I figure since BOSSY is always talking about her boyfriend John Cusack (and the Saturn Guy..and Obama...and the Starbucks Guy....) and since Mrs. G is always raving about her boyfriend Johnny Depp (and the Pitt/Damon/Clooney Clan), that I would tell you about mines. Yes that's plural - as in more than one of mine.
First up and in particular order - is Jack Johnson. Oh you mean...you already knew? If you have ever called me you have been forced to listen to "Holes to Heaven" - and you can't tell me it didn't just make you feel good. Unless you happen to be Vern's husband Mr. Buck, my 70 year old father-in-law who looks like Robert Redford and runs 8 miles a day I shit-you-not, who leaves me messages that go a little something like this:
"Turtle (because thats what they call me), I really can't stand to listen to this new age music. I would appreciate it if you could look into something more pleasant for me to be greeted with, like The Weavers."
And I find it in my heart to forgive him. Jack Johnson is a pure joy to me. I have been a loyal fan of his music since I first heard him sing with G Love and Special Sauce (that second part has always scared me)on Rodeo Clowns. This must have been sometime in 1999? I was hooked. Shortly after, he came out with his first album, and has since consistently released incredible music. Jack Johnson makes albums that you want to buy because you know it will ALL BE GOOD. Not just one or two songs. Shortly after I moved to Atlanta (2003?) he came to play at one of the coolest, most intimate venues in town - The Tabernacle. I purchased two tickets and had no idea who the second was for - I didn't know anyone. I tried to convince my buddy Brian from work to go and he was all "Johnson schmonson. i'd rather go fly fishing and listen to van morrison...". 2 years later he would be calling me from an amphitheater in THE GORGE or some shit bragging about how COOL Jack Johnson was, and did I have the new album??? Dumbass. I went to the concert alone and stood close enough that night to smell the sweat dripping off his body. And let me tell you, I ain't gonna lie - it was hot.
Do you have certain bands or artists...even actors or athletes that you have loved from the beginning? That you have rooted for and followed and solicited to all your friends, your dog, and anyone else who would listen? That you always believed from the moment you laid eyes or ears on - that they had that...Je ne sais quoi!? You knew that they would make it, you knew that everyone would love them. You knew you were on to something BIG! And you are sure you are some super elite member of a VERY SMALL group of priveledged people who actually know anything about their greatness? And then...lo and behold...it happened. They got big. And suddenly, LIKE EVERYONE, is walking around in Technical T's from Urban Outfitters with your GUYS face on it, talking about that one album with that one song thats getting played on the radio every five minutes? And you feel the urge whenever someone mentions them, to inform them that YOU WERE THERE FIRST. That you know and have every album - including all the rare and obscure live recordings. You can list them off in chronological order. And you find yourself saying things like "Well wayyyyy BACK IN 1999...." as you scratch your head searching the extensive archives of your history with this person. Kind of like I just did up there. Like it was at all relevant - like I needed you to be sure that I wasn't one of those bangwagon people with a Technical T from Urban Outfitters. And just for the record - if there was a Technical T from Urban Outfitters with Jack Johnson's face on it, and there isn't - I WOULD SO HAVE ALREADY HAD IT. Do you know how stupid this is? I do.
Thats how I feel about Jack. I loved him first. Dammit.
I also happened to love Jason Mraz first. Only he didn't quite make it the same way Jack did. But that doesn't matter - because in a scrawny, like the rocker-punk-guy in high school that wasn't in to me kind of way - he's just lovely. And has a new album out. So I just wanted to be sure that you all know - that I wrote about him like YEARS AGO. When he was playing FREE concerts. SEE HERE? We've even met. And I dragged that guy Brian to the show and he was all "Jason Schmason...I'd rather bee fly fishing and listening to Martin Sexton...", until a few years later when he calls me up from some perfect venue like THE GORGE and says "Dude, I'm at ANOTHER JACK JOHNSON a Dave Matthews show and you are NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE who the opener is???". Bastard.
