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John Mayer Cancels Shows, Recording Sessions Following Granuloma Diagnosis
John Mayer cancelled two shows and other recording sessions after doctors told him to stop singing following the diagnosis of a granuloma.
The condition is a wall of cells that cannot be eliminated by the immune system. The problem is centralized next to his vocal cords.
Mayer confirmed on his blog that due to his status, the release of Born and Raised will be delayed to next year.
RRS AUDIO: Meeting John Mayer
So John Mayer didn’t go back on his initial response to an interview request from “The Ralphie Radio Show”, but despite no photographic or audio evidence, did chat with yours truly for a few minutes. I explain the series of events to recent Syracuse University grad/current job-seeking radio host Mark Zito, who has the biggest man crush of anyone you know on Mayer.
Check out more about our buddy Mark here.
EXCLUSIVE: Train’s Pat Monahan Talks Big Hits, Baseball, and Big Ben
You would think by now, after five albums, four top twenty hits, and a three year hiatus, not much would surprise Train lead singer Pat Monahan. You’d think incorrectly.
“The biggest shock of my life, so far, was that about two months ago, we were nominated for three Teen Choice Awards,” admitted Monahan on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “That was like, ‘c’mon!’ That was really great.”
Personally, I was a little shocked to see Train performing before this year’s MLB Home Run Derby in Anaheim. I didn’t even know they booked live music before such events.
“I was psyched to be there,” the lead singer said. “Major League Baseball has been super great to us, for many, many years,” Monahan continued, before revealing that his allegiance lies with a number of teams, including the Mariners (he lives in Seattle), the Athletics and Giants (the band is rooted in the Bay area), and the Pirates (Pat is from Erie, PA – near Pittsburgh).
Due to that last fact – Monahan also counts himself as a Steelers fan. The singer says he feels a little guilty rooting for Pittsburgh because of how often they win (likening them to the New York Yankees in the process), but doesn’t know what this new season will entail with the off-field troubles of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“I don’t know what that dude’s doing,” he said. “He should go to like speed dating school or something, I dunno.”
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Download the interview
Save Me, San Francisco is in stores now.
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Hey – although Monahan downplays the media’s storyline of Train’s “comeback”, noting that other bands have taken much longer hiatuses to write, travel, and spend time with family – the man knows a thing or two about returning to prominence. Perhaps someone should link “Big Ben” up with him?
Anyways, Monahan and his band are currently linked up with John Mayer on an outdoor amphitheater trek, veering off the path periodically for some headlining dates as well. The front man is having fun on the road with Mayer.
“I think we’re going to write a little bit, and I love to write with dudes like that,” said Monahan, praising Mayer’s writing and guitarist skills. “Maybe there’ll be something on the next Train record or maybe we’ll write something for somebody cool – whatever. Just to get in a room with someone as talented as John is going to be cool for me.”
A pretty big compliment, especially considering Mayer was 21 when Train dropped their debut, self-titled LP in 1998. But the band is quite welcoming to the new breed of artists – Monahan once again complimented the work of Taio Cruz before our interview, and enlisted the help of Pete Wentz to direct the band’s video for “If It’s Love”, the next single from Save Me, San Francisco.
“I think the band has a really good sense of humor, and we’ve never really been able to show that,” said Monahan. “There’s nobody better at that than Pete… he was great at that.”
In addition to the band’s touring commitments, Train will make a second appearance in less than a year on NBC’s “The Today Show” August 6.
RRS AUDIO: John Mayer Rejects ‘RRS’ Interview Request on uStream
John Mayer’s interview trials and tribulations of late have been well-documented: his pillow talk about Jessica Simpson in Rolling Stone, his thoughts on dating women of color in Playboy. Since the latter foot-in-mouth comments, Mayer took a hiatus from doing traditional media interviews – but still tweets and interacts directly with fans.
Last Wednesday morning, around 3 a.m., Mayer tweeted out a link to an impromptu uStream chat, where he fielded random, unfiltered questions from people across the world. I figured if I ever had a chance to interview Mayer, I might as well put in my request now, because I knew it wasn’t happening by submitting a request to Columbia Records.
After about four tries, the text “JOHN I WANT TO INTERVIEW YOU IN SCRANTON!” caught his eyes.
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Download the full segment, with audio of John’s denial
Thanks to tryjm.com for the audio of the uStream chat.
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“Uh, you want to interview me in Scranton?” Mayer said, reading back the words from the chat, which were scrolling continuously as if they were a broken slot machine. “Um, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m not exactly the king of interviews. Taking a short break from that.”
Mayer took about a five second break from responding, then continued, ‘Sure went all in on that,” and let out a quick chuckle. I would assume with that comment he was referring to the two articles referenced at the beginning of this story.
For the record, I went ahead anyways and submitted a request to Columbia Records, and received a polite no in return, explaining that Mayer will not be doing any media during his tour with Train, which kicks off Friday in Charlotte.
EXCLUSIVE: Orianthi Explains RedOne Collab, Talks Axes With John Mayer
Australian guitarist Orianthi has jammed with the likes of many: Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood, and even Alice Cooper last week on the finale of American Idol. But here’s a collaboration you may not have foreseen – producer RedOne.
“I guess it was just put together,” explained Ori of the partnership – which yielded the track “Addicted to Love.” The song is one of four bonus tracks that will appear on the re-release of Orianthi’s album, Believe (II). “Yunno it was really cool, and (we had) a lot of fun in the studio.”
If you’re unaware of RedOne, he’s a big time music maker who is behind a lot of Lady GaGa’s big hits (artists usually sing the producer’s name in the beginning of the song). Orianthi and GaGa are housed under the same label group – could that be a collab right around the corner?
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Download the interview
Believe (II) comes out this Tuesday.
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“That’d be really cool, hopefully,” responded Orianthi of the prospects of such a tandem. The singer/guitarist has yet to meet GaGa.
The Aussie made time for “The Ralphie Radio Show” before kicking off the “Glam Nation” tour, where she and former Idol finalist Allison Iraheta will support Adam Lambert. Ori is pumped about the tour, and apparently the show’s name gets her even more excited.
“The fact that it’s called ‘Glam Nation’ just gets me excited,” she said. “Just the whole like, glam and you know, I’m in to sparkles and extravagance and I’m just super excited about getting out there and rocking out.”
EXCLUSIVE: Train Confirms Tour With Mayer, Talks Possible Orianthi Collab
In an interview that aired Monday on “The Ralphie Radio Show” – the band Train confirmed that they’ll hit the road this summer with John Mayer.
“I think we might be back (in Northeast PA), with John,” confirmed lead singer Pat Monahan. “I think we’re gonna do a handful of dates with him in this part of the country. We’re really excited about that.”
The tour revelation is just another chapter in the on-going saga of the San Francisco trio’s comeback. After a three year hiatus – Train released Save Me San Francisco last year. “C.S.I. New York” featured the band along with the single, “Hey, Soul Sister.” Radio picked up on it soon after – and now the Train is traveling the country again, selling out theaters, with plans yonder.
“Radio really did everything for us,” Monahan said. “C.S.I. kinda took it to a different place.”
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Download the inteview
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But the group is embracing both traditional media and social networking sites, such as Twitter. Train revealed that all three members update the official Twitter page, while guitarist Jimmy Stafford noted that such things are now a necessity.
“It’s a different world now,” Stafford said. “People buy their music on-line, and it’s a whole new way for us to stay in touch with our fans.”
The comeback brings a group of fresh fans from a new generation or music lovers and artists, alike. Recently in an interview with MTV News, Orianthi counted herself as one of those Train supporters.
“That’s really cool – you know what I think is happening is we’re all kind of fans of each other these days,” remarked Monahan. “We want each other to do well. Orianthi is an amazing talent, and were psyched for her too. So yunno instead of, ‘Hey man, she’s taking up my space on the CD case,’ it’s like, ‘Let’s do something together!’”
So who knows, maybe a Train/Orianthi collaboration is right around the corner? But, surely Train doesn’t have to worry about Orianthi taking their space on a compact disc case… now iPod space – that could be a different story.