Anthony Giordano, owner and manager of The Square Root, holds open the door to the cafe and venue for comedy and music . With venues already struggling before the pandemic, Giordano, who is also a musician, started The Square Root to offer a space for others in Roslindale. “Our day is what keeps us afloat,” says Giordano. The cafe opened in February of 2019 and has been staying afloat by changing their operating hours, limiting their selection and applying for federal funding. Giordano, who lost his day job during the pandemic, estimates that he will only be able to support staff and stay open for another month unless more federal aid is allotted for small businesses. Most of his time is spent at club, managing small takeout orders instead of working evenings at the door doing security or helping with the bar.
Can Independent Music Survive?
Independent venues across the country have struggled to remain open due to the lack of access to live music during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Boston area has been no exception.
By Jordan Baron, Oriana Dominguez, Anne Probert, and Helen Snow
Before March, a normal weekend was spent at a plethora of various venues, ranging from bars to cafes, listening to music and enjoying drinks with friends. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, these venues were forced to close. Now, some have reopened, but live music is a non-starter, as government regulations on social distancing and maximum occupancy within venues have made live shows difficult to accomplish. Because of this, many venues have been forced to change their hours and apply for federal funding to stay afloat. Among them is The Square Root in Roslindale.
The sun lowers on another slow afternoon for The Square Root. A sign encouraging social distancing is illuminated next to stacks of chairs that are no longer being used. Giordano reminisced about nights where the venue had a packed house. Upfront costs for disinfectants, cleaning costs have been a financial stressor for the cafe. “With social distancing and [staying] six feet apart, the number of people that we could have in here is just not worth the risk,” said Giordano.
“We just don’t feel the energy.” The Square Root’s resident drum kit sits in storage among drinks and miscellaneous items. Although other venues are turning to virtual shows and online events, The Square Root won’t be participating. “This place really resonates when there’s a lot of people in here and there’s a band and people yelling and screaming or comedians and people, you know, laughing their bellies off.” Kira McSpice and Bandmate Will Ponturo stand in front of Great Scott in Allston, where they first planned on performing their newest Album, attack. The club closed down in May, but garnered community support and will be opening in a new location. Kira reflected on how the closure pushed her and Ponturo to move out of Boston for the time being, “Oh my God, I cried. Yeah, it was horrible,” she said. “You know, it really set in how serious this was. I mean, we knew how serious it was, but how serious it was for us as musicians and what it meant for the venues. We had heard the venues aren't going to last, they're going to have to shut down. But once we saw it happening, it was devastating for us.” Kira McSpice chose to showcase her new album via livestream with ONCE, a venue in Somerville that was forced to close its doors due to the pandemic, but has operated a robust virtual venue. “I started realizing that I might never be able to perform this record, so it just seemed perfect,” said McSpice. “With ONCE being the platform and having it professionally done at a studio, it felt like a good way to do it. And I hope that I can bring something to the room, the person watching it on their laptop, and make them feel something.”The ONCE Virtual Venue (OVV) was born out of necessity: at the beginning of the pandemic, it was created as a safe space for musicians and music fans that once frequented the venue in Somerville. ONCE staff is excited about the prospect of a virtual venue, and OVV has been able to reach fans across the globe. “We have noticed that there are folks in Brazil and Portugal watching us, which is really cool to see that OVV is really spanning a large audience and a wide range of demographics,” said Erin Solomon, the operations assistant at ONCE. Now that the physical venue has closed down, ONCE only exists online, marking the dissolution of yet another local music venue in Boston.
Before the pandemic, Mike Bocchino, who uses they/them as a pronoun, worked as a manager, lighting electrician, and musician in a variety of venues. But now, with the exception of a few gigs, they are mostly unemployed. “The places that we worked for have been doing their best to stay in touch with us and let us know what they know,” said Bocchino, “but they also don't know anything... they're not even sure what they can be doing to try to make money and help themselves.” Music industry members wonder if live music will be able to make a comeback. Bocchino isn’t optimistic that they’ll be able to get a job in music any time soon. “Mostly, I’ve been walking dogs.” Photo by Peter Sohn, provided by Mike Bocchino. Used with permission.Bocchino said that they felt “absolute devastation to see these places that I love or that my friends love, that all these performers love, close.” In particular, “ONCE hit me pretty hard... I have a lot of friends who worked for ONCE that have now lost a place that they loved. I don't know a single person who worked for ONCE that didn't love working there. And I know a lot of people, including myself, are just really heartbroken… I actually cried when I learned that ONCE was gone.”Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, located at 427 Massachusetts Avenue, is among the oldest jazz clubs in the nation. Though the venue typically hosts live music 365 days a year, the coronavirus has halted all performances and inflicted the longest period of closure in Wally’s history. Once a place where up-and-coming musicians demonstrated their talent, Wally’s has had to adapt significantly to face the challenges the pandemic has brought on. The owners have begun a GoFundMe page to kickstart the club’s new business venture: an initiative called “The Student to Student Music Cafe” with a production facility to allow musicians to produce and digitally stream their own music. The GoFundMe has raised over $51,600 towards the effort designed to keep Wally’s afloat and relevant during the pandemic. Lizard Lounge, a restaurant and venue on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, is open only for outdoor dining at this time, and is not allowed to host any performances in their indoor venue. Employees such as Cheyenne MacDonald at the venue cite bad air circulation as one of the primary reasons that concerts cannot be hosted inside. “Since we were a small music venue to begin with, and in a basement, there really wasn’t an option to spread out in any sort of way. And even if we did, the restrictions from the state would really limit that,” MacDonald said. Prior to the pandemic, Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen was a hub for the best jazz in Boston. Fundamentally based around live interactions and community, event venues were forced to close their doors for a majority of the pandemic. Many did not survive this shutdown, but the music plays on at Darryl’s. The restaurant/venue hosts live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. A masked member of Nwasoul plays the drums. On the night of Nov. 13, frequent performer Nwasoul, an award-winning Boston jazz group, took the stage at Darryl’s. It would have seemed like a typical Friday night, except for the masks that the musicians donned as they played their set.Darryl’s has managed to bring back live music while continuing to operate as a restaurant, serving Southern comfort food to spectators..
