Lotsa Folkin’ Noise
Moon Over Salem 2024
Kara Holbert Howe entertains Gulu-Gulu Cafe at Moon Over Salem.
Clay Pigeons, Molly O’Leary, Jimmy Clifford, and Shabby Two-Times play a noisy spot with no shortage of scones.
Goodbye Hope Fest, hello Moon Over Salem.
Moon Over Salem is a partial benefit for two artist scholarships. So says MOON:
“We aim to support the community by raising funds for local scholarship programs.
“A portion from the proceeds from our annual festival will go towards awarding two scholarships to students pursuing music or the arts in college.
“Each school year, the scholarships will be awarded to one NAGLY youth, and a Student from the Greater Salem area, helping to nurture the next generation of artists and musicians.”
The one-day music festival Moon Over Salem, FKA Hope Fest, shined on a hustling & bustling Saturday in Salem.
Were we still in September? You don’t even want to know what kinds of crowds come out of the tourist woodwork closer to Halloween. As it was, a beautiful day and night of music, tightrope-walking the line between summer and fall, with more than thirty bands performing at seven stages.
And if you had one of those little green cloth wristbands (don’t overtighten them!), you had a front row seat for the entire moveable feast.
Shabby Two-Times at Gulu-Gulu Cafe
Gulu-Gulu Cafe is a cafe lover’s dream, a cozy, warmly-lit den ripe for gourmet coffee drink appreciation, boasting a full menu and great beer and wine options too. A terrible writer once quipped it was the ideal spot to write a terrible novel. Many admirable traits and qualities, but the space remains a bit undercooked as a music venue, at least during the noisy hustle and bustle of Salem in the tourist season.
Along with something like a stage, PA, and room for an audience, a prospective music venue also needs a certain kind of human culture animating its activities.
A culture that holds within itself certain norms of behavior related to music performances, such as moderating the volume of your conversation while a performance is underway, not firing up your TikTok reels full blast while a performance is underway, finding a way, if at all possible, to not traverse back and forth inches in front of the artist while a performance is underway, etc.
Sometimes all you need is, you know, one or two beatniks glaring at the noisemakers to settle down the room for the performance. But more was needed on Saturday night…
Kara Holbert Howe at Gulu-Gulu Cafe
Gulu-Gulu Cafe does events regularly, so it must have some sort of serviceable routine established. The early folk acts Shabby Two-Times and Kara Holbert Howe, though, were not beneficiaries. Maybe they fell on the sword as the first two acts out of the gate and the room quieted down a bit for the later acts, Jimmy Clifford, Molly O’Leary, and Clay Pigeons? Maybe.
As a snack or drink spot, 10/10.
As a picturesque cafe, 8/10.
As a music venue on a busy night during tourist season, 3/10.
What’s next for Moon Over Salem? You’ve got to ask the organizers, MOON. Seems like they’ve created a kind of template for a locally-supported fest. The inaugural edition of Moon Over Salem was a success, and if the local support is there, it’s a success that could be repeated for years.
But you don’t want to just repeat an event, however successful. You want to grow it, develop it, refine it, nurture it, cultivate it, tend to it lovingly like a prized Tamagotchi Pet. What are some areas in which Moon Over Salem could grow?