Does the Family want to move venues?

[Zaccheus]

Hey Fam,

Considering St. Augustine's just caught fire (again), I would like to opine that I believe that venue to be cursed. In my 5 years on the Drive, nothing has ever lasted there longer than 6 or 7 months, and the layout is all wrong for the Slam. CDS has a nice big square room w/ a stage dead centre, front. You can't get any better than that, short of a good balcony set-up like the Cultch.

Also, I have always felt that a lot of VanSlam's success is owed to the fact that it has perfect positioning in the GVRD. Being on the Drive, we're extremely accesible to nearly anyone who wants to come out for a Slam. Four blocks from the city's main transit hub, and relatively close to no less than 5 post-secondary institutions. On Vancouver's (arguably) most independant street, w/ a well-known penchant for Bohemian dissent. In a g*ddamn Vegan cafe, for Chr!ssakes!! Basically it boils down to the fact that some genius decided to set up a Poetry Slam smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of over-educated, under-paid, slightly jaded kids w/ ambition and talent. If ya really think about it, it's our own damn fault we're here.

I truly believe that, should the Slam decide to migrate elsewhere, we would have an extremely difficult time re-creating the perfect storm of community and accessibility that lead us to the wonderful problem we find ourselves facing.

Think about it people. We've grown too big for our venue. VAN SLAM KICKS ASS!!!!!!!!!

[Duncan Shields]

Thanks, Zack.  Absolutely.  Again, we're not talking about leaving Cafe Deux Soleils.  I think we're just talking about adding another venue and putting on slams, not necessarily legitimate point-scoring slams, at other venues.  I know that Scruff has something going on and Spillious has a good gig going up at the Cottage Bistro.  I think capitalizing on our popularity right now and trying to bring slam to another venue or two is a good idea.  Probably a good idea to keep it on the drive, like you were saying.  It's an ideal neighbourhood for what we're throwing down.