Venuewatch: The Viper Room to roll out

There's two cheers for the purchase of LA's The Viper Room to Harry Morton.

The Sunset Strip venue is much more than "hey, dude, I did a speedball - I'm gonna die", at least as far as the local music scene is concerned. And Morton respects what it is:

"I want to make it real clear that I have no intentions of remaking the brand. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," says Harry Morton. "I plan on maintaining the integrity of the brand while elevating the focus of the music and live entertainment."

What could possibly go wrong?

"I'm looking forward to expanding the brand worldwide, while sticking by the core beliefs I maintain at all my companies: staying true to brand, integrity and identity."

Oh, that. Morton intends to turn the Viper Room into a chain, simultaneously showing he understands what's important and valuable about the place while not realising the vital importance of place. This reminds us of the ill-starred plans to spin out the Marquee brand as an (inevitably) marquee brand a few years back.

Morton's father founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain - so, at least we can conclude that taking something visceral and turning it into a safe commodity is a genetic predisposition.