In that respect, Palmer surpassed any singer I have heard. The text, from the book of Isaiah, is as follows: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Handel’s “Messiah” is such a fixture of the repertory that it takes some effort to focus on the words and register what they mean. When I was walking through my life in addiction, and the darkness and the hell I had created for myself, it was like the phoenix coming out of the darkness and seeing the light.” “I just knew that I needed to change, and that I needed help.

“When I came here, three years ago, I didn’t know where my life was going to take me,” he said. He told his story with the practiced directness of someone who has attended many twelve-step meetings. A tall man with shaggy hair and a drawling voice, he was dressed in jeans and a “Rule Your Own Destiny” T-shirt. Before performing, Palmer shared with the audience some thoughts about the music. At the workshop, five string players accompanied him a few dozen members of the Skid Row community were in attendance. He had been studying “The People That Walked in Darkness,” a bass aria from Handel’s “Messiah.” In ten days’ time, he would sing it with Street Symphony, which presents an abridged “Messiah” at Midnight each year. I got the better end of the deal.”Ī few days after Thanksgiving, Palmer sang in a musical workshop at the Midnight Mission, a charitable institution on Skid Row. Graff told me, “I gave Brian some tips on vocal technique, and he taught me life lessons. In February, Palmer began taking voice lessons from Scott Graff, a member of the Master Chorale and of the Street Symphony Chamber Singers. Master Chorale, which works with homeless, mentally ill, and incarcerated populations. This led him to Street Symphony, a group of professional musicians, mostly from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the L.A. In 2015, he encountered the Urban Voices Project, a choir made up of Skid Row residents and allies. As a kid, he dreamed of becoming a professional singer he was a member of the church choir and appeared in musicals at school. One activity that helped him through the skittish early period of sobriety was singing.

He sought assistance at a recovery center at the heart of Skid Row, the dismayingly large tent city in downtown Los Angeles. All he owned was a bag containing some clothes, a blanket, and a pillow. Three years ago, Brian Palmer, a forty-three-year-old native of Beaumont, California, was a homeless man struggling to overcome heroin addiction.

Phil from skidrow