Grace by PHILLY

“My father was a construction engineer and compulsive gambler. My mom, a religious fanatic. I did not really know my father, who traveled a lot and gambled every night. I did not have many friends in school, just a few bad seeds in the neighborhood. I got tired of school and quit halfway through 11th grade. At 16 years old I hitchhiked to California with my now brother-in-law to go to my eldest sisters wedding. It was so crazy that I did not want to hitchhike back so I caught a ride with my brother to Tucson who was in the Air Force there. I got a job as a dishwasher at Sambo’s and after about six months got in trouble and had to run back to Philly. I got my act together, Moved back to California to work with a brother-in-law as a house painter. After a couple of years I went back to Philly to start my own painting business. I ended up in a job in concrete construction, one year of community college at night and started going to church. I excelled in math, straight A’s but got burnt out after no end in sight for graduating. After about two years I left my Moms church and gave California another try. I transferred to another concrete company making three dollars an hour more here. At about 14 years old I bought a Gibson SG fire brand and like around 21 or 22 years old started recording. My little brother Mick, was 16 years old and moved out here, I took him in and got him a Remo drum set, rented a small studio in Arcadia for him to practice. I started dating and got married bought a condominium started my sculpture business, had 3 employees a kid etc. and forgot about music for a while. At 25 years old.” - Len Ricci

Recorded by Len & Mick Ricci in 1987.
Dedicated to Grace Ricci.