Do we need a MOON over Cambridge?
I’m talking about Moon, as in Music Organizers Of the North Shore (was Moons taken?), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting music in Greater Salem. The fledgling operation just wrapped up its inaugural Moon Over Salem music festival, hosting more than 30 underground bands on seven Salem stages last Saturday.
The event was a success by any worthwhile metric, and attracting out-of-towners to downtown Salem for something other than witch tourism during the spooky and spooky-adjacent season is a double bonus.
The bottom-up, DIY nature of Moon also deserves mention. The chief organizers are all musicians themselves. Young, inspired, full of ideas. Deeply enmeshed in the music scene throughout New England. Bringing a practicing musician’s perspective to their mission.
It’s a profile that elicits a special kind of buy-in from the local arts and culture community. Artists scheduled to perform on stage at Moon Over Salem were just as likely to be wearing a “Staff” T-shirt and helping out the rest of the day. The creatives behind Moon Over Salem weren’t just performing puppets on stage – they drove the festival, top to bottom, start to finish.
Are there arts and culture nonprofits out there that funnel more money to performing musicians than Moon? Of course! But I wonder, just looking through the list of Cambridge-located nonprofit arts organizations, how effective some are at putting our young artists in the driver’s seat, versus just handing them payouts with conditions attached?
When Reddit user Cautious-Finger-6997 (great handle!) remarked that the kids putting on shows at The Democracy Center were “biting the hand that fed them” by taking umbrage at getting tossed out with little notice and no coherent explanation after more than two decades of serving as a mission-focused principle of cultural life at 45 Mount Auburn St., it’s fair to question whether the local philanthropy mindset needs to hit the reset button.
The kids don’t want to be fed, they want to feed themselves. Hats off to Moon for making it happen in Salem. Can we do it in Cambridge?
Hit this
Friday: Meshell Ndegeocello (Arts at the Armory, Somerville)
Multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello has been everywhere, done everything, performed with everybody. Madonna, Chaka Khan, and who can forget that killer bass line on the “Wild Night” cover with John Cougar Mellencamp? But the Ndegeocello that you’ll love the best is the one performing Friday on Highland Avenue, being herself and doing her own thing, touring her new album “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin” and finding new ways to be amazing.
Sunday: Claire Rousay, Lavagxrl, Jude Ivy (Middle East, Cambridge)
L.A. artist Claire Rousay can go electropop or ambient-experimental, depending on the situation. With openers Jude Ivy and Lavagxrl, this feels like more of a pop bill at the Central Square spot. But the headliner always reserves the right to amplify the musical scope of the evening. If the vibe turns ambient, watch for some field recordings to work “real life” sounds into the set. Who knows, maybe Rousay does it live and you hear your own damn voice coming through the PA.
Wednesday: Deerhoof (Arts at the Armory, Somerville)
The endlessly inventive and experimental indie rockers Deerhoof come to town for a date during a short jaunt along the Eastern Seaboard. The band that was born in San Francisco before Y2K was a shimmer of a sparkle of a twinkle of a glimmer in your eye has nothing left to prove. Except how much they love keeping it “boxy and harsh.” If their recent free triple live album, titled “Free Triple Live Album,” is any clue, a Deerhoof set picks songs freely from their 30-year career. A selection from 2023’s “Miracle-Level” might be followed by a track from Aughts-era “Milk Man” or “Apple O.’” Neither flavor of the week nor over the hill, go visit our local barracks to witness a special band in full flower. Washington, D.C., noise rockers Ekko Astral open.
Live: “Hackers” at Somerville Theatre
A sold-out 35 mm screening of “Hackers” in Davis Square marked the momentous 29th anniversary of the film that Roger Ebert once called “deeply dubious in the computer science department.” Siqq burn, Ebert. Who cares about the details when you’ve got psychotropic ’90s eye candy like Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie rollerblading through Manhattan, as yet undefeated by “broken windows,” one-upping corporate goons? It was all part of “Hack The Planet Day” at Somerville Theatre.
The evening was a bit of a hybrid event, combining live music, a movie screening and a Comic-Con feel. Fans were decked out in vintage “Hacker” gear, a kind of gutterpunk-meets-raver aesthetic. The soaring atrium of the main theater sparkled with the projected visual tropes of the film, designed by v.Kash. Wubson, who also performed at the Crystal Ballroom afterparty, greeted guests with a hard-edged EDM DJ set as they found their seats. Local chiptuners Battlemode played a short set, highlighted by their hit of the (now waning) summer, “Playlist.” And Renoly Santiago, aka Phantom Phreak from the film, made a celebrity cameo onstage before the film got rolling.
Santiago seemed appreciative, if a little bemused, that his plucky film from the ’90s could still sell out a theater in 2024. But why the surprise? We’re past the era of the blockbuster film economy. Outliers such as Barbenheimer only serve to remind us how far removed we are from a time when a $100 million budget, A-list star and a Happy Meal tie-in was enough to make a purchase of the movie ticket in question a fait accompli for the majority of Americans.
What’s left that will draw the crowds? Maybe it’s more niche, targeted cultural pop-up events such as “Hack The Planet Day”?
Musicians, take note. Because if the waxing zeitgeist is all about subcultural, full-immersion day trips, there’s nothing like music to whisk you back to the spirit of yesteryear. Get artists like Wubson and Battlemode to set the mood. Could be a good side hustle. Plus, think of how many new ears are listening that wouldn’t have listened to a chiptune or EDM playlist otherwise.
Theaters, hire a band at your next film screening!
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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