Toronto ‘Club King’ Kenny Sprackman Retires, Sells Last Share in Horseshoe Tavern

Kenny Sprackman just signed the papers selling his final share of Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. He is now officially retired from the club business after 45 years. The 74-year-old is somewhat of a local legend after owning some of the best small-cap music showcase venues in the city.

While he did play bass in a couple of R&B cover bands for fun, he never aspired to work in the music industry. “It was a business opportunity at first,” he tells Pollstar.

Sprackman originally had two restaurant franchises, first Mr. Submarine in Victoria, BC, then a Howard Johnson’s in Oshawa, which his then-wife took over while he went into commercial real estate.

When his dad brought him into the Hotel Isabella as receiver manager, he soon started running the two-floor venue, a little over 100-capacity per room. “The first two days at The Izzy, I wore a three-piece suit and tie; by the end of week it was jeans and T-shirt. Never wore a three-piece again,” he says.

He co-owned the Hotel Isabella from 1979-’82 and added the 200-capacity Scuffer’s for a year, from 1981-82. The opportunity to own half of The Horseshoe then came up, the historic venue that opened in 1947 and went on to host everyone from The Rolling Stones to The Tragically Hip. Also in the ‘80s, he added X-Rays (1986-1991), alongside equal partners Richard Kruk (a.k.a. Crook), Dan Aykroyd and X-Ray McRae, which had a small venue upstairs called Ultrasound (200 capacity).

“Danny gave me the nickname ‘king’ in those days because there was a cart out front and it said ‘Falafel King,’ and he started calling me the Club King,” says Sprackman, who incorporates the nickname in his email address.

In 2001, Sprackman owned 50% of the also iconic Lee’s Palace (450 capacity), which he sold his share of in 2015 but added The Annex Wreckroom (600) a stone’s throw away, until its closure in 2018. The Horseshoe (400) was his last tie to the club world.

Sprackman talked to Pollstar about selling his last shares, why there was a parrot at the Izzy, creating the “door deal,” his favorite Horseshoe memory and what he plans to do in retirement.

Pollstar: You are officially retired. You signed the paperwork recently, selling your share of the Horseshoe. Why now?
Kenny Sprackman: I retired because Craig [Laskey] moved on and Jeff [Cohen] was travelling and because it’s time for new blood. Bruce [Bennett] was pretty much running the club for the last 15 years and asked me if I would sell to him.

You’ve slowly been divesting yourself of the clubs that you’ve owned. When did that start and why were you slowly getting out of it?
I started 10 years ago. I was bought out of Lee’s, opened The Wreckroom with a friend of mine, Mark Atkinson, who was my beer rep for Labatt’s at the time. We ran The Wreckroom. And when my dad passed away [2014], that was kind of it for me.

What percentage did you own in Lee’s when you sold it?
Still half.

And the ‘Shoe when you just sold it?
Well, I was half owner of the ‘Shoe for years. I’d already sold some shares out earlier to staff ie. Jeff, Craig and Naomi [Montpetit]. My final share was 15%.

Who did that go to?
Bruce Bennett. He’s been the general manager of the ‘Shoe at least 15 years. I haven’t been an operating partner for close to 10 years. I stepped back in 2015 as an active operator.

How did you end up in the club business?
I was general manager of a Lincoln dealership back in ’79. I quit or got fired and Ford was going to give me a store in Calgary, but I had to wait for six months for it. They were building it. My father, who was a bankruptcy trustee, said, “Hang on a minute, you’re not hanging around the house and not working.” He said, “I have receivership of a place called the Isabella Hotel. I want you to be the receiver manager.” His exact words were, “When you go in there, walk with your back to the wall.” That was my father’s instructions.

So, I went in there, got control of the finances. The owner left because he was bankrupt, and I was running it for the mortgage company after my father. We had about $10,000 in the bank after three months, so I stopped the bleed and the bank left me in there to run it. They asked me if I would stay. And then the interest rates went to 21% in ‘81 on commercial and we had to renew a mortgage with this guy and we couldn’t make the payments. So, we were out.

What is the deal with the parrot?
He lived in my office. At night, he greeted customers from the coat check. His name was Rutherford.

You have a serendipitous story of how the Izzy led to the ‘Shoe. You were one of those people paid to drive a car down south for Canadian snowbirds. How did that lead to you working at the Horseshoe?
At that time, the Isabella Hotel got pulled away from us because of the interest rates and I didn’t have enough money for my honeymoon. We took a drive-away to my sisters-in-law’s in Florida and it turns out that the owner of the car’s daughter-in-law was [Horseshoe Tavern owner] Jack Starr’s daughter. I drove it down in ’82 and back in the spring, and then again in ’83 there and back. I wasn’t dealing with Jack. I was dealing with Art [Clairman], who was married to Jack’s daughter. It turns out karma got me the Horseshoe because I did something nice for somebody and they said, “We really like you. We want you to go in there as the operator [spring 1983].” And, within six months, there was about $30,000 in the bank. It was paying the rent and turning a profit. And the family of Jack Starr came to me [in 1984] and said, “We’ll take the cash out of the bank and give you a mortgage for the balance.” Nothing down. In other words, basically, “Here you go. Give me what you’ve earned already.” And a very small mortgage. I think we paid less than a hundred grand for the ‘Shoe when we bought it.

You claimed to have designed “the door” deal, which is still a thing today. How do you know that and explain how that happened?
My theory has always been, when you go to a movie, the movie gets the gate and the movie theaters are in the business of selling snacks. That’s where they make the brunt of their money. In those days, agents used to sell you bands and, there’d be no percentage deals, no nothing. It was like you paid $6,000 for so and so, and if so and so didn’t click, you were out $6,000. And instead of taking the loss, what I decided was we would be the movie theater, except the popcorn would be the beer and alcohol and the band would take the gate.

And that had not been broached before?
Not in that respect, no. And then, we stopped paying for bands; we stopped dealing with the agents; we stopped dealing with the union. I did kick the union out of the clubs because they were coming around, shaking these bands; they were making 25 bucks a night a player in those days, coming in and shaking them up for dues. And finally, I barred the union from the clubs.

How can the industry keep the club business healthy when kids are discovering music on TikTok rather than coming up through the venues, some of which are being replaced by condos or other businesses?
That brings me back to my theory of every 10 years or so, you have to bring in a new talent buyer who’s in tune with what’s going on. Because we become old. So that’s why I brought Craig and Jeff in the mid-’90s. And now we’re working with a new young, hip promoter named Ben Mol.

You had special shows there with the Stones, Bryan Adams there. Blue Rodeo got their start there. The Tragically Hip immortalized the place in a song [“Bobcaygeon”]. What’s your fave memory?
My favorite — with all that shit that’s gone on — the night before the [1989] Junos, The Band was getting a lifetime achievement award — not Levon [Helm] because those guys had a big falling out — and Rick Danko and The Band [did a surprise show] at the Horseshoe [joining Colin Linden]. Security comes up to me and says, “There’s a guy at the back door who wants to talk to you.” Reggie “The Poet Bouncer” [Bovaird] is standing there with Robbie Robertson. Robbie’s got a guitar case in his hand and Reggie’s got an amplifier. The Band doesn’t know he’s even in the building and he comes through the back door and he steps up from a little stairway there, side stage. As far as I was concerned, that was The Band reunion. And I ran around the club giving free shooters to all the patrons all night.

As a side business, you used to buy and sell boats and cars at auction. Are you still?
No. I’m retired. I’m relaxing, travelling, what people do when they retire. I’m enjoying myself. I have a cottage on Buckhorn Lake in the Kawarthas. I now have a life of no stress, which is something I’ve wanted for years. But I just bought a 2020 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 convertible.