Save cool runnings

Gilk · 2011-09-26T19:27:27+00:00

I don't know if this is the right place to be posting this but i just want to help .Apparently some Bloubosrand residents are doing everything they can to have cool runnings fourways closed down.We are already low on licensed venues to perform at. We can't loose another. I hear people saying "young people are always causing trouble " That's because there is no Entertainment for them.Closing CRF is just going to make it worse. I don't know all the details as to why they want Cool runnings gone but I'm sure what ever the reason its not Worth it ! please help by signing the petition www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savecrf

Averatu

I've been to Tanzz up the road twice now for the two guitar clinics. Nice facilaties, clean, large enough for a decent crowd. They called last rounds at 10:30, which is lame, and they mostly host pop rock bands that I dont really care to see. The Bo is still a hole in the wall, but the new manager seems to have a pro active approach.

strataxe

Averatu wrote I've been to Tanzz up the road twice now for the two guitar clinics. Nice facilaties, clean, large enough for a decent crowd. They called last rounds at 10:30, which is lame, and they mostly host pop rock bands that I dont really care to see. The Bo is still a hole in the wall, but the new manager seems to have a pro active approach.

Ok, sounds nice, but... up which road is it? Theres many of them ?

Averatu

Tanzz is on Witkoppen in 4ways. The Bohemian is in Richmond next to Melville. We're actually going to a gig at the Bo tonight.

IceCreamMan

strataxe wrote + 100000000. The problem with many places are...they're cheap. And that draws the 25 and under crowd, the students, who can then get drunk on R11 a beer. Thats R100 for 9 beers, more than enough. They don't really care what the facilities look like. Then that goes to poorly paid staff, and that goes down to poor service, poor facilities...I dont' know Cool runnings, I've been to Melville, and the overcrowding is not my scene. And yes, in my case, how many of ou are over 30 and go out to nightclubs, and where can you go?

R11 rand beers is no excuse for standing knee deep in piss while slashing in a blcoked urinal .......

i have been to some shebeens with 9 rand QUARTS where the urinals been better....and thats a fact.

and hey i like establishments iwth cheap beer .....

Bob-Dubery

There's a greater problem here, which is that if clubs die (clubs who feature live, original music) then musicians don't have an outlet. This doesn't mean that it's OK to set up a heavy metal club in a residential area and pay the residents no heed, but Johannesburg is getting short of venues right now.

I used to love going to clubs. There's nothing better - good live music, small venue, a bit of dancing, some socialising in between sets. I used to spend a lot of time at the Boogy Barn in Hillbrow (basement of the Chelsea Hotel) and I recall a similar venue up on the Berea somewhere in Durban (I recall seeing The Gents play there in '79). The Wagon Wheels in Durban... Ok that was a hotel, but it had a club room where they had great live music. I used to see Finch & Henson there, and before that Luis Ribeiro's Palm Boat Band and the Silver Creek Mountain Band. Best of all, perhaps, was Jameson's in Commissioner Street. Hmmm.... DV8 was fun, so was Dylan's in Rockey Street (there were others in that street, they seemed to come and go fairly regularly). What was that two-tone club down in Joubert Park?

In the late 70s the clubs started booking show bands a lot. Many of them very good, but it didn't do that much for people who had aspirations to play or listen to original music. So venues like the Boogy Barn were priceless.

I was down in Cape Town recently. What I found interesting and enjoyable there was how the city centre is still busy. That's where clubs really need to be - in business areas where people work by day and DON'T live by night.

There are actually venues and restaurants in "old" Johannesgburg, also some interesting experiments with mixed use areas where you can live, exercise, eat out, catch a movie and have a late night drink all in one or two blocks (see Arts On Main, that area). Yes, yes... I've been there. I didn't get knifed, was at no time under threat or felt that way, nobody broke into my car...

There are also lots of old warehouse and office areas that might be available for rent - and where you can make plenty of noise. There's always ways for people who want to think outside of the box a little bit. In '79 and '80 with the Asylum Kids getting too big for the Boogy Barn and the lease on that club having expired and the new owners of the Chelsea Hotel not wanting long-haired types hanging around, their manager started booking rooms in the City Hall. They had several, different sizes. It was easy to get a liquor license for the night. Indeed some of the rooms may have had a bar service (they certainly had bars). There was loads of parking, and few problems with noise. There were some fab gigs there.

So maybe there's the hope for rock 'n roll in Jo'burg - the city centre.

« Previous Page