“Instead of asking ‘Who’s high?’ I asked ‘Who’s getting straight “A”s?’ “
Mile High rapper King F.O.E. is talking about how he adapted his bombastic performance style for a recent show at the Parker branch of the Douglas County Library. His was the latest in a monthly series of free local music performances hosted by the suburban library.
If F.O.E.’s hard-edged hip-hop seems like an odd match for a public library, you obviously haven’t met reference librarian Jeanie Straub.
When Straub was hired five years ago, the Parker library already had a commitment to the Colorado music scene, with her collection of nearly 500 local CDs. Since that time, Straub has pared the collection down and added high-quality local music.
To promote this impressive collection and the library’s commitment to local musicians, Straub kicked off the Live Local Music Series in 2006 with a performance by pianist and singer-songwriter Chad Beall.
“I kind of credit him with starting this,” says Straub, whose enthusiasm for local music has kept the series alive into its fifth year. Though it would have been safe for the library to stick with singer-songwriters, jazz, classical and acoustic acts, Straub, with the support of her institution, has pushed the envelope to include raucous bluegrass (the highest attendance in the series was for a performance by Kantankerous), classic rock, heavy metal, punk and, of course, hip-hop.
F.O.E. — a.k.a. Bobby Rogers — was the second hip-hop artist to rock the Parker library (the first was Extra Kool), but he was surprised to find the nontraditional venue so welcoming.
“It was actually really dope,” he said.
“I thought I was gonna be performing in the nonfiction section or something,” the boisterous performer says, “but they had tables and chairs and couches set up. It was a really cozy, intimate spot.”
If words like “cozy” and “intimate” sound like code for “no one was there,” that isn’t the case. “There were probably 30 or 40 people there,” says F.O.E. (Straub’s official count is 39), “including 15 to 20 kids under the age of 10.”
“I even had two older couples there,” the rapper continues. “One, in particular, who were, at least, in their 60s. They were putting their hands up. They got the CD. They were the first people in the room.”
While 40 people might not sound like much of a crowd for live music, it’s more people than you’d normally expect to find in the library on a Saturday night, and F.O.E. found the crowd active and engaged. He performed an hour’s worth of material, with support from DJ A-What, Mane Rok and his frequent collaborator, Karma. “There was one kid break dancing the whole hour,” said F.O.E. “He was no more than 4 years old.”
Though the library’s patrons might seem unlikely F.O.E. fans, they have actually supported him for some time. “I got a tweet from Jeanie,” recounts the rapper, “and it said that two copies of my CD had been checked out since they got it, and there were eight people waiting for it.”
While performing at a suburban public library will expand the rapper’s fan base, his performance also expands the library’s audience.
“People come to these concerts who don’t use the library,” Straub says. “I like that it makes people look at libraries in a different way. They’re the last public space. It shows the limitlessness of libraries.”
For more information on the Live Local Music Series at the Parker library, follow Straub’s local music tweets on Twitter, or check out Parker Library’s Live Local Music Series on MySpace. The next show in the series will be an intimate, acoustic performance by John Common and Jessica De Nicola at 2 p.m. on March 27.
Check out Eryc Eyl’s writing at , including Steal This Track every Tuesday and the Mile High Makeout every Friday.
