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I attended City Stages for the first time in 2005, about a year after I moved to Birmingham from New York, but I heard about the festival on my very first day in town. Signs for it were everywhere and everybody was asking me if I planned on going. I was intrigued by the hype around the whole thing, reminding me of Atlanta’s now defunct Mid-Town Music Festival or the New Orleans Jazz Fest, events that pulled a city together for a few days and showcased the best the town had to offer.

Highlights of City Stages 2004 included performances by Kanye West, Kid Rock, De La Soul, Parliament Funkadelic, and the Robert Cray Band. Despite my interest, I couldn’t make it to the festival. The feedback I heard was great, sounded like a really good time and I started to regret not having gone. Before I knew it, however, City Stages 2005 was right around the corner and I was all set to get down. As fate would have it, word got back to the organizers that I should be on the bill--even better!

After a day or two of phone tag, I finally got the program directors on the line to negotiate the deal. We exchanged a few pleasantries, a In the words of the incomparable Gary Coleman, I believe my response was “What you talking ‘bout Willis!”little small talk about the weather, and then we got down to business. The general idea of the conversation was something to the effect that, even though I wasn’t from Birmingham, I live here now, and because of that, I had to play the “Homegrown” stage, where I would be paid in “exposure” and “attention”, but no money. Basically, they wanted us to play for free.

In the words of the incomparable Gary Coleman, I believe my response was “What you talking ‘bout Willis!”

I mean, I was having problems wrapping my mind around this whole concept that local talent, which by definition means those who live and play in the metro- Birmingham area, would not be a valuable enough audience-draw for concert organizers to consider them in the operations budget. In lieu of payments, therefore, local bands should consider playing their state’s largest festival as an opportunity to gain exposure to a wider audience and increase their fan base, ultimately seeing it as an honor as opposed to a merited offering.

I tried to see the benefit in the opportunity, but at that point of my career, I had to respectfully decline the invitation. It wasn’t that I felt I was too big or accomplished to play for free - it was that I didn’t understand why I had to.  A few days later, I was genuinely surprised when, after I had already said no, they managed to find some money for me and my band to play the festival, but on the Homegrown Stage. We took the money and played the show.

When we finally got there, I realized that equally as strange as the idea of playing for free was the argument that somehow we would gain exposure to a larger audience. How would that be possible when the stage we were playing on was set in the most remote area of the festival grounds? And from what I can remember, the Homegrown Stage was barely promoted at all.  

At the end of the day, I was grateful for the opportunity to be part of the event. My band and I even played City Stages again in 2006 and had a great time. I love playing in Birmingham. The only downside of the City Stages experience was the approach taken by the organizers. I still don’t understand how marginalizing the local music scene and, by default, the local fan base, benefits the artists and celebrates what the city has to offer. I’m of the mind that a true festival should use the local music scene as one of its guiding principles. Even from a marketing standpoint, it makes sense to focus on the community around you first, and expand from there.    

When I was growing up, my mother led by one proverb:  “Necessity is the mother of invention.” When I finally figured out what it meant, I interpreted it into one of my own guiding principles - basically, if you want something done, if at all possible, do it yourself.

After three years of hosting Bright House Cable’s Real Arts Birmingham, a public access program that showcases Birmingham’s music scene, I got the idea of putting together a festival that would pull together all the talent featured on the show. Where other festivals sought to sideline the local scene this festival would do the exact oppositeand, rather, feature the “homegrown” talent on all of its main stages.

In an ironic twist, Birmingham’s festival landscape began its tumultuous transformation around the same time I began floating this idea. A shared vision with my business partner Dafina Cooper Ward, a Birmingham based lawyer, activist and community organizer, gave the idea four legs to stand on. Armed with lessons from prior festivals and a desire to see the city's local artists recognized and celebrated, the Birmingham Arts And Music Festival (B.A.A.M!) was born.Birmingham, is moving away from its difficult history and remaking itself as a frontier for new potential and trendsetting.

The B.A.A.M! Festival will operate with the express goal to celebrate the growth of Birmingham’s diverse and burgeoning cultural community, a phenomenon that has remained practically invisible to the rest of the world.

The Magic City finds itself in a time of genuine transformation. From an evolution in leadership to dramatic changes in the way it’s being perceived, Birmingham, is moving away from its difficult history and remaking itself as a frontier for new potential and trendsetting. The B.A.A.M! Festival is an invaluable asset for that change.

Over the coming months I will chronicle the birth pangs of this new festival for Pavo, highlighting the planning stages and overall progress of the idea. Our intention is to bring popular national acts together with Birmingham’s finest bands on one stage for two days. More details will come as we go along and develop our plan to CELEBRATE BIRMINGHAM!

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