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Who

Dorf is a longtime music promoter, part-owner of The Knitting Factory, and founder of City Winery.

Backstory

Milwaukee native Dorf founded the Knitting Factory at its original location at 47 East Houston Street in 1987, after dropping out of the University of Wisconsin law school. The club's earliest incarnation was as a performance space for jazz musicians like John Zorn and avant-garde acts like Laurie Anderson—it also offered up poetry readings and fondue from its ground-floor cafe. It soon became a mecca for indie rock connoisseurs, and well known for its groundbreaking performances and the spot-on acoustics on its two different stages. Dorf went on to open a second Knitting Factory in LA in 2000, and used the brand to create a small alt-media empire, launching a record label and jazz festival; he also founded the Digital Club Network with Andrew Rasiej and Ted Werth with the goal of broadcasting concerts online. Alas, Dorf's rapid expansion came back to bite him when the dotcom bubble burst and his advertising and event sponsorship income withered. He subsequently transitioned away from day-to-day management of the company and has since refocused his energies on music festivals and Jewish arts projects.

Currently

Although Dorf retains a small stake in the Knitting Factory, these days he primarily organizes tribute shows and music festivals—many of them Jewish-themed—including the Downtown Seder, the Jewzapalooza, and the Oyhoo Festival. He's also been busy creating philanthropic programs centered around his Tribeca neighborhood, including Tribeca Hebrew (an after-school program for Jewish children), Tribeca Partnership, Music for Youth Foundation, and the Art Exchange. Having clearly kept a taste for the music from his youth, he's organized tribute concerts to Joni Mitchell (February 2006), Bob Dylan (November 2006), and Bruce Springsteen (April 2007). And he celebrated the unofficial "Old Knit 20th Anniversary" with a March 2007 concert at New York's Town Hall featuring Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.

On the side

In 2009, he opened City Winery, a winery, bar, and retail store where customers can customize their own bottles of vino, choosing from grapes sourced from all over the world.

Personal

Dorf lives in Tribeca with his wife, Sarah Connors, and their children, twin boys and a girl.

No joke

Although it moved to the old warehouse district of Tribeca in the early '90s, The Knitting Factory was never a knitting factory: "It's an oxymoron. There's no such thing as a knitting factory. It's a handmade thing you can't manufacture that easily."