Lee Smith Opens Shops

Lee Smith, formerly Live Nation San Francisco and Denver chairman, has launched two new companies for promotion and artist management services, Prescient Entertainment and Earnest Management.

Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Calif., has already signed Smith to co-promote the venue in 2011, which has been nominated several times as Pollstar’s Best Small Outdoor Venue, with Live Nation. Smith officially left the company Jan. 1.

It’s expected that Prescient Entertainment and Live Nation will bring in more than 65 concerts during the June-September Mountain Winery season. Prescient Entertainment will promote other shows in Northern California, including San Francisco shows with Eddie Vedder later this year, while it seeks out event and venue development projects in the region.

Earnest Management also hits the ground with clients including indie artists Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion.

As Live Nation’s chairman in San Francisco as well as Denver, Smith oversaw the company’s promotion and venue management efforts in those cities as well as Sacramento, Reno and Salt Lake City. The combined region includes four amphitheatres, Fillmore nightclubs in San Francisco and Denver, three comedy clubs, Mountain Winery and Silver Legacy Grand Expo in Reno.

Smith was senior VP of business development and booking at Bill Graham Presents, lead booker and head of the concert division before the company was sold to Live Nation predecessor SFX Entertainment in 1998.

He produced the first Tibetan Freedom concerts in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1996, Seattle’s 1994 Farm Aid concert, and the annual Bridge School Benefit with Neil and Pegi Young at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif.

Smith may be contacted at (415) 400-5151, [email protected] or [email protected].