Chicago music fans

[Susang]

Help save the Double Door music venue! My sources tell me that the landlords intend to replace it with a shopping complex built around a Gap and Banana Republic. :scared:

THE WAR ON CULTURE:
LANDLORD WANTS TO SHUT DOWN WICKER PARK'S DOUBLE DOOR


On June 9, 2005 Double Door, Chicago's preeminent small music venue, will be fighting for its very existence before Cook County Chancery Judge Billik. The trial, whereby Double Door is seeking to enforce an extension to its lease, is set to begin at 2PM at the Cook County Courthouse, Room 2601 in the Daley Center. The trial hinges upon Double Door's position that it appropriately notified the owners of the building, Harry and Brian Strauss, of its intention to exercise its option in it's lease. The Strauss' dispute this claim.

Double Door has become a fixture in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood and an integral part of the cultural and music scene in Chicago since it's opening in 1994. The club has played host to some of the biggest bands in the world including The Rolling Stones, bringing national and international exposure to Chicago. Double Door served as the site for debut material from two albums of Chicago's own Smashing Pumpkins. Artists like Kid Rock, Macy Gray, The Strokes and The Killers have all graced the Double Door stage early in their careers. The club has nurtured the careers of many of Chicago's most successful local artists including Chevelle, Local H and Liquid Soul.

The Strauss family has no interest in preserving the cultural integrity of the neighborhood or the Double Door. It is their intention to force the closure of Double Door and to replace it with a national retail chain.

Double Door filed its suit against the Strauss family knowing that it has met its obligations under the lease. This trial will determine whether the institution that is Double Door will remain a fixture in Wicker Park and a key part of the cultural and musical scene in Chicago.

Chicago's musical landscape will not be the same without Double Door.

http://www.doubledoor.com/important.php

[nickgutierrez]

1. The Gap = evil.

I'd be willing to sign off on this for that reason alone...

[Susang]

2. The fact that they are trying to obliterate the Double Door

Makes them twice as evil as they were before. I wondered why they hadn't replaced Soul Kitchen yet, as that corner is some valuable real estate with no lack of interest.

[dolo amber]

3. Didn't they have some kind of

similar issue a few years ago? I seem to remember going to some kind of DD benefit in '95 or so...or was that the Empty Bottle... :shrug:

edit: Maybe Lounge Ax...

[Susang]

4. Probably Lounge Ax

They were shut down. :cry:

More and more live music venues are being elimnated for higher profit shopping centers and condos. With Daley making harder and harder on bar owners, it's a real bitch for these places to even break even.