Kwitchoff Buys Buffalo Club

The Sphere Entertainment Complex in Buffalo, N.Y., is set for an influx of live entertainment, courtesy of new owner Artie Kwitchoff of Funtime Presents.

Kwitchoff was revealed as the buyer March 26th at a farewell party for the club’s previous owner, Joseph Guagliardo. Kwitchoff, a former manager for the Goo Goo Dolls, ran Clear Channel Entertainment’s Buffalo office before leaving in December to revive Funtime Presents as an independent entity.

Sphere’s first show under new management will be Alter Bridge April 3rd. Kwitchoff and his team – including Donny Kutzbach, exclusive promoter at the city’s Mohawk Place, and attorney Michael L. Jackson – plan to return the club to its previous glory as a live hotspot. April shows are booked for Sum 41, Muse and others while Ryan Adams and Chevelle are slotted for May.

“There’s no other room like it that’s ever been in Buffalo,” Kwitchoff told Pollstar. “My mother saw Nat King Cole there in the ’50s; Bobby Darin and Les Paul played there; Connie Francis, you name it.”

The club – known as Town Casino in Kwitchoff’s mother’s day – has drifted in and out of the live music scene, although Kwitchoff booked many a show there from his CCE office.

“We always did shows … [but] we were never that busy at this room,” Kwitchoff said. “We always had to work around the schedule that the previous owners had, which involved a lot of rentals, banquets, their club nights and things like that. So now we get to control the calendar.”

The new owners have made several upgrades to the venue interior. The club will close for two to three months this summer for a full renovation of the building’s front half, which will eventually include a VIP club and smaller music room of around 150 capacity.

The building currently has four rooms – a 1,200-capacity main nightclub, a 420-capacity bar, a 150-capacity comedy club and a 100-capacity jazz room.

Kwitchoff ran Funtime Presents with Marcel Thimot in the early ’90s before the company became part of Delsener-Slater Entertainment, which was later absorbed by SFX and then CCE.

Thimot remains at CCE Buffalo and Kwitchoff still partners with the company on many shows, he said.