![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NoClubs-40-courtesy.jpg\")
Tony Rifugiato and Dave Hundley (L, R, respectively in cream long sleeve and pollen polo) with Bad Religion. Credit: No Clubs \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n Tony Rifugiato and Dave Hundley (L, R, respectively in cream long sleeve and pollen polo) with Bad Religion. Credit: No Clubs \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n
\u201cForty years as an independent concert promoter\u2014it\u2019s wild,\u201d muses Vicki Huddy, sitting in a large, otherwise empty, room at The Factory in St. Petersbur<\/a>g. On Jan. 1, 2025, she became the third partner in No Clubs Presents<\/a>, joining founders Tony Rifugiato and Dave Hundley, who are affectionately known to music-industry people and scenesters as \u201cTony and Dave.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve made such a wide-ranging contribution,\u201d Huddy continues. \u201cI want to see them get their flowers.\u201d That bouquet takes the form of \u201cLive Since \u201985,\u201d an art show<\/a> held at The Factory showcasing the flyers, photos and memorabilia from the No Clubs archives. The opening night party is Saturday, Jan. 3, and the show will run until Feb. 28. There\u2019s no cover for all of it.<\/p>\n No Clubs has staged a staggering number of concerts over four decades\u2014340 of them from 1985 to 1995. Tony and Dave were the prime drivers in the early development of an alternative music scene in the Bay area by booking punk and hardcore acts in the \u201880s. Butthole Surfers, Circle Jerks, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Black Flag, The Damned, Corrosion of Conformity, 7 Seconds (10 times)\u2014that barely scratches the surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n They soon began to stretch out and include in their slate such acts as Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade (probably the first African-music shows in Tampa Bay), Pearl Jam, Richard Thompson, Marilyn Manson, Ween, Cocteau Twins, and even an artist as obscure as Mississippi bluesman R.L. Burnside. In more recent years, No Clubs has presented early-career concerts by Lady Gaga<\/a>, Chappell Roan<\/a>, Shaboozey, Kendrick Lamar<\/a>, and a fledgling Dua Lipa.<\/p>\n Most No Clubs concerts have been in venues with capacities of 200 to 2,000\u2014many of them in St. Pete at Jannus Landing and the State Theatre (now The Floridian Social)<\/a>. The duo owned and ran the State Theater from the late-\u201890s until 2018. Tony, 76, and Dave, 70, never broke into the big venues, other than a few shows. That was partly intentional and partly due to the niche they carved out in the marketplace.<\/p>\n Live Nation and AEG\u2014big players Tony and Dave have routinely subcontracted with\u2014have essentially gobbled up the concert industry, which makes No Clubs\u2019 longevity all the more impressive. Any concert market leaves a trail of wannabe promoters and slippery operators who cut corners, cheat bands, leave vendors holding the bag, and slink off into the shadows. Tampa Bay is no different. Tony and Dave have been free of such sleaze, and that\u2019s a major reason No Clubs has endured.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve always taken care of business,\u201d explains Rob Douglas, the former in-house promoter at Jannus Landing (now Jannus Live<\/a>) who has partnered extensively with No Clubs and is longtime friends with Tony and Dave. \u201cThey never stiffed anybody. They were fair. They didn\u2019t leave anyone in the lurch. When they told you they were going to do something, they fucking did it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It seems fair to describe Tony and Dave as an odd couple. Tony grew up in the Brixton district of London, a West Indian neighborhood. He\u2019s diminutive in stature, reserved but quietly charismatic, and he\u2019s not lost an iota of his British accent. Dave, raised in Safety Harbor, is a mustachioed mensch, a relentless storyteller. \u201cI\u2019ve been told I\u2019m loquacious,\u201d he says wryly.\u00a0<\/p>\n No Clubs is a partnership\u2014and a friendship. The latter has been necessary. Yes, their four-decade run has been successful, but far from easy or lucrative. \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever made more than 20, 30 grand in the early days, quite a bit more later on,\u201d Dave says. But they have not gotten anywhere close to rich.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their adult lives have been an ongoing cycle of booking shows and promoting the hell out of them, then hoping and praying that enough tickets sell to break even and hopefully generate a profit. Imagine scheduling what seems like a surefire thing and watching it bomb for some inexplicable reason. On the other hand, imagine a prescient booking that sells out within days and hauls in some serious coin. Imagine hearing the cheers of a packed house as the lights go down. Imagine spending quality time with the likes of David Byrne, Eddie Vedder, Laurie Andersen, Lou Reed and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n Early on, Tony and Dave learned how to take wins and losses in stride. \u201cYou have to,\u201d says Tony, sitting at the table with me and Vicki, a leather bag strapped over his denim jacket. \u201cWe learned not to judge it on a show-to-show basis. I learned to take into account what we did for the year. If we finished in the black, we\u2019d succeeded, and were able to continue into the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n I ask Tony how many years ended up in the red, give or take. \u201cQuite a few,\u201d he replies with a sly smile. But the shows went on.\u00a0<\/p>\n No Clubs has encountered myriad bumps in the road, several potholes (you try handling marauding skinheads), a few craters and a couple of crashes. In 1989, during a period when Tony and Dave were looking to diversify programming, they booked platinum-seller Jody Watley into the 2,200-seat Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (now the Straz). They sold about 300 tickets and took it in the shorts. Hundley recalls losing \u201c30, 40 thousand dollars. [The industry] thought we were buried. It took us a year of making payments to her agent, but we paid it off.\u201d<\/p>\n About 10 or 12 years ago, Tony remembers, \u201cEverything was black. I had very little money in the bank. I remember one morning getting up really depressed. We were running out of money because so many of the shows were downers. I thought, \u2018My God, this is gonna end now\u2014after all we\u2019ve done, all the hard work and everything. I can\u2019t see a way out.\u2019 Then I thought, \u2018Y\u2019know what? Screw it. I\u2019m not gonna let that happen. I\u2019m gonna focus harder on what we\u2019re doing.\u2019 And from then on we started taking [off] again.\u201d<\/p>\n No Clubs\u2019 wild beginnings<\/p>\n Both were music fiends. Both were in their 30s. Their tastes overlapped. Neither was into punk.<\/p>\n Dave Hundley had spent a year-and-a-half on the road as an advance promoter for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where he embraced the credo \u201cthe show must go on.\u201d He was running monitors at the Agora Ballroom in Tampa<\/a> for the likes of Ultravox and Psychedelic Furs. Tony Rifugiato lived in Sarasota and owned Daddy Kool Records. (The store is now located in the Factory and he still owns it.) He was also DJ\u2019ing, booking one-hit-wonder track acts like Shannon and Planet Rock at a skating rink, organizing breakdance competitions, and other ad hoc ventures in the lower rungs of the entertainment business.<\/p>\n A mutual acquaintance thought the two should meet, so set up a get-together at the Stuffed Pepper, a bar on St. Pete\u2019s Central Avenue that played local acts. The meeting went well. Dave told Tony to call him if he needed any help. Tony said he would.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRELATED CONTENT<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tClub Hoppers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n No Clubs celebrates 20 years of filling venues big and small with sounds.<\/p>\n The first No Clubs concert happened as a lark. In early December 1985, Tony got a call out of the blue from Scooter Melton, who booked Act IV, a punk\/new wave club in Tampa that occasionally presented up-and-coming national acts. As Tony remembers it, Scooter said, \u201cI screwed up\u2014I can\u2019t do this show, because it\u2019s too big for [Act IV]. But I told the agent that you would do it.\u201d Tony asked: Why me? \u201cHe told me that word had gotten around that I was a reliable guy who could probably pull this off.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The act in question was Suicidal Tendencies. Tony seized the opportunity and set up the deal with the agent. He had nine days to put together a show for Dec. 20. Tony called the Cuban Club in Ybor City, which had an open date. He set the ticket price at $7 at the door. He called Dave, who put up some cash toward the artist fee. \u201cI always tell people that I started in this business with $10,000 and\u2014you know what?\u2014I\u2019ve still got that $10,000,\u201d Dave quips. Neither partner can definitively recall how much they paid Suicidal Tendencies, but they agree it was around $2,500. Dave enlisted soundman Mike Abdishi, who, Tony recalls, charged a princely sum but brought in high-level gear.<\/p>\n The concert, held in the Cuban Club basement, sold out. The room was packed with 600 or 700 kids. Slam-dancing ensued, but nothing occurred beyond the normal mayhem at a punk show. \u201cEverything went perfect,\u201d Dave says. The band benefited from production way above punk standards, plus catering, a dressing room. In effect, Suicidal tendencies received first-class treatment and the audience got a terrific show. After it was over, No Clubs handed the band a $750 bonus. As Tony recalls, \u201cThe road manager looks at us and says, \u2018Y\u2019know, this is the first time we\u2019ve gotten a bonus on the whole American tour.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Two neophyte promoters had pulled it off. Tony figured that was it. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t planned to do another show,\u201d he says. What prompted the intrepid duo to forge on? \u201cThe phone never stopped ringing,\u201d he replies. Word had gotten around within the insulated world of punk touring that two guys in Tampa Bay could be relied upon to do business in an honest and ethical way.<\/p>\n The rest, as the shopworn saying goes, is history.<\/p>\n Amid all the hard work, stress, negotiations, logistics, chaos, emergencies, the late nights into early mornings, let\u2019s not forget something. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of fun over 40 years.\u201d Dave says.\u00a0<\/p>\n And while the tandem has made a substantial contribution to the Bay area\u2019s music scene and culture overall, it\u2019s also simpler than that. Tony sums up their legacy thusly: \u201cIt\u2019s only in the last few years that I\u2019ve really understood that what we do has made a lot of people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n The shows must go on<\/p>\n No Clubs brought in Huddy, 33, to help move the company forward. Tony and Dave\u2014both of whom have dealt with serious health scares\u2014have scaled back their activity, especially when it comes to boots on the ground. Huddy has taken over most day-of-show duties. She also handles ticketing, advances the shows and heads up the small marketing team.<\/p>\n Like her partners, the St. Pete native delved deeply into music from an early age, starting with Joy Division. In her mid-teens she began attending shows, many of them at the State Theatre and Jannus Landing. She joined band street teams, handed out flyers, sold merch. \u201cI liked every aspect,\u201d Huddy says of the concert scene. \u201cI liked that anything can happen at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n She decided to forego college and instead scored an internship with Tony at age 18. Huddy worked at Daddy Kool, helped market shows, and contributed anywhere she was needed. It took her 15 years, but she made partner. \u201cA lot of times I come to Tony and Dave with weird or interesting pitches and ideas that they wouldn\u2019t think of doing,\u201d she says. \u201cI think they are very appreciative of that because at this point they\u2019re not constantly researching what\u2019s the current trend or what\u2019s speaking to this generation.\u201d<\/p>\n I ask Huddy for her vision of No Clubs as it forges onward. She hesitates, then chuckles, \u201cUm, that\u2019s a big one,\u201d she replies. \u201cTony and Dave have set a really great foundation to work off of. What I hope to bring going forward is more community-driven things\u2014events and partnerships that help our local scene, which has its ebbs and flows. Also to move forward in an industry that is not kind to independents. It would be beautiful to see No Clubs make it to 80 years, but I also understand that the industry is very volatile.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hopeful, and I\u2019m gonna put as much effort as possible into making sure we survive as long as the world will let us.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Dec. 25 \u2013 31, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/live-since-85-opening-party-flyer.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tony-Rifugiato-vintage.jpg\")
Tony Rifugiato Credit: No Clubs \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SuicidalTendencies_NoClubs.jpeg\")
A poster for Suicidal Tendencies\u2019 Dec, 20, 1985 concert at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida. Credit: No Clubs \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Victoria-Huddy-No-Clubs.jpg\")
No Clubs\u2019 Victoria Huddy, who signed on as a partner on Jan. 1, 2025. Credit: No Clubs \/ Courtesy<\/p>\n