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If you're like most people I know, the impending actual day of election -- particularly in states where there are anti-gay measures up for vote as well -- is causing an increasingly insane amount of stress and fear and short tempers and spontaneous crying fits. (Okay, maybe I should just speak for myself.) Saturday night I found the antidote: I went to see Jason Mraz play at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. (Mraz earlier this year described his sexuality as "awesome" and told me he wanted to keep his "options open" when it came to future romances.)
Not only was Mraz's thoughtful, funny, sweet, soulful hippie rock exactly what I needed to feel all warm and fuzzy again -- especially on a chilly night when it kept threatening to rain on the open amphitheater -- there was an unexpected surprise. While introducing "Live High," off his new album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., he talked about community, about how we all need to respect the love people have for each other.
Then he asked the crowd for an "amen." Then he asked the crowd for a "hell yeah." Then he asked the crowd to go out and vote no on Prop 8 on Tuesday -- and then some 5,000-plus audience members jumped to their feet, screaming and cheering their agreement. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced in all my years of becoming a slightly-bitter professional queer, this huge crowd of strangers just there to hear some good music but absolutely affirming their belief in equality. (For the sight-seers, among the audience was this year's American almost-Idol, David Archuleta, attending with Idol's resident hippie stoner, Jason Castro.)
Mraz is not even halfway through a long tour -- see dates here -- in which he's taking the now de rigueur "text your message to the big screen!" phenomena of arena shows one step further, asking fans to email in photos the day of show, which are then prominently featured on the main screen during his performances. They fit in nicely with the Polaroids shown from Mraz's book, a thousand things.
When I spoke with Mraz's manager, Bill Silva, earlier this year, he called Mraz "a philosopher, and a poet, and a musician next," and lauded his ability to navigate the numbing repetition of promotion for an album or tour by focusing on the bigger picture. "When he's answering [the same] question about what it's like growing avocados, he can use the opportunity to spread the word again about how we can heal ourselves and how we can heal the planet," Silva said.
My favorite of his recent promotional appearances is, hands down, his stint on Ellen's show. The performance of "I'm Yours" (you know this song even if you think you don't) is great, but to fully fall for the boy, also watch him happily get dunk-tanked for a good cause.
Previously > Mraz's dirty gay experiences
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