Night Cadet performing at Chop Suey in 2013 as part of the inaugural Mo Wave festival (Image: CHS)

Rettig’s alter ego plays The Escondite weekly

Since Chop Suey went on the market in August, Seattle live music fans have fretted over losing yet another concert venue on Capitol Hill. Well, here’s some potentially good news: CHS has learned that Chop Suey’s prospective buyer already runs a live music and food venue in Los Angeles and is making plans to partner with a LA musician on the deal.

The agent working on the sale of the 12-year-old club told CHS an agreement was being negotiated but had not yet been signed and wouldn’t identify any potential buyers. The business is still being listed for sale.

Last month, Erin Carnes, the co-owner of a Los Angeles club, and her musician business partner Brianna Rettig formed a new business at Chop Suey’s E Madison address.

Carnes is co-owner of The Escondite, a live music venue and burger joint in downtown LA.

Carnes and Rettig declined to comment. So far, paperwork filed on the new business offers no additional clues as to when they would take over the club. Chop Suey’s booker told the Seattle Weekly that she stopped booking shows past January 20th.

In 2009, Chop Suey was purchased by the same ownership as K’s Dream, a live music venue in Tokyo. The K’s Dream management have not returned our requests for comment.

Chop Suey landlord Scott Shapiro of Eagle Rock Ventures, previously told CHS he had no intention to sell the 77-year-old building. CHS recently broke the news of Shapiro’s acquisition of the The Harvard Exit, where permits are on file to start renovations and alterations to the building.

Shapiro tells CHS a report that the Chop Suey building has been sold is not true and that the building is not for sale.

Carnes, a longtime bartender, opened The Escondite in 2011 near LA’s Skid Row. Rettig is a Los Angeles-based singer songwriter that performs as Bunny West. According to her blog, Rettig was playing shows in Seattle earlier this summer. Bunny West plays The Escondite weekly — Tuesdays at 9:30 PM if you’re in town.

Back in August, CHS reported on the $100K asking price for Chop Suey and club booker Jodi Ecklund’s hopes that a new owner would continue to support local live music. According to the club’s website, The Escondite features free live music every night, a $4 Bloody Mary weekend brunch, craft beer on tap, and a menu of relatively insane-sounding burgers that Yelp reviewers appear to think are pretty swell.