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It may be "all quiet" along the battle lines in the Jardine’s jazz club saga but…
The staff is gone – a couple of them fired, others told that they’d been fired. Many of KC’s top jazz musicians have joined a boycott of Jardine’s. A boycott allegedly spearheaded by Sons of Brasil trumpet player Stan Kessler, whose stepson – now former Jardine’s server – Raja called the cops on minutes before Kessler’s band showed up at the club to play, but then walked out.
No two ways about it, it’s been ugly. Not to mention confusing.
Yet while things have been relatively quiet lately in the media, that doesn’t mean there’s not been a lot going on behind the scenes among interested parties, in places TV cameras are of little use.
And that’s exactly where this story appears headed, with at least three separate buyers indicating an interest in buying the Plaza jazz club from owner Beena Raja.
Raja declined to comment for this story.
However the one-two punch of a staff walkout and musician boycott coupled with a media piling on has taken its toll. Jardine’s reopened last week for the KC Confidential holiday bash and featured acts through Saturday.
Since then its calendar has been blank.
One potential buyer is Paul Wilson of Olathe. But is he a serious buyer?
"It’s absolutely something we’ve been looking at doing since we first became aware that it was an option," Wilson says. "We’d be buying it just for the love of the place and the musicians."
At this point, there’s not much more to say than may the best man (or woman) win.
Hope It Works Out For Everyone
Well its been tough all over…Beena sure got jumped…by everyone…I really don’t know all of what happened, as I wrote, she is a friend and I don’t hang there much. Love the place, the food is good, music is great, fun place…hate to see all this happen for all involved. I just hope if she sells Jardines it works for everyone….
I hate to say this twice in a week, but Craig, you’re right
Its tough anywhere in the business world. Its tough in what I do for my day job. I’ve landed every high profile or large project in the city this year; but my year will end just barely acceptable from a performance standpoint.
If you lay this out on a time line, changing one or two seemingly insignificant issues, changing how they happened and how they were reacted to, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Beena has never been anything but supportive of us. Its a sad story and a perfect storm of events, personal and professional, and here we are. I have a pretty high level of sympathy and empathy for everyone concerned.
I Need a Kleexex
OMG! Enough with the poor Beena already. You know how to make a small fortune with Beena? Start with big one.
Bad things happen to good people all the time. Whenever bad stuff happens to bad people it’s just karma coming home to roost. A well meaning moron could run Jardine’s and make $200K a year.
Beena was handed the golden goose and she blew it. It’s extremely rare that someone who wants to get in the nighclub business gets a place like Jardine’s that really is pretty much a guaranteed success.
Don’t know what the asking price is but if it’s 7 times EBITDA I’ll take it!
Cue Bob Fn Dylan
You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the winds blow…
In war the first casualty is the truth. Bad management has closed more juke joints than the staff drinking the liquor. Smartman’s financial assessment is pretty acurate. Though the “good will” factor is pretty mute in this instance.
Let us toast this story, and the year’s end, with this one, Better times for all.
PS Hearne, I think your weatherman story aroused the ire of FOX4 more than a momma tiger. Just sayin’…
Well, they’re big boys, don’t underestimate them.
They know a bit more than we on the outside do, but they understand the thirst for and the pursuit of knowledge.
They’re engaged in that very thing.
And some of what they know may not be that far apart from some of what was aired here.
We lost a lot of respect for hearne over this story. Just proves that hearne is more than
willing to drag anyone through the mud UNLESS it is a friend. How many offensive
stories have we seen posted on this web site? Stories that TMZ would not run, but the
“tandem two” “hearne/glazer publications” gleefully runs story after story of a sad suicide,
or of a sad drunk in dead in Westport… but by golly when it isa friend of hearn’s , he wants
no one saying anything but good cheerful things about it….. man ….. that is not cool…. or fun.
Thne to delete any comment which speak out about this…even lower. It is too bad….. too sad.
You should have excused yourself on this one hearne…
Smartman, you are not that smart.
the golden goose. You must be really old .
there is no such a thing.
Beena made Jardines happen and the jazz people, were,happy happy
Please give her a break. try and run a business especially one in KC called Jardines .
200 K a year, its true. i heard she was blowing it all on sex drugs and rock n roll
you should buy Jardines. i hear its up for sale.the golden goose want to give you an egg
did she pay the people…
we can b.s. all we want about this broad…but the question still remains is did she pay the
musicians and the help. Lets be serious…its not about beenie but the way hearne handled the
story and how it decimated her imge in the city.
I seriously doubt a tv station would bang her because an anchors daughter worked there…i don’t think fox
4 really cared. But it been a slow news month and nothing to report on so they have 40 hours of news to
fill so why not go afte a bad bar owner who stiffs workers.
Hpefully she paid every one …and I expect hearne to follow up on this since this story hs been so close
to his heart. If she paid the help…lets move on…if not…lets hang her and her biz out to dry.
Bad people are just bad people. Nothing changes them…so hearne report back to us soon on whether
this beenie broad did what she said she would and lets move on because jardines really is no big deal
to 99.9999999% of the people in this town. To the few who frequent the nasty place its relevant…to others
its just another hole in the wall.
merry xmas…say hello to your asian girlfriend and take care of your twins…
Harley
YA RIGHT! Beena has definitely not paid ANYONE besides one employee that had only been there a week because she thought she didn’t hate her enough yet and would come back to work for her. A week is all it took. She might have been able to save the business and stop the media attention if she had stayed true to her promise to pay, everyone knew she wouldn’t. Hey Nadia, go back to India, everyone hates you!
reply to “nadia”
It probably is easy to make 200k a year when you don’t pay what you owe people! Unfortunately, people don’t wan’t to see what they have earned going up your nose instead of in their pockets!
Funny how certain ex Jardine’s staffers like to trash me at 3 a.m when they get off work. TMZ wouldn’t run these stories? You may be right, but probably because they’re too tame.
In case you missed it, the initial round of Beena reporting here was none too flattering.
All my cards are on thew table here. But if I’d excused myself there wouldn’t have been much news, would there? Oh, I forgot for a second, you just want the one side out.
To All,
You dont know the facts.
I have paid everyone and treated everone with respect ( musicians and employees) and have paid more to all since 2003 when i took over and have hired more musicians and supported Jazz in this city and made Jardines what it is.
I am not perfect. I do not claim to be.
I think i worked to be who i am. Yes I am from India, but very proud to be an American.This country gave me the oppourtinity to be who I am.
No regrets. You dont know me.
I wish everone a Happy New Year!!!
Beena
Everyone?
Did you pay Dave Stephens or the 15?
reply to beena
Good luck on what you do in the future. I actually hope things end up working out for you. Sometime things that seem bad at the time happen for a reason and what we learn helps us later. Happy New Year.
Jardine’s Website Calendar
States that Beena has been fired and that Jardine’s is now under new ownership.