Family Power Comes to UWM

A faint echo turned into a bellowing chant, reverberating sound waves down the Union’s second floor corridor.  This chant came from a collection of repeated shouts of “Holy Moley Donut Shop….Holy Moley Donut Shop” around a microphone in Union Room 280 to kick off the third Grassroots event at UWM.

Family Power Music (FPM) (link) along with UWM’s new student organization, Family Power Production (FPP) puts on the Grassroots Open Mic and Artist Showcase.  It is a weekly gathering of artists and poets usually held at the Miramar Theatre on Oakland and Locust every Wednesday night.

According to the founder and head of FPP Frank Berg, a sophomore studying Global Management with a minor in Economics and Business Spanish, the organization is devoted to collecting a neglected blend of artists.

“The aim of Grassroots is to promote an eclectic blend of artists and enlighten them to an all genre setting and showcase them throughout the UWM campus community,” said Berg.

However, with FPP joining the family last semester, Grassroots came to UWM on March 14 to tap into the student community and show them the diversity of an open mic.

Many students who participated at the event had stories to tell, anguish to release, or simply had something they wanted to share. From somber stories of childhood struggles with an abusive father to a narrative about a contemplative train ride on the Amtrak, artists came up to the microphone unreserved to disclose a part of themselves with the audience members about their life, political and social issues/opinions, and about hip-hop as an art itself.

“You don’t need a microphone to express yourself, nor a script,” said Ramsey. “We’ve had comedians and poets come up and do improv…it’s all about you”

Founders of Family Power Music Tony “Babygzus” Mack, Joshua “Jscribe” Gill-Sutton, and Nick “Nickajones” Ramsey got the group together in February of 2010. The group met many years ago, and has performed together in events throughout Milwaukee. Their goal is to spread the diversity of the UWM community by promoting music that inspires and enlightens while celebrating the arts and having fun.

They chose the name “Family Power Music” because each member has realized the importance of strength of family throughout their life and felt the name encompassed their mission.

Grassroots has drawn famous DJ’s, fire dancers, belly dancers, and recently featured 2011 Milwaukee Slam Champion Darlin Nikki at their Earth Day event at the Fireside Lounge last week at UWM.

Besides providing a platform for artist expression, the FPM has also:

• Donated over 500 pounds of canned goods to the Hunger Task Force (link)
• Collected canned goods and non perishable food items at Grassroots events
• Recently started collecting worn clothing items to donate to local charities

Berg met the group his freshman year at one of the Grassroots open mic shows at the Miramar as a performer and immediately became close friends with the group.

According to Ramsey, he was very enthusiastic about helping the FPM group to grow and decided to apply for an official organization on campus. This was official at the start of the spring semester.

Family Power Music is currently not an official organization. However, it will be called Family Power, an umbrella group for FPM and FPP, when they decide on what type of organization they will be.

“We are currently researching the best fit for us,” said Ramsey. “We have been in discussion with a few different lawyers about this and it is still up in the air.”

Holey Moley Donut Shop!

The “Holey Moley Donut Shop” phrase was started by a Milwaukee poet/spoken word artist named Bobby Drake, who was a part of Power of Word.

Power of Word was a collection poets, emcees, and musicians based in Milwaukee that traveled as an alliance in which Jscribe was a part of.

Drake mentioned at the first Grassroots open mic that it was a way that Power of Word artists would get “in the zone” before their performances. More recently, they started to invite the crowd to come up and join them in a circle around a microphone where this phrase is repeated over and over in order to gather a stronger sense of unity. They now ask the audience to join at every event.

Escape is a Paradox

When at the microphone, many artists had their eyes closed while they recited their poetry. Filled with emotion, their internal state synchronized with the external expression while poets recited their words.

Whenever there was a person in front of the microphone, everyone’s attention focused on that artist; never did anyone interrupt because the founders of Grassroots emphasize the importance of “respecting the mic.”

Hannah Josephs, a sophomore at UWM studying social work, said she comes to Grassroots events because she relates with the other poets and the music.

“I’ve been writing poetry since the eighth grade and it’s helped me through my childhood struggles,” said Josephs. “It’s like the first way I learned to cope with everything and it’s been a number one love of mine.”

Josephs shared a poem about conflicts in her life that she had to combat. While her poem was filled with metaphors, one can sense the pain she experienced as a child as she stop to collect herself after reading a few lines of her poem. Her story seemed to revolve around the remorse and pain of abuse she felt inflicted by a male figure, perhaps her father, growing up. After excusing herself, she started again and finished.

Towards the end of the night, Ramsey and “Jscribe” insisted on everyone coming up to the front to partake in a freestyle. A few people joined them on stage, and began to rap about various topics. In the end, it was all about unity.

Major record label vs. local talent

While there are many small and local organizations that strive to help struggling artists, most of the music industry is owned by media conglomerates that distribute and promote what has come to be termed as “formulaic” music.

It is fact that 70 percent of the world’s recorded music is promoted and sold by one of the four major media conglomerates, Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group, and Warner Music Group.

Keith Negus, a sociologist and former musician, in “Music genres and corporate cultures” said that “it is an extended argument about how the creation, circulation and consumption of popular music is shaped by record companies and their corporate owners, along with numerous other people who participate in the making of what I have called ‘genre cultures’.”

With a focus on mass appeal with “safe” artists (artists who are guaranteed to put out hits that will top music charts), many artists believe that major record labels focus on high consumer appeal in order to safely market music that is “unoriginal” because it is formulaic.

Nonetheless, the founders of Family Power emphasize the importance of originality and promote music that focuses on positivity, unity, and growth of various genres and mediums. There is no requirement to step on stage and walk up to the microphone at Grassroots.

Berg said that “an all genre open mic series is very beneficial to the growth of artists and their community,” and that is why they strive to keep the open mic events alive.

An ode by Zach Anderson for Grassroots

From strings to speech, woodwinds to brass,
This is the place to open up n let freedom last.

Fish is to streams, like roots are to grass,
Its free to get in, but it’s better to give back,
Bring a can of beets, peas and some cash,
You won’t regret the respect that you receive back.

From me to you, we accept all food,
Just as long as is doesn’t rot away in the room.

It’s a given, it’s a fact…
The respect is here…
Everyone is welcome,
Across the world we steer.

From Finland to France, Japan to Greece,
We bring Milwaukee something new every week.

Become a friend,
You already are,
Only thing to remember,
When your here you’re a star.

From nerves that clash, to hula hoopn belly dance,
THIS is the place to open up n let freedom last.

Its grassroots,
Its family power,
Real people with a drive to devour,
The food of life,
The feel of love,
Each and every one of us deserves a spot up above.

So as we say each and every Wednesday,
Respect the mic and pretend its Sunday!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…