O.P.U.S. (Ordinary People/Unusual Stories) - A blog by author Steve Akley designed to introduce you to some of the great people Steve has met online.
The Steve & Nico Connection - Instagram buddies
Steve’s Notes - Wow... I really like Nico Fritz.
“What do you like about Nico Fritz?” you are probably asking yourself.
I mean, i get to interview cool people for the O.P.U.S. blog. I’ve 100% enjoyed every single one of the sixty-something interviews I’ve done for this blog to date... so much so that my favorite is always the one of the moment. The person I’m talking to at that time.
Then you meet someone like Nico Fritz.
Everything about her is cool. The way she dresses. Her job. Her hair. The way she does her eye makeup on her left eye (she calls it “Clockwork Orange”). The fact in my mind, I’ve given her a theme song... the lyrics for the song Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon go like this:
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's
In my brain, every communication from Nico sets off Warren’s Zevon’s song with these lyrics running through my head:
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a woman called Nico Fritz
All of this aside...the cool clothes, the hair, the job, the clockwork orange makeup, the Warren Zevon theme song... the reason why I am such a fan of Nico Fritz is simply the fact she’s a good person. She is thrilled about being asked to do an O.P.U.S. interview. She’s been inspired by the interviews with the ordinary people with the unusual stories on this blog. She’s 100% genuine, you see what you get type of person... and I really get that. I’ve never spoken to Nico. I don’t know her beyond some emails back-and-forth... but I feel like I completely know her... and what I know is she is unbelievably awesome. I’m pleased to introduce you to the coolest person I know... Nico Fritz.
Interview with Nico Fritz
Where do you live? - I live in Los Osos, CA. I actually grew up here and never thought I would end back up here. It's the kind of small, hippy beach town you never really appreciated growing up, but after getting around, living other places, and seeing the world a bit, you appreciate the small town eccentricities a whole lot more than when you were a teenager.
What do you do for a living? - I make wine for a living, but I am not a "wine maker". I'm more like the wine maker's bitch. The sous chef of the cellar, if you will. I do a little bit of everything, but the most important thing I do is make sure each and every job gets done correctly and efficiently. Any job worth doing is worth doing right!
What's something interesting about you that you would like to share with OPUS readers? - I'm somewhat of an ex-patriot at heart, and would love to live and continue to make wine in southern France or Northern Spain. I studied abroad in France for a year when I was 20, and in Spain for six months a few years later, and just love very much their way of life over there so much more than in the U.S. A lot of people will probably get mad at me for saying such a thing, but I believe they are onto something special in Western Europe, and have been for years. I wish we could get on the same page over here.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? - I don't believe I've ever met anyone famous. If I have, they must not have left very much of an impression on me! If I ever did meet someone famous, however, I'd probably just ignore them and look the other way. Aside from them not being any more special than you or I, they probably also totally resent being harassed all the time. If I crossed paths with someone famous, I would probably just ignore them.
If there was a movie about your life, what actress would play you? - As much as I wish it could be someone exotic and intriguing like Penelope Cruz or Monica Bellucci, it would most likely be Gilbert Gottfried with a wig.
Okay Nico...here's the scene. You are alone at a dinner table. Across from you sits $1,000,000. Cash. The challenge is if you finish what they put on the plate in front of you, you get the cash. What would be the one item (normal food mind you, not looking for something that isn't normally on a dinner table) that you couldn't get through for that million bucks? For instance, I mean I don't think I could get through a plate of cooked spinach, even for a million bucks. It makes me queasy even typing "cooked spinach." - Mushrooms. It's not a flavor thing, it's a texture thing. Even IF mushrooms were properly cooked, I don't think I could ever be able to stomach eating an entire plate of them. They are too substantial and meaty for what they are. FUNGUS. Just thinking about eating a plate of improperly cooked, rubbery, meaty fungus makes me heave. No thank you!
How often do you Google the phrase, "Kate Upton"? - I have never "googled" Kate Upton, but you can bet I know exactly who she is. She is Gorgeous! And I have seen her magazine cover photos and can certainly appreciate her beauty. Do I feel the need to google her though? Nope. There is no comparison. We are a different caliber of woman.
If I was putting together a rock band, what instrument could I count on you for the group? - First instinct is to gravitate toward the kazoo, but I think I could also play the cow bell like nobody's business! I think the world, and Christopher Walken would also agree, that the world could use a little more cow bell.
Number of times you hit snooze on a normal workday. - Ha! I don't need to hit snooze, because i'm the kind of freak that sets three separate alarms just to avoid the snooze situation. Which actually makes no sense at all. I set one alarm one hour before I need to wake up, another for half an hour before I need to wake up, and then one ten minutes before I need to wake up, so I can boil water for tea. I know it seems somewhat convoluted, but it makes sense to me, especially since I made the switch from coffee to tea...
You know that little thing that floats in the toilet tank is called a ballcock? Would you ever not laugh if I worked at the ballcock factory? Say you called me to go to a baseball game and I was like, "Sorry, Nico, I'll be at the ballcock factory until at least 7:00 tonight." - I would NEVER NOT laugh at that! But I also still slightly chuckle when someone says "bunghole", and I work with those on a daily basis! I'm pretty crude. More often than not, I'm making the men blush, but wine making was a mid-life career change for me. I used to do hazmat at a nuclear power plant, with a bunch of NAVY nukes, so no wonder my mind is in the gutter most of the time! You tend to get conditioned a certain way, depending on who you are working with and who you are surrounded by.
What is your greatest sports achievement? - In high school, I picked up the most marbles with my toes out of a kiddy pool filled with sand and water in the shortest amount of time. I mean, it was freakish compared to everyone else. I have monkey toes, or something.
How come you think that Steve Guttenberg stopped making movies? - I think he probably just didn't feel relevant anymore. It's a sad thing. You can pour your heart and soul into something, but if people don't appreciate your craft the way it was meant to be appreciated, your soul suffers a bit. A lack of flock can be a game changer.
Describe your most embarrassing moment. It will be liberating to share it with the world. - This one is tough. I embarrass myself on a daily basis. I would imagine the most embarrassing thing I have done I can't even remember because I most likely had too much to drink. What a relief that is! Like, if you can't remember it didn't happen type thing? Ummmmmmm, so from what I can remember. I've probably mentally blocked anything horrific, because nothing mortifying comes to mind. I mean, I did get so hammered one year for the world cup of soccer that I could hardly stand or sit up straight, and when mobbing from one bar to another I tripped and fell in the street and almost got run over by a car, on my head, in the middle of down town San Luis Obispo. Had I been coherent, I think that would have been pretty embarrassing. Does that count?
I'm thinking about getting into the instant coffee business. I mean I think instant coffee is disgusting, but I believe if I can get the hipsters to think it's trendy I may be on to something since the market share for instant coffee has to be like 0.00000000000000000001% right now. Do you think I am onto something? - I think as long as you put a positive spin on it, anyone will eat it up. Especially hipsters! You can most likely just leave the advertisement totally generic black and white, and just put a styled up mustache on the label and the hipsters would find art in its simplicity. A lot of chefs will tell you, simplicity is key.
One of the main parameters use to measure raw talent of NFL players is the 40 yard dash. These guys tend to run this anyway from the 4.2 seconds all the way up to 5-ish+ seconds for some of the slower players like lineman. Where do you think you might fit in...just guessing blindly, no need to mark off 40 yards on the street and have a buddy get a stopwatch...unless you want to. - I would definitely not qualify for the NFl, but I did run track in high school, and I'm not bad. I don't remember what my sprints were, but I ran miles at about six minutes, forty seconds, stoned off my ass and eating an Abba-Zaba. Yeah, my coach hated me, but I got the job done! I won a lot doing sprints, but I think i'm more talented when it comes to long distance. I'm dedicated like that. I like a challenge and I like a struggle. I like to feel like I've earned something at the end of the day.
When it comes to things like football pools and stuff like that, are you generally lucky or unlucky? - I don't like to gamble unless I feel confident I'm going to win. I'm a Raiders fan, so I'm sure you know what my "winning" streak is like these days.
The only thing I gamble on is myself. At the end of the day, anyone can let you down, but if you believe in yourself, you can't lose.
These days I would have to say i'm pretty damn lucky. But I'm more of a believer in hard work, passion, and dedication, than I am in luck. Life is a result of what you put into it. Choose wisely.
Look into the future and tell us where you see yourself in five years. - In five years, hopefully, I will be making a living as the winemaker of a relevant winery, anywhere from Paso Robles, Ca to Aix-en-Provence, France, and satisfying my own cravings by making my own private label, that perhaps is not lucrative, but makes me incredibly happy. Work will always be your bread and butter, but if you don't have a little something on the side, I think your soul starts to die a little. The same goes for relationships. Just, basically, don't take anything for granted, and live each day like it's going to be your last. Don't get stale, don't get bored. Don't forget to smile. Don't forget who you were and what you were chasing when the charade even started in the first place. I think that's where a lot of people go wrong.
Anything you would like to plug? - I think I would like to plug the winery I am working at now, Tooth and Nail in Paso Robles, Ca. They took a chance on me, and put their faith in me, allowing me to go from tasting room to cellar. I'm not sure they knew exactly what I was capable of at the time, but I know they're glad they have me in the cellar now! Truth be told, I only took the tasting room job to get to the cellar anyway. The Paso Robles wine industry is pretty competitive. I knew once someone saw me work they would be sold on me, but the real trick is getting your foot in the door.
Where can people find you on social media? - I can be found on instagram as chieusefritz or else on facebook as Nico sickboy Fritz (die hard Social D fan!). My insta is public but facebook is pretty private, so unless I actually know someone, I'm not too inclined to accept a friend request.
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Steve Akley is a St. Louis-based author with a diverse catalog of work. The driving force behind the creativity is a simple mantra of writing about what interests him. As long as a subject matter has his attention, he believe he’s delivering the best possible work he can for his audience. He can be found on Twitter or Instagram with the username of @steveakley.
Steve’s Catalog on Amazon: http://goo.gl/kJpKcP
Nico is a friend for life. My only novel is about two buddies and somehow it just makes sense I’m plugging that book in this interview.
Buy Pa’u Hana by clicking here... this one SHOULD be my best-selling book but it’s not... let’s fix that!
