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  • Comment: Not enough good sources OnlyNano talk 01:09, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Sources discusses more on Gersh Kuntzman rather than the band. Toadette Edit! 11:57, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

Jimmy and the Jaywalkers is an American folk-rock band founded in Brooklyn, New York as a musical side project of journalist Gersh Kuntzman. The band has released five LPs [1], but is best known for its single, "Criminal Mischief," which the New Yorker magazine called an "ear worm" [2]

The band was founded in late 2022 after New York City lawyer Adam White, then of the law firm Vaccaro and White, was arrested for repairing a defaced license plate [3]. [4] White was charged with "criminal mischief," inspiring Kuntzman to write a protest song in the style of Bob Dylan and to begin documenting his own crusade to rid the city of covered or defaced license plates. Kuntzman's exploits and song were covered in the media. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Jimmy and the Jaywalkers followed up the success of "Criminal Mischief" with another single linked to car culture: "Where Do My Neighbors Live," which examined insurance fraud. The song was part of a multi-episode YouTube series of the same name.

'Criminal Mischief'

The band's sole song to break into the public consciousness was the 2022 single, "Criminal Mischief." [9] The song was inspired by the arrest of lawyer Adam White [10] for clearing away a piece of plastic that was blocking several numerals on a driver's license plate. The driver called police, who arrested White and charged him with "criminal mischief." [11]

That charge was quickly dropped by the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez because of a lack of evidence. [12]

White eventually sued [13] the NYPD for wrongful arrest, a case that is pending as of June, 2024.

In an interview with Errol Louis on NY1 News, Kuntzman described the single as "a stupid little folk song ... like Dylan would do about, you know, Hattie Carroll [14] or whatever." [15]

He continued, "But then I got so excited about the song, I thought, wait a minute, maybe I could get arrested for criminal mischief. And then that would be its own story that the rest of the media would have to do and then pay attention to this issue. So like, like everything else, it started as a, as a cry in the wilderness, if you will, you know? And it worked. It took off." [16]

There is some evidence that police officers, who had been accused for years of covering or defacing their license plates [17] [18], drew the attention of NYPD superiors and have been discouraged from the practice. [19]

Discography

References

  1. ^ "Jimmy and the Jaywalkers". Spotify.
  2. ^ Greene, Dan (16 January 2023). "At Large with New York's One-Man Crime Spree". New Yorker. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  3. ^ "Cops Arrest Famed Bike Lawyer For Fixing a Driver's Obscured License Plate", StreetsblogNYC, November 14, 2022, retrieved November 14, 2022
  4. ^ "Brooklyn lawyer arrested after removing obstruction from driver's license plate". December 2022.
  5. ^ "Guerilla activists fight NYC drivers who hide license plates to evade tolls and tickets", Gothamist, December 14, 2022, retrieved December 14, 2022
  6. ^ "They Dispense Street Justice, One Defaced License Plate at a Time", Gothamist, December 17, 2022, retrieved December 17, 2022
  7. ^ "Meet the Veteran New York Journalist on a Mission to Make Obscured License Plates Visible for Traffic Cameras", Gothamist, February 9, 2023, retrieved February 9, 2023
  8. ^ "Unbending License Plates with Gersh Kuntzman". 11 December 2023.
  9. ^ "The 'Criminal' Mind of Gersh Kuntzman". Brooklyn Magazine. March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "Lawyer arrested for fixing a defaced license plate charged with criminal mischief". WNYC. Nov 16, 2022. Retrieved Nov 16, 2022.
  11. ^ "Brooklyn lawyer arrested after removing obstruction from driver's license plate". December 2022.
  12. ^ "The NYPD Messed with the Wrong Cyclist: License Plate Vigilante Beats Case, Vows to Sue Police - Hell Gate". December 2022.
  13. ^ "'Criminal mischief' lawyer sues NYPD for alleged stonewalling of crucial evidence in license plate arrest | amNewYork". 15 January 2023.
  14. ^ "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll | the Official Bob Dylan Site".
  15. ^ "The story of a license plate vigilante".
  16. ^ "The story of a license plate vigilante". NY1 News. March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  17. ^ "NYPD cops are using illegal license plate covers to thwart traffic cameras". 9 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Cycle of Rage: One Hand Whitewashes the Other on NYPD Plate Defacing - Streetsblog New York City". 9 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Cops penalized for vehicle infractions". 27 May 2023.