The operators of The Jungle Community Music Club have taken their act outdoors as a restaurant, but eagerly await approval to offer live entertainment as well.

By Rachel Berets

In June, the City of Somerville worked quickly to get restaurants up and running outdoors. They streamlined licensing processes, waived fees, and repurposed public space to help restaurants weather the COVID-19 crisis.

So naturally, Sam Epstein, the owner of The Jungle Community Music Club, a restaurant and independent music venue in Somerville, expected the city to do their best for performance halls as well.

But while The Jungle has been able to reopen outdoors as a restaurant, Epstein has had to fight against a ban on outdoor music at restaurants, which has limited The Jungle in what they can do to stay afloat and has financially damaged The Jungle’s local musicians and performers.

“The city was really impressive with the way that they talked with all of the restaurants and planned out ahead of time a process that would be efficient and reasonable,” said Epstein. “But there’s no interest in letting venues move outside and no interest in letting any musicians perform.”

The makeshift parking lot dining area outside of The Jungle is bringing in some much-needed revenue as the club hopes to soon add some live music to their menu. ~ Photo courtesy of The Jungle

In Somerville, most music venues and performance halls have been shuttered since March. And as a result of the pandemic, a number of venues have permanently closed in Somerville, including Bull McCabe’s and Thunder Road.

According to the Massachusetts reopening guidelines, small performance venues and concert halls can reopen outdoors during Phase 3 at limited capacity, but can’t reopen indoors until Phase 3, Step 2, which was indefinitely postponed by Governor Baker in early August.

But as part of the city’s coronavirus regulations, Somerville has banned outdoor music at any venue that is currently operating under an outdoor seating license, meaning that The Jungle cannot have anyone perform outdoors even if performers and attendees wear masks and social distance.

Similar bans do not exist in places like Cambridge and Lowell, where musicians have been able to perform at outdoor restaurants and patios. According to Epstein, the city is worried about live music attracting crowds, a problem Epstein thinks can be easily controlled by venue managers and employees.

“That [explanation] doesn’t make sense because small business managers are always required to disperse crowds, you are not allowed to have lines,” said Epstein. “So, what is it about a musician that’s going to make these criminal gatherings that a manager can’t disperse?”

Epstein even started a petition on The Jungle’s website to try to garner support for the removal of the ban. “We are just trying to maintain some semblance of the community music club that we have,” said Epstein.

Eva Davenport, a local singer-songwriter who performs at The Jungle, sees the ban on music at restaurants and patios as a lost opportunity for musicians. “If these spaces are allowed to have live performances, at least there’s something that we can look to for potential revenue. If there’s no available spaces for artists to perform, then there’s no hope,” said Davenport.

Since the start of the pandemic in March, Davenport has had to cancel several paying events, including gigs as a wedding singer. During the past few months, she has performed at several virtual events, but only two of them were money-making, with most of that money going to charity.

She had recently started performing outside at patio restaurants in Lynn, where there is no ban on outdoor music at restaurants. She hopes to be able to do the same thing in Somerville if the ban is lifted. “It would bring a level of happiness and community that we all need right now, while giving a space to the artist community to not only express their art but gain revenue in a time where we have lost so much financially,” said Davenport.

As a last-ditch effort to spark change after creating the petition and talking to local officials, Epstein was able to speak to Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone and several City Councilors at a recent Arts and Culture Town Hall on Tuesday, September 15.

After speaking at the town hall, Epstein was optimistic, but after a week with no changes he is skeptical that the ban will be removed before the cold weather hits and musicians are unable to perform outside. “It sounds like another example of when the city looks like it’s helping musicians, but it didn’t do anything,” said Epstein.