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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; An accomplished local musician is partnering with a fellow city native to open a new entertainment venue downtown.</p><p>A.J. Jump and Mary McKenna are the owners of Karl Hall, which will host a variety of musical acts and comedy sets and will occupy some of the basement space in the Polish Union Building, 53 to 59 N. Main St.</p><p>Jump, who has handled percussion in popular locally rooted bands The Five Percent and Underground Saints and toured extensively with Brooklyn-based trio King Radio, said the venue is expected to have soft openings during the Christmas season. A grand opening, featuring some artists who are &#8220;bigger than the room,&#8221; is planned for 2018.</p><p>The drummer said his affinity for promoting events combined with his awareness of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s depleted venue count motivated him to take on the project upon returning from a stint living in Eugene, Oregon. He moved there to pursue his work with King Radio.</p><p>Before taking his musical pursuits out of the region, Jump launched an entertainment series called &#8220;Un-mundane&#8221; at Jenkins Township&#8217;s now-closed River Street Ale House and took the events to Forty Fort&#8217;s Canteen 900 when the 2011 flooding of the Wyoming Valley closed the initial location.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d bring in groups &#8212; regional and national &#8212; comedians, DJs,&#8221; Jump said. &#8220;I had all kinds of people come through. Being a promoter, on the other side of things &#8230; I got a taste for it for several years.</p><p>&#8220;I enjoy it, number one, and number two, when you travel around the country as a touring band and you show up where you&#8217;re opening for someone, not sure if there will be a great crowd &#8230; and you just drove five or seven hours, you want someone on the other side to understand they need to promote properly and make it comfortable for you.&#8221;</p><p>Jump said he was poised to move to Los Angeles when a quick trip home made him aware that &#8220;a group of gentlemen&#8221; was purchasing the downtown building.</p><p>&#8220;I approached them and said, &#8216;This is something I always thought about doing,&#8217;&#8221; he recalled. &#8220;I saw the space and said I&#8217;m going to make this happen. I don&#8217;t care what I have to do, because this area needs it.&#8221;</p><p>The longtime musician and music fan remembers being in the crowd, between the ages of 15 and 22, at area venues like Cafe Metropolis, Murray&#8217;s and Sea-Seas.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be BYOB &#8212; no liquor license,&#8221; Jump said. &#8220;It&#8217;s about the music or the comedy. Unless otherwise stated, shows will always start at 8 p.m. and end at 10:30 p.m. Sixteen or 17-year-olds who have their driver&#8217;s license will have an opportunity to see great shows, and they won&#8217;t have to worry about leaving (for curfew).&#8221;</p><p><strong>Variety is key</strong></p><p>The venue, Jump said, will host a menagerie of musical acts.</p><p>&#8220;You go to a show at Madison Square Garden, and one night, Metallica could be there; the next night, Pearl Jam; the next night, Ed Sheeran; and the next night Billy Joel. Every single genre is open to play that room.&#8221;</p><p>Jump said the room, which will accommodate roughly 65 seats and standing room for 100, can welcome everything from jazz, blues and singer-songwriter acts to ska, hip-hop and hardcore outfits. His vision for the place, he explained, is modeled after his favorite venue to play in New York City, the Rockwood Music Hall.</p><p>The new space will be the namesake of McKenna&#8217;s late husband, Kevin Karl, who Jump said was his dear friend, an excellent piano player and an adamant supporter of local music in all forms.</p><p>&#8220;Kevin passed, and I saw Mary when I got back to Wilkes-Barre, and I spewed everything to her,&#8221; Jump said. &#8220;She said, &#8216;I want to do this with you.&#8217;</p><p>&#8220;How could it be more appropriate than to name it after a fellow musician and friend who was one of the largest concert-goers of all genres in the area? It couldn&#8217;t be more appropriate than to name it after a gentleman like Kevin.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">City native and accomplished musician A.J. Jump will open Karl Hall, a new entertainment venue, in downtown Wilkes-Barre with friend, business partner and fellow Wilkes-Barre native Mary McKenna. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Jump-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>City native and accomplished musician A.J. Jump will open Karl Hall, a new entertainment venue, in downtown Wilkes-Barre with friend, business partner and fellow Wilkes-Barre native Mary McKenna. </caption0><photoCredit0>Courtesy of Brittany Boote </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_PolishUnion-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Karl Hall will occupy space at 53 to 59 N. Main St. in Wilkes-Barre and will host a variety of musical acts and comedy sets. City native and accomplished musician A.J. Jump is leading the venture with business partner Mary McKenna. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_PolishUnion-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Karl Hall will occupy space at 53 to 59 N. Main St. in Wilkes-Barre and will host a variety of musical acts and comedy sets. City native and accomplished musician A.J. Jump is leading the venture with business partner Mary McKenna. </caption1><photoCredit1>Joe Soprano | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or on Twitter @TimesLeaderMatt.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre natives A.J. Jump, Mary McKenna to open new music venue downtown