But if Dorf is looking to have name people finance the local alternative talent and get them paid decently, he ll get support. But because I live in hope a lot, I started a music series just in case. Not everyone looks upon Dorf as the savior of improvised music. When the Knitting Factory sponsored the Texaco Jazz Festival a couple of years ago, a large number of musicians demanded sharp increases in their fees after finding out how much the Knitguy was pearling in. Some have even suggested that he s built his prestige out of musicians integrity, while leaving lumps of coal in their Xmas stockings.
Exposure means a lot.
And if the postponed first two months of the Knitting Factory s calendar are any indication, the club intends to be a permanent Edge Festival. The national-visibility acts will be brought in by Glenn Max out of the New York office, while Keith Buckingham, newly arrived here from Vancouver, B.C., where he booked the Starfish Room, will be handling the rest. I have a lot of homework to do, he says quietly. The way the parking situation shakes down will be crucial. With the Knitting Factory s various rooms and restaurant capable of holding some 1,000 customers and staff, and the movie multiplex, the Hollywood Entertainment Museum and other Galaxy attractions accountable for several hundred more during peak weekend hours, the built-in parking structure could find its 670 spaces severely taxed, though there are more lots in the neighborhood.