Welcome 311 nation! New week, new fan spotlight. Let’s read the story of Jenny Jeremiah!
Like many, it was the Blue album that hooked Jenny on the sounds of 311. It came out during her senior year of high school and she heard “All Mixed Up” and immediately needed the album because she wanted to know what the rest of the songs were like. “I’m a product of my generation. I grew up loving prog rock from the 80s, then the alternative and hip-hop surge of the late 80s and early 90s, and I thought 311 was the best possible progression from all of those sounds! They basically embody so many things I listen for in music and switch it up so much that I don’t get bored. Then later once you get past just the surface of the sound, you hear these fantastic lyrics and I don’t know what else I could want in music? Or let’s be honest, I go back and read the lyrics because who can catch on just by listening? For a very long time I didn’t know about Grassroots or Music, so until Transistor was released, I kept Blue in my CD player for months at a time.”
Even though Jenny has been a fan for 26 years, she wasn’t able to see the band live until 2015. First show was at the Innsbrook Pavilion in Glen Allen, Virginia, which was only 5 minutes from her home. “Since then I have been to 16 live shows, and will go to my 17th show on Sept 2, in VA Beach. Five of those live shows are from 311 Day 2018 and 2020, and yeah I count each day as a separate show, because you need a new ticket for each night!”
As for favorite show, it’s of course hard for Jenny to choose as she’s loved all the experiences for many different reasons. She went with 311 Day 2020, night 3, saying it may be due to it being the last 311 show she saw plus it was such a weird night. “We were in the front and every day leading up to that show we were holding our breath hoping they would perform every night since the world was shutting down around us. Not only did the show go on, but WHAT A SHOW!!!! And then the acoustic performance of “I’ll Be Here Awhile” just brought every emotion to the surface. We got to high-five and/or fist bump each member of the band as they exited the stage for the last time and then PNut put his bass RIGHT in my face for like 5 seconds and I touched the strings for a second before he pulled it back and continued his exit. I walked out of the auditorium wondering “what the hell just happened?” It was all very surreal and amazing!”
Picking a song that means the most to her depends on the day and what is going on in her life at that moment. Jenny said often songs come on that fell off of her radar and she thinks, “Why have I overlooked this gem for so long?” However, one song that is a consistent favorite is “Sever.” “Besides just loving the overall sound of it, I buy into the message that I get from the lyrics: Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself and go after what makes you happy! Even when you stumble along the way, just keep working toward your own happiness. That’s my interpretation anyway.”
Some of Jenny’s favorite lyrics include: ““Open up your heart and proceed to feel; Now you’re inchin’ up to the summit never plummet,” “I look for absolutes and there’re absolutely none; The truth is what you shoot for, not one,:” “Spirit on the run, I’m an alien,” and “I put together all the memories of a broken heart; About a world so deafening.”
Jenny was born in Kansas, but spent the first half of her life in East Tennessee. “Parents divorced when I was young so my dad and I moved to East TN to be near his side of the family, and so he could go back to school. My early years I actually lived in Morristown, TN with my aunt, uncle and cousin who is really more like my sister since we’re just under a year apart in age. I’m so lucky because I can point to her (Suzanne) and her husband (Brett) for many of my phenomenal 311 experiences, being uberfans themselves.”
Jenny and Suzanne lived under the same roof as pre-schoolers and elementary aged kids until Jenny moved to Knoxville to be with her dad. Then after high school, Jenny and Suzanne lived together again in college. “Who better to have your first apartment with than someone you know, trust and love, and have lived with before?! Ironically, that’s around the time I had really discovered 311, loved them, and it was not a shared love between us back then. I’m not calling her out, she will fully admit to this. Then she started dating Brett and he and I got along right away because we were both into them. But still even between us, we couldn’t change her mind at the time. Clearly, she came around because she’s one of the people who nominated me for the fan spotlight!”
Jenny stayed in Knoxville until 2000 and then she wanted a change of scenery. She had some family in the Richmond, VA, area, so she moved east and has been there ever since. In April 2001 she became a flight attendant, which she credits as one of the reasons it took her so long to see 311 live. “Suzanne and Brett kept trying invite to come with them to shows but it required a commitment to concert dates months in advance. The way vacation time worked, and the way schedules were done I couldn’t make the financial commitment to something I couldn’t 100% guarantee I could make it to physically.”
In 2014 Jenny left the airline business, opening the door for her first show in 2015. Since then she has funded her 311 habit by working as a travel agent, which she says is perfect since it’s a regular schedule job BUT also still in the travel industry, which she loves. “We typically don’t have clients in the office so I’m allowed to inject my personality in my office at work, a perfect marriage of travel and 311 decorates my walls. Obviously the last 18 months has been a struggle for so many, and the travel industry was especially hard hit. I was furloughed for a little over a year but just got recalled a few weeks ago so things are looking up again!”
Interesting fact about Jenny is that she was diagnosed with A.D.D. and one of the byproducts of it is that she can’t function in silence. “Peace and quiet for me is having some sort of background noise so most of my workday I have music playing just loud enough for me to hear. Silence is deafening.”
Traveling is Jenny’s biggest love, other than her pup Roscoe, and she’s taken some crazy trips in her life. “I have flown to Amsterdam, Honolulu, and Singapore to spend a day and then turn around and go home. I’ve actually been to Singapore twice and each time was for a single day. Of course there’s more to the story than that, but if you see me at a show feel free to ask!”
Guilty pleasure for Jenny is that she loves Harry Potter! ” LOVE the books and I was already an adult when they were first published. I’ve read them multiple times, and actually play Wizards Unite on my phone more than I should.”
Another guilty pleasure for her is The Monkees! Aside from them and 311, Jenny can be found listening to Duran Duran, U2, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, The Skints, Bikini Trill, Missy Elliot, The Go Go’s, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, The Police, Prince, ODB, Beasties, The Black Keys, Depeche Mode, and Queens of the Stone Age. “And then other music from my childhood that is probably my dad’s influence: The Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Santana, ZZ Top (RIP Dusty Hill,) David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, and Tom Petty. There’s so many more, but I would seriously be here all day listing artists!”
To 311, Jenny has these words: “Thank you for creating so much for so long, and continually embracing the people who love your music!”
Now her words to the 311 fan community:
“You guys are probably the reason this following is so addictive! I love seeing strangers bond over a band and then have all these friendships bloom from it. As so many of us have said, I’ve made so many new friends JUST because of 311: Ron and Becky Ivanjack, Kim James, Jill Montoro-Saylor, Krista Lynn, Candace Mott, Chaundra Strayker, BLove, Tonya and Michael Frye, Erik Walder, Dakota and Nate Metcalf; that’s just off the top of my head. I know if I buy a ticket to a show, and don’t immediately know someone to go with me it’s no big deal. I know I won’t be at that show alone. See you guys soon!!!”
Thank you so much Jenny for sharing your story of your love for 311! As always, we wouldn’t be here without the readers, so many thanks to you as well. Have an amazing week, it’s almost tour time!
Much Love – The Runt