People Interacting with People
A podcast about People Interacting with People. In April 2015, I became homeless. I decided to embrace this homelessness and what followed was five years of nomadic life, over 250 moves in Canada and the United States, on an average budget of roughly $22 a day.
While sitting in a 24 hour diner in Toronto on my first two homeless nights, a young man sat beside me and when I told him about my experience - spending 9 hours each night at the diner, getting a free coffee and a brownie on my second night - he turned to me and asked:
"Do you think you'd be having the same experience if you were Black?"
Over those next five years, I had a series of "chance" encounters with Black people and had some very interesting conversations. I documented some of them in writing but when I compiled them into a 300 page script during the pandemic, I realized that - in writing it myself - I had lost the authenticity of the other person's voice.
And so, I decided to hit the road and reconnect with some of these wonderful people while also leaving myself open to meeting new ones. These are our conversations.
People Interacting with People
S3 EP3 Part 2: Five Minutes of Fame at The Apollo, Becoming Mr. D, Paid Line Ups, Police Encounters, & Personal Choices w/ Danny aka Mr. D in North Carolina
In this episode, I continue my conversation with Danny who tells me about his five minutes of fame singing with his all time favourite group at the Apollo Theater, his singing career, and a few of the not-so-nice encounters he had with police as a kid growing up in Harlem and the Bronx in the 70's & 80s.
To see photos of Danny, check out my Instagram page @pipsperspective