Jeff John – Revolution

Jeff John – Revolution

By: Lori Smerilson Carson | Photos: Larry Marano

Raising the bar to the highest standards is what club owner Jeff John has done with Revolution Live over the past twenty years. His commitment to bringing extraordinary entertainment to his venue while creating an atmosphere that allows music and art fans to feel comfortable and confident, has definitely been noted, as well as his attributes to the South Florida community.

Catching up with John in the middle of a continuously busy schedule, he revealed some details about the club, what makes it stand out and keeps it thriving, how important the community is to him, and what South Floridians can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: How did you get involved with taking over Revolution and what made you do so?

Jeff John: I was in college and I was familiar with the property. Obviously, being in college, we used to frequent there a bunch. I actually had some friends of mine at the time that got the lease from The Chili Pepper when their run was over. That might have been 2000 or 2001 while I was in Grad school. Obviously, they had a grand plan to do some big aspirations. So, I made an investment with them and some of the things that they had put together didn’t pan out. I was just a small, very small (he laughed) investor at the time. Long story short, they had to bring in some other people. Those people didn’t have the means or capability to do anything.  When it came time that they needed money, I ended up buying them all out at pennies on the dollar and I shut it down, created the relationship with Sharisse (Pessar) and Cellar Door. It was Cellar Door at the time at Clear Channel Entertainment and obviously, Live Nation, and we started rolling from there. I guess in a roundabout, that’s how it happened. So yeah, when they came to me for money, I bought them out and I did it myself. Then we created Revolution obviously, ‘03, ‘04.

SFL Music Magazine: The twentieth anniversary is coming up.  Are there any specific plans? What can people look forward to?

John: We’re working on some things. There will be hopefully some nice activities to wrap around that. We’re not one that really does birthday parties or this and that. To me, we’re blessed to be here twenty years later, still thriving in the community, bringing new talent in, bringing obviously, main talent in, bringing entertainment to the great city of Fort Lauderdale and to South Florida. So, we’re blessed to be here for twenty years. I’m sure we’re going to do something. Just stayed tuned.

SFL Music Magazine: You’ve had many full house events. What would you say attributes to the longevity and success that you have had?

John: Well, I think there’s a couple things. Obviously, one is I always give credit in terms of where we’re at to my great relationship with Sharisse and Live Nation. It’s called Live Nation now. They’ve been a great partner of ours for twenty plus years. As I say that, I give as much credit to our staff and our people that have bought into what we’re doing. I wouldn’t be here without our staff and the people that work for us. There’s a lot more that goes on that property then just concerts, right? (he laughed). We have various different types of programming and events and catering, and all the things that go with a type of venue like this. The ancillary revenue streams. The outside promoters.  I mean, like local club people that I’ve worked with over the years. Our big event, our Day of the Dead event with Jim Hammond. I think we’re going on our twelfth year on that. We did a lot of those block parties like Mad Decent Block Party. We had like thirteen thousand people in the parking lot, in the street. So, we’ve run some really big festivals there with some of the biggest DJs in the world. Those are always fun events too. To do thirteen thousand people on a rainy Saturday toward the end of the Summer is a fantastic thing! Our ability to work with the local community. I think some of the pride moments are supporting the local community when there are issues, when there are tragedies, when there is need in the community. I can say that our company has always been there to help facilitate, fundraise, donate, how can we help the community? So, that’s always big for me because we wouldn’t be here without the community. We’ve been here twenty years. My biggest thing is that we help the community. We grow the community in the right way. We bring things into the community that wouldn’t be coming here otherwise, and at the end of the day, we hope we provide a safe, fun atmosphere for kids, adults to come and enjoy their favorite music or talent act, and I think that’s a huge reason why we’re still here twenty years later.

SFL Music Magazine: You just touched on the fact that you do give a lot back to the South Florida community through Revolution. Would you please elaborate more about that?

John: Yeah. I think one of the biggest things we did, one that we’re really proud of, that terrible day of Marjory Stoneman Douglas (High School). The tragedy over there. I think within five days of it, we put together an event. We were the first group I think that did anything, and we did it like five days after the tragedy. I think we raised eighty-five thousand dollars. We awarded seventeen Angel Scholars and a lot of money went to the people that, how do you want to say this in the nicest way? That lived. That were hurt. That were affected, but they actually lived. So, I think that was a really proud moment for us.  Obviously, anything going on within the city. Whether it’s the park fund and the police fund that we attributed to, we were a part of that. I’ve donated the venue numerous times to the police and fire department for trainings. If there’s been a need to raise money or awareness. I can’t even tell you the amount of charity work and foundation work that has come through there. We have a very close relationship with the United Way. We’ve done Rock United for years. Big fundraiser for that. I’ve worked with the (Florida) Panthers. A couple years through their run, we’ve set up some programming with those guys. Whatever we can do within the community to help support the community, be part of the community, educate the community. There’s always been, you hate to say it, people in need. Whatever has been a part of the community, we’ve tried to either donate our venue, raise awareness, raise funds. How can we help the community? I think that’s been our motto for a long time.

SFL Music Magazine: Do you have any favorite shows that you have brought to Revolution Live?

John: Yeah, I mean, there’s always a couple staples. Obviously, Chris Cornell was fantastic. Modest Mouse. If you just saw the Olympics. I don’t know if you saw the closing ceremony of the Olympics, but the first band that performed was Phoenix. We just had Phoenix about two months ago. So, now look at them. They’re playing the Olympics. Just sick!  So, they were great. Throughout the years, a lot of the up-and-coming acts like the Katy Perry’s, the Lady Gaga’s, the John Legend, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco. All the up-and-coming rock bands we’ve had numerous times. Then we’ve had some wonderful established shows. We’ve had almost all the Grateful Dead members in except Phil Lesh over my tenure there. A Tribe Called Quest was a great one. We had A Tribe Called Quest here while they were all still alive in their reunion tour. The one reunion tour that was great was the Wu-Tang Clan. Snoop Dogg was a great one. He came with a full band and sold out outside. There’s been some great ones. I try to hit a lot of the different genres. It’s just not one genre, and I think that really speaks volumes to us too is that we are extremely diversified in terms of our programming. One night could be rock. The next night could be hip hop. The next night could be country. The next night could be bluegrass. I think that’s part of our success and our programming is that we’re just not a rock club. We’re just not a jam band club. We embrace the arts. We love the arts. I think that’s been a nice part of our tenure here is being able to be that diversified. Again, I give a lot of that credit back to my relationship with LN.

SFL Music Magazine: I’m not sure who is left, but who would you like to see come to Revolution Live who hasn’t been there before?

John: Well, I mean, you got to be somewhat realistic, right? I could say, hey, I want Mick Jagger in the room, but I’m also realistic. I think that’s a hard one to say because I don’t want to speculate. Who did we miss? We missed The Strokes. I think they might have gone to Culture Room over the years. There’s been a couple. I would probably say with all the stuff that we’ve done; we’ve probably had ninety plus percent of all the acts come to our place. There’s been a couple that went to Culture Room or maybe our venue wasn’t available that night or something like that.  Yeah, I don’t know. That’s a tough one. You kind of caught me on that one because I don’t want to say, hey, again, I would like Mick Jagger in the room. On the other hand, I’m realistic. Unless The Rolling Stones are gonna start in Miami one day and want a rehearsal date. Like that was cool with the Pixies. I don’t know if you knew that. The Pixies played our room a couple years ago, but they played under a different name. They called it “Debaser” which is one of their songs because they were opening up in West Palm Beach and they needed to rehearse, and they wanted to do a live show before they opened up for, I think it was Kings of Leon. I forgot who it was that they were opening up for, but we did the Pixies as an undercard and that was awesome! That was really, really cool! There are some bands like Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, but they’re mostly wrapped around like Lollapalooza and these bigger events that you know, they’ll do offshoots. We’ve been blessed. I think we had all the Marley brothers at one time. I’ve had all the Marley guys in numerous times. Whether it’s for parties or concerts. Any work with Damian or Stephen or Ziggy, but I want to say, one time I think Ziggy was playing and all the brothers came up, and we had Ziggy, Damian, Stephen and Ky-Mani Marley all onstage at one time singing Bob Marley. That was probably one of the coolest, coolest moments I can really image. That was pretty cool!

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything else in particular you want South Florida and Floridians in general to know about Revolution?

John: It’s a great room. It’s a great sounding room. It’s a safe room. We take extreme pride in keeping the place safe and clean for the artists, for the guests, for our staff. Again, I say, we’ve been here twenty years. If we didn’t run that kind of place, we wouldn’t be here. I guess my hat would be off to all the local people that have supported us for twenty years, and just to say thank you to the community. Thank you to the guests that come and feel comfortable, and come see their favorite music, their event in our room. I say, thank you. We’re so appreciated and so blessed for that, and we look forward to the next twenty years.

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything else you want to add?

John: I should give some thanks to the city for working with us and allowing us to do what we’ve done. I always give props to the police department, the fire department, the city. I believe we’ve had a great working relationship for twenty years and again, the ability to keep everybody safe and clean. Always give props to Woody (Graber) too. Woody has been just a great friend and he’s been with me since the beginning. So, like Live Nation, I give Woody a lot of accolades. He’s been a great support piece, a great friend.  I always try to give credit to where the credits due. Our partners, the community, the guests, our staff. We’re just blessed to be here, and that’s kind of where we’re at.