Assembly Brings World-Class Entertainment and New Vitality to Uptown Kingston

Since the 2020 shuttering of the much-loved BSP Kingston, the town’s Stockade district has been a tad sleepy on many nights and weekends. But that is all changing thanks to two music industry veterans who call the Hudson Valley home, Peter Himberger and Drew Frankel of Impact Concerts and Artist Management.

The duo’s latest venture is Assembly Kingston, a 450-person performance space in the heart of Uptown Kingston. Their goal is to provide audiences and artists alike with a much-needed, mid-sized venue – one that fills the niche between intimate clubs like Tubby’s and the 1,500-seat Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC).

Peter and Drew are uniquely equipped for the task at hand. Through Impact’s artist management arm, they have guided the careers of both established and emerging artists, including The Gipsy Kings, Amy Helm, Gogol Bordello, Simi Stone, and Mikaela Davis, to name a few. Through the companion division, Impact Concerts, they have curated countless events in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, including large multi-act festivals like Follow the Arrow, Soulshine, Woodsist and the Felice County Fair to one-off performances at venues spanning from UPAC and Hutton Brickyards to the Bearsville Theater, Levon Helm Studios, and Colony Woodstock.

Assembly was inaugurated with two sold-out shows featuring The Felice Brothers on New Year’s. While music will be a mainstay of Assembly’s programming, Impact will also serve up dance parties, standup comedy, film screenings, markets, and even events for children.

Read on to learn more about what’s in store for the venue and the history of these two hardworking Hudson Valley impresario.

INSIDE+OUT: Before we go into Assembly, tell us a little about your life and history in the music business.

Peter Himberger: I grew up in Saugerties but couldn’t wait to get out of here, which I did when I was 18 when I moved to California. I had the great fortune of learning all about the music and film business by working with one of the true greats, Shep “Supermench” Gordon, the legendary manager of Alice Cooper, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Kenny Loggins, Anne Murray, and many more. I worked with Shep for eight years, then went off to found a management firm with my brother Ed Gerrard to work with clients like Dr. John, Gogol Bordello, Cassandra Wilson and the Gipsy Kings, who I manage to this day. I moved my family and business back to New York City in 2000 and returned here in 2006 to help my aging parents.

Drew Frankel: I grew up in New York City but was a weekender. My parents had places up here in Accord and Rhinebeck for 30 years, so I was well acquainted with and totally in love with the area, the people, and the lifestyle. I moved up here right after college in 2009 and took a job at Radio Woodstock, where I worked on events like their annual Mountain Jam. I started collaborating with Peter on events when booking the Bearsville Theater for the station. The first was an unforgettable Mardi Gras show with Dr. John in 2011. We then partnered on more events when I was at Radio Woodstock, including the Beer Boogaloos and Speed of Sound fests. I left Radio Woodstock to get into management when I took on Amy Helm. Peter and I joined forces in 2014 and I brought Amy over to Peter’s management company. Around 2018, Amy asked us to take over booking at Levon Helm Studios, and then we started booking shows at Arrowood Farms. That’s how Impact Concerts started.

Peter: Yes, we just kept going. We recently produced a great show at the Hutton Brickyards with Michael Franti and Stephen Marley. We’ve done a bunch of shows at UPAC, a recent one with Father John Misty and Violent Femmes, and we started doing a lot of smaller shows at Tubby’s. We will continue to book shows at these venues to complement what we are doing at Assembly.

Why did you decide to open Assembly Kingston?

Peter: We realized there’s no place to serve an audience between smaller area clubs and something like UPAC or Arrowood. Personally, I also want to stay close to the area. I raised my children here and am tired of my years of global travel touring with artists. With our experience as artist managers, it seemed to make sense. We come from the artist’s perspective. We care about their comfort – having great sound, good food, WIFI, and even a place for touring musicians to do their laundry. In my experience, most other promoters don’t think this way. As for the audience, we try to keep ticket and drink prices reasonable. We also want to listen to our audience – to bring in the music and entertainment they want to see.

Drew: The project took about three years to get off the ground. We’re in an old Catholic school built in 1912, which closed its doors in 2017. It was purchased by Charlie Blaichman’s company, CB Developers, in 2021, the company behind local developments like the Hotel Kinsley and the Inness Resort in Accord. We had done shows for them at Inness, and they showed it to us in October 2021. We were taken right away by the possibilities.

Peter: We’re on the third floor of the building in the old assembly hall, hence the name. There was already a fantastic stage, and we brought in top-of-the-line sound and lighting, a top-flight backline, and a Baby Grand piano. We also brought in a projection system for film and video. It holds 450 people standing and 350 for seated shows. It has an open floor plan so that we can move the bars and seating around. It is also close to the town center so we think it will have a positive financial impact, especially for our local restaurants.

Did you meet any obstacles in its creation?

Drew: There have been a few. The building is old and wasn’t designed for this. It also has a historic designation, which complicated our ability to renovate. With the venue on the third floor, we thought it would be wise to put in an elevator. We also put a lot of thought and effort into the acoustic treatments to ensure the best possible sound and to avoid leakage out of the venue. That was handled by the best in the business, John Storyk, who designed Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios. We have new double-paned windows, sound panels, and curtains to prevent sound from seeping into the neighborhood.

You had a fantastic opening weekend. Tell us about that and your booking strategy moving forward.

Peter: Well, that was almost an accident. We hadn’t intended to open until the Spring, but we had the opportunity to have The Felice Brothers, and we couldn’t say no. James Felice literally lives next door, and they trusted us to have them be our guinea pigs. We sold out both shows on December 30 and 31, then opened it up after midnight for a free dance party for the community that went to 3am. Everything went off without a hitch.

Drew: Moving forward with our programming, we know it’s essential to be versatile to do a lot of different events, not just music. We also want our events to be community-oriented. In April, we will have Yogapalooza for kids and a wellness market. In February, we partnered with Boondocks Film Society on a screening of Punch-Drunk Love with film-inspired food and cocktails from Hotel Kinsley and live music by Eleanor Friedberger. On January 31, we had the Disco Chalet dance party, which will be returning. There’s also standup comedy with Todd Barry and Beth Stelling. Our music will also be varied, with artists like Josh Ritter, Kimbra, Habibi, The Soul Rebels, and jazz great Christian McBride already scheduled. But we intend to build slowly – to do four to six shows a month to start and maybe double that in the next couple of years.

Peter: We couldn’t get into a restaurant with the Felice Brothers shows as they were all sold out. If this is any indication, Assembly will play a role in revitalizing this part of town, the nightlife part of Uptown Kingston that suffered with the closing of BSP.

This month, we’re asking people to tell us what they like best about living and working in the Hudson Valley.

Peter: I grew up here, moved away at a young age, and got involved in artist management through which I traveled the world. I have seen so many beautiful places and things in life, but nothing comes close to the Hudson Valley. You have to remember I was the proverbial small-town kid who couldn’t wait to leave for the big city. Now, it’s the only place I want to be. I have a boat, and there’s no better place to view the Hudson Valley than from the river.

Drew: The incredible people here, Kingston in particular, is the epicenter of a cool community of wonderful and talented people – many who grew up here, and many who chose to move here. So many people do creative things, and these artists love collaborating and socializing, which makes life very interesting.

Photos by Anthony Mulcahy + Wyndham Garnett

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Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.