A cloud hangs over Jannus Landing. The man who runs the concert courtyard, Jack Bodziak, was arrested May 27 on charges that he failed to pay to the state more than $200,000 in sales tax he collected from customers at the site.
Three concerts have been pulled from the Jannus Landing docket: The Hold Steady, Gogol Bordello and Taking Back Sunday.
The question on everyone's mind: What will become of St. Petersburg beloved concert venue? Very few people want to talk about the situation on the record. Bodziak made his first public comment about the Jannus situation last week, reading this prepared statement to CL over the phone on Friday: "We are doing everything in our power to cooperate with the Department of Revenue and feel it is in all of our best interests to stay open, and we are confident that we will continue to do great shows for the Bay area for many years to come. We're still actively booking shows, and this week we just confirmed the Bravery and CKY."
I interviewed a few insiders on the local concert scene and pieced together an overview of the venue's plight and possible scenarios for its future.
The consensus: It's unlikely that we'll see tumbleweeds rolling through the courtyard any time soon — or down the line. Jannus Landing is simply too valuable an entertainment hub, too much a destination point, for it to go dark. "The location is not in trouble; the business that's run out of that location is in trouble," says Dave Hundley, co-owner of No Clubs Productions, which regularly books shows at Jannus Landing. "I think Jack will do everything in his power to keep it going — maybe bring in someone with more money. Everyone and his brother wants to be a concert promoter. [Jannus Landing] could change hands, but it's taken years to establish that place and someone is going to want to produce concerts there."
Jannus Landing is owned by St. Pete Jannus Inc., which lists Tony Amico (who was unavailable for comment) as president and Bodziak as secretary. Insiders say that Amico owns the vast majority, if not all, of the property. One scenario: If Bodziak cannot extricate himself form his legal troubles, Amico could find another promoter to come in and run Jannus Landing.
The Gogol Bordello and Talking Back Sunday shows were pulled by Live Nation, the national concert promotion firm, which usually books shows at Jannus in conjunction with No Clubs. While Bodziak's legal troubles played a part in Live Nation's moves, insiders say that other factors were involved as well. The courtyard hosted a sold-out show by Matisyahu and Les Claypool on June 1. In all, outside concert promoters other than Live Nation do not seem reluctant to book concerts at Jannus. If at some point Bodziak has to curtail further bookings, that could diminish activity at Jannus, but there is no concrete indication that will happen.
Currently, Jannus Landing's website lists seven more concerts in June, four in July and three in August. That's about par for this time of year. What happens after that is, of course, impossible to predict, but the smart bet says that Jannus Landing will continue to host shows.
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2009.