VIDEO PREMIERE: Wilkes-Barre singer/songwriter Rich Janov proves addiction isn’t ‘Unfixable’
“Opioid overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in Pennsylvania, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2010 to 2019, rates of opioid-related deaths in Pennsylvania almost quintupled, rising from 5 per 100,000 people to 23.7 per 100,000 people. In 2020, it rose to 42.4 per 100,000 people,” a study from Penn State University found.
Although this essay is not about me, per say, I can attest that prior to my sobriety from alcohol and all the pills, potions, and powders (seven years this coming October), I sure has hell know what happens when you fuck around.
Short answer: You find out.
In 2008, upon my return to my home state from a dozen-year stint in New York City, I began to absorb the trickle-down stories of “this one and that one” from my childhood being “banged out” on this drug or having died from that substance. More often than not, the story was of a similar narrative:
“He” was in a car accident or “she” became injured due to a work incident and was placed by a physician on a pain management schedule that was improperly monitored and then discontinued abruptly without any thought to the subsequent horror of withdrawal from said professionally prescribed pharmaceuticals. The infrastructure to offer therapy to ween these patients off longtime painkiller prescription regimens was simply not in place.
Many patients began seeking this relief elsewhere. To meet the ever-expanding demand, an enormous influx of imported street drugs was now available to anyone. We begin to consider the term “drug dealer” subjectively now, don’t we?
Today’s featured artist is Rich Janov. I believe that I met this Wilkes-Barre-based singer/songwriter 10 years back at either Nak’s by the Tracks in Exeter or The Rattler in Pittston. Those years are spotty in the ole memory banks. His calm demeanor, gravelly voice, and honest songs became a staple on Americana-oriented nights at our place. Rich played on the Camp Rattler stage with Kaleigh Baker, Alex Culbreth, Terry Childers, Jay Morgans, Katie Kelly, Jon and Kate, etc. The list goes on.
The only rub for us was he wasn’t 100 percent reliable. I don’t judge. I just chalked it up to flaky artist shenanigans. Been there. Although I liked Rich, we weren’t the type of mates (then) to check in on each other. I enjoyed his company and stories when he was around. We had many common friends and contemporaries and we all, for sure, traversed life with a certain level of cavalier aloofness.
I recall him missing a show at the River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains that I thought he would have definitely been excited for. What I came to know a bit later was that he had become an object adrift, the sort of small object that gets scooped up in the violence and chaos of the high-pressured storm of the aforementioned drug climate. This storm picks you up gently, like a babe to its Ma… and then violently bounces you around, not unlike a handful of rocks in the clothes dryer.
In short, Rich Janov has absolutely traveled the horrible road of addiction for more years than he would care to discuss and has emerged victorious on the other side of its long-ass, dark-as-ink tunnel as an example of perseverance and strength.
He will be the first to tell you, however, that he failed tragically at his initial runs at sobriety – over and over and over. Actually, in excess of 20 rehabilitation facilities saw Mr. Rich either leave or quit their respective therapy programs, in many cases only to return to the very same program soon after. He described to me an intensely sad and seemingly endless cycle of despair.
Today, Rich Janov has almost a year of solid sobriety. It was simply his time.
In that time, Rich and I, as well as my wife and creative partner Kristin, have spent a considerable amount of quality time together. There is a certain energy that radiates around a human when they are leveling up. We are grateful for the trust that he has placed in Camp Rattler with regards to creating the proper companion visuals to illustrate this ultra-personal piece. I contacted our partner Jared Sokirka, who was, at the time, free diving with the famed giant squid near an oil derrick in the Sea of Japan. He immediately replied upon his trip to the mainland. Kristin and I simply felt too close to the footage to cut it ourselves this time and definitely wanted a fresh set of eyes on the edit. He did not disappoint.
This song is hauntingly beautiful. Fellow Wilkes-Barre native Aaron McCurdy’s backing vocals married to Rich’s raw nature has created something very special here. Local producer and In Depth Recording owner Joshua Kleedorfer is responsible for this pristine mix and master.
“Unfixable” joins the bevvy of other black-and-white videos that Kristin and I are shooting and assembling for our full-length film “Storied.”
It needs to be said that from early on in our friendship that I connected with certain traits of Rich’s that I absolutely have never mentioned to him – admirable, familiar weirdness that allowed me to see beyond the eager musician, beyond the substance abuse issues, beyond the face value. My initial appreciation for Mr. Rich actually stemmed from a story that he conveyed to me one night over a whiskey or three.
He told me that one time he was living in Washington state in a tent on a remote farm, at which he was employed. I don’t know what the crop was (or maybe it was weed), but he recalled to me that there was completely no cell or device service and apparently no good company on the grounds either. To keep himself sane, he whittled himself a set of nunchucks from a stout pine branch. Yeah, nunchucks. You know what they are.
Once Rich’s accurate version of the ancient weapon was completed, he began to learn the actual discipline associated with this item. The physicality and unforgiving nature of this particular martial art is very real. The opportunity for self-injury is very high. Search YouTube for Bruce Lee – you’ll immediately get it. Rich Janov still trains with these very same nunchucks every day.
It was this one tiny detail of his life that convinced me that he would eventually pull up on the controls and steady his spiraling plane – his ability to adapt, to teach himself something that which he doesn’t know, to overcome the battle in the mind, to defeat the shadow. I knew he possessed the inner power to live.
The song “Unfixable” is his testimony. It is his firsthand account, his saga, his confession of personal accountability and his educated commentary on an invisibly broken system that remains an unseen bruise on the entire American healthcare system. Please watch it and share with a friend, and also watch for Rich Janov playing live near you soon. The dude is on fire.
