Welcome to the "Full Moon Open Mic" link...
In 2005, my wife Tricia and I had been frequenting a cool general store in South Orleans called the Eldia Market and Coffee House. One morning that fall I looked around and said "this would be a groovy place for some live music"! I approached the owners and suggested that if they were willing to stay open late one night, we could put the word out on a very grass roots level (translation: no advertising, simply word of mouth) to invite anyone interested to come play a song, read a poem, tell a story, or simply watch and listen. We had no idea what kind of turnout to expect. When 7 PM rolled around, the place was packed to overflowing, 15 artists each did a slot, and my little "free will donation bucket" for Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod had a few hundred bucks in it! We were off and running. That was Thursday, December 15th, 2005, the same month I saw my last Peter, Paul, & Mary concert (12/9/05 at Carnegie Hall in NYC) and had my thyroid removed (12/21/05).
Steve and Jon sold Eldia (it's now the Zia Pizzaria), and when that happened, we were graciously invited to make a home at the Cape Cup (now also no longer there) in downtown Orleans. We will always be grateful to our hosts Bill and Elise for taking us in as we grew, and grow we did. We moved over on occasion to the Chatham Coffee Company on Route 28, another great and gracious (but temporary) home, and nowadays mostly build our “nest” in the Brewster Ladies Library on Route 6A, regularly welcoming a hundred people or more to our burgeoning community gatherings. They have a great multipurpose room complete with grand piano and kitchen, so we've incorporated pot luck snacks into our invitations as well, and each time we accept (but by no means require) donations for different Cape Cod nonprofits. To date we’ve amassed over $8,000 for our neighbors in need.
When you come, you'll hear a few introductory remarks AND our “mission statement”:
“Welcome to the Full Moon Open Mic, home of high aspirations, low production values, and freedom of speech.” It's casual, friendly, supportive, respectful, and ART-FULL. They are held on or near the Full Moon on any given month that I'm not on tour AND as long as that full moon doesn't fall on a Friday or Saturday night…I don't want to have a free event that might take audience away from other Cape musicians who stand to make their best $$ on those prime-time nights. On occasion, we convene when a musical family member or friend from far away is on the Cape, so I've stretched our "parameters" to include "any night in a month that HAS a full moon 
That’s our story. We have more than 400 names on our FMOM e-mail list and word continues to spread. Please help us do that, and come out for a night of stirring, beautiful, courageous, and stimulating performances. Sign up for a slot at 6:30 PM, or just come to listen.
It’s the best deal going, in a land where an affordable night out is rare, if not nonexistent.
We welcome you!
david
*our next "howl" will be Wednesday, May 29th, 2013
at our usual home, the Brewster Ladies Library on Route 6A
Have something really cool that you make or are willing to donate? Raffle items are always welcomed! We've had home made pies, gift baskets, CDs, gift certificates, etc ... and if we get any items on any given night, anyone gets a raffle ticket for ANY donation at all...
Recipient of our donation bucket this night will be
the Children's Cove Cape and Islands Child Advocacy Center
http://www.childrenscove.org
Join us for another special evening...