Just 90 miles away, in Philadelphia, the punk movement is gathering similar steam. Steve Apple, who turned a faltering singles bar into the Hot Club, the city's current punk rock headquarters, reports attendance records broken during a recent two show appearance by England's Elvis Costello. The club holds approximately 250 people.
"If wed had room." says Apple, "we could have sold 1,000 tickets easily." Apple concedes that many visitors to the Hot Club are drawn there initially by curiosity about this new musical phenomenon "But about 90% of them come back on a reguiar basis," he adds.
For the Costello engagement, Apple arranged a simulcast on WMRR FM and a remote live broadcast by the local ABC television channel. Both stations reported strong audience response.
Apple, who himself manages a "pop new wave" act called As, concedes that some club owners are reluctant to book new wave acts for fear of customer violence.
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