I met Jay in a dive on Staten Island. It was open mic night and he was singing his songs while playing guitar. My friend Tomo brought me out there because she was meeting this guy named John Cid who was also playing that night.

At that time I was living with my Aunt in Chelsea. These photos were taken in my room there. It was a very sparse apartment. Neither of us had much stuff. She had just moved to Manhattan from Texas and she let me live with her for free. She worked all day and I was out all night. It worked out pretty well. I was performing in experimental theater shows in the East Village. Taking and losing jobs waiting tables, making coffee and selling clothes.

Before that I was at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, taking dance classes, singing classes, acting classes. I lived on the Upper East Side and spent my free time wandering around Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Every Sunday I crossed the park to attend Mass at the Saint Ignatius Cathedral on the Upper East Side. I liked listening to the choir sing.