UPDATED: Super Happy Still Down, But Not Out: 5th Anniversary Art Auction/Benefit Show Tonight

[UPDATE: Since the original posting, I’ve gotten info one more show formerly at SHFL, the Ukebox/Poopy Lungstuffing show on 4/10, was shifted to Free Range Studio. Just so you know…]

Damn. Despite reports to the contrary, it appears that the good people at recently-moved local venue/artspace Super Happy Fun Land are still shut down by The Man (“The Man,” in this case, being the City of Houston). What folks initially thought would be a very temporary deal has turned into what sounds like a major headache/money pit, with the Fire Marshal closing the place down through at least April, possibly May. Which, obviously, sucks ass.

All is not lost, however, and you can help — tonight (3/28, that is) at kind-hearted venue Notsuoh, the SHFLers will be throwing the Super Happy Fun Land 5 Year Anniversary Party & Art Auction, in the hopes that they can drum up some much-needed money to pay the bills & the cost of upgrading their new home so it meets CoH standards.

The auction itself starts at 8PM, with auctioneer Dave Roy (whom I don’t know, but who apparently is the “founder” of sadly-departed Southmore House) wielding the gavel. If you’ve got art you want to donate to the cause, btw, they’d love to have it, it sounds like — get a hold of them at “info” at “superhappyfunland dot com”. Otherwise, show up and place a bid on some fine, most likely locally-produced artwork and trip out to the sounds of Poopy Lungstuffing, Sew What, Las Imagenes Ocultas, Concrete Violin, The Cave Reverend, The Delta Block, The Krinkles, Rusted Shut, & Muzak John, all for a good, good, good cause.

If you’re in need of more detail-age, here’s the scoop from the SHFL crew themselves, along w/some of the shutdown backstory:

Howdy folks! Come on out to Notsuoh tonight for our 5 Year Anniversary party and art auction benefit. Unfortunately we are still unable to open, so we are hoping to raise a little cash at the art auction to offset some of our bills. We have to submit architectural drawings to the city because we are reassigning the occupancy purpose of our current building, and that takes time and money. We are currently working with an architect, who is really cool, but unfortunately he can do all the plans the city requires, except for the electrical load diagrams we need for city approval. For those we need an electrical engineer (a master electrician or architect won’t cut it, they have to be an engineer for the city to approve their plans). So if you are an engineer, or know one who would want to help out a goofy fun art and performance community center, let us know. Otherwise we have a few leads, but they are sounding incredibly expensive at this time. At any rate, it looks like we will still be shut down for April, and most likely into May, so we are canceling and rescheduling more shows unfortunately. But the good news is Notsuoh (as well as some other venues around town) has been really great about hosting the touring bands that we did have scheduled, and we are having a really awesome party there tonight! I hope you can make it, there are going to be some really amazing art pieces, Olivia’s vegan chili, lots of bands, and the usual SHFL nonsense, only downtown at Notsuoh.

If you can’t make it out but still want to give, you can head on over to the SHFL Website, as well, and donate $$$ via PayPal. Easy-peasy, and good for the soul besides.

Now, since SHFL is effectively closed ’til God-knows-when, that means that a number of bands/shows have had to either be cancelled or shuffled off to other venues. Here’re the ones I’m aware of that’ve been moved and/or rescheduled:

Sun., March 30 – lucky you/Punk Bunny/Ultraviolet Sound @ Notsuoh

Mon., March 31 – Nick Jaina/The Wild Moccasins/Run On Sentence @ Notsuoh (8PM)

Wed., April 2 – The Seed Grass Gypsys @ Notsuoh

Thurs., April 3 – The Group Hug/Stale Fashion/The Dead of Night @ Notsuoh

NEW!!!: Thurs., April 10 – Ukebox/Poopy Lungstuffing @ Free Range Studio

Sun., April 20 (was 3/5) – STEEM Festival, featuring Translations, J. Andrew Bobbitt, Thomas Ayresol, Track53, Trills, Forests, & Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts @ The Backroom (The Mink)

And then here’s the list of shows/bands playing in March/April who don’t appear to’ve been shuffled off to someplace else yet; booking people/venues/etc., help these folks out if you can, eh?:

Sat., March 29 – BK & Mr. E/My Life On Film/Rage Ranger @ Super Happy Fun Land

Fri., April 4 – The LP’s/Tyler Flame and the Ellipsis/Jetpack Black/Riddle Lane @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 6 – Casa De Chihuahua/The Defenestration Unit/The Delta Block @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 13 – Abiku/Nudity @ Super Happy Fun Land

Tues., April 15 – Jared Friedman/Gabriel Miller-Phillips @ Super Happy Fun Land

Thurs., April 17 – Bigg Nugg/DaLyrical/Unecc @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 20 – Suspenderman/Hor/Then Something Happened…/G. Styles/Ajiibwa/The Delta Block @ Super Happy Fun Land

Thurs., April 24 – Kinch/Desmond Zavala/Wolves, At The Door/Las Imagenes Ocultas @ Super Happy Fun Land

Fri., April 25 – Motion Turns It On @ Super Happy Fun Land

Big, big, big thank-yous go out, I should note, to Notsuoh and The Mink for taking on some of these folks. People like y’all are what saves the scene in this city, I swear.