Detroit Musician Begging Amazon To Save State Fair Bandshell

This has been an incredibly tough year for the live music industry, with small music venues banding together to try and get government assistance through an effort called "Save Our Stages." With that being said, more focus has been put on outdoor venues and none are more memorable in Michigan than the old state fair grounds in Detroit. The site which once brought in thousands every year was recently sold to Amazon for a new distribution center.

A writer for the Metro Times and musician, David Gifford, is now pleading with Amazon to not tear down the bandshell, which was a stage for such legendary acts as The Jackson 5, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, MC5, Chuck Berry, Dr. John, Johnny Winter, and The Stooges with Iggy Pop, J. Geils Band, ICP, WAR, John Lee Hooker, Alice Cooper and many, many more. In a recent article, he sites his main reason for wanting to preserve the bandshell, instead of having it torn down for a new parking lot:

Amazon, you are building a new $400 million, 3.8 million square-foot distribution center on the old State Fair site. The area where the bandshell sits is slated to become a parking lot. You plan to hire about 1,200 workers but plan to build nearly 2,000 parking spaces. If you spared this site, it wouldn’t impact the number of parking spaces available for workers, especially since many of them might be riding the bus to the nearby State Fair Transit Center.

It's a long shot for a company that brought in a Net Income of nearly $12 Billion last year to listen to the words of the people who grew up with this important outdoor venue, but every shot counts. Here are 5 ways you can support local businesses for free right now.