Goodbye to Jeff

Goodbye to Jeff
by: Nora Spitznogle
first published in NUVO newsweekly


As Indianapolis music promoter Jeff Zuckerman moves to Los Angeles, he will leave a hole in the local music community. Steve Hayes, editor of IndianapolisMusic.net, says he “deserves a lot of credit for the resurgence in Indy’s local music scene we started seeing a few years ago. [Jeff] gave a lot of bands the chance to perform with national acts when he was with Clear Channel. He certainly helped grow the Midwest Music Summit and the Battle of the Bands into the big events they became. The thing that helped him the most, I think, was that even though he was primarily working with known acts and booking big shows, he was always checking out local acts and looking for the next big thing in town. You don’t see a lot of promoters doing that.”

Zuckerman knew he was hooked on concert promotion when he saw the house lights drop and 16,000 people scream for the first show he ever booked, John Mellencamp at Assembly Hall. He was a 19-year-old Indiana University sophomore and the student-body-elected concerts director at the time.

Growing up in St. Louis, Zuckerman got a good behind-the-scenes look at the promotions business through his father. His dad started a concert promotion company in the 1970s, but it was not until the Mellencamp show that he knew that he wanted to go into the business.

After three years of booking shows at IU, he was hired by Dave Lucas and Sunshine Promotions, which soon became SFX and then Clear Channel Entertainment — now Live Nation. At Clear Channel, he booked shows for Birdy’s, the Emerson Theater and the Murat Egyptian Room. After a few years and 150 shows later, he decided to concentrate his efforts on promoting local musicians.

Zuckerman and Josh Baker started Benchmark Records. They signed great local bands including Loretta, The Pieces, Otis Gibbs and America Owns The Moon. They started the Midwest Music Summit and sponsored the Battle of the Bands at the Patio.

In 2004, he met the owners of the Music Mill and became their talent buyer. He formed his own company, Roadside Tragedies, the same year. In the last two years, he has booked more than 200 shows in Indianapolis and Bloomington.

Radio Radio owners David “Tufty” Clough and Roni Donaldson appreciate how Zuckerman spread his Roadside Tragedies shows around the city, not just concentrating on one club. “He got bigger acts to come to the city with his professionalism,” Clough says. “He’s an all-around good guy.”

While Zuckerman was in college, his family sold the concert promotion business and moved to Los Angeles. His frequent visits to L.A. convinced him that he was ready to make the move. He’ll soon be working for his father’s new company, Pacific Arts Entertainment. “I could not possibly be more excited to get my first opportunity to work with my dad and to be involved in the many exciting and broad-ranging arts projects that his company produces,” Zuckerman says. “I’m most thrilled, though, to have my wonderful fiancée Carrie Sloo joining me on this adventure.”

One thing he won’t miss about Indiana is its liquor laws. “If I could, the one thing I would change about the city of Indianapolis, and more accurately the state of Indiana, are the outdated and unnecessarily restrictive liquor laws placed on live music clubs,” Zuckerman says. “Appreciation of music does not start at 21!”

“That being said, there are more amazing shows that come through Indy than many people appreciate or in some cases realize,” Zuckerman continues. “So rather than complain, pick up your NUVO and go see a show.”