Boris Douglas Garbe and Marla E. Smith were live at Maxine’s on Shine (337 North Shine Avenue Orlando FL). Boris and Marla joined forces to host a syndicated talk show called Kiss My Art, and this was a live taping of that show. Their guest for the evening was Chris Fioravantti. Chris was sporting a signature jacket that was given to him by commissioner Patty Sheehan. It was covered with day of the dead skulls. Before taking to the stage he vogued in it for admirers in the audience. Chris is a podcaster himself so he is used to conducting interviews with local guests.
Boris and Marla sat on opposite sides of Chris and each asked him questions in turn. Boris confided that he had experienced bullying as a kid so he was interested in a traumatic story from Chris’s past. Chris related that he kept to himself in school. On a trip on his bike he noticed several kids bullying a gay fellow student. He knew of him but they were not particularly close. He decided he had to act so he shouted out for the bullies to stop. When they didn’t he hopped off his bike and got into the middle of the fight. He started getting blows to his head and had to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he was on thee ground and he found that the kid he had come to help, had joined the bullies in hitting and kicking him while he was down. In hind sight he didn’t blame the kid. It was his way to survive the incident.
Chris also found out later in life that he was adopted. His adopted family was in the audience and there were some ties between the father who abandoned him and his adopted family which made his telling of this story all the more brave. Today Chris works as a Dog groomer which he loves, but someday he hopes that the podcasts he creates can lift him up so he can live a financially stable existence. After the interview was over, I found a card on my table that announced that The Experience will be coming this February.
As Chris stated, “At my core I am an artist. I play the guitar, the ukulele, and the
piano. At one point I studied audio engineering, but podcasting is my
true passion. When I was approached by Kyle Eagle and Boris Garbe in
late 2018 to start my own podcast I jumped at the chance!!!” So, be sure to put, The Experience on your radar. It is now on mine.