Johnson goes on and on about coming home
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Jack Johnson's Sunday-night homecoming show at Pipeline Café — his first here since December 2001 — is sold out. But he's working on plans to perform again here later in the year.
Danny Clinch Jack Johnson 8 p.m. Sunday Pipeline Café Sold out 589-1999 |
So, asked a yes/no question about whether he had seen his North Shore home and vegetable garden since the last time we spoke, Johnson, of course, opted for a slightly roundabout answer.
"Right around May 29 or something like that, my brother called and told me that Laniakea was 8 to 10 feet and it was a really good north swell," said Johnson, on a cell phone outside a Columbus, Ohio, radio station. "So I flew home for 32 hours."
Suspicious of any and all behavior even remotely resembling "rock star" indulgence, Johnson went on to explain how he funded his impromptu trip much like any normal Jack would. Well, sort of.
"We travel so much that my airline miles really build up (on tour) ... so I just used my miles," said Johnson. "I did the whole trip between the end of a concert and an appearance on Jay Leno."
In truth, Johnson seemed far more pleased with his burgeoning skills as a travel agent than winning a "Tonight Show" invite.
"I surfed four times in a day-and-a-half," said Johnson, proudly. "I got home, surfed, ate some food, surfed again, slept, woke up early, surfed, ate some food, surfed again and went to the airport. It was good!"
Johnson seemed to enjoy the opportunity to simply catch up and talk story this time around.
We'd last chatted in early May, just days before the release of his second CD, "On and On." The Hawai'i-born singer/songwriter/guitarist/surfer/filmmaker was at that time outside a New Orleans tour stop, and the new disc's first reviews were trickling in — a couple of positive ones from Entertainment Weekly and Blender; a negative one from Rolling Stone.
We discussed "On and On," recorded late last year in a makeshift garage studio set up by his brother Trent near Johnson's home, and the creation of some of the CD's tracks. We also talked about the sudden semi-uncomfortable celebrity that had whacked the genial, unassuming Johnson as unexpectedly as a rogue wave after his first CD, "Brushfire Fairytales," took off nationally early last year. Since its 2001 release, "Brushfire" has sold just under 2 million copies.
"On and On" eventually bowed at No. 3 on Billboard's album chart in mid-May. Weeks later, every ticket to Johnson's Sunday night homecoming show at Pipeline Café — his first here since December 2001 — sold out in just under two hours.
"We thought it would get full, but we didn't know it would be that quick," said Johnson. "Partly, we just really wanted to come back and do a show."
The singer — whose month-long break from a continuing tour with Ben Harper started this week — seemed genuinely surprised when told he likely could have filled the Waikiki Shell.
"I think we're probably going to (put together) an outdoor festival, hopefully, right around New Year's," said Johnson. "My wife (Kim) and I are trying to ... get some friends involved, bring some bands from the Mainland and some local bands and make it a fund-raiser for a foundation we're going to start up for environmental issues in Hawai'i. (That's why) we didn't want to do too big of a show this time around."
Johnson, no surprise, planned to be comfortably off the road when the year-ending winter swells arrived on the North Shore.
His current U.S. road trip — with bassist Merlo Podlewski and drummer Adam Topol — included one memorable set sandwiched between the significantly louder Sonic Youth and White Stripes at California's giant Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
"That was cool. ... We were like the ginger between sushi," said Johnson. "We just went up, and were kind of like the act that was there to get mellow for a minute and let everybody chill out before it got rockin' again."
Ever the music fan, Johnson confessed that the best thing about fame thus far has been meeting musicians he admired like White Stripes, Radiohead, Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal. He's already shared a stage with Neil Young, James Taylor, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Tenacious D, and members of the Grateful Dead — simultaneously, no less — at Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concert earlier this year.
"The coolest part was getting to learn a song with Neil Young," gushed Johnson. "Just the two of us sittin' in a room with him strumming the guitar, showing me a tune and playing harmonica on it? That was pretty cool."
