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Fritz Bar and Grill owner Derek Morg was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in July and has undergone chemotherapy for the past six months. The self-employed Morg doesn’t have health insurance, and his friends’ have put together a series of benefit concerts to help raise money to pay for a bone marrow transplant needed to fully cure the cancer.
Last week, Megan Lowe and Josh Pratt, who work at Fritz, and John Chapin, of We Ain’t Saints productions, organized a rockabilly show at Vixen that was headlined by Hellbound Glory, and another show will be hosted at Fritz on Saturday.
Because of the medical bills, Morg also plans to sell his bar, at 1305 N. Virginia St. There’s no done deal, but offers have been made for the popular college hangout. Morg said after it’s sold, “who knows what it will be like?” so this is a good time to see Fritz in its current form.
Saturday's show is called a “D-Rock” benefit, after Morg’s alias in his band the Misfritz, local punk acts will take to the stage. Pop-punk party band Beercan! anchors the show and has Pratt on guitar and vocals. The Misfritz will be there, too, covering Glen Danzig-era Misfits songs with Morg playing the part of Danzig. ‘Til It Goes Click and Anti-Panti both play fast and hard punk with shouted lyrics that are actually understandable.
Unusually for the venue, the event is all-ages but takes place from 1 to 6 p.m. During that time, the 21-and-older crowd will still be able to buy drinks, but once the bands are done playing, minors will get the boot, and Fritz will be its normal self that night.
Aside from the $5 cover that goes to Morg’s fund, there is a raffle with donated prizes including skateboards, snowboards, skis, lift tickets, other winter sports gear and Wolf Pack basketball tickets for individual games and the season. Proceeds from Red Bull products also will go to the cause.
“There are so many people contributing, it has been pretty amazing,” Pratt said.
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