This is Dupree Bolton, a world class Jazz trumpet player and heroin addict. In 1985 I started to photograph him in San Francisco's Chinatown. He would play all day for the tourists then buy heroin at night, Nickel and dime bags ($5 and $10). Often the heroin was so cut, it would have no affect on him. Other times he would pass out as he spoke to me. His body was that of an old man even thou he was still in his 50s. Dupree was skin and bones, he told me the heroin took away his sex drive and his appetite. His whole life was devoted to making money for drugs.
Dupree treated me kindly, with respect, never asking for money, he welcomed me in as a friend, even thou I came from an entirely different world and culture. I came from a place of privilege, I came from a far-off country, Canada. I was young and white, yet he forgot all that and we connected and shared. Dupree introduced me to many of the friends I made in West Oakland. As a 21-year-old kid from Canada it was a life changing experience. At the time I did not understand it, but now I do. I owe Dupree a lot. I wish I could tell him that.
Dupree Bolton died of cardiac arrest 7 years or so after this photograph. I was told by an Oakland friend that he also contracted AIDS through shared needles.
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| Dupree In Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA, 1985 |
