CULTURE CLASH (CURIOUS GALVESTON)
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HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO THE BANDSHELL AT MENARD PARK? It’s in front of the McGuire Dent Recreation Center (“rec center”) on 27th and Seawall. Right behind the painted big turtle is a stage with an acoustic shell-shaped wall wrapping around it. It was made for hosting concerts. I’d been seeing it for years, asking what the story was on that place, but no one had anything to say except I heard, “We need some music here.” Or, “They should host a concert series in the park.” They should do this and that. There is no “they.” We are they. About a year into this pandemic, I was tired of seeing the bandshell sitting there all sad and empty. Bums used it for shelter and a toilet. Kids vandalized it and broke whatever was breakable. The lack of live music or anything fun going on around town, or anywhere else in the world, was making me miss my friends and my community. I missed jamming out loud with our band, so one day I walked in the rec center and started asking 12
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