A legendary recording studio in Detroit that once welcomed artists such as Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis has received a historic marker just four years after being targeted for demolition.
United Sound Systems installed the approximately $5,000 sign last week after the Detroit Sound Conservancy helped it acquire a historic designation, MLive reported.
The studio was founded by Italian violinist and recording engineer James "Jimmie" Siracuse and holds bragging rights over the first single for Tamla Records — the label that would later become Barry Gordy's Motown Records. But it shuttered its doors in the mid-2000s, and the building was targeted for demolition in 2013 under a plan to widen I-94.
Federal authorities sought to seize the property last year. Court records show that investigators believe it was purchased in 2009 with money from cocaine trafficking.
A trial for Dwayne Richards, who authorities say bankrolled the building's purchase for $20,000, is set for October.
State transportation authorities have backed off from demolition plans.
Detroit Sound Conservancy works to protect Detroit's sonic history by hosting club and studio tours, preserving old recordings and restoring artifacts important to the Motor City music scene.
Conservancy founder Carleton Gholz said the studio's story is not only a tale of great entertainment but also the narrative of two unique Detroit entrepreneurs.
"One was an Italian immigrant living the American dream, and the other was an African American Detroiter living the American dream," Gholz said. "I would honestly say that a lot of people don't know (the history of United Sound Systems). That's our role at the DSC, to explore how deep all this stuff is. We can't take that for granted."
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More