Kamilah Kashanie (KK): Ok, I’m pulling up on St. James Place. I can hear some music. Oh, this is a really pretty block.
KK: Growing up in Brooklyn I went to a lot of block parties as a kid. My grandmother’s street would throw a big one every summer, like bouncy castles in the middle of the street big, but THIS block party was different.
KK: Okay! I see people on the streets. [Laughs]
KK: After living through a year that was really hard — from the pandemic, to the murder of George Floyd, and the protests that followed — I was nervous to go but when I saw people outside dancing in the streets, I kinda forgot about the fear. I felt excitement for the first time in a while.
Welcome to a new season of the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. I’m your host Kamilah Kashanie.
This season, we’re bringing you stories about finding your footing when the ground is a little shaky beneath you.
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If you’ve been listening for a while, you know that what we do at StoryCorps is give people the chance to sit down and have a conversation with someone important to them.
A lot of the time they say things they wouldn’t have said otherwise and over the last two decades, around 700-thousand people from all over the country have recorded with us.
In this episode, we’re going to hear stories from one block in Brooklyn.
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The Vill family has lived on that block in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood for more than thirty years.
Jo Vill has been a DJ since the 1970s. Since then he’s passed his skills down to his 32-year-old son Chad.
But when they came to StoryCorps, Chad told his dad he wasn’t really into it at first.
Jo Vill (JV): Why did you want to learn to DJ?
Chad Vill (CV): I didn’t. [Laughs] I used to see you doing it all the time and the equipment was always around but it’s like, that’s my dad’s thing. I’m not doing that.
JV: But I remember I came into the room one day and I saw you putting the record on a needle and scratching. I was like, ‘Oh, no, you can’t be scratching up my stuff.’ So I went and got you your own record, which was a Ninja Turtle record —
CV: Yeah.
JV: — And you scratched that thing to death. [Laughs] And it turned out that you had a natural talent. It made me proud that you were able to kinda follow my footsteps.
KK: Chad started DJing in high school. And by his early 20s, he decided to pursue it more seriously.
But in March 2020, as COVID-19 swept through New York, Chad and Jo — like the rest of the city — were sheltering at home. And their music was put on pause.
CV: You know, when the pandemic happened, all of the clubs got shut down. In the back of my head, I thought, you know, this isn’t going to last too long. This will probably be a couple of weeks and I’ll be right back.
JV: It was kind of eerie at first because all you heard all night long was an ambulance going by. And so that was like a signal that somebody else is sick. Then when we started hearing of all the deaths that were occurring, my cousin passed away, then it got real.
CV: No one was really walking around. Everybody was, was pretty much scared.
JV: People felt like they were locked in, isolated, alone, afraid. And so, we’re DJs, I said, ‘Let’s put a speaker out in the street.’ And every day we would come together and try to choose what would be the song for the day. And then it stretched out to two songs. Then the neighbors would make suggestions for a song. And we saw the transition from one speaker, to two speaker, to a total of six speakers and the next thing you know, we had a street full of people.
CV: Black, white, straight, gay, Asian, Spanish, everyone was there. The melting pot that they say New York is.
JV: With everybody wearing masks and Mom’s running around spraying people with alcohol if she saw them touching each other.
CV: We wanted to make other people feel better.
JV: And it worked.
CV: Yeah. We’ve had bus drivers drive, stop at the light, open the door, dance a little bit, wave to us, keep going. We’ve seen the mailman drive by and everybody clap for him. You know, the thing was like, we all lived next to each other for years but.
JV: Yeah, we’ve been on the block since 1989.
CV: People would walk by and not say anything and now, people say, ‘Hey, Chad. Hey, Jo.’ Like, we know people’s names.
JV: You can’t walk by without speaking to each other. I think we’re more of a community than we were before. You reap what you sow. You sow love, you sow love, you get love back. Not always back from the source that you think you’re gonna get it, because I sure didn’t think it was going to come this way, but it did, and I’m glad it did.
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KK: That’s Jo Vill, with his son Chad and they’re still DJing and hosting these makeshift block parties, more than a year later.
They started calling them St. James Joy after the name of their street.
And as you heard earlier, I got the chance to go to one and experience all of it. And what I learned is Jo and Chad haven’t been doing this alone; not by a long shot.
Gail Bryan-Vill (GV): My name is Gail Bryan-Vill. My relationship to Jo, he’s my husband, and Chad, he’s my son.
KK: Gail’s a powerhouse.
GV: Well, they say I’m bossy. I’m a Leo, so.
KK: Before every party, she stands at the top of their stoop blowing a whistle letting people know that the music’s about to start.
She’s also the Block Association President, so she knows everybody and as I was following her through the street with my mic, dodging and weaving through the crowd, it was kind of hard to keep up with her.
GV: Let me see who else I could – There’s Aleesha.
KK: After the break, we meet some St. James Joy regulars.
Stay with us.
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KK: Welcome back. Over the last year, the Vill family and their block parties have become really comforting for a lot of their neighbors, including Vicki Winters, who moved to the area in March of 2020, right before New York went into lockdown.
Vicki moves through the world in a big puffy blue tutu. Picture a large poof of tule prancing up and down the street. But even for someone with such a sparkly personality, Vicki told Gail that the beginning of COVID-19 was hard for her.
Vicki Winters (VW): Once the pandemic hit, I remember being quiet and sad and scary and… there was nothing to do and people were so afraid of death…
Gail Bryan-Vill (GV): — We were in a panic as well, you know, we were circling around the house, not knowing what to do. But, Jo and Chad decided to play a little music each day. And it was how it all began, you know?
VW: Someone said there’s a dance party over on St. James Place. So I got on my bike and came down in my tutu.
GV: You came twirling down the street, bright as can be.
VW: And I remember you were on the stoop dancing, and ringing your bell and blowing your whistle. And I was just like, this is the lady of the house and she owns this street.
GV: As the crowd grew, it used to get me a little nervous in my stomach. And I said, please, don’t let anybody get sick, please don’t let anybody get hurt, please don’t let the police come and start with anyone. Everyday those thoughts would come to mind.
VW: You had to be masked up and Jo would come on the mic and sometimes remind people. But never a glitch, never a hitch, nothing ever went wrong. Nothing!
GV: Nothing! I’m glad that we got together to let people know you can have joy. You don’t have to be alone. You can make friends.
VW: Yeah, I didn’t know you or Jo or Chad before this. And we have become thick as thieves.
GV: Yes. You know, some people made relationships.
VW: Arthur and Maggie are dating.
GV: Isn’t that something? And someone made a baby and named the baby Joy.
VW: Come on!
GV: She was pregnant during the time we were out there.
VW: Oh my God.
GV: It’s funny because now all the neighbors know us. So it’s like, suddenly, we are a real community like the way it used to be when I was a kid, you know?
VW: Yeah, I could not have made it through the pandemic without you. You know I don’t have any children, I don’t have a partner either. I’m pretty much alone, but I now have family, you know?
GV: Yes, yes you do.
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KK: That’s Gail Bryan-Vill with her neighbor and new friend, Vicki Winters
In case you were wondering about that couple — Arthur and Maggie — so was I.
Gail introduced me to Arthur when I went to the party.
GV: I’m so happy that I met such wonderful people, like this wonderful sweetie pie here.
AF: My name is Arthur.
KK: We asked Arthur if he was down to record a StoryCorps conversation with Maggie, who he had first met online. They texted for a few days, and then they decided to meet up in real life. And Arthur knew the perfect place.
Maggie Tully (MG): You had suggested to meet you at the Block Party.
Arthur Fournier (AF): Yeah, we probably still didn’t know each other that well yet, but I just remember I was so excited to take you there and the beautiful thing is that you came and the terrible thing is that I was too caught up in my dancing to even get your text to realize that you were there. So we didn’t meet until that night.
MG: You just sort of blew me away with your sweetness and your sweaty joy.
AF: [Laughs] I just remember catching my breath really when I first saw you. I mean, you looked like something out of a 1940s movie.
KK: Soon after that, they started dating. And heading to St James Place to vibe out with some music and their new friends became a regular thing for them.
MT: What keeps replaying in my mind is just being in the middle, in the center, dancing with everyone and you introducing me to people and everyone so freely dancing with one another.
AF: It was perfect.
MF: Yeah.
AF: On those hot summer days when there had been such a powerful sense of anxiety because of covid, and quarantine, and the murder of George Floyd, it felt like this was something that was positive. That it didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like, where you came from, you were welcomed there and I felt electrified by that.
MT: Absolutely. Meeting you and joining all of our friends through dancing in Brooklyn, it shook me to reorient my life and not be preoccupied in my own journey.
AF: Hmh. You know, for most of the COVID-19 experience, I was pretty isolated. The quietness and kind of melancholy of my days, by myself. That was the hardest part. What stands out to you from that time?
MT: It was a terrifying pause. And in the middle of summer I had a secret to myself and wish for someone to risk getting to know me in a more intimate way.
AF: We’re just about 10 days shy of seeing each other for a year. How does that make you feel?
MT: Um… I’m so grateful to have met you, because it’s the first time that I have ever felt loved by a romantic partner.
AF: Really? The first time that you’ve ever really felt loved? You deserve so much love from everyone you’ve ever kissed or spent time with but I’m — I’m glad you feel that love so clearly from me.
AF: One year. It makes me feel like time has really flown. And it makes me feel hopeful.
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KK: That’s Arthur Fournier, with his girlfriend Maggie Tully. They’re still hitting up the block party as often as they can.
And that sense of hope that Arthur talks about, that’s something we could all use.
During a year when we’ve been so isolated, it’s nice to remember we can STILL connect with other people.
KK: Have a good evening, guys!
KK: And it’s kind of cool. Decades from now, we’ll be able to listen back to these conversations and remember how one block in Brooklyn survived the worst pandemic in a century together.
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That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast.
It was produced by Jo Corona. Our story editor is Sylvie Lubow. Our Executive Editor is Jasmyn Morris. Jarrett Floyd is our technical director. Natsumi Ajisaka is our fact-checker. Special thanks to Lauren Smith.
To see some bomb pictures from the block party, and to read about what music we used in the episode go to StoryCorps – dot – org. There, you can also check out original artwork by Rosalyn Yoon.
For the StoryCorps podcast, I’m Kamilah Kashanie. Catch you next week.