I'm not a June Bug, Really!

The June Bug and the Gaggle of Geese

By Elaine Hagebush, Jason Mraz lover

Teenagers are known to love, no ADORE singers and actors and buy posters and beg to go to concerts and wear records out. Remember when we had records and not CDs or MP3 version? I never had a crush on a singer when I was a teenager and well, that’s sad, I guess. I loved lots of music, but I didn’t buy Teen Beat or other teen magazines or records of any of the famous teen musicians or hang posters on my walls. It wasn’t until last year Jason Mraz came into my life via my very good friend, Tatiana. My heart melted when I heard his first song. Jason’s songs speak to me . . . the lyrics are thought provoking and catchy, they are hip, and Jason Mraz, well, I’m not going to lie, he is HOT, especially when I see that fedora. I read his Tweets, his blogs, and his Facebook statuses and his philosophy of love the Earth reminds me of the hippies of the 60’s. Okay, yeah, maybe I stalk him online, I admit it, but before you say, “You Cougar!” he’s 33 so NOT a Cougar, hello! I’m 29, yes, even though my oldest is 22, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Jason embraces a philosophy that advocates love thy neighbor and be a thoughtful consumer. The Santa Barbara concert last year left Tatiana and me loving him even more. The concert resonated with his voice and his band singing our favorites as well as new tunes, with the most beautiful stage background. Jason announced that it was created using reclaimed water bottles, all saved from the landfill. The lights shone through them, giving the whole stage a beautiful surreal effect. Tatiana and I thought,” WOW!”

Tatiana and I planned and plotted (come on hubbies) to see him again at the Mountain View MUSE benefit concert,  playing with a very impressive lineup like the Doobie Brothers, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt . . .  what the heck, we were in for a treat, right? How could we pass that up and the husbands agreed!  We were on Cloud Jason 9! Oh my goodness though, what a different mix in that crowd compared to Santa Barbara. First of all, I want to say that I’m mostly conservative, but more of a middle of the road maybe. I believe in live and let live. If you want to drive your gas guzzling huge vehicle to the store to buy a single olive, okay, kind of stupid, but do it. While you are there, don’t forget whatever else it is you put in your martini. Also, tip the guy that pumps that gas into that huge Hummer and be sure to buy organic olives.

Sitting in this Mountain View audience I felt like a June bug that just flopped into a gaggle of hungry geese. Shhhhhh, don’t look too conservative and yeah, I really do use natural energy! Liberals and radicals loudly declared their thoughts and feelings on ways to get the whole world to only use wind energy and picket those nuclear power plants. There were dozens of people wearing NO NUKES on their shirts and hats. Lots of hippie type people; tie dyed shirts, long dred lock hair, and the totally spacey look on faces, probably because there was so much pot smoking going on that I may have had a contact high, if I even knew what it felt like to be high (happy, right?). That didn’t bother me, these folks appeared more peaceful, easy going, rather than anything else. No, the scary, “don’t even think about your damn olive in your huge tank of a vehicle” people would liable to be all over my little June bug self if they suspected that I wasn’t buying into the entire “picket anything philosophy.” Save the world, save the planet, save yourself, and don’t think about doing anything without conserving. Maybe I won’t have that olive in my martini after all.

I felt peace descend on my June bug self when Jason appeared on stage. I felt like maybe what the hippy guy in the row in front of was feeling. It was just as amazing as Santa Barbara. His songs were powerful and thought provoking. He not only talks about conserving, I mean the guy does not use bottled water, only  reuseable containers. Tatiana and I were in heaven as we listened to his melodious voice sing to our souls and refresh our renewal in the whole Save the Planet and a tranquil peaceful relaxation descended on us like we had just left the best spa in the world. We sang along, even through the shushing couple in front of us who angrily wanted us to just be quiet. (We did sort of yell, we love you Jason, loudly.) We shushed them back . . . it was our Jason, baby! Look at him up there . . . we’re Lucky and he’s the Remedy! Then the Night Watchman came onto stage and POP, gone was the feeling of Jason peace.

This guy, dressed in black leather, STOMPED onto stage. He SCREAMED his lyrics and pounded his guitar, brutally covered with graffiti done with a huge black magic marker declaring . . . “ARM THE HOMELESS.” Yikes, his lyrics called for us to go to war with the government, with the big brother, with anyone who doesn’t believe in his way of thinking. His hat was a militant German style army beret with a big silver star on the front and his face . . . it was angry and threatening. I was frightened and I looked at Tatiana and saw her eyes were huge, and she had a look that said, “Get me or him out of here and where’s our Jason?”  Many people in that audience looked enthralled with what this Watchman was singing (if you call that singing). David and I whispered we were a little alarmed and the couple in front of us shushed us. Again. We’d been shushed earlier when David sang along with a Doobie Brother song. Seriously, I could not believe he was shushed for singing, (telling David to NOT sing is like telling him not to breath), but for talking during a shouting Night Watchman? Incredible.

The Night Watchman did not want to help the environment. He was not interested in how I buy an olive at a time or my gas guzzling vehicle (which I do not do, by the way own), although I think long and hard about ways I can help, there can be NO help if you are going to be militant and demand violence. I was SO wishing Jason could come back to the stage and sing his song, Life is Beautiful. Life is good and as I was thinking this I couldn’t help noticing the hippie dude sitting next to the “shushing” couple. He’d been smoking, (I know, not allowed, but the kind of thing he was smoking wouldn’t be allowed even IN the smoking area.) He was so relaxed and enjoying the concert. The whole concert. His tie dyed shirt and his long grey dred locked hair hung loosely on his thin frame and his head was bobbing to the beat so hard I was a little afraid he would get whiplash. I smiled as I imagined a long line, illustrating the Conservative and the Liberal population, with me smack in the middle and the Hippy at the far end . . . way out there. The Night Watchman was on the warrior path end, save the Earth at ALL costs, with guns and violence if need be. If I had to pick one camp or the other, I’d join the peaceful old dude, I bet Jason would be there too. Happy in his heightened state of chilling, enjoying the music, save the world, save the planet, but do it your way, one olive at a time. And please don’t eat me, I am NOT a tasty June bug, just ask Jason, he’s a vegetarian, and I’m sure he buys his olives in bulk, from organic fair market vendors. Just saying.