Fort Worth Music Co-op Re-launch

For more than two years, the Fort Worth Music Co-op has been serving as both booking agency and local musicians’ networking organization. The ad hoc nonprofit also has done some things that it doesn’t often get credit for but should, including hosting benefit shows for worthy causes, exposing new local artists to new (local) listeners, establishing the TCU-area bar The Cellar as a viable venue, and, perhaps most importantly, spawning a charitable organization: Fort Worth Music Outreach has provided free musical instruments and instruction to more than two dozen at-risk local youths. (The bulk of Outreach volunteers has come from the Co-op.)

But the Co-op will be re-launching on Thursday, Mar. 1, as a resource for new musicians and a networking organization not just for musicians but for “everyone involved in the Fort Worth music scene,” said Eric Griffey, Co-op board member and former vice-president, part-time Weekly scribe, and an MC in the popular local rap group Rivercrest Yacht Club.

The Co-op will continue booking shows, including Thursday nights at the eminently popular Lola’s Saloon, the biannual Arts Goggle, and the annual Prairie Fest. However, Griffey and company are endeavoring to be known as more than just a booking agency. Their organization will begin hosting a series of mixers. Official meetings, Griffey said, will be few and “less parliamentary, more informative.”

In the past, Griffey said in a statement, “we’ve had a lot of big ideas, but we didn’t really have the resources to follow up on them. It’s not that we’ve become a less ambitious organization. We’re just trying to focus on what we can do and different ways to help our community. One of the best ways we can help immediately is to concentrate on becoming a resource for musicians and everyone involved in our music scene.”

The Co-op will continue working on its second compilation CD, though a release date as not been set yet.

To celebrate the re-branding, the Fort Worth Music Co-op will throw a party at Lola’s (2736 W. 6th St., 817-877-0666) on Thursday, Mar. 1, from 6 to 9 p.m. with door prizes and a raffle for Co-op merchandize.

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