From Apple To Oranges
This Podcast is about the New Yorkers that now live in Florida. Real stories, real people, real moments happening both in New York and Florida.
Besitos to you, I'm your host Lizzette Perez. I moved to Florida as a teen and at first hated Florida. I wanted to move back but I started a career in Radio soon after high school and slowly fell in love with Orlando which is New Yorks 6th Borough!
I hope you enjoy this podcast! Subscribe and tell me why you left New York for Florida! I would love to hear your story on the show one day!
From Apple To Oranges
A Security Job In Yonkers Leads To DMX In Handcuffs with DJ Casper
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
He locked up DMX before DMX was DMX and somehow that wasn’t the wildest part of his Bronx-to-Florida journey.
I’m joined by DJ Casper, a Bronx native, military vet, and longtime DJ with stories that sound like they belong in a movie but somehow still feel like every New Yorker’s “you had to be there” moment. We talk about what it’s like going back home after years away, including the quick lesson he relearned on Westchester Avenue when a simple breakfast turned into a Cash App card getting stolen and a $250 surprise charge.
From there, Casper breaks down how he ended up moving from New York to Florida in the first place, why NYC burnout is real, and what felt “sparkly” about starting over in Central Florida.
We get into the culture shock of DJing in Orlando when the crowd doesn’t want what a New York DJ instinctively plays, and how he had to study Florida music and rebuild momentum gig by gig and so much more!
Subscribe to From Apple to Oranges, share it with another New Yorker, and leave a review if the stories feel like home. What’s the most New York thing you still do in Florida? Leave us a comment with your answers! Thanks for listening and Besitos to you!
Follow DJ Casper on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/djcasper183?igsh=MXUyZ2s1bXd3bWVpMQ==
Click Below to see my Labeled and Loved Fundraiser to help Moms Like me with Special Needs Kids attend a special weekend retreat visit this link. Listen Back To My First Episode, You Can Take The Girl Out The Bronx But... To hear my journey as a special needs moms and my experience with this organization.
Welcome And Podcast Premise
SPEAKER_01Besitos to you, I'm your host, Lizette Perez. From Apple to Oranges is a podcast about the New Yorkers that now live in Florida. Real stories, real people, real moments happening in both New York and in Florida. And who knows, maybe one day you'll be a guest on the show too. Because one thing I learned over the years is that when I meet another New Yorker, we can't seem to stop talking about it. And this podcast is gonna get down to all the reasons why. My guest today is the last guest on my podcast to come on blindly, not knowing what this show was about. He's a Data Five, a military vet, a DJ, and today he's gonna tell us about the time he got hip hop artist, the late, the great DMX, locked up. DJ Casper, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I am honored.
SPEAKER_01I have been waiting to have you on for a while. I was actually hoping for you to be my first guest, maybe my second guest. But finally, we made it happen.
SPEAKER_00I'm here. I'm here.
SPEAKER_01I'm so grateful that you trust me.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I do. I do. You have no idea. A little bit, just a little bit. You're from, you know, you're from New York. You're from the Bronx, so.
SPEAKER_01And so are you. All right, so first, really quick, I'm gonna backtrack a little bit because you are the last guest to come on not knowing why you were here. And I just want to explain to everybody in case this is their first time checking out this podcast. If this is the first episode you are listening to, since I've launched, all my guests came on blindly. I just kind of wanted to catch a reaction. You know, all my guests so far have been friends. Some friends from back in the day that I grew up with in New York, and some are friends that I've met here in the Orlando area. Over the past year or two, some new friends are on the show. But they trusted me enough to come on and be a guest. So, GJ Casper, I gotta ask you right now. If you had to guess, do you have a clue, any idea what I may be doing a podcast about?
SPEAKER_00Do I have a guess?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what do you think I came up with?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, I I don't know, honestly. I thought it was speed dating, but you already know my girlfriend, so.
Revealing From Apple To Oranges
SPEAKER_01What's up, Vietnam? Besty those to you, mama. Okay, so I guess I'll just tell you because I mean, I don't know if you'll ever guess it.
SPEAKER_00No. Tell me.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm gonna tell you what the name is first, and that sometimes throws people off.
SPEAKER_00Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Until they find out what the podcast is, and then the name makes sense to them.
SPEAKER_00Let's go.
SPEAKER_01And when I tell you the name, I'm gonna give you a couple seconds to think about it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. From apple to oranges. From New York to Florida.
SPEAKER_01Good job. It's stories about the New Yorkers that now live in Florida.
SPEAKER_00That's what's up. That's what's up.
SPEAKER_01And the reason why I wanted to have you on my show was because I know you got New York stories. I know you got New York stories.
SPEAKER_00Funny and Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because I remember the one time you went back to the Bronx, and like the first 20 minutes you were there, you got robbed.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. My Cash App. Yeah. You want me to tell you that story?
SPEAKER_01Tell me the story.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I had to go to New York to DJ an event in Jersey. So I went to the Bronx and I picked up my um turu car. And I had a female that I'm good friends with that she knows Viet, and she picked me up from where to pick up the car. So I said, you know what? Let's go eat my treat. I haven't been in the Bronx for like four years. So I see all the refugees, everybody's selling fruit on Westchester Avenue. So there's this restaurant called The Ranch on Westchester Avenue. So we went in there, you know, I ordered pancakes, she ordered her food. You know, we're laughing because we haven't seen each other. She moved from Florida back to Patterson, New Jersey.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00So I haven't seen her in like two years. So we're eating our food and I went to go pay, and I forgot that they don't take cash. I took out my Cash App card to pay for the food. He said, Oh, we don't take cash. I mean, we don't take debit card card card card cards. Yeah, we don't take debit cards. Only cash. So I told the female, her name is Glenda, she's my good friend. I said, Glenda, go to my car and get me cash, because I have it in my man purse. So when she went outside to go get my money, I put the card down for a second. She came back with the money. I paid. So in my head, I had to go see my son. So I was anxious to see my son. And we leave, and not even not even three lights. I get a transaction from Foot Locker.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00For$250.
SPEAKER_01Your reaction online anyway, the way it read, it was like.
SPEAKER_00I was sick. I was sick.
SPEAKER_01But you made really light of the situation. You had me cracking up when you posted about it. But let's backtrack a little bit. And I'm sorry that happened to you, by the way. So you are a DJ.
SPEAKER_00DJ, 35 years, 36 years. Wow. Wow. I'm 36 years.
SPEAKER_01What were you two years old?
Moving To Florida On Surprise Checks
SPEAKER_00No, I was no, I was 20, 21. I was still in the military. Okay. And what happened was, well, let me, should I go back to I mean, you can start from wherever.
SPEAKER_01You can start by telling us what brought you to Florida. Like what made you move here? Was it your decision? Did something happen to bring you out here?
SPEAKER_00Okay, what happened was, and I'm gonna keep it real, this is a keep it real podcast. Me and my my ex-baby mother was having problems. So what happened was I had just had foot surgery and I got cool with the the receptionists. So I had Blue Cross Blue Shield. I used to be the manager at Rena Center for 16 years, but that's another story. So after I had foot surgery, the lady told me, she said, Mr. Barbeau, you're gonna get a check in a mail, a big check, and you're gonna give it to the doctor and they're gonna give you$200. So I said,$200? I said, okay. Like three weeks later, the check comes in and I'm still on bed rest. I'm home from work, and the check was like$1,200. So I called a lady and I said, Listen, the check came in. I'm gonna bring the check in. I bring the check in and she told me, Oh, this is not the check. The check is not big enough. You're gonna get another check. I said, okay. A month later I get a check for like$3,000. It said to the pay to the order of Eduardo Barbeau.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Blue Cross. I said, okay. So when I called, the doctor picked up. I said, hey doctor, such and such. This is Eduardo Barbeau. I'm calling because I had a foot surgery. And she told me you're gonna give me$200 for bringing the check in. He said, I don't know what you're talking about, but like he's giving me the runaround over the phone. So I go in, I give him the check. Oh, this is not the check. I said, okay. So when I get home, I don't know, when I'm on a toilet, I'm always thinking a lot. Oh my gosh. So I call Blue Cross Blue Shield. And around that time, me and my baby mother was having problems like FU, FU2 in the Bronx. So I called a lady in the Blue Cross. I said, listen, this is Edward Barbot Jr. I had foot surgery a couple months ago. And I don't know if there's a Ponzi scheme going on, but the doctor, they did my surgery. They told me if I bring the check in, that they're gonna pay me some money on the side, blah, blah. So the lady started laughing a little bit. So in my head, I'm like, this lady's not professional.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why are you laughing? She said, I'm sorry to laugh, Mr. Barbot, but some of the patients they keep the money. I say they keep the money. She said, Yeah, that's your money. So what happens if I don't pay them? She said, I can't tell you that. I said, okay. So we was having problems. A week later, I get a check for$8,000. Oh, wow. But then we had makeup, me and my baby mother. So I said, Hey, you want to go to Florida? She said, How? I said, Packet bags.
SPEAKER_01We're going now.
SPEAKER_00I went to I cashed the check and we went to Florida.
SPEAKER_01What made you want to move here though?
SPEAKER_00Not yet, hold on. We went to Florida. We went to Florida. And her sister lived in Florida. And what happened was we went to Disney World. My my daughter was only two years old, blah, blah, blah. So then we made a decision, oh, we want to move to Florida. I said, okay, so when I get the money, we went back to the Bronx. So then it was to a point where I didn't care no about Renna Center. I wanted to move. I got a check for like$12,000 from Blue Cross. And I said, You ready to move? And that's how we moved. We moved, but not even a year two, we broke up, blah, blah, blah. That was it.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so. Been in Florida since 2012.
SPEAKER_01And you like it, obviously. I love it.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I would never move back to the Bronx.
SPEAKER_01Well, with the crazy things that happened to you, I don't blame you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had a lot of stuff happen to me, but you know. So yeah, so.
What He Won't Miss About NYC
SPEAKER_01So you're one that you're really happy with the decision that you're here. Yes. That's good. So, all right, so you came down here on your own accord, you're loving it, you're DJing here. You got good things going. But let's tap into like the actual reason, like, what was it about New York that made you want to get out of there?
SPEAKER_00I got tired of parallel parking on the other side. Oh, what is it called? Alternate side parking. Yeah. I got tired of the potholes on across Bronx, tired of just just tired. The dirt, the dirt, the New York City rats. Like, you know, and when I came to Florida, I was like, wow.
SPEAKER_01Like when I was sparkly, everything was sparkly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, even it was to the point where, okay, you know, the Bronx is bad. When I first moved here, I moved near Conroy, like the bad part. And I'm like, this is like Drosnek. That was really like the hood where I was at. I live in a millennia over there by Oak Ridge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, you know.
SPEAKER_01I always wondered if I would have gotten tired of New York and if I would have felt like I finished New York to come out here to Florida.
SPEAKER_00What year did you move to?
SPEAKER_01Well, I moved here in the 90s. So you know, I was I was graduating high school. I was young, you know what I mean? So for me, it was like traumatic. I was traumatized because I didn't get to fully finish New York the way I wanted to. You know what I mean? I used to love the city. I mean, I love New York.
SPEAKER_00I love visiting, but I don't I would never move back. My son is still there, but I would never like.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so when you do go back, what do you enjoy?
SPEAKER_00Um the first thing, bacon, egg, and cheese, my Linden cookies.
SPEAKER_01Oh, buttercrunch. Butter, listen, you go back to New York now, you gotta bring me at least a pack.
SPEAKER_00I got you. Buttercrunchy.
SPEAKER_01Give me one pack, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00And the and the sushi cues. I don't know what it's different, it's a different taste from here in New York. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But we all know at this point, though, if you've been here long enough in Florida, we all know that a lot of things just taste different here, which is why I started this podcast so we could talk about it. But tell me, what do you actually think about the podcast? Like, what are your thoughts about the concept, the conversations that could take place, the people I can have on my show.
SPEAKER_00It's original. I like it, you know? It's original.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's fun. I've had a lot of fun so far. You're probably like my fifth, sixth, or seventh guest. I'm losing count. So that's it.
SPEAKER_00And you have that voice. You have the radio voice, you know.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah, I've been doing radio almost 30 years, 30 years now, actually. But, you know, I just wanted to do something different that was fun, that speaks on something I love. I still love the city. I love going back.
SPEAKER_00You still go back?
SPEAKER_01I still go back. It's been, gosh, like a year and a half now, but I go back as often as I can. Ever since I started back on the radio on one or two jams, I haven't been back yet.
SPEAKER_00So when you go back, what's the first thing you you you go eat or I usually go to Yankees Pizza and Westchester.
SPEAKER_01Westchester and whatchester and uh Morrison exit.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you over there, yes. When they stole my money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that was my hood.
SPEAKER_00With Adam Loema. That was my hood.
SPEAKER_01I lived, I lived on Wheeler Avenue. Okay. Yeah, I lived on Wheeler Avenue. Not that one, but the one between uh Watson Avenue and Brooklyn Boulevard. That was where I lived.
SPEAKER_00When I was the manager at Rena Center in the Brockner by the Food Bazaar, I would never rent to Elder, Colgate, and your block, Wheeler.
SPEAKER_01But my Wheelow was the peaceful one. My wheel of between Watson and Brooklyn. Like, yeah, you tap, you touch Watson, and it's it could be chaotic, but my block was beautiful. I love my block. Nice, nice. I missed it so much.
SPEAKER_00You said you was on Wheeler? Wheeler Avenue, right up right around the corner from Elder. You didn't know a guy named Um Indio, eh?
SPEAKER_01Indio?
SPEAKER_00Indio. He used to fix cars and put radios in.
SPEAKER_01He got a daughter named Carmen?
SPEAKER_00I don't remember, but he looked Indian.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my family knew David was his name, if that's the same guy.
SPEAKER_00I think it is David. He's like he's like my age now, a little older. No, he would be way older. Okay, so yes.
SPEAKER_01So unless he's Indio Jr.
SPEAKER_00It was Indio. He was the only Indio on the block.
SPEAKER_01The Indio I was talking about was older, like my parents' age. Okay, so but anyway, yeah. This is a small world. I'm sure there's somebody we know. Well, where exactly did you live?
SPEAKER_00I lived on Quatona 183rd, Bathgate. I that's where I rep. But I lived on 175th. But my mom was in the military, so I was always traveling and you know, so you know.
SPEAKER_01Wow, and you fought in a war?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. No. Okay. Well, I went to the desert storm, but that wasn't a war.
SPEAKER_01What did you do?
SPEAKER_00I was the armorer. I was in charge of all the weapons. Like, I even had to sleep with the weapons, so while everybody party or did anything, I had to sleep in the truck.
Becoming DJ Casper In The Bronx
SPEAKER_01So don't mess with you. Oh my gosh. So, okay, let's go back to the whole New York thing. I want to know a couple more things. I want to know, okay. Did you tell me your favorite spot to go first? You said the bodega, right? Because you wanted your Linden cookies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my bacon, egg, and cheese. Bacon, egg, and cheese.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and then where? I mean, what's your other spots?
SPEAKER_00Other spots. City Island. Yeah. Or I would always go to the hood where I was, you know, where I got my name from, or, you know, the basic BBQs or all those spots. I'm a foodie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So do you ever do the city stuff? Like, you ever touch the city? You know, that's not something I did when I lived there. Like, we barely went to Manhattan.
SPEAKER_00You mean the Times Square? Yeah, like do you The only time I went to Manhattan was to buy bootleg DVDs and sell them. Me and Kumai Ski, who was a king of DVD. Well, he got me into it.
SPEAKER_01I didn't know you knew him. Kumai Ski was on episode three, I think it was.
SPEAKER_00Kumai Ski.
SPEAKER_01Episode three, I think he's on one of my.
SPEAKER_00I became a DJ because of him. Really?
SPEAKER_01Tell me that story.
SPEAKER_00Well, let me tell you how I became a DJ. I used to work at Sears on Fordham. What happened was I had a friend named Clemente that worked there, and he used to take me on a block on Bathgate. He had a girlfriend, and then he introduced me to the sister, and she had DJ equipment. So I used to play around with it. I didn't know how I didn't know how to DJ. It was like 1990 around there. So one day we did a house party and somebody got shot at my party while I was DJing. So I ran home from 183rd all the way to the concourse. I ran all the way home. We didn't have phones then and we had beepers. So I come back two weeks later, and my friend's girlfriend was like, Oh my god, we were so worried about you, Eddie. Oh, where did you go? I said, I went home. She said, Oh my god, you was a ghost. So that was a joke. They were like, Yo, Casper. So that's how I got my home.
SPEAKER_01That's how you got your name. I always wonder, because I'm like, you're not blanquito.
SPEAKER_00So how did that gray off? So that happened. So I wasn't taking DJing yet. So I went to a club called Bentley's back in the day. And I had to go to the bathroom and I went the wrong way. And I went by the DJ booth. I heard somebody like, yo, yo, yo, yo. And it was DJ Chuck Chill out. And I was watching him, and I was like, just watching him, like, and that's when I said I want to become a DJ. I kept buying records, buying records. And my friends said, let's go clubbing. So I met Kumai Ski at it was a spot called the Rhythm Factory on Webster Avenue in Fordham.
SPEAKER_01I was already here in Florida. I don't know any of these spots.
The Day He Arrested DMX
SPEAKER_00And and I used to see him host like Leaders of the New School, Buster Ron before he came out, Naughty by Nature, Tim Dog, Tribe Called Quest. And I used to watch him like wow, like he was the man. So I be, you know, like always follow him, always seeing where he was DJing. He was DJing this girl's clothing store on Fordham called M Bombini. He was there. One week he was supposed to be there, he didn't show up. But a car went through the store? The store. If he was there, he would've it would have hit him. So then we became good friends, and you know, I used to go to his gigs, and that's how I got better and better and better. And then, you know, I didn't really didn't take it serious until I started working security at Yonkers. And I don't know if I told you I locked up DMX before he was DMX. No. Okay, yeah. So I was castled, but I wasn't famous yet. So I was having my first son, and my baby mother told me I had to get a better job. So I went to security school to become a security guard, and I moved. I did my eight-hour course and my 16-hour course. And then the guy liked me. He was like, hey, listen, I like the way you participate, so I'm gonna hire you your first job. I said, okay, where? He said, in Yonkers. I said, where's Yonkers? I'm from the Bronx. He said, it's only 15 minutes from Mount Vernon. I said, really? He said, okay, I'll do it. He said, yeah, your job is to make sure nobody, you know, Lord they ring in the hallway, nobody's selling drugs, and you know, basically, you know, patrol a building. So I said, okay, so I got the job, my whole team was Muslim except me. So I was the only Puerto Rican. Everybody else had their koofies on, whatever. Everybody had the building. I had building four. I got cool with the drug dealers. But there was this one drug dealer who was real cool. So you'd be like, yo, what's up, huh? That's how they talk in Yonkers. I'd be like, listen, I don't care if you sell drugs, but don't do it in my shift and don't do it in my building. Okay, I respect you, I respect you. I said, all right, whatever. So one Saturday, I remember this day. One Saturday, I had my Walkman on and it was raining, and he's walking down the hill, and there's an African-American guy behind him walking, but he kept turning his head to make sure, like, if anybody's following him. So, comes towards me, but he had his head that What up, Casper? He goes in the building, and then the guy goes behind him, he goes in the building. So in my head, I'm like, I know this guy's not trying to disrespect me. So I counted to 30 and I went up the stairs. And when I went up the stairs, I opened the door. He's doing a transaction. He's selling him crack. So I smacked the crack out of DMX hands and I grabbed him. I didn't grab Chico because I know who he was. I said, Chico, I'm gonna get you later. In one hand I had his neck, in one hand I had a radio. I said, hey, officer need assistance. So like eight security guards, we came into the building, locked him up. I mean, we put the cuffs on and we took him to the building. The cops came, I had to do a statement. So I had to do a statement. So I was happy, you know, I'm a rookie, I just locked up a crackhead.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I did the paperwork, they took him away, and my boss told me, okay, go back to your building. So when I came out of my building, I seen like 20 guys, yo, we're gonna. I seen 20 guys, like, yo, we're gonna you up, you know, we're gonna mess you up, blah, blah, blah. So I told my boss, I said, listen, why are you gonna jump me for? I'm skinny. I just I'm still in the military. So he said, he started laughing. He said, you know who you just locked up? I said, who? He said he's an upcoming rapper. His name is DMX. I said, who is DMX? I never met him before. No, so you've heard of him? No, he wasn't even famous yet. So he did four months in Vanhaler as a jail in West Chester County. Four months later, he comes out and he sees me and he apologized to me, and we became good friends after that.
SPEAKER_01Wow, you know, that doesn't surprise me, and I'll tell you why, because um I met him once. Here comes the boom with Sean Paul and Mr. Vegas when Mr. Vegas was big. He came to perform and he ended up showing up. I don't remember if he was supposed to be there, but I met DMX that night, and I was really surprised because he was actually really professional when they introduced him to me. You know, this is Lizette Perez from one or two jams. You know, he shook my hand. He was just really, really cool. He was really cool about his business and he was focused. And this was at the Blue Room in Orlando back in the day, for those who may remember. But I just I didn't know what to expect from DMX. He probably wasn't, but I didn't expect that. He also was very paranoid. He didn't want anyone taking pictures with a cell phone. So although I took a picture with him, I never saw it. Nobody ever showed me or gave me a copy of the picture. I think it was one of those club photographers at that time that took the picture. I don't even know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I got pictures and videos. Even like when I used to work at Renaissance, if I didn't have if I didn't do good in sales, he would come to the store and hang out with me. I'd be like, listen, I'll buy you lunch, whatever you want. I need like 20 sales today. He would come. I was with him the last console he had in Kissimmee.
SPEAKER_01He's missed in the hip-hop world.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
Learning Florida Crowds As A DJ
SPEAKER_01So wait a minute. Tell me as a DJ from New York, how was that part of the transition for you? How did that go as a DJ?
SPEAKER_00I think I I'm bigger here, but I don't like it because everybody thinks now that I'm a freestyle DJ, but I'm not a freestyle DJ. I'm hip hop RB. I'm hip hop RB, but but when I came here, what happened was when I first moved here, my first party was a birthday party. And remember, I'm coming from New York. And I did a house party, and you know, the they dancing, then the strippers come and I started playing Jay-Z. And they was like, you don't play that here in Florida. So I didn't know the music in Florida. You don't have no Trinidad James or no or no Kodak. I'm like, what? So from there, I took four months not to DJ to find out what kind of music they did play here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we definitely got different crowds.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, here in Florida. We uh in Orlando was very diverse. So I could imagine your struggle starting. I mean, yeah, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, I was like a 90s head and you know, the 2000s, but when I came in, it was like, so that's when I met Frankie G. And like, you're Frankie G, yo, I see you do a lot of concerts. And I did my first one, then he took me another one, then he gave me another one. So I started rolling. Yeah, the freestyle, like freestyle, you know.
SPEAKER_01I love freestyle grew up with it, but you know, I'm definitely more hip hop.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm a I think I'm a freestyle hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01I do it to DJ, but you know, but I get what you're saying because you know, like like me being back in hip-hop radio and we're throwback station now playing what I used to love to listen to, it's been fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I mean, the station, yeah. When I first when it first came back on, I was like, oh, they can try to rule the shanty.
SPEAKER_01You was already here at least to experience maybe a couple years of it, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, I was here you mean when ya when I said Yeah, because we flipped, like we they killed us in 2014.
SPEAKER_00I was here already, but I was still I was still listening to New York radio because I didn't know what was playing over here. Yeah.
What Florida Gives Him Now
SPEAKER_01So Yeah, by then we had the internet. Okay. So, so let's get back to some of the New York Florida things. Tell me what you like about Florida specifically.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_01I mean, are you an adult Disney head? Like, are you a Disney adult?
SPEAKER_00Not really, because I hate walking. I I did Magic Kingdom one time and never go back. Never. I would never go back.
SPEAKER_01Why?
SPEAKER_00The walking, the heat.
SPEAKER_01Get a wheelchair.
SPEAKER_00You know, though Universal, I did a couple times, but like I said, after I'll do one step, but I want to go home. Oh, you want to know? Yeah. Or y'all can go for y'all can go, I'll be right here.
SPEAKER_01VA, call me if you want to go to Disney.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you like the beaches out here?
SPEAKER_00Like, I don't like sand. I'd rather go to a pool.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if maybe it's my age.
SPEAKER_01I listen, I'm trying to figure out what you like about Florida then.
SPEAKER_00Eating the sandwiches and tasting sand, like, sandwiches on the beach. I get frustrated. She's into all that. She's the fun one. You know, she's the fun one. I can't even go to a party, like a regular birthday party, because I'm going straight to the DJ.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I can't sit down and relax. You gotta be. Like, I'm listening to see if they're doing a mix, right? Or, you know. You dare to judge them. So, you know.
SPEAKER_01So, okay, so what you like about Florida, the tranquility.
SPEAKER_00The weather. You like the weather? I love the weather.
SPEAKER_01You like the spirit. I love the weather.
SPEAKER_00I love the weather. The weather. I'm trying to lose weight. The weather, um some of the food, some of the spots, you know, there's a whole bunch of different spots I go to.
SPEAKER_01Some foodie spots now. I mean, Orlando's becoming a foodie town for real.
SPEAKER_00My favorite spot is Kobe's. I don't know why. Really? I love Kobe's.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00When I first got here, I thought Golden Corral was like, oh my God, like I'm in heaven. But that's like McDonald's to Florida, you know? So, but other than that, you know, just the environment, the people. I mean, you get the people the knucklehead sometimes, but you know, I don't fight fair.
SPEAKER_01So But it's cool because like when you move down here, though, New York is out here. There's a lot of stuff that's familiar. Do you feel like that helped you in your
SPEAKER_00Transition because Yes, Kissimmee.
SPEAKER_01Okay, because that's where you live?
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. I lived in Orlando, but I remember I DJ, so I I used and I used to work for Renaissance, so I used to drive everywhere. So I'm like, oh my god, all these Puerto Ricans, old town, you know, so I didn't experience that when I first moved.
SPEAKER_01No? No, we moved to Lake Mary from the Bronx. Oh you've been to Lake Mary? Of course.
SPEAKER_00Lake Mary is like it's like a little, you know.
SPEAKER_01It was so different when I moved here. Oh my gosh. But yeah, so for me, my story's different.
SPEAKER_00Because you moved from the hood hood to, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. And you know, even though I was a teenager, we were kind of wiser beyond our years. You know, we were already moving in the city like an adult, like, you know, taking the bus, taking the train, you know. So I wasn't like a typical, like my daughter right now. She just turned 20. But she's been raised out here, and she's very much, she's 20, but she's like a 15-year-old.
SPEAKER_00She's never been in New York She's never been in New York?
SPEAKER_01I've taken her a couple times. When my twins were born, she was only three, and they were born with their medical needs, and that kept us stuck in Florida for a while without taking trips. She was around the age when they were when the twins were born that I was gonna start taking her to the city because I wanted to put her on the swings in New York and just take her to the Bronx Zoo and do little things that I did as a kid, you know, that gave me some of my memories. I didn't get to do that with her until she was 16. That was the first time I took her back. So she got to see, and I wonder. I was like, yo, wait till you see my cousin and her kids. I'm like, they're gonna seem so much older to you. And she was like, wow. Because like my little baby cousin Brianna, she was 11 at the time. And Melinda's like, yo, she moves like she's older than me. I'm like, I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_00I was living in Jersey, I remember my father till this day. I was 13 years old coming from Jersey to New York. My mother didn't want to bring me, so I would take the train at a 13 years old.
SPEAKER_01I remember, go ahead, go ahead. So, you know, so now you can't even like I like when I took her, I was like, okay, when I have to stop and look at my purse or something, you gotta look around and have my back. You gotta like, you know, we gotta be ready for anything. And she did good. She wasn't scared, you know. I was like, okay, she got some Lizzette in her.
SPEAKER_00The day I moved here from Florida, I came in a U-Haul and I'm taking stuff out, and these two teenagers came to me. Could we help you? I'm like, if you don't get out of my face, because I still had the I still had that New York in me. Yeah, yeah. Like, why are you stepping to me? What you need? Get out of my face. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what kind of kid were you in New York? What kind of teenager were you in New York? Would you say you had a good childhood memories or bad childhood memories? Were you a good kid or a bad kid?
SPEAKER_00I was bad. I was a delinquent. I went to my prom twice. That's how bad I got left back twice.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was bad. That's why I joined the military because I I sold drugs for one day. And it wasn't drugs, it was powder, and the lady started crying, so it scared me. So that's when I joined the army and I left. Wow. Yeah, I was like I can we have a three-hour podcast about Toy Stories.
Why New Yorkers Still Need Each Other
SPEAKER_01You definitely gotta save it for the next one. Now that you know what the show's about. And that's my goal, my hope is that New Yorkers will continue to feel connected here as they transition. I love hearing the stories, I love sharing stories. Please share this podcast with another New Yorker. Because they may need this. Maybe they haven't found their people yet.
SPEAKER_00I used to always get happy. Like when I first moved there, I saw a New York. Oh my god, give me a hug. Right? You from New York.
SPEAKER_01Why is that?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. It's the vibe. We know each other. We're we're we're we're we're aggressive. We're arrogant. Like it's like we know each other.
SPEAKER_01There's just a vibe. You can't hide the vibe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I find it crazy too when you leave, there are things and even some of the people in New York that you end up missing that you don't realize you're gonna miss. At least for me. Because again, keep in mind, I didn't move here when it was my choice. But I remember there was a girl, Mesito Samaisha, Wheeler Avenue. She lived in one of the like four or five-story walk-ups that we had on that block.
SPEAKER_00On Wheeler. On Wheeler?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And, you know, she didn't come outside and play that much. In school, she was always getting fights. We were cool, but we were, you know, we didn't have a chance to really become good, good, good friends. But we grew up together. And we had a lot of the same friends. We knew a lot of the same people. You know, it was one of them funny things that, you know, she ended up being one of them people that I missed. And I didn't really have a good reason because like I said, we weren't that close, right? So I remember I was watching TV and I would watch like the talk shows like Ricky Lake and you know, whatever, whatever had a New York audience. I would be looking in the audience for people I know. Yeah. And one day, me and my sister Jeanette, we were just crying, watching TV. We got yelled at, we were bored, we were miserable. And uh, we're watching the TV, and all of a sudden we see Myesha laughing. And she was just laughing, ah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, she was in the audience? She was in the audience. Okay. On what show, you remember?
SPEAKER_01It was Uptown Comedy Club. And me and Jeanette looked at each other. We started laughing and crying because it was so good to see her face. And they kept showing her. So it was like one of those moments, like, oh, New York is the best. Look at my people.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
Sponsor Shoutout And Next Episode
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, this is what this podcast is about, Casper. You were my last guest to come on, not knowing what the show was about. So, in some ways, I feel like I'm about to get the show started.
SPEAKER_00This is good. I like this.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Oh my gosh, and thank you so much for trusting me enough once again to come on the show.
SPEAKER_00I gotta come back. I'm not even 10% done.
SPEAKER_01I will definitely have you on the show again one day soon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01DJ Casper.
SPEAKER_00You already know DJ Casper183.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, give him a follow. And thank you so much for being on the show, for being on this podcast from Apple to Oranges.
SPEAKER_00Thank you once again.
SPEAKER_01This episode is sponsored by Clean and Clear Headlight Restoration. Give them a follow at Clean and Clear Headlights to book today, especially before taking that road trip back to Queens. Improve your driving visibility today. Visit myClean and ClearHeadlights.com. On the next episode from Apple to Oranges, I'll be speaking with two moms, one who lives in New York City and one who now lives here in Florida, who both sadly lost their sons to gun violence. I give them an opportunity to share their stories, which turns out to be similar in so many ways as they navigate their grief, their strength, and their healing. Follow and subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss it. I'm Lizette Perez. Until the next one. Besitos to you.