2 humor
Stand-up comedy nights every Saturday at Kowloon's
have become increasingly popular over the years
BY RYAN MURPHEY
PULSE REPORTER
Since 1987, comics not well
known enough to pack the Hult
Center or the McDonald Theatre
have performed at a little nightclub
on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
called Tsunami’s. The club, which is
part of Kowloon Restaurant, presents
live stand-up comedy every Saturday
at 9 p.m.
In the past, the club has hosted
comics like Margaret Cho, who was
featured at Tsunami’s long before she
was too famous to perform anywhere
but the largest venues in town. An
other Tsunami’s performer who went
on to bigger and better things is Car
los Alazraqui, better known for his
role as Dep. James Garcia on Comedy
Central’s “Reno 911,” or as the voice
of die Taco Bell Chihuahua.
Kowloon was founded by Kit Wha
Chan, who emigrated from Hong
Kong to the United States with his
family when he was 17 and moved to
Oregon three years later in 1972. In
1975, Chan opened his first restaurant,
Canton, in Roseburg. Chan explains
with a painful smirk that he “learned a
lot from that experience.”
In 1978, Chan bought the piece of
land that would be the first Kowloon
Restaurant, which opened a year lat
er in Roseburg. Chan became inter
ested in operating a night club after
observing the success of a place in
Roseburg called P.P. Clayton’s, and
in 1981 added a tiki lounge to
Kowloon. He got in touch with a tal
ent agent from Portland who had
booked appearances by Bobcat
Goldthwait, The Smothers Brothers,
Victoria Jackson and even Ralph
Nader in nightclubs and on college
campuses. The next year, Kowloon’s
stand-up comedy night began, and
when Chan opened a second loca
tion in Eugene in 1987, he began
booking acts there as well.
The stand-up nights attracted small
crowds of 15 to 20 people at first, cre
ating a very awkward and disappoint
ing environment for the comics.
Sometimes the comics had to travel to
Eugene on a Greyhound bus and get
picked up by Chan at the station. But
the word got out, and now anywhere
from 120 to 200 people show up every
Saturday night for the performances,
according to assistant bar manager
Sarah Bauman.
All performances are on Saturdays
at 9 p.m. The cover is $6. Upcoming
performances include Brandon Sass
and Doug Coover on Nov. 27, Jimmy
Himer and Auggie Smith on Dec. 11
and Sadiki Fuller on Dec. 18.
Kowloon/Tsunami’s is at 2222 Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
ryanmurphey@dailyemerald.com
DIVA downtown
Organization aims to
connect with artists, make
art a 'legitimate goal'
BY AMY LICHTY
PULSE REPORTER
Big cities such as Paris, Chicago
and New York hold fine arts in
high regard, but smaller places
such as Eugene are proving they’ve
got what it takes to have a small city
atmosphere with a big city apprecia
tion for the arts through organiza
tions such as DIVA - the Downtown
Initiative for the Visual Arts.
Only a year old, DIVA, which is
located in the heart of downtown
on Broadway and Olive, has
worked to improve both the region
al art community and the down
town district as well.
“It was started by a small group
of people who took a look at the
downtown area and said, ‘we really
need to revitalize the downtown
around a theme of the visual arts.’
To that end, they came up with
DIVA,” executive director Mary Un
ruh said. “The energy of that group
of people was the impetus for DIVA
to take a foothold in downtown Eu
gene. If you look at Taos, N.M., or
Newport, Ore., you can see where
they’ve actually been able to revi
talize the inner core of the city
around a theme. There’s so much
that can be done.”
Setting its sights on the revival
of the downtown area, DIVA strives
to connect with downtown busi
nesses, locals and visitors to Eu
gene. According to its Web site,
DIVA is taking the initiative to
bring together civic leaders, busi
ness leaders, arts organizations,
artists and community members in
a dialogue to spur focused action
toward a vital and profitable down
town Eugene.
“DIVA wants to be a lot bigger,
sort of a visual arts center, a tourist
attraction and a destination for
people in the downtown,” DIVA
board member Toby Ensign said.
“There are all of these musicians
and bands going on (downtown)
but, in terms of the visual arts,
Nicole Barker | Photographer
The Downtown Initiative for the
Visual Arts is at 110 West Broadway.
DIVA can offer that kind of outlet.”
“We provide the community
with a lot of art classes and events
to bring them downtown to enjoy
the visual arts — not just in our
gallery — but to come and have
a hands-on experience in work
shops on a variety of art topics and
innovative films,” Unruh said.
“Every second Friday we have a
film forum in which we show inno
vative films. Right now we have
films by local high school students
in competition. It’s a part of DIVA
that’s growing.”
But it’s not the only project that
DIVA is moving to the forefront.
“One of the things we’ve done in
the course of a year is put together
a wonderful Web site, www.di
vanow.org, where artists can show
their own work,” Unruh said.
“They don’t have to know any kind
of programming to put up their
work. They can sell their artwork
directly from the site and show
their portfolios to anyone.”
The site was designed to aid tech
nologically impaired artists in
becoming successful small busi
nesses by exposing and selling their
work all over the world.
“Our first sale from the Web site
was to Lancaster, England, and
our second was to Tempe, Ariz.
What (the site) does is put Eugene
artists out there in the world. The
perception of Eugene will change
from out as well as from within,”
Unruh said. “The creation of that
dynamic and the whole idea be
hind DIVA is to be a catalyst for
change to happen here. I think
we’ve been successful in doing that
in the last year. ”
DIVA also has plans to cultivate a
stronger relationship with the Uni
versity and to help involve students
who don’t often stray far from the
insulated environment of the Uni
versity, Unruh said.
“By having better communica
tion with the University on the
things that are available down
town, like the First Friday ArtWalk
or the innovative films, maybe it
will help people think of coming
down here,” she said.
“We’re interested in educating
people about the arts, connecting
with artists and making art a legiti
mate goal for young people. It gives
young people an expansion of
the world and what is possible. If
we could get some of the energy
and innovativeness of the youth in
the community to focus on, we
could really be a part in changing
something. Young people could
really make this happen, and we
welcome that kind of energy,”
Unruh said.
DIVA encourages anyone inter
ested in volunteering to stop in.
The program offers opportunities
to learn how an art gallery works
and gain exposure to various
artists using diverse mediums to
express themselves — a great op
portunity for art students and art
lovers alike.
“There’s a lot of energy with
DIVA,” Ensign said, who began his
volunteer work with DIVA last
March. “I’m really proud to be a
part of this.”
amylichty@dailyemerald.com
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