Kowloon’s night club rides wave of change
■ i ne restaurant owner hopes
to appeal to college crowds
with the new Club Tsunami
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Many college students probably re
member Scandals, the night club at
2222 Centennial Blvd., near Autzen
Stadium. Scandals is no more be
cause the club has undergone a trans
formation. It now sports a new look, a
new name and a new sound.
Club Tsunami, whose name
means “tidal wave,” held its grand
opening last Friday and has begun
a campaign to lure college students
back through its remodeled doors.
“We want to make (the club) a lot
of fun,” said Kit Chan owner of
Tsunami and Kowloon, the adjoin
ing restaurant. He said he wants to
“make this the best place for (stu
dents) to hang out. ”
Chan said he decided to change
the look of the club to something that
was easier to decorate with a theme.
When the club was Scandals, he said
the atmosphere was more like that of
a bar or tavern with several neon beer
lights hanging on the walls.
Now, with jungle trees painted on
the support beams, colorful lights sus
pended from the ceiling, new tables
and new carpet, Chan said they are
going for a more “Euro-Asian” look.
“We’re now using a lot of intelli
gent light — high tech, ” he said.
In addition to adding high-tech
lighting, he said they have also up
dated their sound system making it
by far a step ahead of other clubs,
playing today’s Top 40s hits, R&B
and other mainstream dance music.
Chan said the club is geared to
ward the over-21 college crowd, and
with student housing complexes
such as Ducks Village and the Uni
versity Commons just down the road,
there should be no lack of clientele.
To further entice the students to
spend their study breaks at Tsuna
mi, Chan said they offer a discount
on the cover price for those show
ing a valid University or Lane Com
munity College I.D.
Though the club will cater more
to the college crowd, Chan said they
also offer live comedy on Saturday
nights at 9 p.m. that might appeal to
older patrons.
“If you pay the cover you can stay
for the dancing after (with no extra
charge),” Chan said. “You get two
for one. ”
However, not everyone has been
enchanted by the revamped club.
Local resident Ray Delille visited
Club Tsunami last Saturday and
said he did riot see a huge difference
since the club changed names.
“I like the outside,” he said. “The
(new) entrance is nice. ”
Delille and his friend Cinam
mond Hollins both expressed frus
tration at the limited designated ar
eas for smoking, though the club
does offer an outdoor smoking deck.
They said the building had been ex
panded, making the new smoking
deck smaller.
Courtney Ellingsworth, a student
at Lane Community College, said the
smaller setting gave her a feeling that
everyone was watching everyone
else, and the location was not ideal.
Unlike the downtown locations,
she said, “You can’t pop from one
club to the next.”
Maria Pashova, a bartender and
server at the club, said she loves the
more intimate setting.
“The atmosphere is better, small
er— people know you,” she said.
She said the downtown clubs were
Easy Target
continued from page 5
“Eugene’s been great to us,”
Brown said, “We’ve made some
promising relationships. ”
The band members said they
were happy being a regional band.
“It’s nice to get established in
(our) home region,” Guyer said.
Steinberg said Easy Target deliv
ers high-energy performances, and
the band has no problem generating
ticket sales.
“I feel without a doubt that they
are the strongest band Eugene has to
offer for the youth music market,”
he said. “They are the single biggest
band in Eugene.”
This high praise is met with mod
esty from the band members.
“We’re not competitive; we just
want to play.” Portrait said.
In 1999, Easy Target released its
nine-track EP entitled “Inappropri
ate Classroom Behavior” featuring
songs they had written when they
were teenagers.
And like teenagers, they said they
have had their fair share of difficult
times in trying to create an identity
for themselves. They said that audi
ences and critics often labeled them"
as a “pretty band” or a “punk band”
— labels they said did not accurate
ly suit their music or their style.
“We’re not trying to claim to be
punk rock,” Portrait said, and
though there are punk influences in
their music, the band stressed that
they play more rock songs.
The band members went on to
say that they did not want to just be
copies of another band, but have a
sound and style all their own.
“We just want to be a rock band with
abroad range of music,” Guyer said.
Easy Target will soon start split
ting their time between Portland
and Eugene, as Portrait was recently
hired to be production engineer for
a Portland studio.
While in Portland, the band said
they will also be recording their
next CD set to be released this sum
mer. It will be the band’s first full
length album. They described the
new album as being more focused
than their first CD, and they want it
to make a statement.
“It’s a great opportunity for mak
ing lots of connections,” Guyer said.
“And we’re hoping the local kids
will keep supporting us.”
Brendan Relaford, general man
ager of Big Green Music Events at
the Wild Duck, said Easy Target has
a good, local fan base made up of
young adults that will continue to
stick with the band for a long time.
“They are one of the few local bands
that are really kicking butt,” he said.
Tickets are available for $7 in ad
vance through www.fastixx.com
and for $9 at the door.
E-mail reporter Jen West
atjenwest@dailyemerald.com.
‘Matchmaker’
continued from page 5
Set designer Jerry Hooker had his
own difficulties making the four sets
required for the play. To minimize the
transitions, Hooker created a basic
framework that remains during the
show while the furniture changes
and large backdrops lower from the
rafters to create the mood.
“The Matchmaker” is Hooker’s
first show at the University after com
ing from Sam Houston State Univer
sity in Texas, where he worked for six
years. Prior to that, Hooker was a free
lance designer in Seattle, working
primarily for professional shows.
Hooker said the transition from
professional work to teaching in
volves some mental adjustments.
“I’m used to just telling people what
to do and letting them do it. At a uni
versity, I have to tell people what to do
and walk them through it, ” he said.
Most of the set work is done by stu
dents in production classes through
the theater department or by work
study students, Hooker said.
Hooker was a junior in college be
fore he tried his hand at the technical
side of theater; now he has been do
ing it for 20 years.
“A lot of students come in wanting
to be actors, and then they try tech
work and find it clicks,” Hooker said.
Running around the stage, trying
to do as much as possible, Hooker
makes it clear that a lot of work has
gone into a production that only lasts
two hours. And Watson promises the
play will end “happily ever after. ”
“The Matchmaker” starts Friday in
the University Theatre and runs Jan.
26,31, Feb. 1,2,8,9 at 8 p.m. The per
formance on Feb. 3 begins at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available at The EMU Tlck
3t Office or at the theater’s box office .
the day of the show. Tickets are $5 for
University students and $12 for the
general public.
E-mail reporter Mason West
it masonwest@dailyemerald.com.
WHO 5AYS PMC,RA51iiJATI0aP
ISM'T AM 4-rr FORM ?
Peter Utsey Emerald
more massive and impersonal.
Felicia Duke, a server at the club,
said Tsunami provides a “good atmos
phere, good spirits and good drinks. ”
Tara Sullivan, a delivery hostess,
said she preferred Tsunami over the
other clubs because it felt like a
more modern, updated, “big city”
kind of place, but isn’t sleazy.
“They play good dance music,”
Sullivan added.
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Club Tsunami is open from 11:30
a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays, and
11:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. on weekends.
The cover charge is $3 for the general
public and $1 for students on Friday
and Saturday nights. The cover
charge is $6 for the Saturday come
dy show and includes dancing.
E-mail reporter Jen West
at jenwest@dailyemerald.com.
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