sammi says

John Mayer returned to St. Louis Saturday night for his Battle Studies tour at the Scottrade Center. It was the first time I've seen John Mayer indoors. He usually tours during the summer and plays at outdoor arenas so I was a little weary about what it would be like to see him in such a huge venue. Would it sound the same? Would it be sold out? One of the best parts of seeing John Mayer outside is that everyone is cramped together on the lawn, singing and dancing along, warm weather, nighttime....you get the picture. I was pleasantly surprised to feel comfortable inside. It didn't seem too big and it looked like most of the seats were filled. I would have been bothered if I could see empty seats...it would just seem wrong. Anyways, Michael Franti and Spearhead opened the show. He was probably the most entertaining opening act I've seen in a long time. People really seemed to be into his set which is interesting because I've only ever heard one of his songs. After waiting in a line for 15 minutes to use the bathroom, John Mayer finally hit the stage and kicked off the show with his hit single, "Heartbreak Warfare."

He ditched his leather jacket, bared his arms and went straight into a mash up of "Why Georgia" and "Message in a Bottle." Next came "Vultures," "Something's Missing," and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room," which was definitely a crowd favorite. He played "Perfectly Lonely," and "Assassin," from the album "Battle Studies," and then he really shocked me. Out of nowhere he played "Wheel," the final track on "Heavier Things," a song he almost never plays in concert, and one of my all time favorites. It's a pretty emotional song and reminds me of high school. I flipped out when I heard it. It made up for all of my other favorite songs he didn't play. I took a bathroom break during "Daughters." He then played "Crossroads," "Waiting on the World to Change," "Half of my Heart," and ended with "No Such Thing." I was a little sad that out of all of his music he played "No Such Thing." It's not a bad song, but it's not great either. I would have rather heard just about any other song from "Room for Squares."

For the encore he came back with "Who Says." Despite the concert being indoors, people definitely started lighting up during his, "who says I can't get stoned," song. With everyone throwing up their lighters and cell phones, John decided to turn off all the lights on stage and went into "Gravity." Appropriately the lights came up during the lyrics, "keep me where the light is." John then went into 5 minutes of some serious guitar playing...over his head and on the ground. It was really amazing and was the perfect way to end the show. I was ready for him to smash his guitar and light it on fire after all the theatrics. My favorites of the night- "Heartbreak Warfare," "Why Georgia," "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room," "Wheel," "Half of my Heart," and "Gravity." I loved the show and I love John. Can't wait until I can see him live again.

(as always, click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

It was hard for me to write a review of John Mayer's latest release "Battle Studies." I kept putting it off because the fan girl in me wants to sum it up and say "BEST ALBUM EVERRRRR!!!!1!" But writing one sentence about my unconditional love for JM does neither of us any good.

So I'm going to try to put my thoughts into words having let "Battle Studies" sink in for the last two weeks. If you recall, I was a little shocked at the tone of the first single "Who Says," and even though I knew John was going to go a completely new direction for this album, I didn't really anticipate how different.

His previous album "Continuum" hits you with electric-guitar-heavy, epic, ascending tracks ("Belief," "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room," "In Repair") and that's just not the case with "Battle Studies." It's more subdued but I think it delivers more lyrically than any of his past albums.

"Battle Studies" plays out as a modern relationship survival guide. The first song "Heartbreak Warfare," is about being on he verge of breaking up, with lyrics like "red wine and ambien, you're talking shit again." Another track "Assassin" delves into the world of one night stands. "Friends, Lovers or Nothing," is an anthem for all those friends with benefits who are looking for something more.

My favorite song of the moment is "Half of My Heart," featuring Taylor Swift. It's an acoustic, pop song that feels familiar. I say song of the moment because after my first listen my favorite was "Heartbreak Warfare," and I can already feel my next favorite coming on, "Edge of Desire." It's inching to number one because a few days ago, as a thank you for making "Battle Studies" the number one album, John recorded an acoustic, live, solo, uncut version of "Edge of Desire," in his apartment at 3 in the morning. I think it's beautiful and vulnerable and makes me appreciate the album version 10 times more. Here's the link to download.

It took a few listens of "Battle Studies" for me to feel comfortable with the songs but now I can't stop listening. It's the perfect soundtrack for dreary winter days. "Battle Studies" makes John Mayer's musical evolution clearly evident. Buy it on iTunes here.



(I love the way JM did the track listing for "Battle Studies." He made it look like an actual manual with chapters like Evasion, Navigation, Identifying the Enemy etc...Click the photo above to enlarge it.)

If you haven't already heard John Mayer's new single, "Who Says," off the highly anticipated album, "Battle Studies," go here and have a listen.


Upon first listen I was a little confused and in disbelief that this is the single. I can't imagine hearing this on the radio. I can't imagine radio stations playing a song with the opening line, "Who says I can't get stoned?" It's not that I didn't like the song, but it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a radio-friendly jingle. John Mayer's record company is notorious for picking the cheesiest song on his album and making them into mass-marketable singles that play over Hallmark commercials (i.e. "Your Body is a Wonderland," "Daughters," "Say" etc...). It's not that I don't like these songs, but true Mayer fans know that the really good stuff is on the album.

Ok, so the first listen was out of the way and I played it on a loop for a good 15 minutes (ok, 15 minutes=all day, who am I kidding?) and my thoughts began to wander while listening to the lyrics. I went to JM's Battle Studies website and re-watched his series of videos documenting the making of this album and it all seemed to click. Listening to the lyrics I feel like I know exactly what he's going through. JM has made no secret of his disdain for the "womanizing douchebag" status the tabloids and gossip blogs give him. He hates his reputation and is really sensitive about the grief he gets over it.

He took to his twitter last May saying, "I love how some dudes hate me for dating their fantasy girl, as if they were going to if I hadn’t. Showbiz types’ are people who grew up talking to themselves alone in a room for hours until they found some sort of outlet. Once they found that outlet, everything fell into place, except for the fact that they still never worked out why they still talk so much. So you see, though filled with deep emotional voids that can never be filled, Showbiz Types are an important part of our Nation’s tapestry. I’m a Showbiz Type. (cue penny whistle and marching drums) But I am not a douche!!"

I feel like this song is in response to our quickness to define him by this reputation rather than enjoy his music. Kind of like a big "F-you" to the haters. I applaud his record company for letting him take chances with this single and the album as a whole. John was given the freedom on this album to build a recording studio in his house and take his time to create a record completely different from his super-successful 2006 album, "Continuum." In Battle Studies video two, John says, "How do I follow 'Continuum?' We just say, you don't follow it at all. You just leave it. And you step to the side and you begin something completely new." And this is something completely new, something we haven't heard from him yet. I am excited about the possibilities of this record. The song "Who Says," seems like a totally folky chant that will be fun to sing along with in concert.

One of the most interesting verses in the song says,
"Who says I can't get stoned?
Plan a trip to Japan alone
Doesn't matter if I even go
Who says I can't get stoned?"

Which is funny, because John Mayer did just that and made a really beautiful video documenting his experience. Here's his description of the video, "Seven songs in... lots going on. Took a week off and traveled Japan. Wanted to get really quiet so I could hear what my head was saying. Two words of advice: travel alone. Music via an 8am jetlag pop-awake and Native Instruments Acoustik Piano. I took a break from still photography and used a Panasonic HVX200 HD camera. I stayed still, let life move in front of me. Man, am I deep!"



"Battle Studies," comes out November 17 and "Who Says," will probably be available on iTunes in the next couple of weeks. Do you like the song? Hate John Mayer? Leave comments!

This past Thursday evening I sat down to watch what felt like a million hours of television. Here's what was on my schedule....

I started off the evening with "The Office." This episode, "Gossip," was everything I had been missing from TV all summer. From the opening sequences of Michael, Dwight and Andy trying their hand at parkour, to finding out Stanley is a cheating whore, Jim and Pam being as cute as ever and Andy questioning his sexuality. "The Office" has not lost any steam since last year's comeback season. I almost cried from laughing too hard during this scene where Kevin confronts Andy about the rumors he's heard about his sexuality.



Next, was the premiere of "Community." I'm still undecided about this show. I love Joel McHale but the pilot didn't give me the haha feelings I expected. It could be because it had to spend too much time establishing characters and situations. I'm not giving up but I wasn't thrilled. Oh, and why was Joel wearing a sweater and a blazer with adidas track pants?

After "Community" it was time for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." It did not disappoint. Is it just me or was Dee looking a little haggard? Regardless, I loved her scenes meeting with the couple who wanted to use her as a surrogate.

"Project Runway," was somewhat exciting with an interesting challenge to create an outfit completely out of newspaper. I was disappointed when Irina won, I thought her trench coat looked like something made for Cruella Deville. My favorites were Chris, Carol-Hannah, and Althea's designs. The whole Johnny lying situation was laughable but totally blown out of proportion. "Models of the Runway," is still dumb and I don't know why I'm still watching it.

Then came the much hyped episode of "Chelsea Lately" with Jennifer Aniston as her guest. Chelsea always defends Aniston like crazy and so I was thinking this was going to be a really interesting interview with Chelsea making Jen squirm by bringing up some dirt. It didn't happen. It was interesting to see how Chelsea reacted to an A-list celebrity on her show, but it was the same interview Jen's been giving all of town this week.

Finally, John Mayer tweeted Thursday afternoon that he would be appearing on "Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory" that evening. I knew Rob and John were friends so I of course had to tune in. Wow. This episode exceeded my expectations. It was basically the behind-the-scenes look at the paparazzi stunts these two have pulled in the past and how much they upset Rob's mom (see drunk Rob and classy gents). These two are a hilarious pair and the episode was great. It ended up with the two recording a song for Rob's mom to apologize for embarrassing her.


You should probably just youtube "Rob's Mom" for the full version of the song and other funny clips of the show. Or just watch the full episode next time it airs on MTV which I'm sure it will be rerun a thousand times.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with John Mayer. I love him more than I love Paul Rudd, which you know is a lot. Therefore, it takes a lot for me to criticize the guy even when he occasionally go a little overboard on twitter. I usually think every word he types from his iphone is hilarious or full of wisdom. So when he announced on Monday that he was going to live-tweet during that evening's episode of "Chelsea Lately" on E! (a favorite show of mine) I got really excited.

Chelsea is always ragging on John Mayer every since things went sour between him and Jennifer Aniston, but she's awful to most celebrities so I let it slide. Apparently John can't take Chelsea's teasing and wanted to make fun of her a little bit. I was fully on board for this because John is usually pretty witty. Watching Chelsea's show while simultaneously following JM's tweets seemed like a great way to spend my Monday evening. Instead, I was a little horrified to read John's tweets (www.twitter.com/johncmayer). Here are some of the gems he cranked out in 30 minutes.

"What color is her hair? It's not dirty blond. Filthy blond?"

"Rule #46389: if you say something and hold your face slightly tilted as if to say "I did just say that" then it's magically funny."

"So far this show has come through with its promise of lots of exclamation points but zero E."

"I think I just heard Chelsea's chair yawn."

His response when it was all over...

"That was fun. Chelsea bashes me all the time, can't I bash her one night on my Twitter? Yes. (The answer is yes.)"

John, the answer would be yes if you had been funny and didn't resort to childish digs. It really hurts me to say this but it kind of disappoints me to know that Chelsea Handler really got the best of John Mayer.