(bright music) - Oh, so hey, how's everybody out there?

Wonderful, I hope, yes?

I'm happy to be here and be the first person to chat with you all, or share my story or my thoughts on belonging.

You know, when I was asked to do this, I started thinking about belonging.

And I've been in this like, philosophical place lately, so I couldn't help but kind of like start to get philosophical with what belonging meant.

And I'm sure, like right now, you say the word belonging and everyone starts thinking, "Oh, belonging, what does it mean to me?"

You know, what does it mean to belong?

And that's where I went with it.

I started saying, you know, what is it to mean to belong somewhere?

Is it just a location?

You know, like my salad fork belongs on the right hand side of the plate on the outside of the dinner fork, right?

But that's just a location, arbitrary location that someone told me that's where it needs to be.

Right now, I belong on stage because I'm supposed to be here.

If I wasn't here, that would be weird.

And then, you know, what makes the place special, right?

Is it the place that matters for the belonging?

I thought about that.

I've lived all over the place, Los Angeles.

I've lived here in Norfolk.

But no matter where I am, you know, you could be in a place that you think you're supposed to be.

You could be at home and feel like you don't necessarily belong there.

And then, I thought about moving and how you move around a bit and you try and find a place, you try and make it yours.

And you get to this new place and you find it, and you move into the spot, and then you gotta bring some of your stuff to it to make it feel like home, right?

And we call those belongings, and I just started walking down that, like George Carlin kind of rabbit hole.

"Oh, but I'm gonna be long waiting for these.

I don't wanna wait too long for my belongings to show up."

But I feel like one of the places I know I belong is...

I don't know, talking to people.

I enjoy talking to people, it's fun.

I can feel the energy we're sharing.

So that's cool.

So it's a journey, right?

And then I figured, you know, if I was talking to some guru, they'd probably tell me that belonging is really wherever you are because you are there, right?

That's cool, I don't know.

And I guess lately, I've been trying to feel that way, that wherever I am, that's where I belong.

But it's been a journey for me to be there.

And I thought that I would share a quick story with you all about a moment where, you know, sometimes being in that right place where you're supposed to be and being aware, you know, you can get a little gift if you're really aware of what's going on.

And so I thought about a time when I was living in an old apartment of mine, one of my favorite apartments ever.

It was in Norfolk on Granby Street called Marcy Street.

It was across the street from the Greek church, if you guys know where that is in Norfolk.

And it was a cool apartment.

Like you walk in and it had like a little wet bar nook right here, just like built in the '20s where everybody was cool and they smoked and stuff like that all the time.

It had a little sunken living room.

It was really cool.

And that spot is where I really started, like a big part of my journey.

I started my family there.

We got our first dog.

His name was Wesley, and we got him from the SPCA.

And he was a boxer, and he was cool, man.

You know, he did really peopley kind of things, you know?

Like he would just kind of sit next to you like this.

And we moved to our house.

We ended up moving out into Ocean View when we moved and Wes came with us.

But interestingly enough, the apartment, it was unlet, it wasn't being rented.

And then, my brother ended up renting the apartment.

So how crazy is that, right?

Like, it's a generational sense of belonging in this place, I suppose.

But I was going back one day to meet him for lunch.

And so I'm going back to the place that I had started everything.

And there I am sitting in my car and Wesley's behind me.

He is in the car with me sitting in the passenger seat, and I'm just sitting there waiting for my brother to show up.

Sitting in front of my old apartment, just kind of thinking about all this type of stuff.

When all of a sudden, I notice out of the corner of my eye, this lady's walking towards me.

She's across the street and she's walking towards me, but she's just staring.

And you know, you know when someone's staring at you, right?

You know it.

And I kind of look at her, I'm like, okay, whatever.

Get back to my business, I'm looking forward.

Well, she's just the whole time coming closer, like she's discovering something, you know?

And, you know, as she gets closer and I'm kind of noticing it more and more, I'm looking over my shoulder a little more and a little more, and she gets closer and closer and closer.

And eventually, she gets all the way, like as close to me as the music stand is, like out my window.

I'm sitting here in my passenger seat, she's right there staring in the car, and I can't take it anymore.

So I rolled down my window and I said, "Excuse me, ma'am, can I help you?"

And she says, "Oh my gosh, I thought that was the most unfortunate looking person in the backseat of your car.

What a handsome dog!"

It was at that moment, I realized while I was sitting there, recanting, you know, this whole journey of being in a place that I used to belong.

And now I was here again, that there was a thin line between an unfortunate looking person and a handsome dog.

Thank you guys for letting me share that story with you.

Let's bring Brandon Kennedy back up here.

(bright music fades)