Tucked away on South Locust Street is a small, intimate room adorned with instruments, speakers and soundboards. Soft lamps are perched on surfaces, while a tall light radiates a dim red hue on the floral couch in the middle of the room.
This space is The Living Room, the newest project from a senior in FAA, Micah Casey-Fusco.
The Living Room builds community and uplifts artists within the local music scene in a smaller, more personal setting. It primarily focuses on jazz and hip-hop artists.
“In Urbana, we have a great music scene, a lot better than anywhere else I’ve seen, especially in college towns,” Casey-Fusco said. “What I noticed though, it’s a lot of indie-rock, alt, which is great … But I kind of wanted an opportunity for artists that don’t do that to still have a place to showcase themselves and express themselves.”
NPR’s famed Tiny Desk Concerts and less popular but still influential Black House Radio inspired Casey-Fusco greatly. However, he was mainly driven by his more personal work on the Hip-Hop Collective’s executive board.
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The Hip-Hop Collective is a University RSO whose mission is to “honor, contribute to, and appreciate the culture of all things Hip-Hop,” according to the School of Music’s website. Despite numerous live performances, Casey-Fusco noticed that the collective was having a hard time incorporating instrumentalists.
“I thought that doing a Tiny Desk type thing would be really cool to see all of our hip-hop artists do something with live instrumentation behind it,” Casey-Fusco said.
Casey-Fusco formed the idea last spring and soon after implemented it into a Hip-Hop Collective Tiny Desk event. However, due to the last-minute nature of the event and lack of promotion, few people showed up.
“We performed really well, and it was really fun, but no one really popped out because we didn’t really promote it well,” Casey-Fusco said. “I was like, ‘I got to do something with this.’ Because it was really cool, but no one got to see it.”
It wasn’t until one of Casey-Fusco’s friends pushed him into seriously pursuing the idea of starting his own Tiny Desk that he really put the time and effort into it.
He leased his current apartment, made an outline of his plan and started researching NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. He then realized that the project aligned with his major and asked his adviser about making it his Capstone Project.
A few months later, Casey-Fusco received almost $3,000 worth of equipment. He reached out to Chicago artist Femi Ishola to be the first person to do a Living Room set.
Casey-Fusco spent the rest of the semester ensuring the set ran smoothly, which became more work than expected. He reached out to instrumentalists, reserved studio space, learned how to mix audio, film recordings and set up equipment.
“I was really nervous going into it, but everyone who performed is really, really talented … So I was really lucky in that aspect,” Casey-Fusco said.
On Dec. 8, The Living Room recorded their first set with Ishola. The 34-minute session featured live rap vocals over bass, saxophone, keys and drums.
Even with the extensive preparations that went into the set’s design, Casey-Fusco said they still “winged it.” He said that he hopes to be more organized in the future.
“It turned out pretty good for doing that, but I’ll be more prepared next time; it’s a lot of stress,” Casey-Fusco said.
Casey-Fusco hoped that The Living Room would be a space where people could showcase their work in a live setting. Limited by his initial space, he reached out to the Echo Chamber to see if he could hold showcases there.
Echo Chamber agreed to host a “Living Room takeover night.” On this night, every artist who performed at The Living Room can showcase their sets to a live audience. The updated plan perfectly aligns with Casey-Fusco’s original goal.
“This is kind of my baby of a project, but ultimately, it’s for community,” Casey-Fusco said. “There’s a lot of talent in Champaign-Urbana that’s not showcased a lot of the time, so I want to make that the priority.”
According to Casey-Fusco, he couldn’t have done this without the support of the people around him. He noted that University student Chen Chili helped with filming, figuring out the space and providing visual input.
“It kind of surprised me how much people were willing to support the project and help move it along,” Casey-Fusco said. “Anytime I had loose ends, I could rely on people to reach out and help me with that.”
Casey-Fusco’s goal is simple. He wants The Living Room to be a space where people can express themselves and build connections.
“The end goal is people meet each other, people make music together, people have a good time together,” Casey-Fusco said. “That’s really all I want.”
Casey-Fusco wanted to shout out Akkhiel Nambbiar, Matthew Clayton, Chen Chili, Femi Ishola, Lawrence Parks, Kyu Hong Kim, Brendan Baxtrom, Tristan Vappi, Jeff Fang, Echo Chamber and the University’s School of Music for helping bring his idea to life.
