It's Official: FBO 'Adopts' Oklahoma Panhandle

The Failed Bands of Oklahoma (FBO) -- still busy setting up its FBO: Panhandle Tour of 2006 (tentatively pencilled in for late September or early October) -- has, from a pedestrian overpass in its Mobile HQ in Smolyan (Bulgaria), officially 'adopted' the Oklahoma Panhandle as its logo and virtual home base. On the scene, FBO Admin explains why the Oklahoma panhandle is so important to the FBO.

'Without the Oklahoma panhandle, Oklahoma would have a stupid shape. Note these comparative renderings:'





'Also, the panhandle's history coincides with how we view FBO members. Because Texas wanted slaves, the present panhandle region was severed from Texas in 1850. It remained unclaimed -- as 'No Man's Land' -- for the next 40 years, until honorary FBO member, president Benjamin Harrison, granted the 34-by-168-mile area to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on May 2, 1890.

The panhandle bore the brunt of the Dust Bowl, which mainland Oklahoma likes to wear the fashionable scars for; these days the panhandle has become, according to Richard Lowitt (author of 'American Outback: The Oklahoma Panhandle in the Twentieth Century,' 2006) 'the most prosperous part of the state, with wheat, meat, and energy as the largest contributors to its economy.'

'Recap: what was unwanted and wore down previously, now basks in glory. That's the promise of the FBO.'

FBO Admin
Mobile HQ: Smolyan, Bulgaria