Enter House of Blues, Next Big Shrine to Music, Merchandising

Some chief executives take their counsel from boards of directors. Others rely on brain trusts, or their spouses. Isaac Tigrett has an Indian swami named Sai Baba.

The Hard Rock Cafe co-founder credits Baba, his spiritual adviser, with persuading him to take a second run at the restaurant business after he flirted with retirement. “He said Hard Rock was high school,” Tigrett recalled, “and now it’s time to go on to the university.”

Tigrett’s higher education has come in the form of the House of Blues, which hopes to do for the blues what Hard Rock did for rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. After successful launches in Cambridge, Mass., and New Orleans, the third House opens May 3 on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip.

House of Blues is a departure from Hard Rock--it celebrates a historic musical culture instead of pop culture and is largely based around live entertainment. But Tigrett, who grew up listening to the blues in Tennessee, has the same global aspirations for the restaurant-nightclub and has already ventured into merchandising, publishing, radio and TV production and a soon-to-be announced record deal, in addition to supporting a blues foundation.

Backers of the endeavor range from comedian Dan Aykroyd (who calls Tigrett a visionary) to the investment arm of Harvard University. House of Blues Inc., the corporate entity, raised $32 million through a private placement handled by Montgomery Securities last year, and it plans to go out with another $10-million private placement later this year.

While the blues has never enjoyed the same level of popularity as rock or rap, especially in a trendy city like Los Angeles, Tigrett says that’s reversible.

“I grew up in the Northern Delta region, and I felt deeply the influences of that world,” said Tigrett, who has had to fight off accusations that he is ripping off African American culture. “I also saw that culture dying. These locations will become beacons for that cultural expression.”

Tigrett hopes to bring about his blues renaissance partly by showcasing in live performances the historic links between pioneers of the form such as Robert Johnson and modern-day groups such as Aerosmith (an investor) and Z.Z. Top.

House of Blues doesn’t release sales figures, but sources say the venture is going well so far. If the company continues to meet expectations, Tigrett plans to go public by the end of next year.

One of those who believes in his vision is Jheryl Busby, president of Motown Records. Busby ended up as a House of Blues board member after initially approaching Tigrett for advice on a themed restaurant chain Motown is considering.

He says House of Blues’ rigid devotion to cultural authenticity--including its “juke joint” design and plaster cast ceilings featuring the images of blues legends--separates it from chains that capitalize on current trends. “It’s far beyond anything I’ve ever seen,” Busby said. “It really does entertain, educate and serve as a shrine.”

Ever the iconoclast, the 45-year-old Tigrett conducts much of his business on a private railroad car done up in a classic Indian motif. Sitting on a plush embroidered couch during a recent interview inside the car at Union Station, he is dressed totally in black in homage to his guru and is buffeted by the twin sensations of burning incense and blaring blues music. A picture of Baba rests alongside artifacts rescued from a maharajah’s palace. On his left wrist are two watches. One, which works, is for telling the time. The other, which doesn’t, is a gift from Baba.

After living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle for years, Tigrett is now a settled father of four, married to Ringo Starr’s ex-wife, Maureen. He has a home in Los Angeles, but still considers London his primary residence, at least when he’s not traveling in his private railroad car.

Friends say Tigrett’s natural shrewdness is tempered by serenity since he got religion. He casually refers to Baba as “my master,” and says that “it’s pretty fantastic to have a saint as a business adviser.”

Tigrett’s devotion to Baba is such that he does business in multiples of nine, the guru’s chosen number. Thus, the $9-million investment in the West Hollywood House of Blues branch, and the New Orleans branch’s address: 225 Decatur St.

His exotic nature might scare off investors if Tigrett hadn’t already demonstrated such a flair for merchandising with Hard Rock Cafe, which he and Peter Morton founded in 1971. The restaurants became a global phenomenon before Tigrett sold his interest in the business for a reported $30 million in personal gain.

Tigrett’s returns from the sale angered some public investors, who claimed they were shortchanged. But Tigrett said the price was set by the market. Whatever the controversy, he had no trouble lining up new investors for House of Blues two years ago.

The biggest outside stake is held by Aeneas Group, the private investment wing of Harvard University’s deep-pocketed Harvard Management Co. A partner, John Sallay, said the group was “very excited” when Montgomery Securities brought them together with Tigrett.

“We did our due diligence, financial modeling and talked to more people than Isaac knows he knows,” Sallay said. “We concluded that while it was certainly not a sure thing, it was an exciting investment opportunity.”

While “a few of the people at stodgy old Harvard were concerned” about Tigrett’s unconventional style, Sallay added, “we could tell pretty quickly that Isaac had a creativity, a spark, an entrepreneurial flair that you really don’t see that often.”

One concern for any investor is a saturation of themed restaurants, which include Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood, Harley Davidson and others. But Laurie Lively Smith, a restaurant analyst with Seidler Cos. in Los Angeles, said such chains historically have done well.

“These restaurants tend to not have the same earnings as typical restaurants, because they do an inordinate amount of merchandise sales,” she said.

Plans call for opening the next House of Blues in New York in February. Then it will spread to Paris, London, Las Vegas and Chicago. That rapid expansion brings inevitable comparisons to Hard Rock Cafe, but Tigrett says there’s one big difference.

“We’re not interested in being the McDonald’s of blues--or the Hard Rock of blues, for that matter,” he said. “It’s much more diverse than that. We want to be the greatest live music hall in America.”