The Oakland Metro Operahouse has long provided an outlet for goth and metal, valuable to fans across the Bay Area but particularly in the East Bay where there are fewer venues than in San Francisco for the music heard at the Metro. Currently the Metro is under fire from an uber-wealthy neighbor looking to open his own venue. According to a recent article in the East Bay Express, the neighbor appears to be lying and harassing the Metro to force it to close. The City of Oakland doesn’t appear to be helping the situation.
There’s a lot of history at The Oakland Metro; it’s been a non-profit performing arts venue for music and theater in the Jack London Square area for over sixteen years. It has provided a safe, supervised, legal space for outsider art, and for diverse organizations such as the Oakland Symphony, Oakland Youth Chorus, Oakland Opera Theater, New Style Motherlode, Tourettes Without Regrets, Hoodslam, Tankcrimes, Numbskull Productions, Shadowdance, and hundreds of other Oakland and international artists for years to come.
Saving The Metro will take the music and art community continuing to support the venue along with financial support to fight the battle against the 1%er next door. A GoFundMe has been launched with an achievable goal of $25,000. If you can afford to contribute and want to support the fight to maintain a vital Bay Area resource, check out the link below.
To contribute to save The Metro, go to their GoFundMe page.
To read the East Bay Express article about saving The Metro, go here.
To find out about upcoming shows at The Metro that you can attend, check out their website.
Photo of Marty Friedman by Raymond Ahner.
