Darkness is falling on another long, depressing night in one of America’s most marginal neighborhoods.
For the 200 or so battered souls lining up outside the aging street-corner edifice housing the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene, however, this one will seem neither quite as long nor as harsh as the others.
This is “Karaoke Night” on Skid Row.
In this Wednesday, March 11, 2015 photo, 66-year-old Alfred Warren, whose nickname is James Brown, rehearses a song while eating snacks in the dining area of the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
There will be break dancing, waltzing, even an impromptu conga line, as people sing everything from country to rock to R&B. The music locks out the ugliness outside, where a misdirected look can launch a knife fight, where the streets reek of urine, where some 1,700 people lay their heads on dirty sidewalks every night to sleep.
“It’s a little bit of a return to normalcy in an area that’s just absolute chaos,” says Andy Bates, who heads Skid Row’s Union Rescue Mission and says he’s seen the power of these weekly songfests to bring joy and even change lives.
“People kind of lose themselves in that moment and get to display their talents,” he says.
As a crowd gathers outside, the graying, bearded, ponytailed Pastor Tony Stallworth breaks into a soulful sound-check version of the pop-gospel song, “I Love You With My Life.” The crowd outside can hardly contain itself. Pounding rattles the front door as Ronnie Shepherd, aka Sidewalk Slim the doorman, declares: “It’s almost show time!”
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, Jonathan “Cowboy” Brown, who’s been coming to Karaoke Night since Pastor Tony Stallworth launched the first one 17 years ago, prepares to sing at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. “Since I happen to like coffee, that got me in the door,” says the laconic Cowboy, whose preference for 10-gallon hats, blue jeans and Jim Croce songs earned him the nickname. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Minutes later, Shepherd is greeting a rumpled mass of humanity, including some people pushing shopping carts filled with belongings. As a startled rat escapes under a side door, they make a beeline to “Cowboy” Jonathon Brown’s songbook, where they’ll pick their tunes for the night.
Then for the next three hours, they’ll rock the joint.
Some of the singers, of course, are profoundly awful: They croak off key, lose the beat, stumble over the lyrics.
Then there’s that handful who leave the audience shaking its collective head, wondering why they’re not in a recording studio.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, Skid Row resident Jhoanny Guzman, 48, sings a song during karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“I’m just a homeless person,” one of them, James Walker, says modestly after wrapping up a stirring duet performance of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with Joani Dahmen, a Washington State University senior spending her spring break volunteering at a homeless shelter.
“I live in a tent on the sidewalk just a couple blocks down the street,” he volunteers, although he doesn’t want to talk about how he got to a place teeming with drug addicts, prostitutes and the mentally ill.
Following him to the microphone is Patricia Turner, who earns a standing ovation for “All I Ask of You” from the musical “Phantom of the Opera.”
She would like to pursue a singing career someday, but the 22-year-old struggles with a mild form of autism and is living in a welfare-subsidized apartment.
Cowboy, keeper of the song list, lives in another. He’s been coming to Karaoke Night since Stallworth launched the first one 17 years ago. He was living in a tent near the door then and heard there was free coffee and snacks.
“Since I happen to like coffee, that got me in the door,” says the laconic Cowboy, whose preference for 10-gallon hats, blue jeans and Jim Croce songs earned him his nickname.
For Stallworth, Wednesday’s Karaoke Night was a natural for a minister with a booming voice. “When I came to the Lord back in 1989, I prayed and I told him I’d like to make my living singing,” the church’s senior pastor recalls.
“Of course I was referring to I’d like to be a recording artist,” he adds, bursting into laughter at the realization God gave him a karaoke machine and a congregation instead.
About a year into it, he began to have his doubts. Was this about his own vanity? Or, worse, were people only showing up for the free coffee?
The next Karaoke Night a homeless man gave him $3 and told him: “I was on the way to the dope house one night when I heard the music and walked in, and now I come here every week, and I just want to help out.”
“I just looked up in the sky and said, ‘Thank you, Lord,'” Stallworth recalls.
And Karaoke Night continued.
Click on any image below to launch the gallery.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, a homeless man, foreground, wrapped himself with a blanket, walks past the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene as Jhoanny Guzman dances with Diane Smith, left, at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, sporting a red velvet jacket, 63-year-old Skid Row resident Vincent Washington sings a song at karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. As people harmonize on Beatles songs, they begin to lock out the ugliness outside, where a misdirected look can launch a knife fight in a second. Where across 50 square blocks on the edge of City Hall and other landmarks that represent the rich and powerful. The streets reek with the smell of urine. Where some 1,700 people bed down on filthy sidewalks every night. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, an old Magnavox television and chairs are seen set up before the start of karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, Pastor Tony Stallworth, left, and Ronnie “Sidewalk Slim” Shepherd sing along with Robert Verdine, foreground, during karaoke night the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, two microphones are placed on the table after being sprayed with a sanitizer for karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, March 11, 2015 photo, 66-year-old Alfred Warren, whose nickname is James Brown, sings a song during karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Inside the church, meanwhile, many of the singers are profoundly awful. They croak off key, lose the beat, stumble over the lyrics. Still, everyone gets a round of applause for simply having the courage to get up and do this. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, sporting a red velvet jacket, 63-year-old Skid Row resident Vincent Washington chooses a song at karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, Jonathan “Cowboy” Brown, who’s been coming to Karaoke Night since Pastor Tony Stallworth launched the first one 17 years ago, prepares to sing at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. “Since I happen to like coffee, that got me in the door,” says the laconic Cowboy, whose preference for 10-gallon hats, blue jeans and Jim Croce songs earned him the nickname. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, dressed up to sing at Karaoke night, Skid Row resident Robert Verdine, 63, stands outside the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene for the start of karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, homeless people and volunteers line dance at karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, Pastor Tony Stallworth, right, and wife, Lucy, embrace each other as they sing at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo Pastor Tony Stallworth, left, leads a prayer session for homeless people at karaoke night the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Stallworth was leading Sunday services when it occurred to him that maybe a weekly karaoke night could put a little hope and happiness into an area where historically there has been so little. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, March 11, 2015 photo, homeless woman Linda May Mulvey pushes her cart toward the exit to leave after washing her hair as a dozen of Skid Row residents gather to sing at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, Skid Row resident Robert Verdine, 63, taps his foot to the beat of the music at karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, sporting a red velvet jacket, 63-year-old Skid Row resident Vincent Washington chooses a song at karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 photo, Skid Row resident Ronnie “Sidewalk Slim” Shepherd, center, sings a song during karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, March 11, 2015 photo, 66-year-old Alfred Warren, whose nickname is James Brown, rehearses a song while eating snacks in the dining area of the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, Skid Row resident Jhoanny Guzman, 48, sings a song during karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, Pastor Tony Stallworth, center, prays for a Skid Row resident before the start of karaoke night on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 photo, volunteer Moses Robles set up chairs for karaoke night at the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Hi my name is Quiana warren an i just happen to be looking for my uncle Alfred warren when i seen the article with him in it his nick name is James brown my mom and i have been looking for him for years it has been maybe a little over 17 years we have not seen him an i was wondering if just maybe we can reconnect with a little help he has missed out on so much we really need to talk to him an let him know about his baby brother passing away an his great Nefew pass away march 11 2015 so if you could pleas help my famil reconnect with my uncle Alfred Warren you guy’s may know him as James Brown my family would be very graceful thank you and God Bless. Quiana Warren
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Hi my name is Quiana warren an i just happen to be looking for my uncle Alfred warren when i seen the article with him in it his nick name is James brown my mom and i have been looking for him for years it has been maybe a little over 17 years we have not seen him an i was wondering if just maybe we can reconnect with a little help he has missed out on so much we really need to talk to him an let him know about his baby brother passing away an his great Nefew pass away march 11 2015 so if you could pleas help my famil reconnect with my uncle Alfred Warren you guy’s may know him as James Brown my family would be very graceful thank you and God Bless. Quiana Warren
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