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Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010
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| Eternal sunshine of Jason Mraz | |
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by Albert Rodriguez -
SGN A&E Writer The first thing you should know about Jason Mraz is that he's unique and interesting - and not in a Dwight Schrute kind of way. He's more like a summer breeze blowing through the jasmine in his own mind or a guy who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh, soak it in the sun and make a strawberry lemon pie. Actually, he's a combination of the two - an artist with his own spirit and energy intertwined with a person that's never been afraid to be different or envision his possibilities as one big lollipop. This is perhaps why Mraz is so loved by Gay men, because we share that common ground of living in individualistic worlds, yet seeing the potential for that next great lay. Raised in Virginia, now a fully ripened Californian, the eclectic singer-songwriter is basking in the success of a gold certified album and a trans-continental tour without a single empty seat. Over the past five years, I've developed a friendship with this pop wonder that's had its share of beers, hugs, last calls, off-the-record conversations, but most of all, kindness - he's always been gracious to me. You'll notice in this interview - in comparison to previous ones in Seattle Gay News - that Mraz has gone from an oversized kid (who once bounced up and down on a tour van like a trampoline) to a mature, settled down, deep-thinking young man with plans to orbit and celebrate the planet, not dominate it. Tickets for both November 9 and 10 concerts at the Paramount Theatre are completely sold-out, as is the Portland date on November 12, and I'll have a roundup of all three performances in next week's issue with a bonus peek from backstage (I'm looking forward to seeing his new tattoo). Without further delay, from a parking space just outside Sacramento, here's what Jason Mraz philosophized inside "The Music Lounge." Albert Rodriguez: What's new? Jason Mraz: Every day is new. We're just enjoying this tour; it's been our most successful tour ever, our most successful album ever. I just feel like life is at its most successful for me. I'm having such experiences, Albert, that, like, every couple of days I stop in my tracks and say, "This is one of the most beautiful moments of my life." It's an insane feeling because I've met people who look back upon the years or look back at times and say, "That was the most amazing part of my life." But to actually experience it when it's happening is pretty awesome. It's like being able to look at your surroundings and say, "Holy shit, I can't believe this is happening!" Rodriguez: [Pre-Election Day] How are you going to celebrate the defeat of Proposition 8 tomorrow? Mraz: Oh, we're celebrating very big, very big. My fingers are crossed and my prayers are all for my group of friends, and tonight's our fourth night of touring California and we're campaigning "no on Proposition 8" and we're campaigning for Obama. It's going to be a big day. Rodriguez: You tour all around the world - Asia, Europe, Australia - but when you look at your itinerary and see Seattle coming up, what comes to mind? Mraz: You know what, Albert? I've honestly not been able to think about the future. I've really tried to take on the practice of living one day at a time. I can kind of foresee tomorrow and the next day, but any further than that is assuming or creating expectations. I want to foresee that Obama's gonna be the president-elect by the time I get to Seattle. I don't know anything else yet about next week, I still have my work cut out for me today and tomorrow. Rodriguez: How is it that you're doing one show with a band and the other acoustic here in Seattle? Mraz: You will see the band both nights, but it's a choice to play up one of the nights in what can be best described as a Vegas show, and then the acoustic night is more of the conversation we're all used to. You will see the band both nights, but a little bit different instrumentation, I guess. The idea for that is, well, simply because we can. I've always been lucky to be able to play big places and then the next week be in a club or go home and play in a coffeeshop. I never have gotten stuck into one style of show that we do. So whenever we're faced with a dilemma, such as a city that requires a show, I think it's a great opportunity to do a variety of work in that city rather than a routine performance. Rodriguez: It took you a while to get here because this album's been out for several months and you toured a lot in Europe. Mraz: Yeah, we spent most of this year overseas and last year overseas, and, before that, overseas, just taking time away from the music industry and the US. I think it was good, though, it was right. It gave me time to write new songs that I'm proud of and that I'm proud to celebrate onstage. It also gave me time to rebuild, reconnect, set new values for myself, to actually have a new show that makes sense. To continually tour and tour and tour, you have the tendency to overthink things or become a robot. And I never wanted to become a robot doing this, I truly want to be present for every show and make it a good experience for everyone. Rodriguez: You're one of the few artists I credit for not doing the same show twice. I just saw Madonna, who put on a spectacular concert, but does the same thing in every city. Mraz: We're a unique band that does not have a musical director. We all work together as musicians to figure it out and to stay unique - even if the set list is going to be close to the night before, there's gonna be some subtle changes. There's also going to be different dialogue and different connotations because the audience is new. Every space creates a new sound. Every day, depending on the weather or current events, can play into the kind of show that's created. My overall theory of the show these days is that I don't invite people to just come and stare at me, we invite people to come and participate - if you know the songs, we invite you to sing along, if you have a dance move, we invite you to dance that move, and it really becomes a party. Rodriguez: Do you have any new tats? Mraz: The most recent was in February, it's a tat I call "live by." I got it the day before my travels this year 'cause I knew I'd be orbiting the earth and I thought, "It's still going to be possible to meet someone, have a meaningful connection." Basically, it's a tattoo taken from something called "The Golden Record." In 1977, Carl Sagan and friends launched into space the golden LP titled Sounds from Earth and it features 50 or 60 different languages, maybe a couple hundred songs, and there's even images put into it, like an early CD. And in case an alien species should ever find this and get all this information of earth then look at pictures of humans, how would they know what a human was, if it was standing next to a tree or if it was standing in front of a house? So they filmed these silhouettes of humans, and I took this silhouette and tattooed it on my arm and put my own stats on it - my height, my age - and there's a female being standing next to it and there are no stats for that. So, the idea is that some day I will fill in the stats with my one true love. And the cool thing about this, Albert, is that it's made of solid gold, it's floating in the vacuum of space and it's estimated to last a billion years - a lot longer than humans are estimated to last. In fact, maybe our architecture and our art, and maybe all of our plastic, will be reduced to volcanic nothingness in a billion years. So, essentially, this solid gold LP from the '70s is our legacy that we were here, and I just thought it was very beautiful. It's on my right arm and says "Beginner." I can't stress enough to anyone that the beginner's mind is a beautiful place to come from. Beginners have the most fun. Rodriguez: Non-sexually, I'd love to come down and pick the avocados on your trees. [Mraz has a small crop near San Diego.] Mraz: Yeah, totally. Totally! Rodriguez: Do have a favorite album of 2008, since the year's winding down? Mraz: I'm on tour right now with Lisa Hannigan, and her album is blowing my mind. She has such a wonderful, dark and conversational voice, yet it's sexy at times, it's poetic and quirky at times. We first heard of Lisa Hannigan when she was here with Damien Rice about five years ago on the O record - a fantastic record. Now she's got a solo project, and it's the female equivalent to Damien Rice. This has been a year for me to actually go back in time and put things on my iPod that I've been missing, like Portishead's Dummy, which was my favorite album of 1995, but I realized this year I needed it on my iPod. And I did that all throughout the year, I went back and got all my Jane's Addiction that I love, I got that Rage Against the Machine that I love, I picked up Nirvana and Guns 'n' Roses. It was a year in rock for me, but it was also a year for Brazilian music and Pakistani, Flamenco, and classical music - I put all kinds of classical on my iPod this year, so I guess I was trying to reinspire, re-educate and continue to expand my musical horizons. Rodriguez: You got any disco on that iPod? Mraz: I guess the closest thing to disco I put on my iPod this year was Ratatat and Justice, more of like the house-disco world. It was definitely a great addition at the gym this year. Rodriguez: Which leads me to say that you're looking rather fit these days. I didn't know you were going to the gym, I thought it was just surfing. Mraz: Well, thank you. I'm taking good care of myself. I started going to the gym so that I wouldn't lose strength when I'm on the road, so that when I'm home I can continue to surf. The one thing I learned from surfing is that it takes tons of strength to keep up and to survive, and so I started working out while I was on the road and then I just started to feel the benefits of working out. You feel great in your chest, your head, and your heart, and then the side effect is that you look great. I've also been taking good care by the things I eat. There's no sugar in my diet. You drop sugar and immediately lose all the excess fat you thought you needed. Rodriguez: Let's end this by you giving me a crazy tour diary story, like a whacked-out fan. Mraz: You know, we have the nicest fans in the world. I just spent the last two nights playing to outdoor crowds, and my biggest crowd that I've ever played in front of - it being my own show, not a festival - and both days it was raining, a downpour, all weekend it was raining in San Francisco and people kept calling me and asking, "What happens if it rains? Are we still doing a show?" And the only thing I could say back to them was, "It won't be raining." We've played all over the world in all kinds of weather, and every time we take the stage - this is no joke - the sun comes out and it joins us for the show. People ask me how that's possible and I say, "Well, we invite the kind of people that brighten up the day". And I truly believe that when you gather this many people together who celebrate life and love their life experience and practice that much kindness in their community, it can only bring out the sunshine. That, to me, is a remarkable tour diary. |
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