Art D'Lugoff, the owner of The Village Gate nightclub located in the heart of Greenwich Village for over 40 years, died on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 in Riverdale, N.Y. D'Lugoff was 85 years old.

After producing concerts around New York City for several years, D'Lugoff and his brother Burt opened the Gate, as it was informally called, in 1958. He booked many of the greatest names in jazz, such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. Located in the heart of the Village near the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Streets, the club also featured comedy and among the famous comedians who performed there, way before they became famous, were Bill Cosby, Woody Allen and Mort Sahl. Among the nearly apocryphal stories told about D'Lugoff were that he turned away Bob Dylan and that he fired Dustin Hoffman (as a waiter). Of course, many clubs and promoters rejected Dylan in his early years in New York City, but the story speaks as much about D'Lugoff's unique combination of self-confidence and humility. [Jazz Times]

The Village Gate is now (Le) Poisson Rouge. RIP Art. A video interview with Art below...

Continue reading "Art D'Lugoff (Village Gate owner), RIP "

HIGHLIGHTS:
* 158 Bleecker btwn Thompson & Sullivan in Greenwich Village
* 800-capacity flexible performance space (250 seated)
* 130-capacity attached, soundproof lounge bar
* 28' x 21' fixed corner stage w/ various staging additions
* 16' dia. portable, trundled round stage
* acoustic engineering by John Storyk/WSDG (Electric Lady Studios, etc)
* 2 cinema-sized screens with Meyer 5.1 Surround Sound
* 23' dia. hardwood sprung dance floor
* 9' Concert Grand piano
* 2 elevated VIP Opera Boxes and 2 private entrances
* full catering kitchen, concert bar menu, and daytime lounge menu
* restrooms in 2 areas at opposite ends of the venue
* furnished green room with en suite bathroom, shower & tour office

(LE) POISSON ROUGE, the awkwardly named new 800-capacity music venue ("multimedia art cabaret") opening where The Village Gate used to be in the West Village has revealed their floor plan. Click HERE for a larger version.

They've also revealed their initial schedule. Damon & Naomi, Baby Dee, Bill Frisell, Doveman, Nico Muhly, Samamidon, and Matmos all have shows coming up there. Tickets are on sale.

"The adjoining lounge will be open during the day as a café, and at night as a secondary bar and event space." The full June schedule is also pasted below....

Continue reading "(Le) Poisson Rouge - new venue's floor plan, initial schedule "

[le] poisson rouge, a multi-media, multi-genre art cabaret and music venue dedicated to the fusion of popular and art cultures in the realm of music, film/theater, spoken word and fine art. The venue is scheduled to open in lower Manhattan early '08

(thx Joly)

The Village Gate, the historic Bleecker Street club, will reopen next spring. Art D’Lugoff debuted the club in the fifties and closed it in 1993; since then, it’s been leased to tenants. Now, new owners have taken over the space and, with D’Lugoff’s blessing, will revive it as an 800-seat venue called Le Poisson Rouge. (The iconic VILLAGE GATE sign will remain.) “I’m very eager to come back to the Village,” D’Lugoff says. “These kids have got good taste; they’re the right type of people to do what I started years ago—the whole schmear: folk, jazz, blues, everything.” Programmer Ronen Givony, who made his name with the Wordless Music Series, which presents different genres of music on the same bill, wants to do the same thing here. “Everywhere you go, you see an indie-rock band with two or three identical indie-rock bands opening for them,” he says. He plans to offer “African guitar with string quartet one night, a rock band the next.” D’Lugoff likes the sound of that. “This is intelligent stuff,” he says. “It’s not a schlock joint.” [NY Mag]

In other West Village venue news, The Lion's Den was recently renamed Sullivan Hall.