Summary:

My name is Greg or Gregory Urman. I am a 23-year-old solo artist – singer/songwriter, poet, a few short stories. I’ve completed three albums without the help of a record company, and you will occasionally find me playing open mikes around town as well as coffee shop gigs  or other medium-sized gigs – depending on how much free time I have. I was born in Russia, immigrated and became a US citizen in 2004. Currently I both go to college (Metro) and work part time. Here is a more detailed bio:

New Bio,

bio updated 03/27/06

I was born in Kursk, Russia in the early 80's. The son of a High School Physics Teacher and an Army Captain, I lived in Russia til the age of 10, when my mom, my grandma, and myself immigrated to the US. My parents divorced when I was a toddler. As a child, I have never been “normal,” I’ve always had far more brains than social skills, I was a weak kid, I was sick all the time, I didn’t have that many friends but I appreaciated the ones I had. My childhood was nowehere near as pleasant as I’d have liked it to be but I’m proud to say that surviving it has made me a better person. In 1993, my family left for America while my father and my step-siblings (his first wife died) went to Israel. I spent grades 5-12 in Jewish private schools, an Orthodox middle school and a more modernized High School, and received a high-quality  secular education along with the ability to read and write Hebrew as well as being well-versed in the Old Testament. ... being a private school kid has both a great upside and a downside – the upside is a great education and smaller class sizes, the downside is that involuntary exposure to so much religion can make one more cynical about God and the world. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in God and I am proud of my Jewish heritage, but I am still an individual. … While in 9th grade, I started writing my first poetry [and am embarrassed to show it to anyone ever again]; during 11th grade, I started taking my first guitar lessons. In my sophmore year of college, I recorded my first album:

Compeleted in November of 2003, Chronicles of Change was my decision to have a more permament record of my artistic development. This album sees my voice and my guitar-playing skill in my most raw form but also captures a sense innocence that will never come again. Much of this album is about my childhood or the long shadow of those High School romances. Chronicles of Change was designed to show a progression from total darkness and despair to at least middle ground in terms of themes and lyrics. The work included some cover songs like a guitar version of “Mad World” from the Donnie Darko Soundtrack and very raw versions of Nine Inch Nails’ “Something I Can Never Have” and Hole’s “Northern Star.” The album also contains two instrumentals I still play live – “The Midnight Rose” and “Short Waltz in A Minor.” (For complete track listings, see the ALBUM LYRICS section)

I’ve been a student at the Metropolitan State College of Denver (or MSCD or Metro) since 2001. From 2001 to 2004, I worked as an office clerk for a counseling center in Adams County (the poorer side of Denver) called Action! Counseling. The agency did all sorts of work from mandatory group therapy for DUI cases and Domestic Violence cases to your typical marriage counseling. I have not only spent three years doing the resident-office-nerd thing also had to administer breathalyzers and write reports to probation officers day in and day out. This experience has, in retrospect, been very helpful in making me a better, more confident, and emotionally stable person as well as giving me insight into the nature of other human beings. Much of these experiences have shaped my second album, the 2005 EP and the full third album Exile in Denver:

This album included ten new songs, these songs being Bob Dylan-short, including “Gray,” “Amy Works on Colfax,” and “Long Hard Road.” (As well as old songs, and alternative versions) “Amy Works on Colfax” is perhaps the song I’m most famous for to this day. Quite frankly, it is a criticism of society and especially prostitution. For the three years I worked Adams County, I had to take the bus up there through Civil Center Station (Downtown). After a while, you see a lot of things that may not be pleasant and you develop a rudimentary radar to separate regular people from the homeless, the criminals, and the prostitutes. On a side note, Amy is not a real person, she’s a name for the song’s main charater.

At the end of 2004, my work-study job at the counseling service ended and I began working on Metro’s campus. First as the front desk for the Art Dept, and now the front desk for the Political Science Department. Being in a less stressful enviroment has given me time for other projects like my classes and to complete my third album, Exile In Denver.

Exile spans 32 tracks and 66 minutes. This time, I really wanted to push the limits of what a solo artist can do without the help of a record label. Tracks 1-22 are the main album tracks, the first half being the songs from the EP, and tracks 23-32 are the Appendix. Songs that either didn’t fit the flow of the main part or were alternative versions of songs in tracks 1-22. The reason for calling this album Exile in Denver are two fold:

• It’s a nod to Liz Phair’s first album, Exile in Guyville and thus also the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Mainstreet. 
• It’s a statement of how I relate to this town and to the world. Over the last few years, especially since my own state of mind has improved, I’ve grown to love this town but it will never really be home. I wasn’t born here, I’m more of an observer than a native. Taking that thought further, though I am now a US citizen, I will never fully be an American. Taking it even further, no one is home anywhere, we're all in exile. No city will be my home, my home is in my heart. I’m living in Denver now but this isn’t the final stop on my journey.

Anyway, this album features other songs that have gained popularity such as “Freak Like Me,” "The Grieving Song," "Long Hard Road" and “Codependence Workshop” and remains the biggest achievement of my artistic career (again, see ALBUM LYRICS for more details).

I have been playing open mike nights at the Mercury Cafe ever since I’ve completed my first album back in 2003. I have been known to put on memorable 15 minute sets, cramming 4-5 songs into that time and often ending on a poem or instrumental, through the years I’m glad to say that though I’m not the biggest artist in town, I am well respected. Every now and then you might still find me doing a set there on a Wednesday night, but it depends on how much free time I have these days. I have done a few bigger gigs ranging from 30 minutes to and hour and a half (see the UPCOMING AND PAST SHOWS section), but future gigs will likewise depend on free time and a little luck. Hope to see you in the audience next time I play.

Greg