St. Petersburg, Fla- Sitting on 1st Ave. N in the heart of St. Pete is Jannus Live, a historic music venue that’s maintained its charm since 1984. The venue operates with esteemed professionals who have seen its robust history of world-class artists ranging from hip-hop artists like DMX to reggae artists such as The Wailers.

The people who make all of this happen don’t often get their voices heard. They stand in the shadows of the landmark working endless hours to maintain a functioning atmosphere. They do this to ensure happiness to both musicians and their fans. You may bump shoulders with them and not realize that just like you, they have been at the heart of St. Pete for a long time. Its time for these voices to be heard and relay what it means to be the major players in the St. Pete music scene.

The VIP Manager Kendall Doran is just one of these shoulders you may have bumped starting her career at Jannus in 2012. Initially hired as a door girl for Club Detroit. She was attending cosmetology school but decided to stay at the venue after realizing her love for the industry. Doran’s schedule entails working the social media for Jannus, collaborating with artists on promotions, and booking and maintaining the upstairs VIP area for guests.

“I’ll work the concerts at night generally with a couple of other people to make sure everyone gets what they need, serve them, set up everything and close them out etc.,” said Doran.

Doran has seen her fair share at the concert hall, she explains one of her strangest moments involving a bomb threat when she was working the offices for Jannus early on in her career. An institutionalized man locked himself in the institutes office where he found the number to Jannus on a promotional item. Doran was the one to answer the phone where he told her bombs were coming for St. Pete.

“I was so confused, and I held him on the phone. I had my boss call the police and luckily, they found the number of how he was calling. Someone had locked themselves in the (mental health facility) office and saw a Jannus Live promo and called the first number. He was calling and threatening that there were torpedoes coming. So, I had to stay on the phone with the police and talk this guy through that,” said Doran.

The chaos that Doran had seen over the years didn’t scare her away. The VIP manager expresses her love for music as she looks over a binder listing all the events dating back from when she first started. Doran reminisced about all the concerts she saw and all the artists she remembered meeting. It’s just that history and that chaos of the venue that keeps people here and keeps people coming back.

One of those to come back to the St. Pete area is Marshall Lowe. Originally from the St. Pete area Lowe spent the last 12 years booking and owning venues in the Carolinas where he now is taking the position of Vice President with Jannus.

Despite his hiatus from the area, Lowe has a long history with Jannus being friends with the original owners. Lowe would bring Jack Bodziak bands to perform at the former Jannus Landing. The current owner, Jeff Knight, a friend of Lowe’s for 20 years, continuously offered Lowe to come work at the venue. Lowe declined Knight’s offers where he focused on his own business ventures until it became too much to manage for him. Lowe then in January made the change to move back to the local area and begin his role at Jannus.

“At one point we were owning or booking seven venues in the Carolinas, and I did that for about 12 years, and it was fun, and it was great…but it just got to be too much. Alright, I love this business, I want to be in it for another 10 to 15 years but if I’m doing it at this rate and speed, I’m not going to make it,” said Lowe.

Lowe maintaining his tenured role in the music industry brings nothing short of the mass of stories he’s collected over the years. From owning venues, to co-owning Suwannee Hulaween and other major festivals, failures to triumphs, and learning to say no to a bad deal. Lowe details the most important lesson he’s learned in his career, relationships.

Lowe describes how relationships are immensely important. From a story he told of first starting out in his career struggling to book artists before his big break, a prominent agent, Dan Weiner, told Lowe, “Always be available, always pick up the phone and always return the call and you’ll be successful in this business.”

The biggest hardship to the music industry was the pandemic which saw drastic changes post-covid. Lowe relates to the hardships discussing that once the lockdowns were over, people yearned to go see shows again. Because people wanted to see their favorite bands, their prices went up and so did ticket sales.

“Because the demands out there, (bands) we’re going to take advantage of it and they would increase their prices, there guarantees and ticket prices went up as well as result…on the flip side to be fair to the bands, touring has gotten more expensive and that the bands to some extent needed to raise their guarantees just to be able to survive.”

Based on Lowe’s 31 years in the industry he accounts that when the artists are getting too much money, tickets are too high, and promoters are starting to lose money. The market evens itself out and the pendulum swings back and bands will go down on their booking price.

Lowe was only able to say so much about upcoming events but that some things are in the works right now but to keep an eye online for them and that even if half of what they’re doing is accomplished, people are going to be really excited for what’s next at Jannus Live.

UPDATE:

Jannus Live owner steps down after deadly boating crash

St. Petersburg,Fla -Jeff Knight will be stepping down from his role as sole operator of Jannus Live after a boating incident leaving one person dead and 10 injured, according to USA Today News.

On Sunday April 27th the owner and operator of Jannus Live ran into a ferry on the water channels in Clearwater. The collision happened just before 9 o’clock killing passenger Jose Castro and injuring 10 others. After the incident from a video that went viral, Knight allegedly appeared to have left the scene of the incident.

Knight’s lawyer said, "Any suggestion that Mr. Knight left the scene is wholly unsupported," Hayslett wrote in the letter dated April 29, published by CNN. Knights’ attorney claims that after Knight was trying to help the passengers and even asking one of them to call 911, he had to move his boat because he was taking on water and was worried of it sinking.

Statement made by Jannus Live on April 30th:

"Effective immediately, Jeff Knight is stepping down from his position at Jannus Live and will no longer have any affiliation with the venue. 

This decision was made out of respect for the victims of the recent Clearwater Ferry tragedy and to ensure that ongoing developments do not detract from the work of talented artists, staff, and community partners who have long contributed to the success of Jannus Live.

Jannus Live will continue normal operations under its existing management team with a renewed focus on delivering world-class live entertainment to the St. Petersburg community."