone's actually going to be there who wants to help you. So, and then it's hard to, in Los Angeles, since there's so many of these organizations, to get everybody to come together and like do one big one because everybody always wants the glory. There's always got to be like that one person who was like, I did that. Why can't it just be everybody coming together? One big, huge dance. We all did this. But I guess that's, you know, going to come after the rapture. But, you know, now I get to do the Downtown LA Art Walk with you guys for Veterans Art Show, which is going to be really cool. There's some great artists that are going to be there on the day, for the whole day, talking about their work, possibly making more work while they're there. Who knows? Some of these artists are just, they blow my mind. Can you tell us about some of them? So the one who's going to be there, that I've been working with for the longest time, Antoine Lance Scott, he was one of the inspiration for Veterans Art Show, even getting started up. And I met him over a year ago and he just kind of floated around for two different homeless shelters because they do this thing that's called per diem for veterans where they pay their per day stay at a homeless shelter. So he would just like float around wherever he could get his per diem status. And he's floated a lot in the year that I've known him. But right now he's so cool. He's actually in Paris, California, painting murals, kind of like the amazing murals that you guys have here in a children's shelter. And they commissioned him to paint the entire place in murals. And some of the pictures that he has been sending me, I can't even believe that he painted them. They look like photographs. They are just beautiful. His work has come so far just in the year that I've known him. And he sent me a text message the other day that said, you know, I know it's just Tuesday, but on this Tuesday, I had to tell you how much you've uplifted my life. Just the fact that someone wants to see my work and wants to put my work out there has made my work grow so much. And they make me cry. They're so amazing. Antoine should be there on Thursday too. And I told him to bring his paints and some canvases and stuff because he can do personal portraits, black and white, in 30 minutes. Wow. And they're beautiful. It doesn't take a lot of time. It's just so beautiful. It looks like something that would take two weeks for someone to do. And he can just do it. What was his branch? He was in the Army. And one of the frustrating things is that he was in the Army during peacetime in the early 80s, which makes you ineligible for a lot of the benefits that the VA puts out there, which he's still eligible for some stuff, but not for other stuff. It's a very frustrating chunk of time in the VA world. But we're coming past it. I just want to make him a successful artist so that he doesn't even have to rely on VA benefits or per diem housing. He can just have his own space and create every day and feel as good as he deserves to feel. Because if there's anyone who should get something back from all the creative juices that they flow out into the world, it should be Antoine Lanscott. He's amazing. I call him my grandpa. Wonderful. Looking forward to it. And then who else? So some of the guys that aren't going to be there because they live in other states, because, you know, we're nationwide at Veterans Art Show now, thanks to Facebook. There's going to be Julio Perez, who's a photographer from Chicago. And he was actually out here in June, May, April. Oh, my gosh. That was a long time ago. And I did a show at Cal State LA. And he actually flew out from Chicago to bring me pieces for that show. And I got to meet him in person. And so I still have pieces that he brought with me, some really cool photographs. And he has a gallery in Chicago also that he wants me to come and do a Veterans Art Show curation there in Chicago. I'm like, okay, I should probably get better at like fundraising and like doing stuff like that because right now the fundraising is on me. And then another guy who's going to be on display, but he doesn't live in California, so he won't be there, is Brian Rock, who lives in New Mexico. And his pieces, I mean, even just getting one of his originals out here is going to be a feat of strength because they're like 12 feet by 12 feet. Mm. And they have, you know, 12 feet by 12 feet. And they have mannequin torsos strapped to the canvases. And he just does all of this crazy thought-inspiring stuff. He actually served in the IRA for 10 years and then came to the United States and did 10 years in the United States Army. And now he's married and has kids and lives in New Mexico. And his wife makes fun of him because she says that he spends more time in his studio with his mannequins than with her. So they have beautiful stories. Oh, they all have stories. Mm-hmm. And they are amazing. I get blown away by people's stories every day. And then to see their artwork and to know where the artwork comes from, it inspires me to just do more and want to do more all the time. Mm-hmm. Now, how about female veteran artists? Any female artists that you've been able to come across, many of them that's off into the art world? Yes. It's very... What's the right word? It's very kind of... I want to say something positive about it because I want to fix it. But female veterans, very oftentimes, they won't even take ownership of their veteran status because there's so many issues in with that when you're a female in the military. And then also they just... They don't think that their artwork is any good, which really just... It makes me want to reach out to female veteran artists even more because their work is... You can see the emotion with every brushstroke. You can hear their voices in their paintings. And they're beautiful. There's a woman, her name is Phyllis Miller, that I met about a month ago at another function, and she just happened to have her artwork with her. And she kept saying, are you sure it's good enough to put in an art show? Are you sure it's good enough to put in an art show? Like, I could do a whole gallery with your work. It's beautiful. And so many different media that she works with and so many... She crosses genres. She doesn't even think twice about how much talent is flowing out of her. It's really... It makes me a little bit sad. And so I was so excited when she was going to be at the Downtown LA Art Walk, and then I just got an email from her, like, last Wednesday or Thursday, and she has to have surgery on the 14th now. So she's not going to be able to be there. And I still offered to display her work, but she's so wrapped up now in her health issues that it is going to be kind of hard to coordinate with her. But I still told her, you can call me at 2 o'clock in the morning. I'll meet you anywhere. Like, I would love to just have your work out there. It's amazing. I do have a link to her website on my Facebook page. If you search Facebook for Veterans Art Show, Veterans Art Show pops right up. And all of the different artists have their own albums. Whatever is going on with Veterans Art Show is always on there because I can run a Facebook page much better than I can run a web page. So Facebook page always updated with all kinds of fun stuff. Because I get so many opportunities of things to do with Veterans Art Show, too. I just worked on a military art car. We got to weld and, like, pull steel apart and do all kinds of fun stuff. And I just did combat paper this last week also, which was a great workshop. And I mean... Well, let me ask you this. How about, do the veterans have opportunity to make sales? Oh, yeah, that's the point. That's why I started it. It's homeless veterans mostly are who I work with. Or maybe not homeless, but, like, their VA benefits are the only money that they have to rely on. They can't work regular 9 to 5, 48-hour-a-week jobs. They already worked the hardest job possible. They kept the wars from coming within our borders. Like, and now I don't think they should have to work, you know, for $8.75 at Walmart or something like that. I agree. So that's the point of Veterans Art Show is to just sell their work and bring money in towards them. 90% of the proceeds go back to the artists. I keep 10% for, like, gas, basically, is the only thing that I say is any expense because I get so much more from this project than I could ever give back. Mm-hmm. And, you know, one of the things I was talking to you about earlier, you know, one of the visions that we're trying to work out is something coming up at the... We want to display at the Vortex. Yes. And we was talking about Pride of Veterans Day. And I want the month of November. I want the whole month. Yeah. And then the other thing is I feel that it should be a veterans gallery... Yes. ...downtown in gallery role. Yes. You know, you got everything else we need to have. I'll pull artists off the streets and put them on billboards. Let me ask you this. Have you had a chance to discuss the therapeutic value with these veterans on their artwork in terms of dealing with a lot of issues that they brought from the military? Well, it really goes twofold too because they get so much therapeutically out of creating a piece of art. It's one of the things that I run into a lot with veterans is once they come out of the military, there's no like, this is your mission, you completed the mission. Here's another mission, you completed the mission. They don't have that like coming to fruition of things. So their artwork gives them a chance to start something and to finish it and to see a finished work and to give them that sense of completion. And then not only are they just putting it on the wall, they're just putting all their feelings out on canvas and like working through that. Then when they see their artwork displayed and people say, wow, this is amazing and they want to see more of it, the boost to the self-esteem for that, it goes so far. And that's what it ties in to so many other things too. People want to talk a lot about employment now and all that stuff. So if you boost someone's self-esteem, they might be able to go out and get a job. They might be able to go out and meet a girl. They might have a family. You know, there's so many other things that can come through. Mm-hmm. Okay. Now, before we close down, we will be coming back for some closing comments. But I want to get your thoughts on the stand down. You mentioned a little the one that we had on May the 6th at the Bortech. Mm-hmm. So my thoughts on a stand down. More people need to go to us. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. It's such a big thing. that need the resources and maybe to, I don't know how to say this nicely, but the people that represent the organizations that go to the stand downs need to be there for the people and not for their organizations. Does that make sense? Yeah. We was fortunate enough to get about 92 veterans that we were able to register and provide some services for. You guys worked so well with the VA on that one because they brought so many people too. I saw a ton of VA workers that I know. That was really well coordinated with the VA, which honestly is a hard thing to do. It was hard. I'm going to get myself in trouble. I know I am. It was hard. Trust me. But you guys did a great job. You really did. And I think one of the things too that might help stand downs because like a traditional stand down in San Diego is three days long. And you bring people in and you house them for those three days. And usually it, it brings momentum too as it goes. So if you do it for three days, people come on Friday, they call their friends or they go back somewhere and tell like, and the word spreads. Word of mouth is better than any billboard, any radio show, any magazine ad. It's word of mouth. And knowing that people are really there to help. And it's not just some media blast or something like that. It's really people there trying to help that population. That will bring people in. We'd probably do that the second time around. Okay. Thank you, Jessica. I'll be coming back to you for some closing comments. Um, now at this time I would like to, um, uh, Willis and Shantae is going to do a song for us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As I stand here before you, I reflect on the events of the day. My life just seems so magical, a grand spectacle, a gorgeous display, a wonderful fairytale unfolding where everything you wish for comes true. No poisonous apples, no demons, no monsters, no witches brew. Now we all know life is no fairytale and only few of you know, as a child, I took my mother's hand and she led me through the streets to skid row. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, disappointed and discouraged, not knowing where we would stay, but God said he'd never leave nor forsake me. That's why I'm standing here today. See, I used to go home and pretend. I wasn't hurt and fake a smile every day. Practice makes perfect. I flipped the script on all the pain that I felt and kept my poker face with the cards. I was dealt, had to go up without anybody's help. Mom didn't teach me how to learn it for myself. Nothing but love. Cause she gave me all. She had a product of her past and I was the seed and Papa left the scene. I guess he couldn't stay. The only thing he taught me was how to run away. I tried hard to fit in, but I was out of place feeling like 18. Oh, Katy Perry Kanye. I thought life was a joke. And I was the comedian, but punchlines couldn't hide the demons. And it's safe to say that I was falling apart. Mac Miller. God was not knocking on my heart. Cause life is over in a flash. Would I blink and miss it? Get a couple snapshots and miss the big picture. No options. I had to let God in a kid from the gutter. Now I'm shooting for the stars. I've decided to live each moment in Christ. For life. For life. I've decided to live each moment in Christ. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. For life. To live each moment in Christ. To live each moment in Christ. For life. The life, the life I decided to live each moment in Christ The life, the life I decided to live each moment in Christ The life, the life Looking back, I was struggling down the wrong road A life's a struggle, love and pain and loss Nothing but trouble, still, I'm on this road Trying to find my own way, struggling, feeling, bubbling and gumbling Trying to find a way that's right for me Trying to see what life is supposed to be Meet a girl, maybe get her home by the sea Holding hands and feeling that ocean breeze Reality check, I got a knife in my back Society's got a foot on my neck, I'm the suspect Get about, we serve and protect Put me in jail before they ever show me respect Your scars are still healing, the first cut is the deepest Walk through the fire, rise from the ashes Like a fire, like a fire Like a fire, like a fire Like a fire, like a fire Never looking back at the things we can't change Jesus struck a match, I see the past go up in flames So raise your hands to the sky, I know we gonna make it Hold your head high, teardrops hit the pavement And we all have to die to start living The end of one road, a new journey just beginning Done chasing pipe dreams, strumming on my sixth string Releasing all of my emotions on this paper Time to let go of all your pain and all your anger Now let me introduce you to my savior I decided to live each moment in Christ The life, the life The life The life The life The life I decided to live each moment in Christ For life For life I decided to live each moment in Christ For life For life For life Shante, let's talk about the inspiration for that song, for the writing of that song. Talk about it for a while. I really like the original and just the concept of living, or just, you know, soaking in the moment, I guess, and for me, it's living every moment for Christ and making the most of every opportunity. And just the first verse just kind of tells my life and, you know, either feeling like I don't fit in, my dad's not there, and, you know, my mom didn't teach me about all these things that I'm... just bombarded with as a teenager. I didn't learn them as a child, you know, when you're supposed to be brought up the right way. So just the second verse, I'm, you know, just a different person as I have Christ in my life. I see things differently. And Willis' character comes in and he has, you know, his problems and his issues and his struggles. And, you know, from the first verse, I transition into kind of telling him how he should live his life when in the beginning I'm confused, but now I kind of, you know, understand a little bit about life. I'm still a little confused, but I'm working it out, because, you know, I have Christ and I kind of know who I am now. Oh, wonderful. Willis? Well, I don't remember whose concept it was, Shante's or I's, when we first wrote it, but it's been... the idea's been on the table for probably over a year or more, huh? Yeah. And we just finished it this last past week, so we thought it'd be a treat for you guys to, you know, try to bring it Thursday. Beautiful. And some other surprises, hopefully, as well. Oh, yeah, you're going to do it Thursday also, right? Good Lord willing, yeah. He's willing. Lord willing. It's really great for me to sit here, because I remember when I first got the Skid Row, and shortly after I met Willis and I met Shante, and I've kind of, like, from time to time, seen Shante and her growing up. And to me, it's such a joy. It's such a joy to have her here in the studio, doing what she's doing, because a lot of times we say teenagers are that forgotten generation, but Shante can attest, and I can attest, as to where she is now and where I first saw her. So I just, you know, when the name Willis and Shante comes up, my eyes just light up. It's great. You can tell us, before we go over to Jessica for some comments, can you talk a little about the Veterans Corner that we was supposed to have Judy on? We ran into a technical problem that will be coming up. This is going to be a new part of the Qumran Report, and it's going to be called the Veterans Corner, and it's going to be maybe a 10- to 15-minute weekly session. And we're going to have Judith Bowman to be the host, and she's either going to be the host, or she's either going to do a call-in on the phone or come in the studio from time to time. And what she will be doing is talking about the relationship with the veterans, and I believe her father was a Tuskegee Airman, so she has a lot of information that she'll be able to give us about the veterans. And I think she's the perfect person to do this, because she has a lot of... insight in where she's been in her life and her studies. And this will be called the Veterans Corner. Yeah, and she's also working on a great play, dealing with her father and Coleman Young, who was also a Tuskegee Airman, who was a former mayor of Detroit. And now, this brings up an issue you mentioned a little earlier, Jessica, that I'd like to get into a little. And we're talking about the female veterans in the family. And I think that's a really important issue. Because we've seen a few issues coming up since we've been dealing with and talking to female veterans about so many of them that was traumatized by sexual harassment, et cetera, like that, that was happening in the military. Do you think that has a... Do you see any of that reflected in the artwork that's coming out with these veterans? Yeah. Mm-hmm. And it gets reflected in it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it's reflected in a couple, or in many different ways, too. You can, I guess, since I've worked with so many people, I can kind of look at artwork and see how a woman's military experience was. It's very visual. And women are so good at expressing themselves that you can't help but catch it. But then, of course, they don't want to show anybody because they don't think it's any good. And that's where I come in because it's amazing. And hopefully, I'll be able to have more female artists, and I'll be able to have more female artists on display on Thursday. There is one female whose pieces I have that she just gave to me and said, do whatever you want with them because, you know, I made them, and that's all I wanted. Like, that's where I got it out of, and I don't need to keep them. So she just gave them to Veterans Art Show. But her name is Lauren, and she lives in Los Angeles. And she's an amazing woman. When you see her pieces of work, everyone always wonders how she did it because she has this great paper that has a lot of pieces. She has a lot of texture to it, and she covers it with charcoal, and then she erases away. So it's kind of moving backwards from black to light, and it takes you by surprise because you don't really expect it to be what it is. Wonderful, wonderful. Because one of the things that we want to do, and I want to ask you about this, do you think there will be any value in doing purely women, female stand-downs on dealing with veteran issues of females? Families. Well, they're coordinating with U.S. Vets and USC to do a female veteran stand-down in July. There was one last July. We did it down in Long Beach, and it was pretty successful. It's just, it's really not even specific to females or males or veterans or the homeless or kids or anybody. It just always seems like it's so hard to get the resources out to the people that actually need them. It's really just a huge struggle. Because especially here in Los Angeles, we're saturated with nonprofits. You can think of the most off-the-wall thing you can think of, and there'll be a nonprofit there to support it. But you're never going to know about it unless you can find it because we're so saturated by all this stuff. So I don't really know what the answer is, except for more people to reach out and to just know that they're not alone and someone has been, if not in their specific situation, but in the same genre of situation before. And there's already some kind of structure in place to help you come back up. This is the land of bringing yourself up from your bootstraps, and so many people have done it and given back that it's just been this perpetual thing. We are a nation of philanthropists, people that want to give back to their communities, to their nation. And so I think that people just have to realize that they're not alone, and there's people that want. And so I think that people just have to realize that they're not alone, and there's people that want to help and just let yourself be helped. Now, how about spiritually-based artistic works? Have you seen any of that come through? Yeah. I actually have his piece for Thursday, too. He's a deacon, and his name is Paul Bunch. He used to stay at the Hollywood Center of VOA, and now he has gone on to do bigger and better and greater things. And I have this work of art that he did. You'll have to come to see it. I don't know if you get to really know what it is. But he painted it for 32 hours straight. He'd never painted a painting before in his life, had never picked up a paintbrush, had never been called to painting. And Merle Fishman, who runs the Occupational Therapy Center out at West Los Angeles VA facility, was like, just paint a picture. I don't care what it looks like, just paint a picture. And he started, and he didn't stop for 32 hours. So, of course, there's like an inch of paint on this painting. But it's very striking. And you can't help but stop and look at it when you see it. And he said that he was called to paint the picture. As soon as he had the brush in his hand, he just couldn't stop. He didn't know what it was going to look like when it was done. But I have it, and it's amazing. We're looking forward to that. Yeah. Look, let's go around. We've still got a few minutes. I'm going to get some closing comments. Take a minute or so on your closing thoughts about the arts walk, anything you want to talk about. Start with Ashanti. We're really excited about it, I guess. And, yeah, some pretty big things in store. I know I'm excited to see just the different artists. And hearing Jessica mention those artists, I like taking pictures of art like Willis knows. And, yeah, I'm hoping a lot of people can come out and support and just really be inspired and just have a good time. A lot of the people are really positive. And it's just a good environment. So I'm hoping you can support. I'm hoping you can support the different organizations and everything we're trying to do and have a good time and have a good night. Hey. Willis. Me, I'm just fascinated and impressed by the work that you and Earlene are doing here. I'm like, this is my first time in the studio, and I'm like, I'm like, this is cool. Wow. Thanks for not scratching your face. We appreciate it. Yeah, we appreciate it. Thank you guys. You guys are great artists. Great artists. Very important ministry. Well, it's important what you guys are doing, you know, getting all this stuff out. It's really common people, you know, down to earth and really common people. Okay. Jessica. I'm excited to see what's going to come from the art show. Already, like, just sitting in this room, I see great things happening. That's okay. You can cut me off. Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. So I'm just really excited for Thursday. I can't wait to see you sing more. I'm saying your voice is beautiful. Thank you. It means a lot. Yours is beautiful too. But I mean, this girl has some. No, she's a rapper. Yeah. You are going to come in off the street to hear you sing. It's going to be amazing. I'll just, I'll set it up so you look pretty all night. We're looking forward to it. Okay. I'd like to extend a special thanks to our in-studio guests, Willis and Shantae. Jessica, my co-hosts, Earlene and Anthony, and a special thanks to Jeremy, Sonia, Nicholas and the Skid Row Studio. Thank you for tuning in to the QMRIME Report. I leave you with the song that opens the show, Darker Than Blue. Good for nothing, they all figured. Just a boy that's strong but shooting is what you get. Now we gonna stand for that. Oh, is that really what we're saying? Oh, is that really what we're saying? A boy with big feet. A boy with big feet. A boy with big feet. A boy with big feet. A boy with big feet. My legs ain't trippin' me I turn the coin, keep it in trash Look up at the street sign, it says San Julian Look back down and think I'll come back