Louis B. Branchinelli “Lou B”
“...I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties, there isn’t any privacy.”
- quote from The Great Gatsby
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It goes without saying…New York is a really big place. Walk a few blocks within the five boroughs, and you’re bound to uncover greatness and building blocks from years past that influence the present. However, New York is way more than just the five boroughs. A mere 43 miles from Manhattan, Long Island is its own distinct New York market. A place written about in books and portrayed in movies. Residents have their own uniquely Long Island customs and idiosyncrasies. One such Long Island native and a person who has devoted his life’s work to his hometown is Louis B. Branchinelli, better known as Lou B, a promoter, artist manager, and event producer.
Lou grew up influenced by his family's restaurant business (his paternal grandfather, Gino Branchinelli, was the founder and namesake of the original “Gino’s Italian Ices and Pizza”). They are known for being one of the best restaurant families on Long Island, owning over 100 Italian food restaurants from NYC to Eastern Long Island. Despite his own family’s success in the restaurant industry, Lou had different ideas for his career path. Lou became enamored with nightlife culture and watched DJs like Tiesto, Danny Tenaglia, Jonathan Peters (who he would later manage), and a young Jay-Z climb the ladder to superstardom. After a night at the club Life in Southampton, Lou decided to make promotions and event production his career. He was dissatisfied with how the VIP host ran the door and vowed to return and buy the place. Soon after, Louis researched and discovered that the owners were about to lose their lease. Louis quickly pooled his resources to make a down payment; the rest is history.
“I was always against the policy of being rude to customers, that whole stuck-up mentality of getting into clubs,” Lou says. When people go out, they want to forget about issues that trouble them and have a good time. The last thing they need is to feel that the TSA is checking or judging them. I always hated that. People should feel good about going out and being treated well, not insulted. I always try to do things right for the customer. I wanted to have a very successful venue that went opposite the snobby clubs and alleviated preconceived notions and social anxieties people have about going out; when they go to my club, people know they will have a great time without all the stress.
Lou went on to own several other event spaces in the Hamptons before he began managing Sound Factory legend DJ Jonathan Peters. Louis also began promoting weekly parties and special events in Long Island and NYC during this time. His breadth of technical knowledge and “out of the box” creativity in producing events earned him the trust of some of the entertainment industry's most successful talent agencies, venues, and moguls. On the cusp of electronic dance music starting to gain mainstream attention, Louis founded Lou B Industries, a promotions and event production company, as well as Electronic Kingdom Records, which focused on artist management and marketing. Other established companies looked to local promoters to produce larger-scale events that had not yet been seen in the electronic music arena. Such was the case when Lou B Industries, in association with Pacha NYC and Rob Promotions, helped Live Nation produce their first dance music event at Roseland Ballroom.
In 2016, Lou helped launch The New Nassau Coliseum, purchased by Barclay Center Brooklyn, NY, as the Head Local Marketing Consultant for Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment (BSE) at the new NYCB LIVE Nassau Coliseum. Before Nassau Coliseum, Lou was the Director of NYC for Insomniac (home of Electric Daisy Carnival, North America's largest dance music festival). In November 2017, Lou was asked by ownership of the new Ocean Resort Casino (http://theoceanac.com/) (the former $3 billion Revel Resorts Casino) to help rebuild the Entertainment Platform. This included the $250 million Ovation Hall Arena, HQ2 Beachclub and Nightclub (http://hq2ac.com/), retail shops, restaurants, Top Golf Swing Suite, and overseeing dozens of simultaneous projects to meet a June 2018 deadline. Ocean Resort Casino opened on June 28th, 2018, and is now the hottest casino in Atlantic City. Since his start in Southampton, NY, Lou has produced and/or promoted over 5,000 events for audiences ranging from 100 to 100,000 people. Louis has produced events associated with Live Nation, WME, Insomniac, Tao Group, BSE, RPM Worldwide, Am Only, and Rob Promotions.
Lou’s success is the product of his tireless work ethic and an understanding of the importance of surrounding himself with the most talented people on Long Island. A winning formula for a true success story.
“I'm willing to outwork whoever I think is working harder,” Lou says. “Even if I’m on vacation, I’m working somehow. Maybe it’s me going to a restaurant, seeing something I like, and photographing it. Maybe it’s checking out a new sound system. It’s always like that for me. When I’m up, I’m totally knocking at it every day.”
“I’m also focused on putting together a great team, assembling the best, and getting them to believe in what I'm doing. It’s like Steve Jobs said about building success by finding truly gifted people and not settling for 'B' and 'C' Players, but really going for the 'A' Players.”
Born and bred on Long Island, Lou has stepped offshore to build a reputation as one of the top event promoters in the country — producing events from stadiums to beach venues for the biggest acts in Electronic Music, Singer, Celebrity, and Athlete events.
Work History
Present to Past – Position
UFO Live Arena - Founder
HQ2 Beachclub - Nightclub - Director
Ocean Resort Casino – Entertainment Director
Goldfish From Pluto – President / Co-owner
BloodManor, Long Island – Co-Owner
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment – Lead Strategic Marketing and Event Planning
Nassau Coliseum – Lead Local Promoter
Identity Festival – Territory Promoter
Insomniac Live Nation – Director of NYC Branded Shows
Electric Daisy Carnival NYC – Lead Promoter
Tao Group Marquee – Promotional Development
RPM Worldwide Lead Strategic Marketing
Pacha NYC – Head Promotional Director
Governors Island Tent – Partner
Asseteria – Partner
Love Nightclub – Partner
Glo Nightclub – Long Island Promotional Director
Posh Nightclub – Promotional Director
DJ Jonathan Peters – Manager
Lou B Industries Inc – President / Owner, Producing 200+ Events Annually
Electronic Kingdom – President, Management Company and Record Label
Tavern nightclub Southampton – Owner
Life Nightclub Southampton – Owner
Nightclubs Owned
· Life in Southampton, NY — 3 years
·
Space
in Southampton, NY — 1 year
·
Tavern
in Southampton, NY — 6 years