As the past pools into a yawning pit of nostalgia and the future grows into an amorphous monster of unknown eventualities, the present seems continually stretched and squeezed into a thin line. It’s a narrow margin we all walk simply because to cease moving feels like its own form of terror. As we argue about the work that needs to be done in the world and reminisce about better times (the definition of which foments its own controversy), there still beats that quiet and wonderful human desire for beauty, meaning, and community.
Enter the Feed the Fam, a live streaming food, art, and music festival organized by Irrelevant Music, Strange Shapes (fka Deer Bear Wolf), and Debonair Films. It’s an ambitious effort to energize and encourage the local scene while raising money for the families of Atlanta hospitality workers via ATL Family Meal.
Service industry workers, and those whose work depends on the health of the service industry, have been hit especially hard by closures and limited hours due to the current pandemic. So at the onset of the crisis, Michael Lennox, CEO of Electric Hospitality (Golden Eagle, Ladybird, Muchacho), decided to team up with other restaurant owners and community leaders to create a safety net for hospitality workers needing assistance during this time. To date, the ATL Family Meal initiative has delivered over 100,000 meals, and Feed the Fam will help raise money in order to further their goals of feeding more restaurant and bar workers.
In addition to the chefs and bartenders who will provide demos during the online event, there will be performances from a swath of local musical favorites, including Lunar Vacation, Mattiel, Omni, TAYLOR ALXNDR, and Rose Hotel, as well as an afterparty featuring Lord Narf and Club Morph. It’s the kind of razor-sharp selection and collaborative spirit we’ve come to expect both from Irrelevant Music and Strange Shapes. The service industry is the lifeblood of local music, so if live shows were part of your lifestyle before the pandemic hit, you owe it to the line cooks, servers, punks, bartenders, R&B upstarts, and everyone else in the bizarre intersectional universe of food and music, to support this event.
Feed the Fam will stream on Sun., Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Featuring performances by Lunar Vacation, Mattiel, Omni, TAYLOR ALXNDR, Rose Hotel. Afterparty hosted by Lord Narf and Club Morph. Click here to RSVP, buy raffle tickets, and preorder a “Deluxe TV Dinner” from ATL’s top chefs.
More Info
Web: feedthefamatl.org
Instagram: @atl_familymeal
Twitter: @atl_familymeal