Child's Play
DJ Jonny Blaze Turns Kiddie Music Into Adult Dance Tracks

Children’s music can be annoying in its simplicity.             
    Some parents have to suffer for years with those coma-inducing, sugary-sweet tunes implanted in their brains. As the Generation X and Y’ers progress into adulthood, the level of entertainment for the kiddies has become increasingly more sophisticated in its music selections.
    Baltimore DJ, Jonny “Blaze” Grant has taken that one step further with his adaptations of music from preschool cartoons like “Dora the Explorer,” “Little Bill” and “Blue’s Clues.”
    But it is his remix of the theme song from the popular cartoon “Spongebob Squarepants” that has brought Blaze the most acclaim.
    “My kids told me to do the Spongebob song,” he says. “They thought it would make a good club track.”
    Many avid club-goers know that the dance “The Spongebob” has been on the scene for over a decade, but it was nameless until dancers started pairing their dance moves with Blaze’s song, and, like a water-soaked sponge, its popularity swelled.
    “It’s good to have a following,” Blaze says. “I’ve done a ‘Fairly Oddparents’ (remix) that everybody likes.” Blaze also is known for the 2006 club hit, “Peanut Butter, Jelly.”

A New Frontier
    The popularity of Blaze’s Spongebob remix might be attributed to the fact that the dance itself seeped into the mainstream music scene quite differently than dance crazes once did. Generations ago, dances such as The Charleston and The Fox Trot migrated from their regions of origin to the national dance scene. It sometimes took years of travelers bringing back the latest dance moves to their hometowns before a dance became popular across the country. After shows such as “American Bandstand” and even “Soul Train” began to air on television, it became easier for people to learn the latest steps.
    Now with video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube.com and MySpace.com, the Spongebob soaked up followers as young as 7 years old across the Internet long before mainstream media such as MTV and Rolling Stone ever caught on.
There are several reasons Blaze likes club-goers using video footage from their nights out. “It lets people know what we do,” he says. “And I like to get crowd feedback — lets me know how I’m doing.”

Hometown Props
    Blaze also likes that when people see a YouTube video showing the Spongebob, it puts his hometown in a more positive light.
    “I watch (television show) ‘The Wire,’ and it shows the negative side of Baltimore. People can watch a video of kids doing the Spongebob, and (that’s) showing the positive side of Baltimore people might not get to see.”
    Blaze mostly plays clubs around Baltimore, but he does play private parties in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Providence, R.I.
    “I like the smaller venues because you can see who’s enjoying themselves,” Blaze says. “But I would like a steady gig — to find a place and help build their popularity.”
Blaze’s ultimate dream would to go national. With 19 records released and a hit that spawned a national dance craze, that dream could become a reality. And there’s one more dream Blaze has outside of the world of adult nightlife.
    “I would love to work for Nickelodeon. That’s a beautiful dream!”    NCB