Hi, welcome on this forum where users try to help other users.
and we are glad, you can use JEM
Can you be more clear, which JEM you are using JEM 2.2 is not enough. Actual is JEM 2.2.3 and there is a JEM responsive too. You should use JEM 2.2.3!
And a little hint: JEM banner module is a child of the teaser module and has some more possibilities!
In the settings of JEM teaser module, you can disable the display of categories.
the blank.png is used, if you don't have an image of the venue. I don't have this image anymore. But I forgot if I had eliminated it inside the code or how. (I am using after all JEM banner module, where the venue image is not.
EDIT: in JEM Teaser there's no button to disable the display of the category, meanwhile this is in JEM Banner.