Today marks the one-week anniversary of Enrico Banducci's passing, but as the undisputed "impresario of North Beach," the retrospectives keep rolling in. We particularly enjoyed the SoCal take on the man whose legendary nightclub the hungry i played a blithe yang to the Beats' darker yin, launching dozens of careers in the process, from Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand (who appeared on the same memorable 1963 bill) to political satirist Mort Sahl.
Furthermore, Banducci started three movements, according to Brad Rosenstein, curator at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum:
1) The hungry i was the first club to have that longtime symbol of the underground comedy club: the brick wall behind the stage.
2) With Sahl as his first performer, Banducci was responsible for the genesis of satirical political comedy. Jon Stewart, sadly, was not involved in said innovation.
3) The hungry i played a key role in the worldwide rise of folk music, giving the stage to the Limeliters folk group, the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others.
· Enrico Banducci, 85; owned hungry i nightclub [LAT]
· ENRICO BANDUCCI: 1922-2007: The impresario of North Beach [Chron]
