John Mayer #12 Gravity won't bring us down...

quote:

"With any trilogy," says John Mayer, "the third in the series blows it open."

On CONTINUUM the singer/songwriter/guitar slinger meets that challenge head-on. Mayer's third studio album follows the multi-platinum ROOM FOR SQUARES (2001) and HEAVIER THINGS (2003) and marks his first turn as producer. It is his most soulful, cohesive collection yet and he says it's no accident that this project is where all of his efforts, his potential, and his disparate influences fully come together.

"The night I was recognized for 'Daughters' at the Grammys was the night this record started," he says. "I knew I had bought the time to learn everything I needed before I started this one. CONTINUUM is not a shot in the dark, it's not a guesstimation. This is the first endeavor in my entire life, music or otherwise, that I did not cop out for a second on."

The last few years have seen Mayer maintaining a frantic pace. In addition to his own writing, recording, and touring, he has collaborated with icons and contemporaries alike - Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Herbie Hancock, as well as Kanye West, the Dixie Chicks, and Alicia Keys. In doing so, Mayer says his own interests have grown and his perspectives expanded.

Mayer also credits his collaboration with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino (collectively known as the John Mayer Trio) and the intimate-venue tour that produced the 2005 live album TRY! with helping to recalibrate his musical priorities. "As a songwriter, the Trio helped me focus on being more raw," he says. "As a guitar player, it helped me get a lot out of my system. If it wasn't for the Trio, CONTINUUM would have been less accessible. It let me settle up with my needs as a musician, and get to a point somewhere between the Trio record and ROOM FOR SQUARES - and that's a really good place to be."

While the Trio tour showcased Mayer's blazing fretwork, he says he learned lessons from those shows about restraint. "When I made my first record, there was no trust in space because it was all me, everything was just on those six strings," he says. "With Steve and Pino, it was all about space, using a whole different palette. When your tone is good on the guitar you need, like, four notes. The more concise and right you have it, the less you need around it."

Mayer points to one song in particular as the turning point for CONTINUUM. "I wrote 'Gravity' last summer, and it changed everything," he says. "You talk less when you trust that people understand you. 'Gravity' had to be sparse. And when I listened to it - for the first time, holding back - then it was a whole new game. That might be the most important song I ever wrote."

Armed with this outlook, Mayer knew CONTINUUM would tackle larger ideas than those that defined his previous albums. "A big challenge was writing about big themes," he says. "I'm not a better writer in terms of sitting down in front of a pad, but I'm better in terms of receiving inspiration and converting it into something 'real' quicker. I'm better equipped to deal with those moments."

With "Waiting on the World to Change", Mayer shot for something even more ambitious - something like an attempt to explain his generation's attitudes about politics. "It's meant to shed a little light on inactivity and inaction," he says, "because I don't believe that inaction is disinterest, I think inaction is preservation – nobody wants to get involved in a debate in which the rules and the facts will change so that they'll lose. So we end up with this other option, which is, I guess we'll just have to wait for things to get better.

Having just announced a co-headlining tour with Sheryl Crow to help launch CONTINUUM, Mayer is raring to start playing his new material for an audience. "This record is infinitely playable," he says. "I built so many corners into these songs I cannot wait to play them live."

Ultimately, CONTINUUM represents maturity, both musically and thematically, for John Mayer – a concept that he wasn't comfortable with until now. "A lot of these songs are about coming to terms with getting older," he says. "My generation was never told we were going to get older. We thought we were going to hear our names on 'Romper Room' for the rest of our lives. For a long time, I was really upset about getting older, worried that things were just going to level out.

"But then I realized that everyone around me was all getting older at the same time. We're all fighting it together, and we're always going to be those kids, the first really emotionally aware generation. When I realized that, I could relax about it a little bit. And I thought that maybe I can be the guy to sing about it."

quote:

Op zondag 3 december 2006 16:40 schreef Robzilla het volgende:

[..]

Is dat DE blackie?

quote:

Op zondag 3 december 2006 17:21 schreef Doodle het volgende:
Laat ik nou toevallig John Mayer aan het luisteren zijn.
Een van m'n favoriete nummers zijn Clarity, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Vultures, en Belief.

quote:

Op zondag 3 december 2006 17:28 schreef Evert1987 het volgende:
"Sinds Waiting On The World To Change worden andere radiozenders ook wakker."

Van het vorige album werd het nummer Daughters ook regelmatig gedraaid op verschillende stations.

quote:

Op zondag 3 december 2006 18:15 schreef Robzilla het volgende:

[..]

ah een RI dus, ik schrok al..

quote:

Op dinsdag 5 december 2006 09:49 schreef Jill-RMC het volgende:
Okay we kunnen we de bedankjes mailen naar Edwin Evers van radio 538

quote:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM PARTYING.

Okay! Here's the part where I say it: It is stunning to me that I was nominated for five Grammy(tm) awards. To see the diversity in the projects I'm involved in represented in the nominations is even greater. I can't believe the TRIO was nominated. That is my baby. Big international hug to Steve and Pino. And of course, to see Continuum be recognized is overwhelming.

Also, let me say thank you to all my fans who have shared such happiness with me over the last 24 hours. I'm really moved by how invested you all are in my career. That's what has struck me the most; that you have a personal and in some cases very emotional stake in my life, and I'm honored that you care as much as you do. I've never been more aware of what we mean to each other than right now.

But that's not exactly why I'm writing this to you now...

People, I am going out tonight. Out in ways I never did during the making of the record(s), and in ways I certainly can't when I'm on tour. I don't like partying without a really good reason. That "we're alive!" thing doesn't really work as an excuse. I hope to be alive for a long time - I'm not going to celebrate every night. But tonight is certainly different.

Tonight I will be traveling with my damageman, Elliott M. Turnbull. A damageman, for those who don't know, is a fellow, normally of British descent, who carries wads of cash and peels off bills to pay for things I broke or soiled. It's like a PR rep except Elliot works at the source, where the bad press begins. One tuck of a Grant into the bar manager's shirt and a light slap on the cheek, and it's like the whole thing never happened. Alot.

In case Elliott cannot work as fast as I can, I would like to give you a heads up as to what you may read about or see in the coming days.

Please do not become alarmed if I:

--publicly challenge Phil Collins to a fistfight. (This is a family tradition - more on this later)

--break my own expensive camera and then sue myself for every dollar I have

--freestyle rap (most of my rhymes reference all things being "fierce")

--ruminate amongst strangers as to who would win a fight between Jimmy Carter and former Mets catcher Gary Carter

--get busy in a Burger King bathroom

--become separated from my friends and begin partying with a new crowd of gents who seem nice enough, take a ride in their van to a house in Van Nuys, where I will try my hand at gay-for-pay superstardom under the name "Jonny Lobo", filming over 300 features throughout the course of a night, becoming the hottest newcomer on the scene earning 12 AVN nominations and winning seven, before eventually bottoming out with a string of sub-par performances, a brief stint in rehab and then hopping a cab ride home before sun-up. I will tell my friends I was napping in a bush.

I may also make appearances at the following Hollywood hot-spots:

Hyde
Area
Area 51
Tush
Manchu Wok
Discovery Zone
Ralph's
Sweet Dreamz
The Rag Bucket
J.P. Frenulum's

I'm going to get started with my new song "Tonight (throw down til it comes back up)" featuring Akon. I didn't ask him to guest on it, he's just going door-to-door now. Gotta run. I can hear him getting louder...

Don't say I didn't warn you. It's gonna get stupid. and yes, I have a driver. It's made out of titanium and I'll be swinging it at everything I see.

Toasting one to you.
And the award for best fans goes to....

POSTED BY JOHN MAYER AT 11:10 AM FROM LOS ANGELES, CA

quote:

Maandag in December Muziekmaand Karaoke- avond
21 november 2006

De maandagen in December Muziekmaand staan in het teken van het thema karaoke. De zender heeft maar liefst vijf meezingers geprogrammeerd. De films Blues Brothers 1 en 2 Grease deel 1,2 en bovendien de première van deel 3 in karaoke-versie.


De hele decembermaand heeft verschillende thema’s, zoals urban, karaoke, rock, diva’s en hiphop. December Muziekmaand - Karaoke start maandag 4 december om 21.30 uur met de film Blues Brothers bij Veronica.

De hele maand december heeft elke dag van de week een ander thema. Naast Karaoke op maandag, is het thema Rock op de dinsdag, Diva’s op woensdag, Hip Hop op donderdag en Urban op zondag. Op de vrijdagen en zaterdagen staan verschillende Veronica in Concert’s gepland, zoals Christina Aguilera, Faithles, George Micheal, John Mayer en Scissor Sisters.

quote:

Op maandag 11 december 2006 20:08 schreef Gosjke het volgende:
Dat is toch die met die mega gitaar intro? Die ook overal online te vinden is?

quote:

December 10, 2006
Key Club
West Hollywood, CA


Why Georgia (Belief Tease)
Belief
Heart of Life
Clarity
Stop This Train
Waiting On The World To Change
Dreaming With A Broken Heart
Neon (Tom's Diner)
(Stash)
Gravity
--
St. Patrick's Day
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (The Eraser)
No Such Thing (When The World Is Running Down)


All John solo. Some acoustic, some electric.


What a set. Was only supposed to be 45 minutes, but John gave the people what they wanted for more than an hour. "Noise for Tots" if you will. The room was full of great people and my man did his thing, commenting between the set and encore, "man, this kinda feels like Eddie's Attic."


Maybe that's why he busted out the rarely-played Stop This Train. Or threw some old favorites like Neon and St. Patty's into the mix. Gravity must have been 8 minutes long - John looped the riff at the end and soloed over it. Beautiful stuff. It was a very special night...those acoustic shows in December have a way of getting to you.


And I got to hang with The Chad all day!


In other news, please bring Allen Iverson to the Clippers! I'm talkin' bout Clippers, man. I'm talkin' bout Clippers, man. Not the Knicks, not the Knicks, not the Knicks...I'm talking bout Clippers man. What am I talking about? The Clippers??
-Scotty

POSTED BY SCOTTY CROWE AT 10:30 AM FROM HOLLYWOOD, CA