VIP Tickets to John Mayer on Today (Subtitle: The Perks of Being a Former Intern)

Last week, my supervisor sent me an instant message because she was working from home.  It went a little something like this.

N: Courtney, can you...*something something something work related*
N: By the way, did you know that John Mayer is playing on the Today Show next Friday?
Courtney: *immediately turns on away message and gets on the Today Show website, ignoring relevant work message*

You see, having been a do-it-all intern at the Today Show in the fall, I worked many a concert, and I know that there are both indoor and outdoor concerts.  Indoor concerts can't have an audience because the studio is really small and really busy.  However, outdoor concerts are outside and therefore need an audience.  So, long story short, I signed up for fan passes, emailed my former boss and two former producers, and generally had a conniption until I got so many responses that I ended up with no less than eight passes to the John Mayer concert.

Did I ever tell you that I'm an overachiever?  Well, I am.

I drove down to New York last Thursday night, went to bed at 11, and exuberantly woke up at 3:15am to get to the city.  Joe, being a JMayer fan, but not being as crazy as me, was not as excited to wake up pre-dawn.  We drove to Rockefeller Plaza and got in the (longer than expected) VIP line.  I was very surprised that I was not the only VIP.

Just kidding.  But I'm a little bit serious.

Apparently JM's management had given out a ton of VIP passes the day before, which I didn't know about, so we only got there at 5am.  We're soooo lazy.

After getting loaded into the main pen and unsuccessfully trying to sneak into the usual VIP pen, it was time for the sound check.  I missed Steve Jordan and Melanie and Julie, but the man himself was there... John Mayer.

Side note: Did you know that last November, I worked on JMayer's segment when he was doing an in studio concert?  I filled out all the contracts and helped out on set... and I spent an hour getting up the nerve to talk to John.  It didn't help that NBC4 New York had shown clips of his sound check without his permission.  That wasn't so good.

But anyways, we totally have a connection.  He'll know about it one day.

I'm not a fangirl.  I just like to feel important.

-----

This is what Johnny boy looked like when he emerged at 6:30, an hour and a half after I arrived.  You can tell that he was performing outside and not inside because he sprung for the collared shirt.  Or maybe that's what he was wearing the night before.  One can never tell.

There were a lot of crazies around us, including Middle-Aged Super Fan.  Let's call her... Marge. Marge seems like an appropriate name.  Marge was so excited to see JMayer that anytime anyone said anything at a higher-than-average decibel or shifted their weight in any way, she was all up on the situation.  Take, for example, the following scenario:

Courtney: "Joseph, this girl next to me is being a bee-otch.  Woooooooow."

Marge: "What??  WHAT??  DO YOU SEE ANYTHING???"  *Flails widly*

See the head with the sunglasses in the picture above?  Meet Marge.

Lots of people brought signs.  Marge was sure to yell "SIGN DOWN!!!!!" anytime someone raised one.  It was so courteous of her.

At a certain point between the sound check and the live performance, we got a little impatient.  It led to us becoming, shall we say... loopy??

Joe started eating his VIP Pass.  I had to remind him that that wasn't socially acceptable.

"What?  This is a VIP Pass?  Then why are we so far back in the crowd??"

I don't know, man... I was asking the same thing.

We got some Today Show sunglasses.  What goes best with Today Show sunglasses??

...a duckface, that's what.

But we took a second to act normal before going back to our usual lunacy.

And then John reemerged, dressed in his Sunday best.  And by Sunday best, I mean the part of Sunday when you put on your plaid pants that don't touch the ground and go golfing.
PS: At this point, there was a crew member in the way of our perfect camera angle.  Marge was sure to yell at him to get out of the way for us.  Such a sweet lady.

When you've got a million screaming fans around you, you gotta make sure your earpiece is in place.  Or else it's off-key city.

You also gotta make really funny faces to really get the sound out.  That is what John Mayer taught me.

By the way, did you know Al Roker can fly?  He can.

"Please, ooh and ahh over me as I make sweet love to this microphone."
Don't worry, I did.  Joe got a little jealous.

GET IT, John Mayer.  GET IT GURRRLLLL!!!  I mean...  GUYYYYYY!!

After all that performing, fix that hair, man.  Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self.

Aw, man.  That's a nice face, JMayer.  Singing on the Today Show is hard work.

-----
All in all, it was a little difficult for me to accept that I didn't work at the Today Show anymore.  And even more scary... it really made me want to work there again.

Has anybody seen my sanity??  I would like it back, please.

Thanks, John Mayer, for coming back to Today just for me, of course.  And thanks, Today Show, especially Courtney, Julie, Katie, and Nassdja, for gettin' me back there!!

Love and no I am not a fangirl (most of the time),
Courtney