You Guys Are Dumber Than You Look." And I'll admit, you're right. Not everyone is meant to make it in music. As cheesy as it sounds, I've always wanted to leave a positive mark on people. Whether I had any affect on anyone else's life was never the point. I just thought people should know that being a musician can be great. Making music can save your life, change your life, and can be a career. If it isn't, then you can still find yourself a home anywhere else. It's just that your first few steps in that journey should be music-related. If you'd like to hear my new songs, please support me on the crowd-funding page. You can also support me on Tickr, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, and many other outlets. Now my music isn't meant for everyone. Some people prefer a different style of music. Some people won't even listen to it. But I won't apologize for making an album that's truly mine and one I can be proud of. If you're not going to like it, then I don't care. As usual, if you want to talk about my music, music in general, or just about anything, please feel free to leave a comment here, email me at jackie@jackiegrubman.com, call my phone (if it's working), or if you want to support me on any level, please make a donation via PayPal. I love all of you, and I'll be in touch. Best wishes, Jackie Grubman You can listen to my new songs and buy/download the music below: Artist: Jackie Grubman Title: My Own Place Release Date: November 11, 2016 Song Writing Time: 30 minutes Genre: Folk (Americana) Instruments: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano About the Song This song is from the last session at Studio X in Los Angeles. In addition to being the last song I wrote for this project, it was also my first attempt at playing my new toy, an upright piano. It also contains my first attempt at fingerpicking in the song, and it's one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. Song Writing Notes This was my first attempt at writing and recording songs using fingerpicking as well as a piano. For the first few notes of this song, you can actually hear my fingers pluck my guitar. However, while this project was being recorded in Los Angeles, I bought a brand new vintage upright piano with a special attention to sound and intonation. It was a real challenge and learning experience to try to replicate my previous guitar finger-picking technique while singing and playing simultaneously on this instrument. I am not sure that I succeeded at doing that. The best part of this song, however, is that I got to use a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar with humbuckers in the song, the same guitar I use on most of my other recordings. This allowed me to make the guitar sound "vintage-like" while still recording in the 21st century. That’s pretty damn cool. Lyrics I grew up in New York City during the mid-70's when times were good When the neighborhood was safe, the streets were clean, and the subway ran on time We had some good kids. Sure, there were a few bad apples in the bunch But overall, the neighborhood was great for kids of all ages Not a lot of violence. The air was clean, with hardly any smog Everybody seemed to know everybody, and we all cared for each other Everybody played on the street, in front of their building, and even in the park You never had to be afraid of strangers when you were on the street 'Cause people knew each other, there was a sense of community. Then the crack hit and people started to rob and kill each other For a while it seemed like the whole city was coming apart at the seams Many more gangs formed. They all had different symbols, different names And then the cops started shooting at each other. The only jobs I remember Were for people who had gang affiliations, and you had to learn their code If you tried to give someone money or food, you'd get a bullet in the back People stopped trusting each other, and the violence grew worse with each day I saw some people shoot and kill each other just 'cause someone had some crack Or a little bit of powder in their pocket, and the city lost its mind. But at the end of the day, even the biggest gang members were still people And some of them were very sweet people, and we all still got along. Then they started building more prisons, and it seemed like more of us were inside Even as young as eleven, even as young as thirteen, you had to be tested For any type of drugs, whether it was crack, or powder, or weed You had to admit to smoking pot, and the gangs were the only ones to blame Then they took away our neighborhood community centers, and they closed up the parks Even though we all knew that it was where many of us met our friends Then they took away our friends, and everyone who got sent away Lived in constant fear of being killed on the outside, or sent home in a box I saw a lot of friends being taken away from their families, sometimes for weeks or months The city was like a prison, and the young people made sure we survived the worst We all survived on love, we survived the violence, we survived our childhood. I grew up in New York City during the mid-70's when times were good When the neighborhood was safe, the streets were clean, and the subway ran on time And then it became time for us to grow up, to move out