Pink Floyd has crossed the magenta line

The name on his driver’s license says Lawrence Floyd, but he introduces himself as Pink while strumming an air guitar and humming his favorite Pink Floyd song, “Comfortably Numb.”

Floyd is one of the hundreds who will sleep on the streets of Albuquerque tonight. As he introduces himself he does not ask for change, only an ear to listen to his story.

“I’ve been nothing but homeless,” he said. “You can’t tell by looking at me. I’ve been homeless here going on for seven years now.”
Floyd has a normal look. He wears a black Fender T-shirt, black Dickies pants and grey tennis shoes. His ponytail is tied back tightly to his head, and except for a couple loose hairs, his salt and pepper top is neatly groomed. His teeth are dirty and his fingernails long.
He is no more than 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs roughly 140 pounds. Despite his age, his face has a youthful look. When he flashes his big grin, he looks like a small David Carradine from “Kung Fu.”

Floyd was born in 1958 in Albuquerque’s Old Town. He says he has a family home in Golden, a ghost town on N.M. 14 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. But he chooses to live homeless in an urban life because he does not like the frontier of his family plot.
“It’s so far out there, bro, and besides what would I do?” he said. “It’s better to just leave it.”
Floyd’s personality is rambunctious and his mind dashes from one topic to another. He said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his late 20s.

“The things in your life that you experience, you revel in, you have to. Therefore,” he said before pausing to contemplate his thought, a train whistle outside filling the silence. “Help me.”

He immediately mentions what bothers him most.
“I don’t like when people ask me what I am,” Floyd said. “I want to shout at them that I am a human being, unconditionally, that’s it.”
Floyd said he sleeps outside a few times a week. When he first wakes up he goes to a nearby 7-Eleven or Circle K to get a cup of coffee.
“Coffee is on the bitter edge of bitter taste,” he said. “You can go for taste or caffeine. It depends on what you like. It’s a fine line, I’m off in my own world but I think the line is magenta.”

Floyd’s adult life began typical. He joined the Navy after graduating high school because he enjoyed the pay and travel.
“It was an opportunity that paid well. It would set me up for a few years with a place to live, food to eat, I got to see the world and there were plenty of girls,” he said with a smile.

While enlisted, he first slept outside when he was stationed in Thailand.
“The beach is pristine,” he said, “It’s like in the movies. You feel like it’s not really there, this is not really happening and everything is perfectly in place.”

After the Navy, Floyd said he went to California where he began to work as a stagehand, working concerts for Journey, Santana, Metallica and Poison.

“I am a skilled technician, they want me. I’ll work for them, but I won’t groom myself for them,” he said. “I look at the wires in this room, that amp sitting on the floor, the guitar and think about the components that make these things work. I get paid for that.”
He continues to work as a stagehand, but his profession does not supply a decent living wage.
“Any show I make automatic $500,” he said. “On a good year, I can make $25,000. When I do get work it’s fun. It’s a constant reminder, ‘Hang in there Floyd, rock on.’”
He loves music and has dreams of musical recognition. During the interview he strums an acoustic guitar, hitting the chords with his long fingernails. He plays the first song he learned when he was 11, Black Sabbath’s “The Rebel.”
“I would love to get the right musicians, the right equipment, get the stuff for real and put it on a tape,” he said. “Do it Michael Jackson style.”

Being homeless in Albuquerque is tough, Floyd said.
He said most of the people he meets on the street have issues with drug abuse, mental health and unemployment — sometimes all at the same time. However close to California, the climate of New Mexico is one of the best environments for homeless people to find themselves, Floyd said.

His long days are tiresome before he faces the cold night. He has a destination but is not clear what is waiting for him.
“I’ll take a ride to McCloud and San Mateo,” he said. “Find anywhere I can curl up.”