The Summer of Music: An Interview With Noise Pop
Even though fall is well underway, heat waves and beach days are common in the Bay Area this time of year. But summertime is more than burned forearms or the sand stuck to our sandals. Like many songs and movies remind us, it is a feeling. As children, we are socialized to associate this particular season with the feeling of freedom. Responsibilities melt away on the last day of school, and the moments thereafter become youthful memories tinged in adventure, camaraderie, and passion.
The Summer of Music has managed to encapsulate these same three elements for the citizens of San Francisco, welcoming them to embrace the nostalgia once more - and all at no cost to them.
This series of free music performances first arrived in 2023, which supplemented the city’s ongoing effort to revive its social scene since the COVID-19 pandemic. With the sponsorship of Civic Joy Fund, Noise Pop Industries pays local musicians to play in front of storefronts across various neighborhoods.
This brings two very important things: stimulation to the local economy, and an absolute, goddamn vibe to the people.
So although I wasn’t around for last year’s string of performances, I was able to attend this year’s final event: The Meadow Party. Hosted in Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park, the Summer of Music 2024 series closed out with an impressive record of $193,000+ paid towards musicians, 85+ small businesses impacted, 200+ performers, 1,300+ individual musicians, and major headliner - Thundercat!
Photo Credits: Felix Dong
Felix, SF Managing Editor, and I met up with Michelle Swing, CEO of Noise Pop, to pick her brain on what’s to come for the series.
*Questions written by Felix Dong
MARIA: Noise Pop Industries is the oldest homegrown independent music and arts event promoter in the San Francisco Bay Area. Why is it important to support independent artists, and how is Noise Pop able to do so?
MICHELLE: Yeah, so, especially in San Francisc,, this is a city that [has been] so deeply rooted in the history and culture of music for decades. It's really [been] harder and harder for musicians to support themselves in the Bay Area with the rising cost and expenses, and by having programs like the Summer of Music, we're able to support local musicians and put money in their pockets [by] doing what they do best, which is performing music and creating [...] incredible art … that's just kind of [...] what Noise Pop has represented for so many years.
It's [about] supporting the local independent culture of the Bay Area and what makes it unique and special and sets it apart from other markets in the United States.
MARIA: That's incredible. Thank you for sharing. What are some events that Noise Pop (and possibly with Civic Joy Fund) is planning that the community can get excited for in the coming months?
MICHELLE: So right now, the Summer of Music series is kind of our best known event that [Noise Pop and Civic Joy Fund] collaborate on. This Meadow Party is a new event [in itself]. When we were working with Manny [Yekutiel] and the Civic Joy Fund team on this, we really wanted to make a coda event to celebrate the end of the series.
A big part of that is how we can evoke the spirit of the Summer of Love in this incredible park, to really get the community together…[this] is a big blowout event to really celebrate everything together in the spirit of the program.
But we also do [other] work with Civic Joy Fund on some other projects. We do Into the Streets and Downtown First Thursdays, and we program a Noise Pop stage together with them over there. I hope that there are many more projects that come out of this partnership.
MARIA: That's amazing. And one last question. As CEO of Noise Pop, I would love to know how you personally would like to see the Summer of Music series develop more into the future?
MICHELLE: I would love to see this become a sustainable event year over year, where we can make this a marquee event that comes to Golden Gate Park at the end of [every] summer to celebrate everything that the series brings to the table, and to celebrate this incredible city and [the artists that contribute to it]. All we can really hope for is that it continues in perpetuity.
