Published: August 27, 2009

On Sept. 10, musical talent will abound at one of the first official outdoor concerts—FML: Fordham, Music, Live!—to be held on the plaza at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC). Throughout the event, four bands will take the stage during the three-hour concert which is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.

“Art as a whole doesn’t advance unless there is room to push conventional boundaries,” said Ray Saada, FCLC ’11 and one of the musicians performing at the event. “And there is a luxurious amount of room to push here, with little reason to fear anything. The sooner freshmen musicians find that out, the better for all of us.”

For such a small size, Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus seems to have a remarkable amount of songwriters, musicians and bands that are usually eager to perform at the various events held throughout the school year. This concert, in particular, has been designed to not only entertain the student body at FCLC but to catch the attention of any freshmen musicians who are looking for a musical community to join.

This performance is just one of the many welcome events that are being sponsored by the Office of Student Leadership and Community Development (OSLCD) during the month of September. The committee that has been hard-at-work planning the event since March includes Juliet Ben-Ami, who has led FordhamLive! (a program with the intention of extending performance opportunities to students through open-mic events), Jaimie Leigh Boyd, Dominique Coleman, Jake Leonen, and Charlie Puente.

The four bands that are set to perform, who were personally sought out by Ben-Ami and her committee, include Average Girl, Me & Chris Idell Band, Keely Blaze and The Boys, and Vinyl Tap. When asked how these bands were chosen for FML, Jaimie Leigh Boyd, FCLC ’12, said, “The particular bands that we have asked to perform at our event have been involved in many events on campus, and I can tell that they enjoy performing for anyone, anywhere.”

“Personally, I would like to see more bands perform more often on campus and I know I am not the only one with that opinion,” Boyd said.

Part of the trouble, however, with planning such events on the FCLC campus is finding a venue. As a musician herself, Ben-Ami has become a prominent figure on campus in the pursuit of securing and promoting performance opportunities for her fellow students, and on FCLC’s small campus, it has become increasingly important for student musicians to find acceptable performance spaces. The FML concert is merely a springboard event for more outdoor showcases that utilize the plaza, and in the future, the committee hopes to be able to sponsor concerts in the evening.

Keely Browder, FCLC ’11 and one of the musicians asked to perform at the event, said, “More musical events would provide this campus with more attitude, excitement, and overall vitality. After all, we are the “artsy” campus. I say we live up to our stereotype.”

Other participating musicians, such as Saada, find this event to be particularly innovative simply because of when it is occurring. Saada said, “I think it’s brilliant to do [this type of event] at the beginning of the year, basically as a showcase of the music scene that is already here. ‘Welcome to LC. We like music here. You should too.’”

As events like FML continue, more musicians will have the opportunity to perform for their peers, and though this first event has been limited to just four bands, future concerts will be open to the large musical community at the Lincoln Center campus.

In addition to the innovative music that will undoubtedly be featured at Fordham, Music, Live!, there will be free CDs including songs by the four bands, a Wii available for students to play, and a number of tables set up where members of various FCLC clubs will be handing out fliers and information.