‘In Search of Food’ second season teaches origin of foods back at the farm

In the premiere episode on April 16 aptly titled “Lunch Money,” he accepts the challenge of a $1.15 per- child budget for a complete, nutritious lunch for 1,000 students in Boulder’s Casey Junior Middle School. The school’s chef, Ann Cooper, affectionately known as the “renegade lunch lady,” is there to show him the ropes in the school’s kitchen.

The viewer gets to see the cattle in their natural habitat and chat with the rancher who cares for them. Pampuch wants to serve beef and he wants to specially prepare it so the students will enjoy it, while at the same time, eating a healthy meal. As we find out along the way, Pampuch may have bitten off more than the kids can chew. It seems almost impossible to feed the children a nutritious meal while sticking to the budget. But he doesn’t waiver, but moves to the next option.

In the second episode on April 17, Papmuch heads to Virginia and takes on a challenge to find the best local produce and teach a family how to make a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The challenge is making a raw vegan meal from singer, vegan and avocado farm owner Jason Mraz in the third episode in San Diego airing on April 18.

The three-part series of “In Search of Food” is April 16, 17 and 18 at 6 p.m. Ovation is on Comcast channel 345 and Direct TV channel 274.

Jason Mraz Makes Phenomenal Return to the Top of the Charts; After One Week, “I Won’t Give Up” Approaches 250,000 in Sales, Tops Billboard’s “Digital Songs” Chart, and Scores Major Love Across Twitter, Surpassing 2.5 Million YouTube Views; “I Won’t Give Up

“I Won’t Give Up,” the heartfelt new single from Atlantic recording artist Jason Mraz, is quickly proving the first undeniable pop smash of the New Year. One week from its release, the song debuted in the #1 slot on Billboard’s “Digital Songs” chart, with sales surpassing 225,000. At iTunes alone, “I Won’t Give Up” has topped the retailer’s “Top Songs” and “Top Pop Songs” charts for the past week. Released one week ago with little fanfare, no radio play or major broadcast visibility, reaction to the song has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Debuted quietly on Mraz’s site on January 3 via a lyric video, “I Won’t Give Up” spread lightning-fast online, gathering love and praise from an array of famous names, including Ellen DeGeneres, Colbie Callait, Rob Thomas, Perez Hilton, and Lady Antebellum, all of whom have taken to their Twitter feeds to tweet about the track. The lyric video has since surpassed 2.5 million individual views at Mraz’s official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdN5GyTl8K0.

The song is the first #1 debut on Billboard’s “Digital Songs” chart since last August’s “She Will” by Lil’ Wayne featuring Drake. Outside of the U.S., “I Won’t Give Up” has also topped digital retailer charts around the world.

“I Won’t Give Up” heralds the GRAMMY® Award-winning tunesmith’s eagerly awaited new album, slated for release on May 8th. The track will be delivered to multi-format radio outlets nationwide in late January, and Mraz will perform the song live on the February 16th installment of “Today.”

Fans will get a chance to watch Mraz perform the song via live stream of a special acoustic performance from the BING Bar in Park City, Utah on January 20th at 1 PM Mountain time, sponsored by ASUS and Intel. The acoustic set will be streamed live through his Facebook page, www.facebook.com/jasonmraz. Jason’s performance is the culmination of his six month journey with ASUS and Intel as part of their In Search of Incredible campaign. More information on the search, including a special global web series with Jason shot in the MojaveDesert, London, and Morocco, can be found at www.insearchofincredible.com.

One of the modern era’s most gifted pop troubadours, Jason Mraz’s extraordinary musical journey has taken him from coffee houses to stadiums all over the world, with two GRAMMY® Awards and six nominations already to his credit. His 2008 third album, “WE SING. WE DANCE. WE STEAL THINGS.” was an indelible global blockbuster, earning gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications in 21 countries around the world. The album’s lead single, “I’m Yours” was ASCAP’s 2010 “Song of the Year” and also holds the record for being the longest-running song in the history of the Billboard “Hot 100” chart. A prolific songwriter, Mraz has been feted with a number of honors, including the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s esteemed “Hal David Starlight Award,” presented to gifted songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.

Mraz spent much of 2011 road-testing the songs from his as-yet-untitled new album touring alongside his longtime friend, percussionist Noel “Toca” Rivera. The worldwide trek — which included performances in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia — saw Mraz celebrating music’s lasting power to inspire change and help others through global citizenship. Among the journey’s many highlights were multiple sold out shows at such iconic venues as Australia’s Sydney Opera House, New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and Spreckels Theatre in Mraz’s adopted hometown of San Diego.

Long known for his many philanthropic activities, Mraz recently announced the establishment of the Jason Mraz Foundation, devoted to supporting a number of charities for which he has been a dedicated and impassioned advocate. Mraz created the Foundation — http://jasonmraz.com/foundation/ — to sustain organizations aligned with his four pillars of service: human equality, environment preservation, arts and education, and recovery and assistance.

The 15th annual MICHELE CLARK’S SUNSET SESSIONS is set for FEBRUARY 16th-19th, 2012 at the RANCHO BERNARDO INN in SAN DIEGO. Many of the panels and performances have already been announced but new artists just added include JASON MRAZ, ERIC HUTCHINSON and THE PIERCES.

For complete details, visit www.sunsetsessions.org

Jason Mraz Fine-Tunes 4th Album for 2012 Release

‘All But One Song. I Need to Go Back and Re-Record One Tune’

It’s hard to believe that Jason Mraz released his last album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things” nearly four years ago. The disc’s longevity was fuelled by lead single “I’m Yours” having  the longest run ever on the Billboard Hot 100 (76 weeks) and then two 2010 Grammy wins for album tracks, but the crooner says he is finished with his fourth album — with one last adjustment to figure out.

“All but one song. I need to go back and re-record one tune,” he tells Billboard.com. “It evolved on tour recently and we’re going to go back and attempt to record an acoustic version and see if it fits. Other than that, it’s done.”

Sonically, an acoustic song would appear a better fit for the forthcoming release. While his previous album saw an emphasis on Bill Withers-like funky jams, Mraz says he’s going back to basics with an emphasis on the voice. “This new album has less horns, it’s got more piano and guitar textures. A lot more vocal landscapes,” he says. “That, to me, has always been my favorite part of making music; the singing and what voices can do and the voices singing in harmony.”

Mraz plans to take this focus and apply it to his future touring strategies too. “I’m actually hoping in the future to try to pull off the record with a smaller band, but with more singers. The real basics: drums, keys, guitar, bass. But have everyone be a singer,” he envisions. “I think our audiences, our listeners, have been mostly attracted to that throughout the years. They come and they sing. Most of our audience sings along.”

The audience may be singing along, but they’ll probably be swaying as well. Mraz says the album is driven by mid-tempo melodies. “It’s not a departure in the sound of the genre in any way, it’s just different tones, different textures. Musically, I think people are going to like it. It’s personal. It’s melodic. And it’s mellow. There’s a couple of up-tempo tunes, but mostly the rhythm of the heartbeat kind of takes precedence on this record. Medium-tempo tunes; which I love. It feels more like the pace of life. At least, based on my life and what I’ve been doing.”

Mraz says that other than the aforementioned track, the album is done and “near the end of mixing.” He adds, “things sound really great” with plans to be released in the top half of 2012.

Jason Mraz: Singing out for the planet

Jason Mraz is heading to New Zealand to spread the word, through his music, about saving our world, writes Scott Kara

For an eco-warrior type guy, Jason Mraz sure is working up a hefty carbon footprint on his current world concert tour. “We are bouncing around the world,” admits the San Diego-based singer-songwriter, “and unfortunately that’s not a good sized carbon footprint to have. No one deserves that size shoe.” 

Still, he’s doing his bit to make up for the air miles since the tour is “celebrating music’s lasting power to inspire change” - and generally encouraging you and I to take better care of the planet. Mraz started the tour at the Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) benefit concert in California and at Farm Aid in Kansas City during August, then it was on to Europe for some eco-friendly festivals, and before heading to Auckland’s Civic Theatre on November 15 he’s played in Morocco and various parts of Asia. “So we’re very grateful to travel around to very extraordinary locations and share our music,” he chuckles in his laid back lilt.

But never fear, Mraz is not on an environmental crusade and world-wide recruitment drive at the shows - he will let his tunes do the talking.

Although it was the troubadour’s music - his most popular songs include 2002’s Remedy (I Won’t Worry) and the breezy I’m Yours from 2008’s breakthrough album We Sing.

We Dance. We Steal Things - that took a back seat last year when his charity work and philanthropic activities took over. He recently set up his own foundation to push the cause of charities including Free the Slaves (dedicated to stamping out child slavery) and the Surfrider Foundation (protecting oceans and beaches).

Mraz also featured in the documentary film The Big Fix about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill which he describes as “incredibly depressing in a powerfully depressing way”.

“It started out as a little movie about the gulf oil spill - and then [film-makers Josh and Rebecca Tickell] continued to trace what the problem was, and who was at fault, and it comes back to us and every time we pump our gas. So The Big Fix is about the overall problem.”

“The solution,” reckons Mraz, if you will allow him one moment of eco-warriorism, “is energy independence. It’s using biofuels and using things that are ‘sustainable’; that word, I hate to admit it, but I feel it’s getting overused and people are not even hearing it any more, but there are fuels you can use.”

Now though he’s back and focused on the music with new single The World As I See It out, and the concert tour marking 10 years since his debut Live at Java Joes, an album recorded at the San Diego coffee house where Mraz started making a name for himself in 2001.

“When I listen back to that stuff,” he laughs, “I think about a boy who would never edit a lyric he wrote.” Which is one of the reasons album centrepiece Dream Life of Rand McNally is a spectacularly sprawling, nine-minute long singer-songwriter epic.

“The code, the moral, the meaning of the song requires every single one of those words and every single one of those words can give you a thousand meanings.”

Well, that was his philosophy back then; over the past 10 years “I’ve completely retired many of them”.

On the tour he will be performing acoustically with his long-time friend and collaborator Toca Rivera, a djembe drum player and singer he met at Java Joes.

They are an odd musical couple, with Rivera 20 years his senior, but they haven’t stopped playing, recording, and touring together since they met back in 2000.

“It’s an evening of harmony and brotherhood,” says Mraz.

“He’s such a dynamic individual, but he still gets nervous, and it’s almost like he has this permanent memory loss to the point that we’ve probably played 5000 shows together but every show he does it’s like the first time he’s done it so there’s a freshness to it. It’s really exciting to go out and play with Toca and this show is an opportunity for us to be as expansive as we can be.

“We feel like we’re brothers by choice. So we fight like brothers, and we love each other like brothers. But there is one thing we both have in common that’s sincere, and that’s a love of singing. It’s the longest relationship I’ve ever been in.”

LOWDOWN

Who: Jason Mraz

What: Singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and crusader

Where & when: Civic Theatre, Auckland, November 15

Jason Mraz travels ‘In Search of the Incredible’

“In Search of the Incredible,” according to its main website, is a project sponsored by Asus and Intel, technological companies that highlight innovation for improvement. The creators of the project include photographer Don McCullin, video director Andy Morahan, and film director Asif Kapadia. Jason Mraz is acting as the “host” of the project, which will be composed of webisodes of Mraz traveling around the world, meeting and interviewing people, in search of incredible stories.

Viewers are encouraged to submit their own incredible stories to the website (here). The prompt is actually fairly general: it asks for writers to merely describe what they find incredible. It can be “a sight, a sound, a moment,” along with deeds and creations. Viewers can also upload photos, videos, or sound clips to the site.

There are several rounds with different prizes. Each country around the world will have a winner, picked by a panel of judges, who will receive a new ASUS N Series laptop, a powerful computer for creation and entertainment. The global prize, however, will be to have their incredible story transformed into a short film guided and created by the three project creators and a professional crew. Then the global winner will get to attend the screening at the Sundance Film Festival with Jason Mraz.

Jamie Foxx, Jason Mraz to entertain at Obama fundraiser Thursday

A Culver City fundraiser for President Obama on Thursday will include a number of entertainers, according to a Democratic source.

Supporters who attend the event will hear performances from comedian Jamie Foxx, singer Jason Mraz, DJ J-Boogie and the youth choir from the Foshay Learning Center. Actress Rashida Jones will welcome the crowd. The event will take place at Sony Picture Studios, with supporters paying between $100 and $2,500 to attend.

Obama is hosting two other fundraisers Thursday, more intimate gatherings that are expected to draw Hollywood heavyweights, with tickets costing up to $35,800 per person. The Obama campaign will receive $5,000, with the remainder going to the Democratic National Committee.

(source)