Greetings Felicitations and a How the Hell are YA? Been awhile but I have been very busy working on a variety of improvements to help carry Jaxx on for another 15 years. Many many thanks to Dave Beebe our webmaster who has single handedly redone our web site. Keep up the suggestions for ways to continue to improve this indispensable aspect of our business and we will continue to tweak. Obviously the global economic meltdown has had a deleterious affect on every segment of our society and Jaxx has been hit hard. A lack of touring acts [they cant afford to tour] a lack of money and jobs in our club demographic and a general malaise has combined to make things tuff. We all know friends who have had a horrible time trying to make ends meet so I have had to change allot of things around to keep the doors open. Trying to do Metal full time just will not work at this time, way too many shows on weekends with local bands and 50 people in the room no money for the club or staff. It has been heartbreaking to me to watch things slide but way too many shitty bands playing God awful music has driven the public away in droves which is understandable. So... I can do 6 to maybe 10 metal shows a month not 20 to 25 which I did for years. The rumors abound that I am selling and moving to LA with my daughter, I go to LA once a month to hang with her and see my friends in the Music business and try and prime the pump to get a variety of acts from every corner of the planet [$189 round trip Dulles to LAX cant beat it]. So let me make this perfectly clear, I am not, shall not and will not sell the club, retirement doesn't interest me. I love what I do and the youngsters in most cases enervate me. I love the interaction with our highly variegated clientele - Admirals to dirt bags - so you will have to put up with me for a long time. My surgery on the rotator cuff [injured while beating the staff] has healed and the physical therapy, though excruciating at times, has put me in great shape and perfect health. So I have decided to make some bold new moves for 2010. My dear friend Jose Martinez, who has been a Latin Dance and Latin Music promoter for years in the area and I have partnered up to make things much improved at Jaxx We spent a ton of money to remodel the place front to back top to bottom, very very LA with the colors and design, new floors, railings, tables, chairs, upgraded bathrooms, new staff members and phenomenal additions to the light show with lasers and moving lights etc. [many thanks to the legendary lighting guru Mr. Tim Pace from the Bayou and Nissan Pavilion for his help and expertise], the PA speakers are flown from the ceiling and the PA and lighting boards have been moved upstairs. [PA and light boards are moving on Monday Feb. 1] We did an incredible amount of work in a very short period of time [many thanks to Steve Bristow, GM at Guitar Center Fairfax and Ryan for their help] and starting on weekends we are going to a Latin Dance format. I will still do concerts as they are available and the dance format will enable us to stay in business and do BOTH. Very fortunate to have Jose and his family involved in this as this gives me the financial wherewithal to make it all work So all you Metal Heads out there be grateful that I can continue to do shows and will do my best to do so. Geez we got Kix, WASP, Hammerfall, Overkill, Saliva, Nile, Primal Fear, Cannibal Corpse, 7Mary3, Halestorm, Nashville Pussy, more shows with Goriila Promotions out of Cleveland, Apex and Outer Loop etc. Plus Latin Acts with big time reps of that genre. To all of our out of town clientele thank you for your unstinting support, kind words, referrals and suggestions. We have a new management team, new security team [yes Bear still lives, he came with the building] and in general a new attitude to go with the face lift. We let some unhappy staff go which was sad but necessary and would appreciate your checking us and the Club out and giving us some feedback. We took all the pictures down but many will be put back up as this is a legacy I am most proud of. I have done over 15,000 acts in 15.5 years so it ain' t from a lack of trying, We had to change. My partner Emily has redone the drink menu with lots of crazy new drinks, redone the food menu [with Monika in the kitchen carrying on the tradition of the late great never-to-be-forgotten Willie Kobia] and brought in two gorgeous new girls Jesse and Pauly to go with Anna and Liliana the Ukrainian wonder women who both speak multiple Euro languages. Em has done a fantastic job kickin my ass and getting things to a new and different level and boy am I lucky to have her in my life. I go to the gym every other day and do Yoga because of her. Many thanks to my little girl all grown up, a GMU alum has been in Hollywood for almost 4 years since graduating from Mason, she is the assistant to Dave Kirby who owns TKO which is a major LA Agency. Her help, advice and expertise has been invaluable and she is rich so she flies me out to hang and schmooze... what a kid.

This Sunday the 31st We have the legendary Paul Di'Anno, original vocalist for Iron Maiden. I know I know, we have had many problems getting him in to the Country in the past but he is in the States, the tour is going fantastic and remember out of every 4 times we book Michael Schenker he shows up one out of 4 but puts on one hell of a show. Of course it is distressing to have to cancel or postpone an act but the bottom line is that Paul will be at Jaxx on Sunday and so should you. I need the support of the Metal Nation to keep doing shows like this and WASP and KIX so if you want them to continue... show up or shut up. The show will be done by 11 so there is no excuse to not check this out... One final rant... I did my favorite all time show in the History of Jaxx the night after Thanksgiving. The BAYOU reunion show [special thanks to Tim Wynn, Mike Tremonti, Paul 'FIX Wolfe, Mark Mancini and Tim Pace/Joe Rowe - for their help in pulling this one off] The show was sold out by 8:30 and some incredible music performed by fabulous musicians came down. A host of celebrities: Paul Reed Smith, Billy Woo, Scott McGinn, Jan Zukowski, Charlie Tompkey, Lynn Kress [wife of Face Dancer front man Cary Kress], Wendy Culver, the Stanley sisters and the list goes on. All the original members of Wizard, Sinbad, Cherry Smash and The Roadducks put on a legendary show. The vocals were fabulous, Kris Fath was magnificent on vocals, Mike Fath, Corey Holland, Steve Hatfield and Mark Mancini just flat out kicked ass. Sinbad with both Alan and Donnie Smallwood on keyboards, Tim Wynn on bass, Bobby Stevens on Guitar and the incomparable Vinnie Santoro on drums showed why they had their reputation Scintillating Cherry Smash showed why they were the house band at the Bayou for 10 years, incredible act and performance. Brent Woodall, Tim Tanner, Barry and Mike Tremonti aced us and were soooo helpful in doing this.We raised some good money for the family of the late Chuck Peters. And then came The Roadducks, after 5600 gigs spanning 34 years my guys were wonderful. The magic is still there for us and playing on this bill with acts we used to go see who inspired us to practice and improve so we could compete on their level was an indescribable feeling. After touring everywhere in the USA and all of our shows with the Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc. this was my favorite all time night. Many many thanks to all who helped in this especially Bill Culver Stage manager, soundman and vocalist extroidenaire. Bill Schmidle, John Buder, Billy Cracknell, Gary Thomas and Bob 'Bopper Gaynor.

I look forward to many more wonderful nights at the club I own and operate as a public trust and seeing all of you fabulous fans who have supported Jaxx and my ideas for all these years... We might have some problems in this great Country of ours but always remember 'a bad day in America is better than a good day some where else' 'til the next time I rant n rave take care and many thanks.

Jay