Troubadour To The Next Level

Ed Karayan, owner of the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif., and 4Jacks Entertainment have signed a deal that will bring the historic nightclub to a much wider audience.

4Jacks Entertainment’s David Helfant told Pollstar his relationship with the club goes back more than 20 years after he’d formed his first management company, Fandel Entertainment, and booked bands with Karayan and late co-owner/ founder Doug Weston. In the ’90s, Helfant, an entertainment lawyer, worked about a dozen years as the Troubadour’s legal rep.

Now he and partners Harris Wali and Steve Weber have a deal that covers branding, merchandising and developing TV shows and concerts that build on the nightclub’s reputation as a springboard for artists’ careers since about 1957.

The list of superstars who’ve played the Troubadour on the way up is lengthy, to say the least, with more being introduced to Troubadour audiences on a regular basis.

“One of the ideas still in its formative stage is a series called ‘Live From The Troubadour” where we would go to a lot of the iconic acts that have performed since its inception,” Helfant said.

“Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Coldplay,  Metallica, Bruce Springsteen and Guns N’ Roses. Elton John’s show [in 1970], is hailed by many as one of the 10 greatest rock concerts of all time.  He was just launching in America and it really put him on the map.

“When I talk to artists and managers about the Troubadour, everyone has a story about why the [venue] is special to them. It’s like going home again.”

Plans to design a merchandise line that could be sold through companies such as Target or Walmart are in the works, as well as discussion about opening Troubadour nightclubs in other countries further down the line.