Conundrum Music Hall announces closing

Conundrum Music Hall, the eclectic music venue in West Columbia, announced Wednesday that it is closing at the end of October.

“It's been a fun, if quixotic, undertaking, and I thank all the fine people I've gotten to know over the years for all the great support and camaraderie,” Conundrum posted on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon.

Since 2011, Conundrum has catered to alternative and experimental music, and has brought countless off-the-wall acts to its 99-capacity building.

In the Facebook thread, owner Tom Law said he regretted announcing the closing amid the flooding crisis happenning in the Midlands and across the state, but needed to “get started with the process.”

Law said in an email that he knew the venue was losing money the first three years it was in business, and it wasn’t until July of this year that he got a grip on Conundrum’s accounting.

“I saw then that our expenses far exceeded our income... much more than I'd ever realized.”

Acquiring the money needed to save the music venue, he said, required “more time/energy than I had left in me.”

Although Law is self-admittedly anti-social, he said he will miss the people at Conundrum most.

“I've made a lot of good friends at Conundrum,” he said, “which is pretty amazing for a guy like me.”

Law is currently looking for somebody to lease the property at 626 Meeting St.

This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Conundrum Music Hall announces closing."