People's Ballroom Gets It On

     There's been a lot of talk over the past few years about the urgent need that exists in the community for an alternative to the vulture-ridden ballroom scene that currently provides the only place for our people to get to hear our music.  Self-determination is the answer in this and all the other aspects of our lives that are currently dictated and controlled by the profit-gobbling imperialists who rob us of our natural (cultural) resources and hoard the wealth for themselves, severely limiting the development and the quality of our lives.  The people need to get together and create revolutionary institutions that serve the people, instead of the current Eastown-type setups that exist mainly to fill the pockets of the Gabe Glances, Bob Begarises, Bill Grahams, etc.

     The need for a people's ballroom grows all the time as the other scenes sink more and more into the degrade' and it finally looks like one is coming together.  The People's Ballroom has incorporated as a non-profit Michigan Corporation, organized by sisters and brothers of the Rainbow People's Party, the Record House in Ferndale, and the Fifth Estate.  Bill Rowe from the Fifth Estate has been instrumental in getting this project going.

     A series of benefits to raise funds for the project began last Thursday with a combined Free John Now!/People's Ballroom benefit at the Grande Ballroom, and future benefits are planned at such places as the Grande, Ford Auditorium, and Cobo Hall. The purpose of the benefits is to raise about $20,000 to be used for a down payment on a permanent home for the ballroom and to pay the initial operating costs. The project can only succeed with its own home, eliminating inevitable landlord hassles and the insecure nature of renting a place. The next benefit will be at the Grande or at Ford Auditorium in early September.

     The purpose of the ballroom, according to one supporter, John Sinclair, is "... a place where people can go to get together, dance, toke down, have a good time, pick up papers, posters and other artifacts they need, and generally get down together with their brothers and sisters."  The Ballroom will have its own security force and will not tolerate the sale or use of hard, bogus drugs. Plans are being made to bring in national groups on a volunteer basis, paying their transportation costs, and eventually to pay all groups who perform.  But the ballroom will serve primarily as a place for local groups to play, so as to revitalize the Detroit area rock and roll scene, raising the level and quality of the music and the relationship between the musicians and the people that made the Detroit scene so killer a few years ago.

     The target date for the ballroom to become fully operational is January 1, 1972. Organizers plan to make the building available for general community use and plans to have a film nite, jazz and folk nites, and will be open to any projects that are supported by the community.  This ambitious project, which is exactly what we need to get started on the road to the Rainbow Nation that we are building right here in the collapsing shell of Western civilization, needs your help and support or it won't succeed.  You can help by attending all fund-raising benefits for the project as well as volunteering for one of the various work committees --and donating bread if you've got it.  Write People's Ballroom, c/o Bill Rowe, Box 27083, Detroit, Mich. 48227.

LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!  SELF- DETERMINATION MUSIC!