This week I thought it would be appropriate to discuss disaster songs. What with the earthquake across the mid-atlantic region earlier this week and the impending hurricane and all, what else would you care to read about? Okay its true I did post Shakin’ All Over but only because you don’t get many chances to post Vince Taylor tunes. Some would say being in an earthquake would top your week of things that happened, but my week was made by a Corndawg. A Jonny Corndawg to be precise. But forget about all this disaster talk, what I really want to discuss is passion.
On earthquake day I had the privilege of hearing Jonny Corndawg, aka Jonny Fritz open up for Jessica Lea Mayfield, an artist who if she plays her cards right, will be huge one day. Could go on and discuss JLM for a bit but this is about JC. I had sampled his youtube videos and was interested in seeing him live and told him so.
When I first encountered Jonny, he was at his merch table eating his dinner and selling his wares. One of which is the coolest lighter this side of the pistol lighter that you can’t do without. It quickly became clear that he was a driven passionate kook that we could all benefit from emulating or at least gravitating in that direction towards a little more.
Later that night, I became aware there was much more to this Corndawg character and truly became a Jonny Fritz fan. I overheard someone talking with his fiddle player about what they did when they got to DC earlier that day. He said I was the hotel, Jonny went for a run. WHAT, JC was a runner too? For those of you that don’t know me, I have what some would call an obsession with shoes and roads and dirt and bloody body parts and… I, of course, call it a passion.
I got the chance to ask Jonny about his running and it turned out that his other merch guy also ran. So here we were, three guys talking about our marthons and personal bests and dreams and injuries. What drives a guy to travel miles to open up for budding artists on a Tuesday night to under 50 people? What possesses a person to train for months in order to run 26.2 miles? What makes us want to write songs and play out for little money? For that matter, what makes all of us do some of things we do for fun/recreation/excitement? I had an idea about Jonny Fritz but it only came clear when I saw the short film that was included as part of his new album Down on the Bikini Line. Before you read any further, take 15:31 and watch Stray Dawg.
Can you feel the passion in that? Contrast that with the students who are showing up in my office during the last week of registration looking for educational advice who seem to lack any sort of passion and you find my spark for this entry. Jonny laments that the road isn’t like you think it is and that it does really suck. But that doesn’t keep him from showing up every night and playing to “nobody” for 45 minutes and getting back in the car to drive to the next gig. It doesn’t stop him from running 10 miles a day even though he fears he won’t even make it two miles in the marathon. Even though he doesn’t have insurance to pay for a doctor to help with his injury, his main concern is that he won’t be able to run. Did I mention that he also does leather work?This guy has passion and drive beyond belief and some would say for what. I say he has it for EVERYTHING.
Why let some opportunity pass you by? Why not go out and climb Mt. Washington instead of driving up the road? Why not go out on a weeknight to a small club to watch a passionate performer trying to make a buck? It surely isn’t about making a living. Find your drive, find your passion or passions, step out and do something. Do it no matter how how silly others think it is and enjoy. My hat is off to you Jonny “Corndawg” Fritz, for living like you wanna and encouraging us to enjoy your ride and create our own.