That Gal Jam

December 19, 2011 

Hi.  My name is Jam and I am the girl behind the MrazWomen community, which started from a blog idea I had back in 2009 that would eventually forge strong friendships between like-minded female Mraz fans.

I don’t think I’ve written about how I first came to know about Jason Mraz and his music.  It’s all pretty hazy to me now, since it’s been 10 years since I first heard of his genius, but I believe I first heard Sleep All Day on my college classmate’s iPod (or was it cell phone? mp3 player?  Not really sure!) on a shared 2-hour bus ride home back in 2001.  I was so enchanted by the tone of his voice and how he played around with his notes that I asked to hear more.  That’s when I heard The Remedy.

And like the cliché goes, the rest is history.

At that time I had a gal pal who was stationed at New Zealand, and we would often exchange lengthy emails to keep in touch.  She was happy to know that I knew of Mraz and she began to send me more of his songs.  She would send me mp3s and we would discuss each one at length and gush about how dreamy all his songs were/are.  I loved them all.  I especially grew fond of After An Afternoon, which to this day I refer to as one of my most favorite Jason Mraz songs ever.

Fast forward to February 21, 2004.  Jason Mraz’s first time ever performing in Manila, Philippines, and I was lucky enough to score a ticket to his show at Aliw Theater in the CCP Complex.  The whole experience was very surreal and very memorable—I even wrote a poem about it.  I saw the show with my brother and his girlfriend, my cousin and his girlfriend.  We got Row Q tickets (if I remember correctly), but as soon as we had the opportunity, we jumped the fence dividing the sections and got as near as Row E.  He sang hits like Sleep All Day, The Remedy (note: these two songs were his most popular tracks constantly played on the radio), and Curbside Prophet.  I even remember him wearing roller skates at one point.  It was awesome.  I distinctly remember strategically timing a fan shout-out that will surely get his attention, and I did—just when everybody else on my row sat down, I stood up, shouted his name and pointed at him….AND HE POINTED RIGHT BACK.  I remember this because I jokingly told my friends, “He pointed at me….I think I’m pregnant.”

After that concert, I vowed to catch a show every time he went to the Philippines.  I saw him again when he came back for his Mr. A-Z tour in January 21 (yes, also 21!  Weird.), 2006.  This time I had a more intimate encounter…I actually went to a meet and greet and was able to meet him!

I had just read a blog entry he wrote about meeting his fans and he remarked that he appreciated fans who took the time and conversed with him more than those who only wanted an autograph or a photo.  While I was in line to meet him at Music One in Greenbelt, I was planning my 20-30 seconds with him, what I would say, what I would ask, should I tell him a joke or what.  By the time it was my moment to meet him, I was so stupefied that all I said was, “Sign my leg!”  He repeated it back to me, just to make sure he had it right, and I said it again the exact same way and just…brazenly put my foot on his chair and my leg in front of him.

I have the CD cover and faded ticket framed at home in the Philippines (Update as of 12/09/2012: I brought these back with me to the US), and the pair of pants he signed is somewhere stashed in cabinet at my parent's’ house (Update as of 12/09/2012: My mom may have misplaced it in my absence. UGHHH).

As a culminating project for my time as a student of Multimedia Arts in De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, I wrote, directed, and produced a mockumentary film about fan behavior, using my own Jason Mraz fandom as a peg and inspiration.  I included this clip of my leg signing in the story line:

So anyway, these were the first two times I was able to see him in person.  I saw him again this year (2011), but let me save that story for another time.

Ever since I found out that Jason Mraz was an avid blogger, I made it a point to always read what he had to say.  I used to religiously follow his now defunct blog, Freshness Factor Five Thousand, an online portal he maintained for years before calling it quits.  I also follow him on Twitter and watch his Facebook fan page.  Add to that my community of MrazWomen, I’d say I pretty much covered a lot as a fan, don’t you think? :)

Anyway, back when he still updated his FF5000 blog, he used to have regular weeks of accepting questions from fans on Twitter and he would answer them on his blog.  I was lucky enough to be chosen (out of probably thousands and thousands of hopeful fans) for the day August 17, 2009.  I posted a lot of question tweets for that day, and because another twitter user re-tweeted another question I originally came up with, I got two questions answered!  I was so grateful I wrote him a lengthy blog comment (which I hope he reads).

​A full year later, Spin Magazine launched a similar Twitter campaign.  They were going to interview Jason Mraz for their website and they were taking questions in from fans.  I was again chosen:

To end this part of my history as MrazGal, I provide you a screenshot of back when Jason didn't have full control over his Twitter yet.

I definitely have more to write and account for in this section...I still have to explain the very first picture! Will do that soon. :)​