Keep our Gypsy Bar
Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum
Over the years, the Gypsy Bar has played host to some of the most amazing live acts. The list includes The Whitlams, The Gadflys, The Living End, Karma County, Skunkhour and The Fauves to name a few.
Since the bar has been in operation it has hosted around 250 live music acts per year and some 40 other acts such as the Ladybird Lounge and Funked up - $ouled out. The list of bands has included not only the nationally famous acts mentioned above but also local bands and international artists. Yet this fabulously diverse venue is in danger of closing because one person complained about the noise.
The KGB (Keep our Gypsy Bar) is an organisation that has formed in response to this threat. It is our aim to make people aware that there is a great need for places like the Gypsy Bar not only in Canberra but around Australia.
Hal Judge, president of the KGB and producer of CraSh CaBaReT and the
Canberra is a vibrant, culturally diverse city that is unfortunately maligned by the rest of the country because it houses the nation's politicians. We are here to scream out loud that our city is also a place for artists and musicians who can be heard and seen without prejudice or restriction. If the Gypsy Bar is forced to close, we will lose not only a bar, but a theatre, a cinema, a live music venue and a couple of unique people with truly artistic vision.
The KGB will fight the good fight by putting on a series of fundraising events with the help of many Canberra artists and musicians. The response to the possible closure of the Gypsy Bar has attracted a flood of offers from talented Canberrans who are more than willing to donate their time and effort to help keep this fantastic venue from being swallowed up by visionless commercial entities.
For more information on the KGB please email kgb_na@hotmail.com
S l o w Club held at the Gypsy Bar says "The Gypsy Bar is pretty unique … it offers an accessible double venue to a wide range of art and performance, including musicians, dancers, poets, set designers, film makers, actors, comedians and fashions designers. It's far more than a bar with pool tables … it is a theatre, an experimental studio, a stage, a cauldron for collaboration between different forms of local performers."
Supporters of the KGB
KGB Fundraising Events
Why do we need the KGB
a statement from the owners
"Don't let the bastards get you down."
Take me home to CooCoo