The Fong Family, College Fund Street Band

Nina Fong, 17, strums her ukulele and sings sweetly while her youngest brother Leland, 11, pounds on a djembe. Mario, 14, taking a break from vocal duties, makes a face that causes the three siblings to fall apart in laughter. The song must go on, but it’s not without continued giggles. Leland provides an explanation: “There was a bug on my shoulder and it looked like Mario was going to eat it.” Understood. It’s just another day of work for Elk Grove’s College Fund Street Band, the Fong siblings’ effort to raise money for their educations. Technically it’s a five-person band—there’s also Maxwell, 20, off to school already, and Jenny, 8, who is still training for a regular position. Some combination of the family regularly plays the Wednesday farmers market at Cesar Chavez Plaza as well as markets and festivals in the Bay Area. Nina is going to San Jose State University in the fall to study biology, Mario is contemplating computer programming and Leland wants to become a doctor.

How’s having your parents as your managers?

Nina: There's no escaping. It's not like you have a manager for two hours during a work day. She's watching you sleep. There's no calling in sick. There's no faking an injury.

Best and worst thing about being a sibling band?

Mario: Best thing is that getting together and practicing is not a problem because we live under the same roof. But working together is a big problem.

Nina: Being as competitive as we are, it's really helped us excel as a band because every time someone learns a new riff or different chords, we all try to top each other. But we're not afraid to yell at each other every time someone messes up, which is a bad thing and we're working on that.

How’d you get this idea?

Mario: It was two years ago in Ashland, Oregon, for the Fourth of July festival. We had a picnic and we brought ukuleles. We all played ukulele—dad, me, Nina. Leland knew a little bit, and he wanted to buy candy or something and my parents wouldn't give him money. So my little brother had an idea: he got a ukulele, opened up the case and sat in one spot, playing two chords—

Leland: I sat in one spot for a whole hour. I got $60 for playing two chords in one hour.

Mario: We were like, “Well, if you could make $60 in one hour playing two chords, how much money could we make putting all our talents together?”

Have any of you tried to write your own songs?

Mario: Yes. It seems like every time I try to write a song, I tell Nina about it, and then she says it sounds like another song. Then she plays it for me and it sounds exactly like that song.

Nina: It's just easier to do covers. There are a lot of levels for a song to get approved for the band.

Mario: I haven't gotten past the first level.

What do you imagine college is like?

Leland: Scary.

Mario: Hard

Leland: A lot of studying.

Mario: I think there's definitely a lot less hanging out than is depicted in movies.

There’s hanging out. I hung out.

Nina: It sounds like a giant sleepover, but with studying.

With your talent, why bother going to college?

Mario: We know that no matter what we do, having an education would definitely make that easier and we'd have more applicable skills in life. It's just a good idea.

Leland: It's weird though, our youngest sister actually knows what she wants to do in her life. She wants to become a princess. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

What’s the weirdest interaction you’ve had at a market?

Leland: We were here one time and this guy came up and tried to sing with us. He tried to sing “Copacabana” but he wound up singing “Cocobanana.” [Laughs.]

Mario: Every time we've invited a stranger to play with us—except this one time this guy just shredded on the bass—it just ends up badly. … There was this one lady carrying a rat on her shoulder. That was a good interesting person.

Nina, you just graduated from high school. You’re not kicked out of the band when you go to college?

Nina: No. We'll see.

Leland: She'll still play because she's close.

Nina: Probably not.

Mario: Right now, we're training me, Leland and my younger sister to be the band.

How’s that going?

Mario: So-so. I have to learn how to manage stuff. Leland needs to learn how to play bass. Jenny needs to learn percussion.

Are you worried about the future of the band?

Nina: Yes, it's really tense. We're all three years apart so every three years it gets more tense as people are moving on. In three years, Mario will leave. … We're in a sticky situation.

Mario: I just hope we can pull it off, that's all.