meet anthony king

anthony king was the second homeless guy to come up to me at oktoberfest. first one was a white kid maybe a few years older than me. his opening line, "hey man, this is crazy; all these people. i'm bi-polar i just can't deal with all of this. you got any money, man. i'm homeless." to which i responded, "actually, i'm homeless myself. i'm living out of my car right now." "oh shit really? well thanx for your honesty, man." felt odd to tell someone i'm homeless but it's the truth regardless if it's under different circumstances. shortly afterwards i start photographing a young girl dancing on the checkerboard stage and a guy walks right in front of me. "hey man, you want to take my picture?" "sure, if you would like." "na, man i was just playin. so are you a photographer?" "well, i think i'm trying to be one." asks if i saw him dancing with the baby earlier. nope. he starts explaining how it was magical. how this 2 year old was just shaking her booty, and then the parents, who were white, started dancing too. and everyone around just started taking pictures. "and that's what life is about," he said.
at this point, i'm thinking, "ok, a weird but insightful guy."
then he starts to explain that he just got out of prison a week ago after having been on death row for the last six years. he tried to steal $250,000 from a holiday inn and got out the door with the money but was shot 3 times by a security guard (shows me the bullet wounds), but returned fire and killed the guy. then within 6 miles he was caught by a state trooper who also started firing on him. got hit in the head and leg, but still returned fire and killed the guy. after 13 years, his lawyer finally got the supreme court to overule the initial manslaughter charges claiming it was self-defense since he never fired first in either case, and thus, he is a free man.
i'm now a little concerned...
he then says that he came over because he saw me taking pictures and it reminded him of his brother, james, (hmm...my name?) who is currently in jail. He could draw anything or anyone perfectly, but he never did anything with it. He once drew an inmate's kid and even the warden took notice and asked him what he was doing with his life, having such a gift. why was he not out there using it? but james just said it was not for him. so, anthony, is telling me how he tried to convince his brother to use his talents and give up the player's lifestyle and living in the fast lane,"A DOG THAT SHIT FAST, DON'T SHIT AT ALL. LISTEN WITH YOUR EARS MORE THAN TALKING WITH YOUR MOUTH AND YOU'LL BE A SMART SMART MAN." but james had none of it and said anthony was just an "old man; a player hater."
hmm...interesting? a moral to be learned at oktoberfest from a guy just off deathrow.
so after about a half hour of talking he finally drops the line, "hey, man you got any money. i'm homeless." i was a bit disappointed, and replied a second time that nite with my own homeless schtick. but he asked again and i gave in. i figured the conversation was worth a couple bucks. but then he started going into how he was an addict on heroin and needed to get off the streets quick before he did something bad again and how he needed to find this friend of his to get him into a program.
i'm now extremely concerned...
so, i started to get really quiet and eventually we go our own ways, but not before he shakes my hand, and tells me to keep up with the photography and stuff. and i tell him, "be safe. don't do anything stupid." saying it for my own safety more so than for his.