Moorestown Music Collective (MMC), a nonprofit whose goal is to bring live musical performances to Main Street while promoting the township’s retail districts, will host its first FUNdraiser on Oct. 1.
“We need funds to operate and to date, we’ve largely just had the various members of the collective contributing their own funds to keep this going,” said member MMC Mark Hines.
“ … We’d like to invest in maybe equipment down the road, maybe a better sound system or one that maybe fills more of the room more.”
The MMC came to fruition this summer after Hines discovered an article about a neighborhood near Akron, Ohio, that used a vacant building as a nonprofit music venue to bring life to the town. After receiving feedback on social media, he connected with Mark Morgan, co-founder and producing artistic director of the Moorestown Theater Company, who offered the theater’s rehearsal studio as the venue for Music on Main. Since its inception, MMC has hosted four shows.
“ … We’ve also just felt that it’s been very good as far as trying to create that kind of lively atmosphere on Main Street,” Hines noted, “because we see as bands are performing, we see lots of people walking by, looking in, seeing what’s going on before the show, (during) intermission and even after the show.”
Punk rock troubadour Gerry McGoldrick – whose musical background includes Napalm Sunday, Emily Valentine and more – will headline the MMC’s first fundraiser. He became involved with the event through Moorestown resident Michael Rafferty, a mutual friend of his and Hines.
“I’m looking forward to telling stories behind what the songs are,” McGoldrick said. “ … My songwriting style is not to sit down and say, ‘I’m going to write about this.’ I just start playing something and then a melody comes, and I just record it and I end up realizing that, ‘Oh, this song’s about that’ when I go back to write the lyrics.”
McGoldrick is passionate about the MMC.
“ … I love places that have those little, like small downtown areas that have shops and restaurants and theaters and things like that,” he said. “When he (Hines) told me what the mission of the Moorestown Music Collective was, I was all in.”
The MMC will host Laura Cantrell on Oct. 8 and April Mae and the June Bugs on Oct. 29.
“ … We’re looking forward to planning shows in 2023,” Hines said. “I think so far it’s meeting or probably exceeding our expectations for the quality of shows and the attendance. We’re just trying to build a base (so) people know that we’re going to have a quality show at a good price, and it’s very convenient because it’s just on Main Street.”
The MMC FUNdraiser will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Moorestown Theater Company, 5 W Main St. For more information, visit the MMC Facebook page.
