What was the Question?

an interview with Jack Shannon Scott 

Shannon Scott, part bohemian, part renaissance man, splits his time between St. Louis and New Orleans. He also splits his time between band, family, and pub. The music is as likable as he is. The mention of the family brings a smile to his face. The pub, located at Menard and Lami in Soulard, is a haven of sorts and a work in progress as much as Shannon is himself. He sat down with our interviewer and between singing along with the jukebox and greeting folks coming and going he managed to answer a few questions for us.

So, how does it feel to be on the other side of the bar? 

As opposed to this side? (standing behind the bar at that time) It seems like I’m always on this side anyway.(laughs) It’s a strain, I’d say if I had no other obligation it would probably be a breeze. Especially when you got a pretty good crew of people working for me that I can totally trust, you know, and that’s kind of a rare opportunity. I can go to bed at night and not have to stay here until 1:30 in the morning, so I can get some sleep and keep sane, and still get some paperwork done.

What caused the inception of this, whose idea was it, how did it

happen?

Tim and I had a CD coming out, for Bonebag, and what we wanted to do was have an office, like a pseudo independent record company: Haggis Records. We were gonna have an office space, have a computer, phone line, and a fax machine, and we were gonna take like 1000 CD’s and send them to everyone we could possibly find who would take it. That was our game plan, but we couldn’t find office space in Soulard. There was nothing available. Then we found this place, and the rent was $900 a month and just six months prior it had shut down as a functioning bar. We’re thinking, okay yeah.

It was my idea, and I was just stupid and we didn’t check up on anything before we got into it. So, bad mistake #1. If you think your going to open a business: research. If you need a liquor license, find out that you’ll spend three months petitioning the neighborhood. What was the question again? Anyway, I looked in here and saw the bar and figured ‘I can run a bar’. We can rent out the extra space. We can have the record company upstairs, have the bar down here to make the money just to pay the rent so the record company could operate for free, and we could practice in the basement or rent it out as practice rooms, or use the attic. There’s all sorts of possibility for revenue, and we’ll be able to push our CD.

It was always about the CD. We signed our lease and we incorporated as Kennealy’s Pub, that was my choice. It kind of rolls off the tongue. It’s as good as Kennedy’s, it’s (with Irish accent) Kennealy’s Pub. As soon as we decided to start running as a business, people started telling us we had to do this and do that, get this and get that. At first it just seemed like little chores, but when you start having to petition everyone within a 350 foot radius-registered voters and property owners. most the people who own property here don’t even live in St. Louis. Took us three months.

That gets into my next question. Any other problems you came across?

Incorporation, taxes, this license and that license, blah, blah, blah. The one thing that they say is that you have to have your building inspected, and we were trying to get open for Mardi Gras 1997, so we call the inspector. We figure with two really hard weeks of work, painting and cleaning, and all the lighting fixtures, maybe some new floorings, some work in the bathrooms and this place could be opened for $20,000. So the inspectors come in here and nothing passes to the extent that we gut the back half of the building, build a fire staircase, handicap access. And they are very hard core on that, so it takes it from a $20,000 or $30,000 process to a $180,000, including payroll, materials, all new electric, new heating and cooling. It’s an incredible amount of work we put into it. It was supposed to be a quick project and I was supposed to be living in New Orleans by now. I thought shit, you know, push the CD and nothing’ll happen there and I’ll just go back home.

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