My Night With Jason Mraz

Another of my "not so passing fancies" ... [deep calming breath]... JASON MRAZ!! Jason has a way with words, a poet and an artist in the truest sense.
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I've had the oppurtunity to see him in concert before, and it's always a fantastic show. When he was added to the summer concert series this year for Ironstone Vinyards, I knew it was a definite can't miss! Ironstone Vineyards is beautiful, and their concert venue is the best anywhere! Any concert there is well worth the drive which is about 50 miles from where I live in Lodi, up into the foothills of northern California. Ironstone is located in a tiny little gold mining town called Murphy's. I bought tickets the morning they went on sale several months ago since his concerts tend to sell out fast, I wasn't going to take any chances. I decided to take my mom and my neice Alex with me. They both lurve Mraz too, and since my niecey-poo is leaving for basic training (US Army) just a few days after this show, I knew it would be the last thing we get to do together for a while... I'm so proud of her... but that's another story.
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This was going to be great, just us girls & Mraz! So we got ourselves a great little spot and set up our chairs and blankets for a wonderful evening! Woo! Here's my mom (I love my mom!!), she got her caraffe of Obsession (best wine ever!) and got comfy waiting for the show to start.

Here I am with my neice Alex, just a couple of happy concert goers!

So we're just kicking back, taking snapshots...hanging out. Then this nice man walks up to our little group...
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Man: "Would one of you girls like to go backstage with me and meet Jason?"
...[sideways glances]...
Me: "S'cuse me?"
Man: "Yeah, see, I have this extra meet & greet pass, I don't want it to go to waste"
Me: "OH HELL YEAH!!!"
Man: "Cool, let's go this thing starts in like 3 minutes."
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...[me, flying out of my lawn chair]...
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Here are a few of my random thoughts from the next few minutes...

• OMG!!
• Whoa, this dude is really has an extra pass, and he's giving it to me! (as I'm sticking it to my shirt and putting on the bracelet).
• OMG!!! I'm really going to meet Jason Mraz!
• Oh crap! I have major gray roots, I knew I sould have colored my hair this morning!!
• Aw man, is that wine on my shirt? Nuts!
• OMGeeeeee!!!!

Duane is the very nice man who gifted me this amazing experience. Apparently he bought his tickets on Craigslist, and these were upgraded tickets from some radio station which included two backstage meet & greet passes as well as tickets to "the pit" which is directly infront of the stage, and Duane came by himself... lucky me!! So, Duane and I stroll over to the place where the he was instructed to wait. Within a minute or two a "behind-the-scenes" man comes over and leads us back off to the left side of the stage where there are about 15 other people waiting. "Nice" behind-the-scenes man says to us, "small group, you'll all actually be able to talk to Jason for a minute".

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OMG!!! Ok Lisa, pull it together! Don't geek out and act like a 15 year old and say something really stupid! These are my thoughts... Let's see [thinking quickly], I follow Jason Mraz's twitter account, I subscribe to his blog (see it, over there on the right... Freshness Factor Five Thousand) I've got to be able to come up with something intelligent, [palms sweating, getting nervous] hmm... what's he been up to lately? Oh! He's been on vacation this week! I'll ask him how he's enjoyed his time off and if he got to go surfing [Crap! I should have colored my hair, these gray roots are hideous!]...yes! I'll ask about his vacation...

...wandering eyes... hey look, it's Bushwalla!!

Oh my God! It's Jason!!

Heeheeheee [me giggling and smiling like a fool and slapping poor Duane in the arm] "look Duane, here he comes!"

Jason took his time, and was very sweet and very present. Not rushed at all, he talked to this lady and her husband for several minutes, she was showing him pictures from her camera... Meanwhile Duane and I were frantically giving each other lessons on our own cameras.

Whoa... I'm standing right next to Jason Mraz!! Man... he's tiny. Damn, he's handsome too!
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So he gets to me and he sticks out his hand and says "Hi, I'm Jason" Jeez, he was cool, like I don't know who he is. We shook hands, I introduced myself. He asked me how I was doing tonight, I said I was fantastic and it was an honor to meet him. I asked him how his vacation was this week, and he looked a little surprised, and said that it was great, but busier than when he's working, you know how that goes. And I said, isn't that the truth, now you need a vacation from your vacation (Yes. I know... I'm a dork.) And he laughed and said it was true. He asked me where I was from, I said Lodi. He said, oh, a guy in my band is from Lodi (What? I didn't know that. Mental note, google that later).
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Then he asked what I like to do in Lodi, and I kind of went brain dead for a split second... I blinked... uh... whut? what do I like to do in Lodi? uhm... well... well all kinds of things really, but I couldn't think of a single damn thing when I was staring at Jason Mraz... he has really beautiful eyes by the way, they're hazel like mine... I almost said, "well Jason, I'm learning to emboirder" and quickly ixnayed that in favor of something more mundane, how lame. Oh shit, he's still waiting... "Oh, well all kinds of stuff, camping, riding my scooter, hiking, listening to music... Lodi is great, it's close to everything"

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"Cool, cool" Jason says, "yes, this part of California is great, you're 2 hours from everything in any direction". "Yes" I said, "it's awesome...." [shaking my head. yes, again, I know I'm a dork. Hey you try talking to someone you really admire, it's hard! They're not supposed to ask you questions, it's supposed to be the other way around].

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Then, I ask if he'd mind taking a picture with me, and of course he's so gracious, and is happy to do just that. So he stands right next to me, and puts his arm around my shoulder! (Eeee!) I grabbed him too, and snap went the flash!

I thanked him again for taking the time to meet us, and wished him luck for his show, told him I knew it would be awesome!

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Oh man! That was so cool! Here is Duane having his turn with Mr. A~Z.

Weeeee! I'm floating on air!! So Duane and I take our leave and saunter out through the VIP area and wander back to where mom and Alex were waiting. I don't think my feet touched the ground the whole way! I couldn't thank Duane enough! He and I exchanged emails so we can send each other the pictures we took, then Duane sort of disappeared like an angel... he reappeared at my side later, we danced, it was way cool!
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Wow! Mom and Alex were so happy for me, this was MAJOR for me. MAJOR.
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Raphael Saadiq opened for Jason that night, he rocks! I went down into the area they called "the pit" which really isn't a pit at all (compared to some shows I've been to) and got a good look at Mr. Saadiq. He's pretty cool, old school motown kinda... cute too.

Jason comes on after the intermission which I spent with Mom & Alex, wooohooohooo!

Back down to the stage I go with my fancy green paper bracelet thingy (it's been two days... I'm still wearing it...uncomfortable laugh...). This is where I pretty much spent most of the set. Wow! Still can't believe I got to meet him!

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His show was fantastic, completely on point! I was really excited to see which songs he was going to play at this concert, and I was not disapointed. A lot of my favorites where there, even a couple of unexpected goodies like Seals & Crofts "Summer Breeze" and Lionel Richies "All Night Long" He and his band are amazing!

This was an excellent night! We sang! We danced! We didn't steal anything... 'cept maybe some fabulous memories! I will never forget this, next to meeting Jerry Garcia, meeting Jason Mraz is at the very top of my list if wishes... it really doesn't get much better. Alex & mom had a wonderful time too!

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Ok crafty ladies, here's where I need your help... this is my meet & greet pass. It's like a silky fabric that's sticky on one side. I'm going to keep it forever! I'm trying to think of something cool to do with it, maybe make a little knapsack and sew it on as a patch... I don't know exactly. Let me hear your ideas!!

This was such a great ending to a summer that started so bad for me... I can't think why Duane chose our little group to ask that night, I mean, he could have asked anyone... why me?? Ahhh... I love the mysteries of the universe. I guess it was just my night! What a night it was!
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oxo~

Lisa