September 2023
By Jan Tormay
INK Publications
The Knick celebrates its 90th anniversary with a wide variety of performers/fans and an educational role
By Jan Tormay
Famous for its live blues music and large, sunken dance floor for the last 90 years, The Knickerbocker Music Center, Inc. (The Knick) in Downtown Westerly, Rhode Island continues to reinvent itself – without forgetting its roots. Situated at 35 Railroad Ave., diagonally across from the Westerly Train Station, the building still shakes when trains go by.
Its storied history includes performances by Booker T. Jones, Big Walter Horton, Roomful of Blues, Brothers Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Copeland, Leon Russell, and many others.Today, The Knick features a wide range of performers playing rock-n-roll, Americana, R&B, contemporary, Reggae (including AKA), Hip Hop and country music, as well as blues.
Internationally- and nation-ally known performers Kabaka Pyramid, Deer Tick, Amy Helm, Rusted Root, The Felice Brothers, Doyle Bramhall, Brett Dennen, Joe Pug and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad have graced the stage in recent times. Favorite regional talent includes Nick Bosse & The Northern Roots, as well as Will Evans, The Knick’s national talent buyer.
Grammy award-winning musician and bandleader Jon Batiste also performed and orchestrated music for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” from The Knick for three months during Covid in 2020. The connection was made by Michael McDonald of Mick Management, a friend of the Knick’s, a member of the United Theatre Board of Directors and Batiste’s former agent.
Additionally, The Knick created “On the Road to Newport” to support Newport Folk Festival performers - giving them a space to “warm up” in front of a smaller audience. On its way to the festival in July, Heavy Makeup performed with Edie Brickell (secret appearance), known for her song, "What I Am. "Musician Glenn Thomas of Nashville opened for the band.
The Knick’s Long History
Brothers Albert and Paul Vitterito closed their ice cream shop and built The Knick at the end of Prohibition in 1933, naming it after the Knickerbocker Express train that passed through town on its way to New York and Boston. By the early 2000s, times had changed; patrons were older, business slowed, and The Knick was at a low point, said Executive Director Mark Connolly, who came on board in 2011 with Jon Kodama (who left in 2014) – both in the Mystic restaurant business for several decades.
“That's why we had to rebuild it. We had to reinvent it in a sense, but stay true to our blues,” by bringing in blues musicians, even though they’re not going to be the biggest draw, Connolly said.
Westerly Blues, LLC raised $1.5 Million to purchase The Knick from Paul Vitterito
Jr. in 2009 and renovate its interior, leaving its façade mostly the same.
“Bringing it down to the studs,” The Knick, which holds 400 people, underwent an extreme makeover to give it more of a “clubby” atmosphere, Connolly said. It opened later the same year with dark green walls, Zildjian cymbal sconces, a raised, wider stage, improved lighting, and more space around the Starlight Ballroom dance floor. Upgraded with sound proofed walls, musicians can now perform simultaneously in two separate rooms.
The Tap Room, which offers a more intimate setting and cocktails with herbs and other drinks popular with young people, was also renovated with a new hipster vibe and small stage for sing-songwriters, said Connolly, adding "it's doing really well."
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