A Jewel In Long Island

Longtime artist manager Brian Doyle couldn’t know that a friend’s suggestion to check out a shuttered building in Huntington, N.Y., more than two years ago would turn out to be a new passion as well as a business venture.

Doyle, who also manages Rusted Root, Rick Springfield and several other acts, and co-owners Jim Condron, Dominick Catoggio and Stephen Ubertini backed the rebirth of the shuttered, 500-capacity Inter-Media Arts Center, built in the 1920s, to create something lacking in the area – a mid-size venue.

The state-of-the-art, 1,555-capacity The Paramount exists in a market that includes 13,855-capacity Jones Beach Amphitheatre, 2,800-capacity NYCB Theatre At Westbury and 17,999-capacity Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home to the NHL’s New York Islanders. 

“You know the importance of live music, with the way the business is. The record labels are shrinking down. Everyone is realizing they have to build their audience,” Doyle told Pollstar. “[Here] we can put in young bands that are up-and-coming. And because the room is built so perfectly, we’re also putting in quite a few well-known bands.”

The Paramount, booked by Live Nation’s Sean Striegel, launched with a sold-out Elvis Costello concert and went on to host more than 150 events in its first year, landing a spot on Pollstar’s Top 100 Theatre Venues in Worldwide Ticket Sales.

The décor is similar to House of Blues, including VIP club The Founders Room, with a location about 45 miles from New York City.

“After all the years I have in the business, we pride ourselves on taking care of the bands and the public,” Doyle explained. “We treat everybody like a VIP.”