Howard and Terence, I reside in a small, quiet suburb of Chicago. My tiny town is famous for it's gang-land style slayings and crime. But we have great big malls and lots of fast food. Both the politicians and the criminals who feed off of us aren't from here. Most 9 year olds can re-load a gun.
Rap music bellows out of the cars.
There isn't any art or music funding for the schools. We have a great underground rock music scene, but most talent is over 30. At most gigs you must lock up your gear as soon as you are away from it. I didn't set out to make a pedal board, it was the result of trying to nail things down to make it harder to steal, but found you can usually buy your gear back. I bought an amp back from the next town's police detective, who is now doing time for selling heroin.