Curbside Prophet

Got to see the 'curbside prophet' himself, Jason Mraz, give a free concert at Rice Park in St. Paul today. His mini-performance was actually part of this kickoff rally for the St. Paul soccer team, Thunder. When I got to Rice Park, there was a good size gathering. The weather was just beginning to warm up and people were staking their spots on the ground. Mind as well do the same. The Thunder team was introduced and the mayor said a few words. The ceremony lasted all of 20-25 minutes. Jason Mraz wasn't going to come on for another hour and a half, but with the crowd quickly growing, I popped a squat and stayed put.

Right before Jason Mraz came on, the personalities from the local radio station were there to give out free shirts. There were just tossing them left and right. Of course, the crowd was getting hyped at this point and were throwing themselves in whatever direction the shirts were flying. MnM was going to have a piece of this action and lucky me, a shirt came flying my way! Whoo hoo! So what if it's a generic white shirt with the radio logo on it- it's free! I actually had a good grip on another flying shirt, but the girl behind me wanted it more than I did so I let go. 'Twas fun to be jumping around, hands above my head, grabbing just to grab.

2pm, Jason Mraz took the stage. Just him and his guitar. He addressed the crowd a bit, sharing the times he had been in the Minnesota area. Said that about 7-8 years back, he and his friend were part of the local Renaissance Faire. Said that he was the "pickle guy." I'm assuming that he was some pickle vendor of some sort, but I wouldn't know. I've never been to a Renaissance Faire before. Anyhoo, his acoustic set was HOT! As hubby would say, he's one of those "true vocalists." He sounds exactly, no, even better, than his cd. If you're a fan of this incredibly talented dude like myself, you would've loved this free concert. He started with "Curbside Prophet," went into a ballad, then went into this medley of assorted songs.






A couple of things caught my eye during this lil' concert. As JMraz did his thang, the crowd was surprisingly quiet. There weren't screaming girls everywhere that you could barely hear him sing. Well, okay, there were some girls who yelled their undying love for him during his set and it actually made him chuckle midsong. It was dope to actually hear him sing though. The pic above was the best that I could take. I wasn't that far from the stage, but compared to all the other peeps there, I still had to strain my neck to keep him in view. Another thing I noticed (and I should've taken a pic of this!) was how many people were holding up their cell phones toward the stage. They were all probably trying to record and/or let someone else listen in, but it tripped me out at how many people were doing it. In fact, I had hardly noticed until some guy near me commented to his friend, "Hey, check out all the people holding their cell phones. I'm goin' to hold mine up so I don't feel left out."

He's performing tonight at the Orpheum theater and according to online brokers, his tix are going for about $150 a pop. Sorry Mraz, will have to catch you in concert at a later date. Hey, I was just glad to have caught him for free today.

Gotta give a shout-out to Ibalik for giving us the 411 on the free Jason Mraz concert today. Maraming salamat Pare!

Landmark Plaza

As I was waiting for hubby to pick me up, I sat in this lil' park area. I think hubby may have mentioned it once before in his blog that there are a whole bunch of statues around the Twin Cities area dedicated to the Peanuts gang. Here a just a couple that I took. There was one of Charlie Brown with Snoopy in his lap, but a few young concert-goers were taking "naughty" pictures with it. Lol! Hubby and I have yet to wander aimlessly about St. Paul- from what we hear, there's a lot to do and discover out there. Ah yes, our state's capital...and it's so close to where we live, too! One of these days, we'll go on a walking tour, but for now, enjoy these cute pics of the Peanuts gang.