FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Jason Arnold
510.328.1350, cell 510.326.4353
jarnold@yoshis.com
http://www.yoshis.com
YOSHI'S WORLD CLASS JAZZ HOUSE & JAPANESE RESTAURANT ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & PUBLICITY
JOAN ROSENBERG, FORMER MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS, TO LEAD YOSHI'S THROUGH EXCITING GROWTH WITH NEW SAN FRANCISCO FILLMORE STREET VENUE
INTERIM PUBLICIST JASON ARNOLD TO CONTINUE MANAGEMENT OF THEME PRODUCTIONS AND PR FOR MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL & OTHERS
April 7, 2006; Oakland, CA; The coolest gig on the planet is officially off the market. Yoshi's World Class Jazz House and Japanese Restaurant is proud to announce that Joan Rosenberg, former Marketing Director for local concert promoter Bill Graham Presents (owned by Live Nation), has been appointed as Yoshi's new Director of Marketing & Publicity. Rosenberg will assume the duties of the position officially on April 17, 2006, ending a lengthy nationwide search and several months of speculation.
In the new position, Rosenberg will oversee marketing, advertising and public relations for Yoshi's music and restaurant operations. Currently located in Oakland's Jack London Square, Yoshi's is regarded as one of the greatest jazz clubs in the world, pairing its high-class Japanese cuisine and sushi with two jazz shows per night featuring such legends as McCoy Tyner, Diana Krall, and Oscar Peterson. Yoshi's placed 2nd in the JazzTimes Magazine Readers' Poll as Best 2005 Jazz Club, close behind the historic Village Vanguard in New York. Guitarist Pat Metheny once remarked about the esteemed venue, "I thought clubs like this only existed in the movies."
Yoshi's performers, patrons and diners will have even more to cheer about in 2007 as Yoshi's opens a second club and restaurant in the Fillmore District of San Francisco. The new venue, “Yoshi’s San Francisco,” is currently under construction inside a new twelve-story Fillmore Heritage Center on the corner of Fillmore and Eddy streets. In a neighborhood where musicians once came to jam in over a dozen jazz clubs, Yoshi's San Francisco will offer more jazz aficionados - 420 per show - greater opportunities to enjoy world-class jazz and expand the list of major jazz destinations in the U.S.
While some people would get a migraine pondering the thought of promoting multiple jazz concerts across two venues every night, it's the kind of challenge that Joan Rosenberg welcomes. "I am very excited for the opportunity to be involved with marketing a world-class jazz house like Yoshi's," says Rosenberg, "The opening of the Fillmore Street club and restaurant is even more exciting. It's very hard to get the San Francisco and peninsula residents to drive over the bridge even for the big rock shows. Soon they will have year-round access to enjoy some of the best live jazz right in their own backyard and the musicians will have another great club to play in."
Rosenberg started out as Marketing Manager for Bill Graham Presents (BGP) in 1998. She was responsible for developing creative cross-marketing packages for BGP's annual events including New Orleans By The Bay and San Francisco New Year's Eve. She left BGP for a short time to become Senior Marketing and Communications Manager at a digital music company that was ultimately bought out by a record label. She returned to BGP in 2001 as the Publicity and Promotions Manager and shortly after that was promoted to Director of Marketing. In this role for roughly five years, she has been responsible for all aspects of advertising live entertainment at venues from 900 to 20,000 seats in various markets of Northern California and the North Western United States. Joan graduated from Oakland's Holy Names High School and obtained a B.A. in business from Holy Names University. She was born in Yonkers, New York, lived in both Manhattan and Brooklyn for most of her childhood, and now resides in the Bay Area.
"We are very excited about our new venue in San Francisco,” says Yoshi’s co-owner Kaz Kajimura. “We feel that Joan Rosenberg is the perfect person to take Yoshi's to the next level.”
Yoshi’s Artistic Director Peter Williams concurs. "I'm thrilled to have Joan on board. She brings a great blend of enthusiasm, experience, and professionalism to Yoshi's.”
Joan replaces Jason Arnold of Theme Productions, who has managed Yoshi's publicity and marketing in an interim capacity for the past four months. As Rosenberg enters her position at the renowned jazz club, Arnold will focus his efforts on promoting the 49th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Presented by Verizon, September 15-17. He began working on behalf of Yoshi's in January 2006 after the departure of eight-year Yoshi's veteran Marshall Lamm.
Williams adds, "Change in an organization like Yoshi's is challenging, and losing a key member of a small staff can be difficult. However, this transition could not have been smoother, and this has turned into a great opportunity for us. I am so excited about our future and am looking forward to working with Joan. My sincere thanks also to Jason Arnold for stepping up and picking up the slack in this transition period."
For a current schedule or more information on Yoshi's, please visit www.yoshis.com.
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