Well, this October has been the best October of my life!
I never dreamed that I'd get the chance to meet
John Mayer... yet alone PLAY for John Mayer. Berklee College of Music, where John once studied, gave 12 songwriters the incredible opportunity to work with him for a week.
Nobody knew what to expect. Rumors on the internet said 'Congrats to Berklee students Liz Longley, Ali Rapetti and five other students, who got selected to write with John all week and record a song together with him on October 10.' Here's what REALLY happened:
Monday nightWe all met in a classroom at Berklee. John shocked us by saying he checked out all of our myspace pages and listened to every one of our songs before he came. WOW!!!! He asked each of us to play a song for him. It was really cool to see John Mayer completely 100% focused on nothing but our music. Everyone played a song and John had a wonderful way of saying... hey what if you try this... without being high and mighty about it. When he loved something about a song he would compliment it with great enthusiasm. John had a great gift of seeing the potential in the unique qualities of each students music.
At the end of the night, I randomly ended up walking alone with him on the streets of Boston. He was so kind and complimentary about my music that I thought to myself "If John Mayer believes in you then...". Funny how rumors get started on the internet, somebody wrote a blog about seeing us together and said "John Mayer has taken a liking to Liz Longley." HAHA! Well, I'm no Jennifer.
Tuesday night We gathered again and John talked about producing three songs (Keppie Coutts's 'Waiting for the
'Waiting for the Avalanche', Jonathan Carr's
'The Jokes On Me' and Mike Aljadeff's 'Chicago') to teach us about the production process. Meanwhile, a crowd was forming outside the room and students were anxiously awaiting their opportunity to meet John. At the end of the night, he pulled out his guitar and invited the crowd to come in... playing a beautiful version of his song 'Gravity'. Check it out on
youtube.
Wednesday he did an AMAZING
clinic, 'Converting Information to Inspiration', at the completely jam packed Berklee Performance Center.
Thursday & Friday: We spent the entire day at Boston's Mix One Studios working on the 3 songs. Not only is John a remarkable musician, he is extremely thoughtful and generous. By the end of the week, we all shared a unique bond. John came back to Berklee to rediscover the songwriting process and be inspired. "You will hear yourselves in my next record", he told us. What a compliment. John inspired us and we inspired him. Oprah would call that a full circle moment. :) The 12 of us gave him a book of "thank you's". He gave us each an Olympus Handheld Recorder (for recording songwriting ideas) and his personal email to keep in touch.
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I have the ultimate respect for John. I learned more from him than I can put into words. Outside of what I learned from him on a musical level, I came to realize that no matter how famous and accomplished a man can be, he is still a man... who just wants to connect with people and be understood. After all, isn't life all about connecting with people?
Speaking of connecting with people, this past weekend I connected with over 20,000 fellow runners at the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon.
As many of you know, my cousin Travis L. Manion was killed in Iraq on April 29, 2007. Last year, 200 TEAM TRAVIS runners honored Travis's life in the Marine Corps Marathon or the 10k. I ran the 10k (6 miles) and when I saw my 52-year-old Aunt Trudy cross the marathon finish line with a smile on her face, I looked at my mom and said "I'm doing that for Travis next year." Nobody believed me. I was never a runner but I made my mind up and for over 5 months I trained my butt off. I crossed the Marine Corps Marathon finish line alongside my Aunt Trudy. We both smiled the entire 26.2 miles. We never even turned on our iPods because the energy of the people around us was so inspiring. I kept thinking of Travis's amazing spirit and he got me through. I met several new TEAM TRAVIS runners who never knew Travis but were inspired by his story and decided to run in his honor. Thank you all for your encouragement and for your generous donations to the Travis Manion Memorial Foundation. This year we raised over $50,000. You're making a difference in the lives of those who have lost loved ones in the war.
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What an amazing couple of weeks it has been. I have completely fallen in love with the positive energy and the beautiful spirit of the people in my life. Yesterday, for the first time, I thanked my mom for bringing me into the world. It's a beautiful life. So live it up! Go ahead and dance with your shoes off, jump on your bed and laugh 'til you cry... ;)