Some of my fans may know me as a musician - a performer - I'm on stage, singing these songs that I've written, and sometimes when I look out into the crowd I see faces, faces that want to know more. Like, where did my words come from, or what happened in my life to make me want to write the lyrics I write. This is what this blog is for; for all of YOU to get to know ME, beyond the music.
I come from a non-traditional Italian family. It wasn't a big family, but we were close man. We lived in Bensonhurst from the time I could remember until I was about five. It was a tough neighborhood; there were lots of different people, and things going on in the background, that me, as a kid, was never even aware of until I was older and looked back a little. Without knowing it, I learned about having compassion for humanity, respecting people different than me, and diffusing tense situations.
I remember, I remember some of the older kids I used to hang out with, being beat up because of the color of their skin. I remember thinking, why do things have to be this way, what's the big deal? And I was a fighter - I was a defender of the weak. I stood up for my friends, even though I was smaller, it never entered my mind that I could be hurt.
Around this time, at age 5, listening to music and dancing with my mother was a simple pleasure I could enjoy without having to worry about what was going on out in the street. It was the music, you know, beating in my chest and moving my feet. It was the music that kinda made life a little saner. . .
Stick around; there'll be more next week.
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