JAXX - On The Market? (article from S'Field Connection

Jaxx Unplugged?
Jaxx owner considers selling legendary rock club.
By Amber Healy
January 24, 2008


Jaxx owner considers selling legendary rock club.





The little rock club that could may have a new owner by the end of the year.
"It was a slow news day and I thought Iâ??d shake things up," said Jaxx owner Jay Nedry, who recently made the announcement heâ??s considering selling the heavy metal club he has owned since 1994.
But music fans take note: he is not completely sure the sale will go through.
With an asking price of $1.2 million for the 7,000 square foot venue on Rolling Road south of Old Keene Mill Road, any prospective buyer has to meet Nedryâ??s high standards and his conditions.
"Anyone who buys this place will have to pay an additional fee to keep me on as a consultant for a year," Nedry said.
The reason?
"Iâ??ve owned this place longer than anyone," he said. "Iâ??ve worked hard to make this one of the top 10 metal venues in the world. I know how to make this place run without annoying any of our neighbors. I need to find someone who will take this place over and maintain the positive things Iâ??ve worked for."

WHILE NEDRY is considering all offers and has so far received about 20 in the two weeks since he first "floated the idea," Nedry said six serious offers were serious enough to pique his curiosity.
A graduate of Lee High School who grew up in a house on the Springfield Country Club golf course behind the club, Nedry said he hopes the future owner, if there is one, will continue the tradition of giving local bands a place to play.
"There have been four incarnations of this place, and in all four, my band the RoadDucks have played on opening night," he said.
He is retaining the right to walk away from any sale that may involve someone who "just wants to own the club so he has a cool place to hang out."
In the more than 10 years he has owned the venue, Nedry said heâ??s become friends with many of the bands he loved in the 1980s, including Slaughter, Dokken and Poison.
"Brett Michaels [lead singer of Poison] is a friend of mine, he usually plays here twice a year," he said.
Maybe the most unlikely memorable show was done by country star Tim McGraw, joined onstage by Kenny Chesney with the Dixie Chicks in the audience.
"They were playing a show at RFK Stadium the night before and they stopped by," he said. "At the end of the night, Tim slid the $17,000 we made off T-shirt sales and everything across the bar to me and told me to write out a check to Childrenâ??s Hospital. Heâ??s one of the nicest guys Iâ??ve ever met, just real genuine and down to earth."
What life after Jaxx may look like is a mystery to its owner.
"I might teach school, I might go back to law school and do pro-bono work," Nedry mused. "Honestly, I donâ??t know what Iâ??m going to do. I just wanted to think about doing something different."

Legendary sure is an overused word.

Maybe Montgomery County could buy the place and give it to Clear Channel.

The big question is will the new owner keep Jaxx a venue where local bands and metal acts play in the metro area. Let's hope the music that the venue popular stays in place.

Have to admit that I haven't been on their website but, apparently, they are still booking shows through the Spring. The following is part of an email I got from Run Run Run. (Wonder if they know of the sale?)

…we hope to see you on our Spring tour beginning Feb. 28th. Look for us at Jaxx in Springfield, April 9th. Stay well and have a happy one…

FYI: Run Run Run is not a Metal band, for what it's worth.

I want to buy it so I could make the male employees dress in trashy outfits just like the female ones do now. No patrons would want to mess with a security team dressed in underwear and chaps.

And I really want to buy it to redo their website. http://www.jaxxroxx.com/

metal is, for the most part, stuck in the 90's. should we really expect otherwise from associated websites?

^^^ what is your statement saying!!! Metal is stuck in the 90s?

Originally posted by sweetcell:
metal is, for the most part, stuck in the 90's. should we really expect otherwise from associated websites?

Wow metal is stuck in the 90s? Do you live under a rock? Grunge actually killed metal in the early 90s and besides pantera and the metallica(selling out) metal was dead you couldnt even get a metal record in your local record store. Metal definetly is not at the same place it was in the 80s but now there are quite a handful of really good metal bands that can sell out practically any club on any day and for some arena. Modern rock is the one that has gone to shit since 2000 really. It's all love songs and shit on the radio and a lot of your mainstream rock bands havent even played a show before their first album. Just cause it's a genre that has a lot of bands touch a whole bunch of issues that your little bands wouldnt have the balls to you shouldnt use it as a scapegoat on this forum. Your lucky if your drummer has half the talent as some metal drummers.This why I use this forum a lot to get good laughs from shitheads like you.

düde - thät replÿ was sø metäl.

But true.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
düde - thät replÿ was sø metäl.

Originally posted by Lambofgodfan:

Originally posted by sweetcell:
metal is, for the most part, stuck in the 90's. should we really expect otherwise from associated websites?

Wow metal is stuck in the 90s? Do you live under a rock? Grunge actually killed metal in the early 90s and besides pantera and the metallica(selling out) metal was dead you couldnt even get a metal record in your local record store. Metal definetly is not at the same place it was in the 80s but now there are quite a handful of really good metal bands that can sell out practically any club on any day and for some arena. Modern rock is the one that has gone to shit since 2000 really. It's all love songs and shit on the radio and a lot of your mainstream rock bands havent even played a show before their first album. Just cause it's a genre that has a lot of bands touch a whole bunch of issues that your little bands wouldnt have the balls to you shouldnt use it as a scapegoat on this forum. Your lucky if your drummer has half the talent as some metal drummers.This why I use this forum a lot to get good laughs from shitheads like you.

You said it dude, metal is so big people really dont understand how big it is. People today listen to this radio/mtv bullshit that is complete shit and talentless.

Originally posted by biga0u812:
You said it dude, metal is so big people really dont understand how big it is.

couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm sure bands like White Zombie and Sepultura (sp) would be interested to hear metal was dead when grunge came out.

Protip: Lamb Of God got popular because of MTV. Wanna know why I know that? I promoted them to help them get a break. Not my thing to listen to, but the band paid well. So I did it.

You have no ground to stand on with that argument.

With that said: Damn, that's a lot of money for that club and all those stipulations. One wonders why he's really selling it, if he still wants to have that much invested in it.

PS: Some of the best love songs are metal. Just because radio is not chock full of metal does not always make it shit.

^^^ Some of the best love songs are from the 80s hair metal (Poison, Warrant, WhiteSnake, Motley Crue, Ratt, and even Ozzy was hair metal for a few years) which is pretty stuff on the radio. Dont get me wrong there is alot of metal on mtv and sometimes on the radio, but the underground metal scene is totally diffrent. You have hundreds of metal festivals all over the such as Wacken Open Air, Graspop, Maryland Deathfest,The Leeds and Reading Festivals, and more. The thing is they are all overshadowed by Ozzfest (Basically a Mainstream Metal Tour) here in america.

probaly didnt make much sense but watever.

Originally posted by Lambofgodfan:

Originally posted by sweetcell:
metal is, for the most part, stuck in the 90's. should we really expect otherwise from associated websites?

Wow metal is stuck in the 90s? Do you live under a rock? Grunge actually killed metal in the early 90s and besides pantera and the metallica(selling out) metal was dead you couldnt even get a metal record in your local record store. Metal definetly is not at the same place it was in the 80s but now there are quite a handful of really good metal bands that can sell out practically any club on any day and for some arena. Modern rock is the one that has gone to shit since 2000 really. It's all love songs and shit on the radio and a lot of your mainstream rock bands havent even played a show before their first album. Just cause it's a genre that has a lot of bands touch a whole bunch of issues that your little bands wouldnt have the balls to you shouldnt use it as a scapegoat on this forum. Your lucky if your drummer has half the talent as some metal drummers.This why I use this forum a lot to get good laughs from shitheads like you.

Don't champion yourself as some keeper of the flame for metal when it's to promote shit bands like Lamb of God. Locals who call themselves metal fans but never bothered to see bands like Deceased play are the problem not fans of other genres who were never involved in the first place.

Originally posted by biga0u812:
^^^ Some of the best love songs are from the 80s hair metal (Poison, Warrant, WhiteSnake, Motley Crue, Ratt, and even Ozzy was hair metal for a few years) which is pretty stuff on the radio.

Don't forget the Scorpions…still lovin you baby WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! haha

Originally posted by -kat-:
I'm sure bands like White Zombie and Sepultura (sp) would be interested to hear metal was dead when grunge came out.

White Zombie with their lip-synch play to DAT tapes live techno bullshit did more to kill real metal than Nirvana ever did. Sepultura starting out as third-rate Slayer wannabees and then later on wanting to ape Korn's sound wasn't much better.

Originally posted by TheREALHunter:

Originally posted by -kat-:
I'm sure bands like White Zombie and Sepultura (sp) would be interested to hear metal was dead when grunge came out.

White Zombie with their lip-synch play to DAT tapes live techno bullshit did more to kill real metal than Nirvana ever did. Sepultura starting out as third-rate Slayer wannabees and then later on wanting to ape Korn's sound wasn't much better.

Roots is an awesome album.

Originally posted by manimtired:

Originally posted by TheREALHunter:

Originally posted by -kat-:
I'm sure bands like White Zombie and Sepultura (sp) would be interested to hear metal was dead when grunge came out.

White Zombie with their lip-synch play to DAT tapes live techno bullshit did more to kill real metal than Nirvana ever did. Sepultura starting out as third-rate Slayer wannabees and then later on wanting to ape Korn's sound wasn't much better.

Roots is an awesome album.

I couldn't disagree with you more but if listening to it gets you through your day then more power to you :)