FAR was created by Bill Marcil Jr. and his wife, Cris Linnares, out of necessity — a necessity to find a truth in places where it’s harder and harder to find, untouched by social media posts about dogs on skateboards, vacation photos and political rants. These places are where food is real, music is honest and art is created with purpose.
“One day, my wife Cris and I were brainstorming, as we often do,” Marcil recalls. “We were talking about food, art and rock and roll — and how those things are practically imprinted in our DNA. We don’t relate to much else, and we want things that are real. And Cris just looked at me and said, ‘That is your next project and it’s called FAR.’ That really resonated with me, and here we are. With FAR, we’re searching out what is real, what is created with heart and conviction. To put it bluntly, we’re sick of all the bullshit.”
So FAR stands for Food, Art and Rock & Roll, and you could say that Bill Marcil has worshiped at the altar of all those things for his entire life.
“As far as food, when I was growing up,” Marcil says, “my mom thought that undercooked pork would kill all of civilization, so she overcooked it. Then, maybe 25 years ago, I was at a little French restaurant in Chicago and I had a pork loin that did not remind me of my mom’s shoes; it was delicious. Clearly, I needed to explore the culinary world a lot more. And I sure did.
“My college photography professor changed my life. He helped me discover art, but more importantly, he showed me how art can change the world. Visual art, film and music can have profound and lasting legacies on civilizations. American art, in particular, has been able to penetrate all kinds of walls: political, religious and cultural. That’s well worth celebrating.
“And as for rock and roll, that starts with my first concert: Cheap Trick. It was life-altering. Thirty-five years later, I still get the same feeling when I’m at a show and hear the first chords pounding out of a stack of Marshalls.”
And so Marcil’s personal sensibility forms the basis of FAR itself: “The FAR spirit is not easily moved by the latest big thing,” Marcil says. “But even though we cherish our past, we’re not stuck in it. We embrace the new with the passion of the music that has inspired us for our entire lives. FAR will explore food, art and rock and roll with no agenda other than that same spirit and honesty. Join our revolution.”