LONG ISLAND, N.Y. _ By day, Jerome Smith is an elder at the Community Baptist Church. By nights and weekends, his alter ego emerges. That's when Jerome "City" Smith and his band, the City Sounds Music Orchestra, come out to play.
Smith, 53, has worked the party circuit on Long Island for 20 years _ fundraisers, weddings, bar mitzvahs, that sort of thing. His music is familiar because his inspiration is as well. Smith is a walking Wikipedia entry on "Soul Train."
Growing up in Hempstead in the '70s, "we gathered around the black and white TV with other friends every Saturday morning. If someone had to use the bathroom, my job was to let them know the 'Soul line' was coming on. That was the moment that couldn't be missed."
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