Checking in with … John Mayer
We last left the emperor of echo a year ago, upon the release of his latest studio album and tour departure. Much has happened since then, most unremarkable — various singles being given too much airplay, a television show ending with thankful speed, and claims of "closing up shop on acoustic sensitive" (article) without any moves to actually do so.
John, do it. For me.
I'll admit, I don't hate him as much as I used to. Maroon 5 has joined the world and is a much greater evil. Any band once named "Kara's Flowers" has no business to continuing to make music. That Maroon 5 has covered Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People is terrifically sad. That the tribute album has never arrived in stores in a miracle. The promise of electrical Mayer goodness is preferable, even if completely unfulfilled.
I'll admit too that I've come to like one Mayer song. Why Georgia reminds me of some of my own thoughts there. Not the "quarterlife crisis" part of the song. That part, like the theory in general, is ridiculous. But the rest is okay. I don't love it, but I won't change the station. That's a first for me with Mayer.
But I come here not to praise John Mayer. I come here to clear out my bookmarks.
• Washington Post, covering the televised tsunami benefit: "Singer John Mayer inexplicably mumbled 'oh [poop]' during his performance, which was not caught by NBC despite the live program's five-second delay, though there was a brief muting of the audio about a second after Mayer's unfortunate comment."
• Esquire, in his now-monthly column: "Poetry and Aeroplanes is a concept record, really. It's about being in love but not being around. It's almost always raining, and if it's not, it's about to. Those windshield wipers almost never turn off, but but that doesn't make it drab; it makes it feel safe inside, where it's dry and the heat is blowing. Music like this is jet fuel on the fire of a broken heart."
… and he expects to close up shop. Bright Eyes has a better chance of stopping his candy basket burning.
From his first Esquire column: "Ryan Adams: Wants it so bad, he became it."
… John Mayer: Doesn't know what it is.
That is all.
February 13th, 2010 at 7:29 AM
[...] Then the ridiculous Playboy interview broke. There was so much to be said, and the world said it. Everybody published something, and Mayer needed to apologize on stage for being awful and nearly cried. So, not much for me to say. I had just begun to wonder if Heartbreak Warfare was the second Mayer song ever I liked a little. (Here was the first.) [...]