22/04/2024
THE JESSE JOHNSON TRIP EXPERIENCE!
by Myles Matisse
Jesse Johnson. Guitar player extraordinaire. Member of The Time, a group Prince put together in Minneapolis in 1981. Jesse also has 5 solo albums (with more to come) that are a mix of pop, dance, funk, rock and blues all sprinkled throughout his albums.
When I heard Jesse was going to play at Yoshi's in Oakland California for two shows in one night, including a pre-show VIP Q&A and meet and greet, I just knew I had to go because his performances are so rare.
I thought of driving the 6-hour drive from Los Angeles but when I saw how cheap flights were, I decided to take Spirit Airlines and pay $135 round trip after taxes and fees. I also booked a rental car and hotel. Getting the rental car was going to cost about as much as an Uber (with tip) so I decided to get a rental so I could have freedom to explore Oakland in the couple hours free time I would have once there.
Saturday April 6th, I left with just the clothes on my back and a Jeff Porcaro (drummer) book called "Moments in Time" to read on the plane. I decided to drive my own car right to LAX and park across from Terminal 6. I knew it would be more expensive but the convenience of just walking to and from the terminal and getting into my car with zero hassle was too good to resist.
I got the boarding pass the night before by checking in on the Spirit app. TSA/security is always a bit annoying because you have to take off your belt, shoes, every single item out of all your pockets, putting everything in bins which go through the conveyor belt/detector machine. You also have to walk into a full body imaging machine where you raise your hands above your head while a x-ray type arm swings around, capturing your entire body. Such is life with 21st century flying.
After I got through TSA, I stopped at the restroom and then at a convenient shop near my gate where I bought an energy drink. As I slowly walked to the gate, I decided to look at my boarding pass on my phone and realized after checking all my pockets that I didn't have my phone. "Where's my phone? You've got to be kidding me." I thought. I checked all my pockets multiple times. I definitely didn't have it. My mind started racing a bit. Where did I leave it?
I decided to backtrack. It was either at the store or in the restroom. One of the two. So I went back, stopping at the store first. I went up to the cash register counter and there was my phone lying there face up with my boarding pass on the screen. A sense of relief came over me as I picked up the phone, turned around and went back to the gate, finishing my drink in the process.
The flight to Oakland was relaxed and comfortable. Paying a few extra bucks for roomier seats is the way to go. It was really nice that my seat was in the front row. Super easy getting on and off. I didn't have a carry-on or any other luggage which made the trip all the more simple.
Once in Oakland, I took a rental car shuttle to the rental car area, got my Fox rental car, which was upgraded to a RAV4 for free, and went towards downtown Oakland where my hotel was.
While driving, I passed a Harley-Davidson dealership which looked really cool, so I decided to stop and see all the different types of Harleys. In the future I might just get a motorcycle. I met Harley rep Danny inside who was super cool. We started to chat. I'm wearing a self-designed Jesse Johnson t-shirt which has a big picture of Jesse as he looks now with three smaller pictures of him from various times throughout his solo career above. (See accompanying picture at the top of this story).
One of the first things out of Danny's mouth when he came up to me as he looked at my shirt was, "It's too bad he died." I didn't know what he was referring to at first. Then it hit me...He must think I'm wearing a Prince or Michael Jackson t-shirt. I didn't have the heart to correct him because I didn't want him to feel foolish so I just answered, "Yeah, it is isn't it."
Danny ended up showing me a lot of cool Harleys and we talked for about 30 minutes about bikes, the rules of the road and other things including music. At the end of our talk, he gave me his business card and we promised to stay in touch.
When I got to the hotel, I was really surprised that it was in kind of a slightly run down area of Oakland. By that I mean, there was graffiti on a lot of building storefronts across the street that made the area look trashy. Plus, the side of the hotel where my room faced out were a whole line of Asian shops and stores with trash in the gutter and it was just not as clean as I'd hoped.
A cool thing about a couple of storefronts is they had fruit and vegetables outside on racks and lots of foot traffic of people shopping and enjoying the Saturday afternoon. All the graffiti and the shops wasn't the best view from my hotel room so I just closed the curtain once I got in.
I left at 4pm to head towards Yoshi's I took some sights in along the way and found good free parking a block away from the venue. Jesse Johnson's name was on the Marquee and as I approached, I could hear the band sound checking inside.
Wearing my Jesse Johnson shirt and a cool jacket, I went into the venue and right there at the bar was Jesse Johnson, dressed immaculately, with the MC Alphonso Starr for the night. Alphonso wore a cool pink dress jacket emblazoned with the words IT'S A FREE WORLD AND IT'S MINE!" I didn't go up to Jesse, giving him his privacy and realizing I'd have plenty of time later to say "Hi".
He went back into the performance room after they got drinks and I sat at the bar and ordered a sushi roll and beer. It was a Japanese inspired restaurant after all. After a few minutes people started coming in and before too long it was 5:30 and time for all the VIP people to go in.
During the VIP Q&A, Jesse was incredibly forthcoming, down to earth, really funny and honest when answering the various questions asked by people in the audience with Alphonso holding the mic for them. No guard up at all. He told it like it is and I love that about him.
I asked Jesse if he had ever written and recorded any songs with Vanity (Denise Matthews) for a proposed third album of hers that never came out. He answered no and that the only songs he wrote and recorded with her were released like the song "Undress", which is still being noticed.
Jesse was asked why his double CD masterpiece wasn't on streaming and Jesse answered that he hated streaming because the revenue to be made is too small. He was then asked if he knew that Cherry Red Records was releasing his first 3 albums on 2 CDs with 5 bonus tracks. Jesse said he wasn't aware of the release but that he doesn't have a problem and hopes it sells well because he'll make a profit off of the sales, unlike with streaming.
Another VIP person asked about whether a renowned food fight between The Time and The Revolution back in the day on a tour actually happened. The answer was YES. And that The Time kicked their ass.
Jesse went into detail that on the tour, Prince would pull a woman's panties out of his trench coat pocket during a part in the song, "Let's Work". Totally scripted. So Jesse said while out shopping the next day, he saw a huge pair of panties in a store and knew he had to buy them. He went back and put them in Prince's trench coat pocket, taking the smaller panties out.
That night during the show, when Prince got to the part in the song, he began pulling the panties out. The panties kept coming and coming and coming and eventually came all the way out. Prince held them up to the audience and got so pi**ed. Looking over to the side stage, he saw everyone all nervous except for Jesse, who was laughing his ass off.
Jesse was asked about recording his song, "Crazay" with Sly Stone and Jesse went into detail that he had originally recorded the song without Sly. He just hit it off with Sly from the moment they met while Prince on the other hand had a bad experience trying to get to know Sly. They met but didn't but it off. It seems Sly didn't want anything to do with Prince. They didn't get along. Ouch.
Jesse went on to say the song, "Crazay" was the ONLY time Prince ever complimented him. When "Crazay" was released, Prince called Jesse from a club or something and it seemed like he had been drinking. As Jesse answered the phone, Prince yelled from the other end, "THAT CRAZAY SONG IS BAD!" and hung up. Something to that effect. By exclaiming BAD, what he really meant was GOOD. LOL
Another question was about Jesse's unavailable album, "Bare My Naked Soul" and how amazing it is. Jesse said he only printed 100,000 copies and because he self released worth distribution by BMG, he made more money than any other gold or platinum records he sold through a label. It's why he'll never sign with another label again. He also said the album would be coming out again as a free add on with his next solo album and that he always wanted to have a naked woman on the cover. "It's not politically incorrect because she's fine", he laughed.
Jesse also said he would also be giving away many of his possessions in the future to lucky fans. Awards, sealed Time cassettes, gold and platinum album plaques, trinkets amassed throughout his Time and solo career like name plates from backstage doors, tour books with his writing inside about how different shows went and so much more. If you buy the upcoming album, he'll just mail you something. That's really cool. He just said he's not into keeping physical things like awards and memorabilia.
After the Q&A concluded, it was time to line up to say a couple of words to him, get $5 headshots of him they had for purchase signed as well as any memorabilia people brought. You also gave your camera to someone who took pictures of you and Jesse together.
Jesse was super cool and friendly. He was genuinely happy when I told him I was going to see both shows. He seemed a little distracted because of all the activity going on but it was a good couple of minutes. Afterwards, looking at the two headshots he signed for me, I realized he had misspelled my name spelling it MILES instead of with a Y. I put them in the car, came back and got in line for the 7:30 show.
One thing Yoshi's made known for Jesse's shows was ABSOLUTELY NO photography, audio recording or video. Of course some violated that throughout the night discreetly even after the management even said you would be escorted out if they caught you. Evidently, no one was "caught." LOL
Being that Yoshi's is a dinner type theatre, they have more formalities where you have to leave the room after the VIP event and between both shows. Once seated, I found myself seated in a section on a high stool at a high top table for four. Problem was at 6'3", I was directly in the way of the people seated at high top tables in the section behind me. Yoshi's didn't design the room correctly for the sections behind to be elevated so that everyone could see without having to look around others seated in front.
A group of three were seated at my table. Two men and a woman. Seeing that she was shorter, older, plus sized and having a hard time with her mobility, I gave her my seat in front because I knew she would be directly behind me looking at my back during the entire show. The only problem with my decision was now I was going to be looking at the back her for the entire show.
To see Jesse and the band, I literally had to slightly move my head to the left or right of her during the show in order to see and even then my sight was always compromised by her head/hair. Closing one eye helped. I was glad this seating was only going to be for the 1st show. I ended up getting another sushi roll and non alcoholic beer. I felt obligated to order because Yoshi's is a dinner theater type locale. The small high top table and cramped seat didn't give me much room to eat, which was a downer. I made it work though, without attitude our complaining.
MC Alphonso welcomed everyone and introduced Jesse. It was a great show full of hits, a couple of covers (including a Sly and the Family Stone one) and some blues, lots of blistering solos and between song talk that was really funny, light-hearted, playful and relaxed. There was a sound problem during the opening song, but it got corrected without having to stop the show. Afterwards, everyone had to leave the room, go back out to the street and back in (if they were going to the 2nd show).
The 9:30 show was even better than the first. Just incredible in song selections, focus and energy. He played more hits that weren't in the first show like "Jungle Love" and the show went longer because he didn't have to finish in time to get ready for another show.
Also, since I was re-seated for the 2nd show, I found myself seated at a larger four chair table near the front. Since the stage was elevated, everyone sitting on the floor in front of the stage could see perfectly...unless people at tables in front of you decided to stand and dance during the show. Luckily this didn't happen to me, although it did for others.
During the final song, "Lovestruck", Jesse had people from the audience (mainly ladies) get on stage and dance. He kept that song going for about 10 minutes, but because of the curfew, even though he wanted to continue, he had to bring the show to a close.
After the last note, Jesse told the audience that if anybody wanted to say "Hi" and get an autograph to meet him in the bar area out front. During the shows, I thought about the fact he had misspelled my name and decided this would be a great opportunity to get that corrected.
I had also wanted to briefly talk to Jesse about my Purple Rain sequel idea (Psychedelic Dreams). Written a few years back and likely not to happen because of the difficulty of getting Prince's estate, Warner Brothers and all the actors and musicians from "Purple Rain" to say YES, I still wanted, even though it's a "pipe dream" (as a talent manager/ex-agent told me), to mention it to Jesse.
I went out to the lobby and was the first person in line when he came out to the table. I bought two more different $5 headshots and told him, "Hey...Great shows. My name's Myles with a Y." As he signed both headshots, I told him about my sequel idea and to think Bruno Mars as being The Kid and Apollonia's son returning home to Minneapolis because his dad The Kid died.
Jesse's eyes lit up. I told him I'd talked to original director Albert Magnoli a few years back (for 30 minutes by phone) and he said it was okay to give the script to the cast even though he wouldn't hear my idea (for litigious reasons) and didn't think any sequel would ever happen.
Jesse really liked my idea. "You wrote it?" he asked. "Yes." I answered with a smile. I told him that if sometime like Bruno was cast as the lead and the Revolution and The Time (the Original 7ven, NOT the PR version of the band) came back and performed songs in the film, with The Revolution backing Bruno on stage it would be epic. If The Revolution and Bruno wrote songs together and The Time wrote songs together, all of it would lead to the film being #1 at the box office and the soundtrack being #1 the first week of release. Jesse agreed.
I pulled out a flash drive from my pocket and handed it to him letting him know the script was on there along with a one page letter about my motivation for writing it. He asked if my phone number was in the drive. I said yes. He let me know he was looking forward to read it and would give me a call next week. He seemed really amped about the idea. But again, do "pipe dreams" really come true? Not always. I was just happy I got another opportunity to give it to him to read and that he was excited.
When I got back to my car, I realized Jesse had signed the new headshots, misspelling my name again...MILES. Too funny.
I got back to the hotel at 12:30 am. My flight was just 5 and 1/2 hours away at 6:05 a.m. I set up a wake up call with the front desk for 4:30 am. The airport was only 15 minutes away. That's plenty of time, I thought. I got to sleep about 1am and at 4:30 got that wake up call, got ready and was in the rental car at 4:55 am. Oakland is a small enough airport. I should have enough time to make my flight.
It took about 15 minutes to get to the rental car area, then another 10 minutes waiting on the rental car bus to take me to the airport, and then another 10 minutes getting to the airport. By the time I got into the TSA line it was 5:35 am.
Looking at my boarding pass, I saw it was a 6:05 am flight. Would I make it? When I saw the 40 people waiting in front of me in line, I knew the odds were against me. Taking a closer look at my boarding pass, I saw the airplane doors were closing at 5:45 am. That's when I knew I was in trouble. There'd be no way I could make it through TSA and get to the gate in under 10 minutes.
I started looking for my drivers license, feeling all my pockets and realized, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Where's my wallet? I don't have my wallet on me." My mind started racing while I kept my cool and I thought it's got to be either in the rental car or back at the hotel. I had no choice but to exit the TSA line, go out to the rental car bus bench and wait for the next bus to take me back to the rental car.
While waiting, I took everything out of my jacket pocket, including a CD of Jesse Johnson's Greatest Hits mixed by a DJ that I had bought at the merch table the night before. I put everything down on the bus bench and double, triple checked all my pockets for the wallet. No luck. It was G-O-N-E.
I rode the bus all the way back to the rental car area and jogged up to my car. There was a Fox Rental Car person there near my Rav4 and I said, "I think I left my wallet in this rental car." They opened up the passenger door and sure enough my wallet was on the floor, having fallen off the seat while I was driving.
While I was going to the rental car place and coming back to the airport on the bus, I had Spirit Airlines on the phone trying to work out getting a later flight, a refund or points on the account for a future flight. Unfortunately, they were unwilling to help me in any way because I was labeled a no-show. I tried to explain that the reason I was a no-show was because I didn't have my wallet or ID on me. A dumb question considering why would I leave Oakland without my wallet which had my driver's license and credit cards in it?
Even after talking to the manager of Spirit, I realized it wasn't going to happen. No transfer of credit, no reimbursement, nothing. I looked at Future flights for Spirit and it looked like one was going to be leaving out of San Francisco and not Oakland.
"What am I going to do?" I thought. I guess I could Uber from Oakland to San Francisco, take a Spirit flight all the way down to John Wayne Airport to pick up my girlfriend and daughter (who were arriving that day from Iowa), then take an Uber north on the 405 to LAX to get my car.
In the end, it turned out that the Spirit flight was leaving Oakland but not till that evening, so I was advised by a Spirit check in employee to go to the terminal next door to Southwest and buy a ticket to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The clerk said they were having a $39 special.
When I went and talked to Southwest, it was a $180 special that turned out not to be so special with $30 added on so that I could get priority boarding. So I paid the $210, got the boarding pass and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was 90 minutes until time to board so I had plenty of time. Reaching around and feeling my pockets, I realized I had my wallet and phone but, "Wait a minute, wait a minute wait a minute. Where's that Jesse CD I bought? Where did it go?"
Again, my mind started thinking and I realized maybe it was on that bus bench that I was at earlier or maybe I even left it on a seat on the rental car bus. I didn't see the CD anywhere in the bus bench area. I waited for the first bus.
When it came and everybody exited, I told the driver, "I'm just looking on the bus real quick. I may have left something on here." I looked but didn't find the CD. I thanked the driver and got off the bus. I found out there were three rental car buses so I decided to wait for the second bus.
When it came and everybody exited, I told the driver I was looking on the bus real quick for something I may have left. I didn't see my CD and upon leaving, the driver asked what I was looking for. I answered a music CD and he said, "Hold on". We got back on the bus where he reached in a small trash can and pulled out my CD. Handing it to me, I was so happy and relieved, I gave him a $5 tip.
Realizing I had lost my phone and got it back, lost my wallet and got it back, and lost my CD and got it back, I feel very fortunate as I walked back into the airport. The airplane came on time, I boarded it easily, finding a seat right in the front row (they don't have First Class on Southwest). When the plane landed at LAX, I was the first off. It turned out to be a happy ending after all to an at times stressful trip.
Once I got off the plane at Terminal 1, I realized my car was parked at terminal 6, so I decided to walk through the airport from 1 to 6. Talk about a maze. There were parts under construction, but I was able to walk all the way over to 6 inside the airport. It took 25 minutes and that was walking briskly.
While walking, I was stopped by a female employee, who rounding a corner, noticed my Jesse Johnson shirt and said excitedly, "Wow! Wow! Michael!" I opened up my jacket so she could see Jesse Johnson's name and pictures better. She didn't notice continuing, "Michael. That's so great. Wow. Wow." She walked away. I stood there a few seconds, then continued on my way, shaking my head with a smile. It made me wonder just how many people throughout the world don't even know who Jesse Johnson is. All I can say is, "It's their loss".
Once I made it to my car, I realized that the exit fee was going to be $50 more because of missing my original flight and getting home hours later. I didn't care and gladly paid. After all, I had recovered my wallet, phone, CD, had enjoyed TWO amazing Jesse Johnson concerts, listened to him answer many questions, met him and even had the opportunity to give him my sequel to Purple Rain script.
Was this adventure a psychedelic dream or a pipe dream? Neither. It all actually happened. And I have my four signed headshots to prove it.
XOXO, Miles...I mean MYLES.
