Bret Bair is a Sacramento music-venue owner, operator, and talent buyer who, in partnership with Eric Rushing, founded and ran several of downtown Sacramento's most prominent live-music venues, including Ace of Spades and Goldfield.[1][2] He is described as "one of the forces behind the music venues Ace of Spades and Goldfield, among other local businesses."[3]
At a glance
- Co-owner of Ace of Spades, the downtown Sacramento all-ages venue that debuted Feb. 9, 2011.[1]
- Business partner of Eric Rushing across multiple Sacramento venue ventures.[1][4][2][3]
- With Rushing, operated and booked The Boardwalk from late 2014 until stepping away in early 2017.[4]
- Drove the creation of the all-ages venue project that became Holy Diver in the former Starlite Lounge building.[2][3]
Background
According to UC Davis Magazine, Bair graduated from UC Davis in 1995, then left law school to manage a rock band.[5] He went on to manage several major-label acts in Los Angeles, including Papa Roach and Hoobastank, before returning to Sacramento.[5] Bair and Rushing have described themselves as "native Sacramentans."[6]
Role in the scene
Bair operates as a venue owner and talent buyer rather than as a performer. His stated booking philosophy centers on programming "artists from a wide range of genres," which he credited (alongside Sacramento being "a top 25 market") for Ace of Spades' early success.[1] He has repeatedly framed his ventures around serving the local scene and all-ages audiences, saying of one new project that they were "doing it for the kids" and that the venue would "cater to the local scene as well as up-and-coming national acts."[2]
He is consistently identified as a local Sacramento operator: he gave "the City of Sacramento and its suburbs a shout-out" and thanked "all the local artists who have played our local shows," and Submerge describes him as a figure behind venues and "other local businesses" in the city.[1][3] On opening Ace of Spades, Bair said: "I'm honored to bring this to Sacramento. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to put my little stamp on the city."[5]
Ace of Spades
With co-owner Eric Rushing, Bair launched Ace of Spades, a 1,000-plus-capacity all-ages music club in downtown Sacramento.[1][2] The venue debuted Feb. 9, 2011 with a sold-out Rob Zombie show and, in its first year, hosted acts ranging from Tesla and Deftones to Snoop Dogg and Mastodon, alongside many local and regional acts.[1] Bair recalled the Snoop Dogg booking as his most memorable first-year moment.[1] In its debut year the venue was ranked No. 52 on Pollstar's 2011 year-end worldwide top-100 club venue list by ticket sales; Bair said he and Rushing "always felt that the city and its passionate music fans would support a larger music venue if we could get the talent."[1]
The pair grew Ace of Spades from approximately 60–80 shows in its first year to nearly 160 shows by 2015.[7]
Live Nation acquisition (2016)
In February 2016, Bair and Rushing sold Ace of Spades to Live Nation's House of Blues division for an undisclosed sum.[8][9] Bair described the deal as favorable: "It was a decent chunk of change. It wasn't cheap. We didn't give it away. It was a really great deal for us."[8] Following the sale, both Bair and Rushing remained on as employees to continue heading daily management of Ace of Spades, leading House of Blues Entertainment's booking, promotion, and business initiatives in the Sacramento area.[9][8] In a joint statement, Bair and Rushing said: "As native Sacramentans, we have been proud to bring world class talent to our hometown and establish Ace of Spades as one of the premier music venues in the country of its size."[9]
Goldfield and other ventures
Bair and Rushing are jointly identified as founders/owners of Goldfield (Goldfield Trading Post) in addition to Ace of Spades.[4][2] As of 2017, Bair and his team also had several other projects "in the pipeline": a bar called The Cabin in a former tattoo-parlor space near Kupro's on 21st Street, and a country bar called The Tackle Box planned for the suburban space formerly known as The Body Shop.[3]
The Boardwalk (2014–2017)
From late 2014, Rushing and Bair operated and booked The Boardwalk, the long-running all-ages club in the Sacramento area (Rushing had also booked the room around 2000–2010).[4] In late 2014 the pair were rumored to have considered purchasing the closing Midtown venue Witch Room to keep it as a live-music space, but Rushing told Submerge they "walked away from the deal."[10] In early 2017 the two stepped away from The Boardwalk to focus on their other ventures, returning the room to original owner Mark Earl ahead of its 30th-anniversary remodel.[4]
Holy Dive Bar / Holy Diver
In January 2017, Bair and Rushing announced plans for a new all-ages venue called Holy Dive Bar, intended to be comparable in size to The Boardwalk and located in the suburbs (reportedly near Madison Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, in a space formerly called The Body Shop).[2] By August 2017, after permitting setbacks pushed them to relocate the project downtown, Bair confirmed the venture would instead take over the former Starlite Lounge building (long known earlier as The Townhouse) under the name Holy Diver.[3] Bair described the planned format as "bands upstairs, DJs downstairs" and said he wanted the space to be "a cultural epicenter," aiming to secure all-ages conditions from the City of Sacramento "similar to Ace of Spades."[3]
Old Ironsides (2022–2024)
In 2022, Bair, Rushing, and Anthony Paganelli (co-owners of Holy Diver) purchased Old Ironsides, Sacramento's storied dive bar and music venue. They sold the venue in 2024 to new owners.[11]