By Emily Ferguson, Westword | “The way I like to think of it is, we’re going to bring Ophelia’s back to its full potential,” says the new booker. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox is playing a new tune. The adult bookstore-turned-live music venue at 1215 20th Street is now owned by Eric Pirritt, the founder of ENDIT Presents and former president of Live Nation’s Colorado branch; Edible Beats, the company founded by Justin Cucci, recently sold Ophelia’s to the longtime concert promoter, who left Live Nation last October.
“The first night they opened, I went to the club and fell in love with it,” recalls Pirritt.
Cucci says that he and Pirritt had been discussing a possible deal since January. Pirritt had been a partner with the venue through its exclusive booking with Live Nation, “so we’ve been collaborating with him for years now,” Cucci says. “So there was already a synergy between myself and my group and his group, because we had done shows for a number of years, and he had always expressed loving the place, so it came about organically.”
“When this opportunity came up, I couldn’t say no,” Pirritt says. “It’s a club that I’ve loved since day one. I would put it up against any club of its size in America. It’s the nicest, best place to play a show, and I’m excited to call it my own.”
Cucci’s decision to sell the place came about slowly, and the pandemic had a lot to do with it. “Really, as restaurateurs, the music business is a whole other business we were trying to learn and adopt,” Cucci says. “But post-COVID, so many things had changed that we were looking into some ways that we could evolve Ophelia’s. … [Pirritt] expressed interest and we talked about it with the board; it was a hard decision, but we felt that it would be a potential win-win, because we didn’t want to see Ophelia’s close, and we thought somebody who has their hands in the music business and has been successful in the music business is exactly who needs to take over.”
> > > > > > > > > > Go here to read the full story:
https://www.westword.com/music/denver-ophelias-electric-soapbox-sells-closing-for-september-21702322
Photo: Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox | Photo by Jessica Berry from Ophelia’s Facebook page
[Our THANKS to Alex Teitz for submitting this article! Https://www.femmusic.com]