← Shannon Cason's Homemade
Shannon Cason's Homemade
My Alternate Life in Brooklyn | Homemade
00:19:13
In this episode, I share my love affair with a place: the rhythms, the people, the late nights, and the everyday magic of Brooklyn.
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Some cities just fit. What city feels natural to you? Let's talk about it. Welcome to Homemade. I'm Shannon Casey. Sometimes you visit a place and it just feels natural to you. That's how I feel about Brooklyn, if you live there. I know some of my listeners live in Brooklyn. I'm a little bit jealous because some places just fit. You know, they like the people, gravitate to you. I've traveled the United States and some of the places are like New Orleans. I feel like New Orleans likes me. DC I definitely could live in dc. DC feels like. Feels like home. Dallas. I like Dallas. Seem like people like me in Dallas. Portland. Both Portland's the Maine and Oregon. Portland, Oregon, a little bit more. I have a lot of friends in Portland, Oregon, Oregon. But two of my favorite cities, which you probably know, one is Chicago, which I've lived there for many years, and then the other one is Brooklyn, where I've only spent extended periods in Brooklyn. But that's what this episode is about. This episode is about Brooklyn. I hope you enjoy. I've always dressed pretty sharp, especially when I was working at a custom suit shop in Chicago in the South Loop. The clothing I worked at, he actually lived in New York, like the owner of the place. But they had a New York location, and then they had a few Chicago locations. And in a company meeting, the owner said that they had so much business in New York that the staff couldn't hardly keep up with it, which meant they were making a lot of money there. I love money and I love New York. So I raised my hand, offering to go to New York to help the location for as long as needed. In my mind, I thought maybe forever, because I love New York. Sometimes you just have to, like, take the opportunity. So the suit shop was in Chelsea, in Manhattan. And Manhattan, the rent is ridiculous. So that wasn't even a thought in my mind to live in Manhattan. So I looked at Airbnb for a place in Brooklyn that was close to the A train. And the first place that I found was a straight up. I mean, it was. It was actually in a hole. It was in a room in the basement. And not a nice finished basement. It was just the basement. Concrete floors, the furnace, a water heater, the drainage pipes whooshing every time someone took a shit, you know, every time someone flushed the toilet. And I'm staying there for like a week. And then I searched Airbnb. I couldn't live there. I searched Airbnb, Airbnb for another spot, and I found one not too far down the street. And it was a basement too, but this was a finished basement and it was decent. And the room had its own bathroom and there was a general area for cooking and coffee. And there was a few other rooms that they were renting for Airbnb. So it was all set up for Airbnb in New York. So it was pretty cool. And immediately I talked to the owner and I told him I want to book the entire month. And I worked out a deal with him, like a month by month deal. And the guy rented it out to me. I had money in hand, so he was cool with it. I had big money in hand. I always had that money in hand. Do that money handshake. But we had to sign contracts too. I had him write it down. So. So he don't jip me. But so now I got a spot and I'm in Brooklyn. I mean, I'm selling suits in. In Chelsea and Manhattan. And I'll be honest, living a cooler life than I actually really am. You know what I'm saying? But I'm good at playing cool. I can play the role. So. So I'd be walking to the A train and my fitted custom suit. And I remember it like yesterday. I'd be walking in, the little kids and their mamas would be looking. The brothers on the street will be not. And it felt good. I remember there was this Nation of Islam bookstore that I would walk past and they played farrakhan recordings like 24 7. And there were some other brothers in suits right around the store and they would not too. It was just. It was just good to be in Brooklyn. So I'm falling into the rhythm of New York in 2013. The trains, the corner store. They call them bodegas, but I'm from Detroit, we call them party stores. The coffee shop. On my way to work in Chelsea, I would go to the coffee shop right before I get to work. The pizza shop. When I get off of work. I come up the train and up the stairs and it was a pizza shop right there. I grab a slice. The Rats, they're minding their own business and I'm minding my own business. They don't bother me. I don't bother them. I go to hip hop clubs after work in my custom suit. All I had was custom suits. I'd be dressed in a three piece suit, going to Dilla tribute parties, going to see DJ Clark Kent Rest in Peace, going to. I think it was it called sobs or something. I saw Far side, I saw all these different groups. I would Just go to like hip hop concerts. I'm in New York, the birthplace of hip hop. So I'm going to, to all the hip hop concerts. And I'm, I'm not go front. I'm, I'm not being modest now. I was getting a lot of attention from the ladies. I mean a lot, you know, like, like too much. I was getting kind of nervous. It was so much attention, you know, I'm kind of introverted. I was getting nervous. There was the Japanese designer girl, there was the actress chick. There was the mature executive lady. Then the young 20 something, super cute church girl. She was super cute. She had the little dimples and everything. So I'm having fun in New York, needless to say. But Brooklyn seemed to like me and I loved Brooklyn. So after about four months, it was time, time up. The, the, the stint that they needed some help at that shop was over and they needed me back in Chicago. So I said goodbye to Brooklyn, goodbye to New York. But every time I would come back and visit for an event, a conference, a show, it felt like I was reminiscing on the previous longer visit that I had. Like, Brooklyn was always there, as it always had been, and it was just waiting for me to come back. When Covid happened, I was bored just like everyone else. I mean, we were bored. I mean, terrible tragedies were happening every day, but a lot of us were just at home watching TV and living it all through the TV in some ways. So after the COVID fear died down a little bit, I figured I could just be bored in Brooklyn instead of Detroit. I contacted that same Airbnb on Nordstrom and Dean that I had previously lived in when I sold custom suits. And I made a deal for another three months. And I was dressed a lot worse this time. When I visited, it was just jeans and hoodies mostly. No custom suits at this time. I didn't sell custom suits, so I wasn't wearing them when I got there. The Airbnb looked the same as it looked seven years before. The same blankets and all, which is, which is pretty disgusting when you think about it. But the neighborhood had changed a lot. It was more white people, which meant more money, which I noticed immediately. It was like more bars sit in restaurants, gyms, yoga studios. There's always a yoga studio. The bodega had changed totally. There was a high end liquors, there were specialty chocolate bars. I know because I was getting all this stuff. There was a salad bar. I love the salad bar. The salad bar was my favorite thing ever. Same Rat. Same people, just different. A lot more white people. Definitely a lot more white people. No judgment, but they just. They bring salad bars with them, you know, And I would go to the salad bar a lot. It was no more Farrakhan recordings, 247 from the NOI build. And I don't know if somebody bought that bookstore. I just. In my memory, I know it was gone. So I made my plans to live in Brooklyn, and I was producing two podcasts for two nonprofit clients at the time, and I was doing it remotely. I only needed to record, like, maybe twice a week and then produce some content for them, which was fairly simple. So it was easy to be away and do that. And actually, my audio producer lived in Queens. He lived in New York. So he came out to Brooklyn to hang out with me for one day. What's up, Vincent? Vincent. I don't know if he's still listening to the podcast, but what up if you do? So I made all kind of solo plans while I was in Brooklyn, like, eat here, drink there. I had a friend in Harlem, Finney. What up, Finney? He listened to the podcast. He was going through a breakup at the time. So. Finney loves to go to events. He's always going to events. And he bought all these tickets, but he had broke up with his ex, so all the tickets were open, you know, so he. We went together. I went to see Neil Brennan in Manhattan. I went to see Wu Tang. There's some venue in Manhattan. We hung out in Harlem for a little bit. Went to the steakhouse. Harlem got a vibe, too. Harlem is real cool. I like the coolness of Harlem. I hung out with my friend Tom Powers, who. He's a documentary guy. They got this festival in Manhattan called DOC nyc, and it was happening. So he invited me out to hang out there, and I hung out with him in Manhattan and went to a few documentary screenings, which was cool. And. And then I went to concerts and events by myself. I went to see Robert Glasper at the Blue Note, saw Will Smith. Will Smith book was coming out at that time, and he did an interview with Spike Lee at King's Theater. So I went there and saw him. I went on meetup.com and I joined the group to go see Chaka Khan in concert. She was at King's Theater, too, in Brooklyn. And it was. I thought it would be more fun with a group. That's why I went to meetup.com and I don't know how old Shaka is, but Shaka kind of sexy still. Shaka still got that. That youthful giggle and everything, you know, I was. I was. While I was watching, I was like, man Shaka. You know, she kind of. I was like, man Shaka. Kind of. Kind of fine. But. So I met up with a friend too. We walked through. I hung out at Prospect park with a friend and. And all the wines and turns of Prospect park, all the people and kids and couples. And I went to a Moth show, saw Peter Aguero hosting. He was hosting the show. Peter is a real cool guy. Big. Well, he ain't that big now. He lost a lot of weight. But the big dude who hosts for the Moth sometime, he was. He was. He's a real fun guy. And I hung out with another friend. Had invited me to a jazz show at the Village Vanguard, which is the oldest jazz club in Manhattan. What up, Wally? What up, Wally? A cool dude, too. Went to all the museums in Manhattan. And the Brooklyn Museum. I didn't live far from the Brooklyn Museum, so I would walk that way occasionally on my daily walks. And one time I met a photographer who was selling his photographs in front of the museum and they were like little zines. Like little zines. Photos of random people that he had shot and made a zine booklet out of it. And I bought one and I struck up a conversation with him and asked if he was down to shoot pics of me around Brooklyn. And we agreed on a price and we set it up and he shot me on the train by the murals on the street. Just like random style pictures, nothing too staged. And. And I. I'll share some on Instagram so you can see I'm at Shannon Casen and his Instagram is @baracksafari visuals. So check him out. Barracks Safari Visuals. Another time, I was walking past the Brooklyn Museum and I was walking towards this lady in a. In a black hoodie sweatshirt, and she was sitting on the steps of the museum. But her. The zipper on her hoodie was diagonal, not like a simple zipper. It was like at an angle. And I noticed the hoodie and it caught my eye. And I caught her eye, I guess. And I was walking and she smiled. So I stopped and I said, I was looking at your zipper, like, that's different. And she said, well, thanks. And I said, well, you know, I'm not gonna ask you to unzip your zipper, but. But does it work like it's kind of. Kind of different? Does it work the same as a regular zipper? And. And she laughed that I was genuinely interested in her zipper and said, yeah, it's A working zipper. And she unzipped it a little bit. See? And. And. And she was laughing about it. So I stopped for a time and we talked. And she was from Brook, Brooklyn, all her life, and lived close by as well. Was a visual artist and a graphic designer, and she frequented the museum for inspiration. And her name was Amina. And I noticed I could make her laugh easily. Like, it was easy to make her laugh, and I like to laugh. So I asked for a number. It was. It was that easy. Hey, fellas, if you're listening, you know, I had to teach my little brother one time. He was like, how do you talk to girls? And I told him, just find something genuinely interesting to talk about. It could be a piece of jewelry, and that's a unique kind of chain you got on. Wait, that's different. Or it could be, like, the general setting. Is it. Is it always this busy at this Whole Foods or at this grocery store, at this park or whatever? Or it could be a zipper, and then it's. It's on them. Like, the attitude that they show you is if they want you to continue talking to them, if. If the attitude is bad, then just toss them back in the ocean if they engage and get the numbers real easy. So we texted for a little bit, and a few days later, I invited her to brunch. And she. She. You know, like, she said, yeah, why not? You know, we live in the same area. So we met up at this Spanish restaurant for brunch, and we talked and laughed and. And she would cover her mouth when she laughed, like, cover her mouth. And I pulled her hand down. You know, she'd be laughing and put her head down from her smile. And I was like, sister, you've been on my mind like the color Purple, you know, she laughed again. She had a nice smile. Why she covered a smile? So she said she had to use the restroom. And that's always, like, a moment of truth, fellas. I met her sitting down on the Brooklyn Museum steps, and now we were sitting at brunch at a restaurant in that walk away to the restroom. It's a moment of importance. And I was kind of nervous, but it was a delightful moment. I was like, you know, my head was like, boom. It was a delightful moment. So we. We stayed pretty pg. The relationship was always pg. I enjoyed their conversation. Mostly. We texted about art, podcast, music, and she tell me little details about Brooklyn that I would never know because she lived there all her life, and we turned into really cool friends. So even now, she'll. She'll listen to this podcast, I'm sure. And hopefully she has good, good memories too. Hopefully good memories. Hopefully. You know, all PG memories, though. All PG memories. We. We have very. We're just friends also, me and the other Airbnb guy, it was another Airbnb guy who. We never really saw each other that much because he, he was a guy from California who had a residency in New York. And I never saw him, I never saw him, but finally I saw him and we went out for drinks one night and he was a cool guy. He was from la and he told me that him and his brother, they find old cars and they fix them up. But the thing is this, you just get them running. No body repairs, no paint jobs. Keep all the original parts if possible. And then the dull paint, the. The rust, everything, just get it running and don't add anything extra. If you add stuff and paint it and do all that, it's corny. That's what he told me. And that stuck with me. And I like that idea of just fixing up an old car by getting it running and keeping the, keeping the quality of the. Of the age on the car. I thought that that was pretty cool. And then the three months were coming to a close. It will be time to leave. I packed up the little bit that I had brought to Brooklyn and that, that I had bought in New York, and I shipped it back to Detroit. Then I flew home, back to my real life in Detroit. For me, Brooklyn is like an alternate world that's an alternate life. In a different circumstance, I'd live there. Uh, sometimes it's like this. You have to take Detroit breaks. I think it's important to take Detroit breaks. Real Detroiters get it. Detroiters are, are everywhere. We take Detroit breaks. We go to Chicago, D.C. houston, Atlanta, Louisiana. We're all over Florida. Brooklyn is my Detroit break. I had a short visit in New York because Katherine Burns was leaving the Moth. She had built the Moth up to what it had become and was leaving. So she was having a going away party. And of course I stayed in Brooklyn. You know, my boy Finney, who was. He was running a place in Brooklyn at that time, the Williamsburg Hotel. He had left Harlem and went to Brooklyn, but he was running Williamsburg Hotel. If you know that spot, if you, if you from Brooklyn or been in Brooklyn, it's like this posh, cool hotel in Brooklyn. And I'd never spent much time in Williamsburg. And it's not what I think about when I think about Brooklyn. I don't think of Williamsburg, but Williamsburg is pretty cool nonetheless. And Finney was cool. And I met up with Amina and we got drinks and. And then I went home again. And I feel like Brooklyn would be like my third home. It's Detroit, it's Chicago, but in an alternate world, it's also Brooklyn. It just never happened yet. Yet. Thanks for listening. Now that's homemade.