This week, Michael Swier had an unusual feeling for a music venue owner in 2020: optimism that government might do something to help him.
Swier, who runs the downtown L.A. independent venues Teragram Ballroom and Moroccan Lounge, had no choice but to shut his doors in March and watch the coronavirus crisis decimate his industry. None of his venues have had a show or any meaningful revenue since county and state regulations silenced clubs and concerts in the spring.
Still, he wasn’t too surprised that federal and local governments did little to help the live music industry. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) had championed a bill, Save Our Stages, that would have offered $10 billion in grants to venues like his. But the bill was embedded within a larger COVID-19 relief package that, although passed by the House, had stalled out in the Republican-led Senate in fall.