NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Knitting Factory Entertainment has completely absorbed Paul Thornton’s Bravo Entertainment, and its Big Easy Concert Houses, and has plans to expand the brand in the coming months.
Knitting Factory acquired a majority stake in Bravo in January 2006, partnering with the company on its operations across 19 states, including the Big Easy clubs in Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington.
As part of reorganizing and restructuring involved with the takeover, the clubs will now be overseen by Knitting Factory VP of West Coast operations Morgan Margolis. Margolis visited the Idaho club to examine his new venue and get a feeling for the market.
“As an outsider to this, what I’m getting from the community is that the reputation could use some polishing,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “Some enhancements, and a name change, may be a way to go in the beginning. But that’s still in the works.”
Knitting Factory president Jared Hoffman told the paper that the company will set the bar high for their plans with the Bravo properties: “We have to make a club that the city can love. If this can’t be as treasured an icon in Boise as our New York club is in New York, then there’s really no point.”
Hoffman told the paper that Knitting Factory plans to renovate the clubs, beef up talent buying efforts and use the New York and Los Angeles teams to help create programming for emerging acts that otherwise wouldn’t come to Boise or Spokane.
Bravo co-founder Paul Thornton will serve as senior VP of development at Knitting Factory, where he’ll be responsible for secondary-market planning expansion and new venue development. He will also serve as president of Knitting Factory’s concert and tour promotion division, which will retain the Bravo moniker. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
