Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Durrett.
Hi Jason, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My son is a disabled Veteran, he came home from Iraq broken, and because of his injuries, he was lost inside himself. One day I stopped, bought an electric guitar and amp and took it to him. He played it nonstop, and eventually, he began to share himself and would share his music with us; this taught me that music heals.
I was considering buying a building in Park Hills to help a local business expand and begin some business myself since I was disabled and retired from the barber business for over 30 years. When I was shown the building, I found out; it had an 8000 sqft basement under it. The upper floor had another 8000sgft with it being separated into 3 large areas. I put one into the “Main Street Grow Supply and kept the rest for the Park Hills Music and Art Center, which is a charitable foundation that was started to help veterans(disabled or not) find enjoyment through music, including free concerts, rentable hall, events in the summer for families, and when available a warming center in winter and cooling center in the summer.
As we began to form the foundation, we decided to open the Park Hills Underground under the foundation’s charter and have a place where young artists could present their original music to the people. The Park Hills underground has already begun hosting local bands and National acts such as “Hemlock and Trapt; we also have come up with Steve Ewing of the urge and his crew.
Our focus is to give young artists (not age, but artistry) the ability to present themselves to the public. Artists grow past their garages, bedrooms, or backyards by being on a stage. Our mission statement says it all(included in the pictures)
The other influence was the story of Hilly Crystal, who opened a place in New York in the ’60s. In the 30+ years, he was in business, over 50,000 bands played on his stage; he allowed the first time to play in front of people to names like “The Police, The talking heads, Blondie, the Ramon among many others. I hope that someday someone will have opportunity to say “we started in Park Hills.”
We are a music event center, not a bar; at most bars, there is one band playing for 3 to 4 hours; we want to offer 3 bands playing 1 hour each to give variety to our event goers. We also have Comedy club nights, Electronic Dance nights, open mic, and jam nights and are developing teen day on Sundays and possibly Wednesdays. The focus in those days was young school-age artists and the ability to play to their age group in a safe and controlled environment. We have worked hard and have been repeatedly set back by issues we have to rethink our strategy. We are working on phase 1 and building the Underground events to fund the veteran events upstairs in the 4000 sqft event center.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Nothing works like you think it should; we have had setbacks; the worst was when we were about ready to open and were working on the entrance(ramp into the underground and we had prepped to pour concrete, and it rained 2.5 inches in minutes, and the water backed up and flooded the basement and caused over $50,000 in damage, and we had to start over. In the following months, we were forced to install underfloor drainage in the 8000sgft concrete floor and replace the stage and all the walls we had built.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to become more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I was a barber for 35 years in Granite City, IL. I also ran large events, starting with homecomings in my hometown of Mitchell, IL, and then in St. Louis, I ran large events, giving me the background to organize events. I am a team leader type(been told). I enjoy piecing together teams of people that work together for the greater good. The Music and Art Center and the Park Hills underground team consist of music industry people; Our goal was to provide an artist-friendly experience. We have taken steps to provide for the artist regardless of their art, whether musical, spoken word, comedy, etc. The team loves to say, “this is an event venue for artists built by artists.”
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and are any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We began our time after the covid crisis; what we take away is personal hygiene, making sure to keep a clean personal space and keeping the space we offer clean and disinfected.
Contact Info:
- Website: parkhillsunderground.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkhillsunderground
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ParkHillsUnderground
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkHillsUnder1
- Other: https://linktr.ee/parkhillsunderground
Image Credits
Jason Durrett
