Theres a geometrical term for what happens when two lines come together to form the top of a pyramid. Now theres a new term for when that happens in Vancouvers entertainment industry: Blueprint.
Adelphia Management Group and Blueprint Events have merged into Blueprint, making it a powerhouse in Vancouvers club and concert scene.
It brings together the club management expertise of the Kerasiotis family who own the iconic Celebrities, Caprice and Shine, among other venues and the concert moxie of Blueprint Events Alvaro Prol, whos populated stages across the city with some of the most popular bands and DJs of our time.
Our careers are parallel, says Bill Kerasiotis who, with his brother Chris, has been working with Prol since they first met in 1997. Prol has organized many of the events that filled Aldephias clubs and bars and through those experiences, they learned that they share the same approach to business. Theres a natural symmetry.
Weve always watched out for each other and strategically planned [with the other in mind,] Prol says. We could do it without one another but together we can do better.
If you try to go it alone, Bill adds, it doesnt work these days.
The Kerasiotis brothers are the second generation of a quartet of Greek immigrants who arrived in Vancouver more than 40 years ago. Their late father, John, and three of his brothers started with a small Greek restaurant, Olympia Pizza, which is still owned by the family. Bill and Chris started working in the family businesses as teenagers and got to know every aspect of what works and, often more importantly, what doesnt work.
Its never been an exponential growth growth thing; you have your highs and your lows, Bill says. Its not that the Adelphia Group simply kept getting bigger and bigger. Yes, they added more properties, but as the economy and peoples tastes changed, the company had to change too. The family has always had to be as nimble as the dancers who want to see and be seen at the citys most popular clubs.
Hence the most recent make-over of Celebrities. The Kerasiotises bought the Davie Street institution, which has hosted the likes of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, in 1978. It closed for renovations for five years in the early part of the century and is re-opening again this week (after a much shorter hiatus for improvements.) They gutted the entire building and have put in a new sound system.
Celebrities, to me, is the epitomy of a dance club in Vancouver, Bill says. Its just a free place you can be a drag queen or a couple or whoever you want to be. The people who come there are open to that. Theres no club I love more than Celebrities.
This comes less than a month after the opening of their new venture, Colony Bar in Kitsilano, and a few months after taking over Shine in Gastown a neighbourhood that is intriguing territory for Blueprint as an alternative for those who dont want the Granville party scene. (Blueprint also organized the huge 12,000 people Boxing Day concert at BC Place.)
But making the company better and stronger in Vancouver isnt the only thing in Blueprints plans. They also hope to expand the franchise into other cities in Canada.
This merger is built on a good understanding of who does what and a vision of where we want to go, Prol says. You work hard and stay on the edge. You always have to stay ahead.
