The 20th Anniversary of the
“Full Moon Open Mic”

happened on 

Thursday, November 20th, 2025

We got together again in Chatham, marking our 60th gathering since we started in 2005, and we assembled once more to sing, speak, regale, and reaffirm the beauty of organic and authentic community talent.

Where?  The Cape Cod Center for the Spiritual Journey on Main St in Chatham…a beautiful and breathtaking place to continue our tradition.

AND we put out our donation bucket this night on behalf of the Family Table Collaborative, providing healthy home-cooked meals for anyone who asks. Co-Founder Harry Henry joined us to tell us more about their work here on our island.

With your generosity we added $600 to our cumulative total of nearly $19,000 collected in our bucket for non-profits over the years.  This was our highest single-night total ever, and this has averaged out (over 20 trips around the sun) to more than $300 per event, no small thing when it comes to non-profits doing their best to serve the underserved. The events are utterly free, but for those a few bucks to spare, we have all contributed to our neighbors in need.  Thanks to all of you who’ve been part of our mission!

Background/history:

In 2005 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 fine 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. No charge for admission!  We had no idea what kind of turnout to expect.  When 7 PM rolled around, the place was packed to overflowing, 16 artists each did a slot, and at the end of the night my little “free will donation bucket” for Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod had $208 in it! I decided this was something worth continuing. Each of our 59 subsequent events has had a donation bucket for a non-profit org on the Cape, in New England, or just about anywhere we can help with a drop in the bucket … all started on 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 (cancer) surgically removed on the Winter Solstice (12/21/05).

THAT was a month.

Steve and Jon sold Eldia (it’s now the Whisk Breakfast and Lunch Cafe), and when that happened, we were graciously invited to make a home at the Cape Cup (now home to the Corner Store) 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 a wonderful place called the Chatham Coffee Company on Route 28 (now Chatham Perk), another great and gracious (but temporary) home, and then mostly built our “nest” in the Brewster Ladies Library on Route 6A, regularly welcoming 50-75 people to our burgeoning community gatherings. They had a great multipurpose room complete with grand piano and kitchen, so we incorporated occasional pot luck snacks into our invitations as well, and each time we’ve accepted (but by no means require) donations for different Cape Cod nonprofits. And now, Chatham!

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 weeknights in any given month that I’m not on tour AND never on 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’ve gathered to witness stirring, beautiful, and stimulating performances AND helped folks out. It’s been a great ride! Thanks for your attendance and support over the years! Join us, bring friends.

with gratitude from your friendly occasional community organizer

david