Intimate venue for alternative artists

Press, 20 July 1988, Page 20

Intimate venue for alternative artists

By

PATRICK MCLENNAN

The Curious George Club has a silly name, but its aim of providing an intimate performance venue for alternative artists is anything but silly, says a promoter, Andrew Penman.

The club’s name refers to a roguish monkey from an old children’s cartoon strip. The idea for the name came from a desire to explore something new and to have some fun in the process — maybe even to make a bit of mischief, says Penman. The club runs events every second Thursday evening at the University of Canterbury. These are open to non-student members.

The club has had its share of problems. Last year a night featuring

some hard-edged bands drew an overenthusiastic crowd and led to closer scrutiny of club 'nights and the audiences by the student union. All that has been cleared up and Penman is keen to get as wide an audience as possible at performances. He emphasises that the club is not run in opposition to any established venue in Christchurch. “It is an alternative to the alternatives,” he says. That is the reason for the Thursday night performances, he says. Penman says the club is a venue for "progressive arts.” “We’re trying to encourage people to think more progressively about performance arts. The Curious George Club is there specifically to provide a venue to steer thinking

along those lines”. Last year most performances consisted of rock music, but this year Penman and a fellow organiser, Tim Prebble, want to encourage all kinds of performing arts, from jazz to dance to “industrial” music. One of the recent evenings featured a series of artschool films and accompanying soundtracks. The club’s events generally feature a range of diverse acts. “At the moment we’re just throwing it all together,” says Penman. He believes there is enough enthusiasm for this kind of entertainment and that it is just a matter of providing a regular venue. He sees perseverance as the key to the club’s successs and is committed to making

people aware of it. It costs $6 to become a member. A single-niight entry is $4. This year the club has featured bands like Shoulder aad the Jean Paul Sartre Experience as well as less-estab-lished acts such as New Reality Jam Session, and Love Horror Web, a Dunedin band, Naughty Amoeba, will play there soon.

The club runs an efficient P.A. system and has a capacity for a lot of different types of performances. Penman has considered moving it off campus, but the lack of an appropriate venue is a problem, he says. Raising the profile of the club this year has meant forays into the public view; a free concert of six rock bands was organised in March at the Arts

Centre, courtesy of a Southern Regional Arts Council grant. Penman is busy compiling a tape of live performances from The Curious George Club featuring Tinnitus and Smokey Dive among others. As well as raising the profile of the club, the cassette will be aimed at providing a “diary” of some of the better things that have happened there. The club is not aiming to make a profit with the cassette. It should be available soon for about $7. Penman says that the club has been experimenting with a four-track recorder to improve the quality of the live recordings. It is considering buying a four-track machine to provide cheap and accessible recording for its acts.