FABC spawned out of a collective love and admiration of musical genius, regardless of genre. The idea struck during an inquiry into the state of Hip Hop as a form of social-political-economic and cultural expression. A quick conclusion was derived… hip hop is in a state of crisis. Over were the days of the early nineties where every new album that was released was at least worth one listening. Artists experimented with the art form in such a manner that though it was all hip hop, the music and the lyrics were as diverse as the members of what came to be the FABC crew.
During that same moment of conception, the conversation turned to another great musical genre, JAZZ! Though Coltrane was one of the first to be mentioned, the other masters soon followed. Duke, Miles, Bird, Ella, Billie, Armstrong and so on and so on. For those that weren’t present, you could feel the excitement emanating and being transferred from one person to the next. Chills ran down all of our spines as we soon realized that though that core group of people came together for the first time that night (none of us knew more than one person), our love for music had already established a bond.
Out of that bond and emerged the FABC Concept. Here it is:
A group of folks gather together to share the music they enjoy with cool folks.
Each person is invited to play two songs that they enjoy with the group. They begin by first introducing the piece and telling us all a little about why they chose it.
The basic rule of the gathering is that everyone's musical selections are respected in honor of the spirit of the group.
While these music selections are playing, the gathering is also usually accompanied by food (usually BBQ), dranks of various kinds, and an assortment of whatever goodies serves the vibe of the group.
To preserve and record the gathering, at the end of the meeting a volunteer is chosen to gather together all of the CDs from the group and burn a copy to be distributed at the next FABC meeting. This CD is called the FABC Meeting Minutes.
Many meetings have taken place since the first night the idea was born. Many new faces have been welcomed to the events with open arms. Everyone who gets hip to the notion of FABC is an immediate fan. FABC has gone bi-coastal! The atmosphere that is created at every FABC meeting is unique yet familiar to us all. Its as if FABC has always been a taken for granted assumption… we feel as if its always existed but was never recognized for what it is.
We have stumbled upon a concept that has proven and will continue to prove to be a remarkable example of conviviality, a common denominator of sorts that encompasses all that anthropologists claim brings people together… good food, good people, great music!
