Wolf Bros bandmates Bob Weir and Don Was joined U.S. Representative for California’s 5th congressional district Mike Thompson for a virtual press event promoting the proposed $10 billion Save Our Stages Act, which seems to be the last remaining lifeboat to save an industry already on the brink of collapse as we approach the final few months of 2020.

The virtual event on Thursday was hosted by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). Also in on the meeting were Allen Scott (Another Planet Entertainment), Ken Tesler (Blue Note Napa ), Joanne Desmond (IATSE Local 6 Stagehands), and Derek Featherstone (Dead & Company Production Director).

“We were the first businesses to close and we’ll be the last to open,” Allen Scott said during the meeting. “We have basically zero dollars in revenue coming in. It is very grim. I get the sense from talking to people across the country that many businesses are holding on by their fingertips, waiting to hear what will happen with this latest COVID relief bill. if something isn’t done here, I think we’re going to see a wave of live music venues go out of business.”

Related: Bob Weir Talks Social Activism, Protesting Peacefully On Oteil Burbridge’s Podcast [Listen]

Watch the entire virtual event below.

NIVA Save Our Stages Virtual Press Conference – 9/17/20

[Video: NIVA]

Weir and Was were also two of the hundreds of artists of professional musicians who sponsored a letter sent to Congress lobbying the federal government for financial assistance back in June.

Meanwhile, next month RHINO will release a 50th-anniversary reissue of the Dead’s 1970 studio masterpiece, Workingman’s Dead, which will include the band’s February 18, 1971 performance at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

Head to the NIVA website to learn what you can do to support the Save Our Stages Act.