Welcome to 21 Questions, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com goes to the favorite hangout of a notable Phoenix scene-maker/shaker and asks the "big" questions. This week we met up with concert promoter Jeremiah Gratza at La Grande Orange in Arcadia.
Name: Jeremiah Gratza
Age: 28
Occupation: Director of Operations for Stateside Presents, and President Gator
New Times: In one sentence, what do you do all day in your job?
Jeremiah Gratza: I spend six hours at the computer e-mailing, faxing, doing contracts, and then, get ready for a concert and work a concert until two in the morning, and then I go to sleep and do it again.
NT: What's wrong with the world today?
JG: Money.
NT: Who's your favorite local band?
JG: Andrew Jackson Jihad. Their new album is really good.
NT: What was the last show you attended?
JG: Last show I went to... That wasn't my own? The last show I had was Slackers, and that was awesome. And then the last show I went to that wasn't mine... Does Coachella count? Like 150 shows in one.
NT: If you could time travel, where would you go?
JG: I would go back to the wild, wild west. Where you could be a mountain man, build a cabin, live in the woods and not have to deal with people.
NT: What's the worst job you've ever had?
JG: Selling panels at Sears in Arizona, because no one has paneling on their houses.
NT: How good are you at cooking?
JG: Excellent. I was a sous-chef at Fate under Johnny Chu.
NT: Where do you go to be alone?
JG: There's an old tree in my grade school that I go and climb whenever I need to be alone.
NT: Who's your all-time favorite fictional character?
JG: Tom Sawyer.
NT: What's the first album you ever bought?
JG: It was Presidents of the United States of America. Could've been worse.
NT: Where is the best view in Phoenix?
JG: The top of Camelback Mountain.
JG: The top of Camelback Mountain.
NT: What's one thing you hate about Arizona?
JG: I would say the heat, but that's cliche. I don't know. I really do like Phoenix. There's not much I hate about it. I guess the fact that it's still growing, and not established. That we have to build everything ourselves here.
JG: I would say the heat, but that's cliche. I don't know. I really do like Phoenix. There's not much I hate about it. I guess the fact that it's still growing, and not established. That we have to build everything ourselves here.
NT: What's your homepage?
NT: Do you give money to panhandlers?
JG: I have before. I haven't been asked lately.
NT: What's your drink?
JG: Jameson on the rocks.
NT: Who is your mortal enemy?
JG: Time is my mortal enemy. There's never enough time.
NT: What's the deal with Sheriff Joe?
JG: What is the deal? I don't know. The guy's crazy. Ego trip. I don't know.
NT: What would you do if you won the lottery?
JG: If I won the lottery, I would put on a giant festival for Arizona. I would put on a festival to rival Coachella.
NT: What's hanging above your sofa?
JG: A framed, autographed poster of Blitzen Trapper and Fleet Foxes at Modified.
NT: What's the best love advice you have?
JG: Be true to thyself. You can't love somebody else until you love yourself first. I think Lindsay said the same thing, but I completely agree with it.
NT: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
JG: Yo.
