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Here's an unexpected treat--an MSM holiday interview (which is a first) with JM in conjunction with his new happenings. Enjoy!

RY: What inspired The First Annual Holiday Revue Show?

JM: There was a show that we were going to do that was a different show that didn't come through. So, we had the room on hold and it was a question of wanting to do some kind of show anyway since we have the venue available. We were at the Bridge School Benefit, the core crew and I were sitting backstage. As soon as it was suggested that it could be a "3-Peat," it seemed really interesting to me.

It's a strange contract that people have with me as an artist musically, because I've offered so much different stuff. Some people would say they like the Trio and me playing more guitar, some people want me to play more acoustic guitar. I like the idea of finally bringing it all together into 1 performance. And then at that point, really get a sense (for [myself] also) of how everything goes together.

RY: Does the "First Annual" tag signify that this will be an annual tradition?

JM: I think it'd be pretty cool to do annually. I also think "First Annual" just looks cool on a poster when it's Christmas time. I hope we can do it all the time. Even if it isn't, it's a cool thing that it's for a charity first and foremost. It's supposed to be a let-your-hair-down-and-come -out-and-jam kind of thing. Even if it [isn't always] the same format that it is this year, I think it would be great, every year, to do a show either in New York or LA or maybe some other towns someday. [A show] that's kind of celebratory and everybody can relax. There is that end of the year sensibility that relaxes everybody.

RY: It's already been published that there is going to be a DVD for this show. Will there be audio in addition to it?

JM: Actually, it's going to be a DVD with NO sound. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be a DVD with just the images and closed captioning and guitar tabs, but that's it [laughs]. I don't really know, I couldn't tell you.

RY: Are there any special surprises or anything special you have in store?

JM: We'll see. I think it's enough of a special surprise, personally, to have the Trio, the full-band and acoustic all in the same night. It's really kind of an Olympian effort for me, especially not being on the road. I'm already in training to get back. The calluses, I don't play all day everyday anymore. It doesn't take long but it just takes a little bit of focus.

RY: In retrospect, if you had to pick a favorite moment (not "the" favorite moment) from each of those different eras, what would those be?

JM: The best part of the acoustic stuff was the absolute innocence of it. I don't mean innocence as opposed to being jaded or dark or anything. That was such a great period of time because nobody knew what was coming up, everything was a big question mark and it was really interesting. It was just really fresh because of the unknown.

The band stuff is really cool because it's where I personally am the most comfortable on a night-after-night level. I can sing a little bit and I can play a little bit of guitar. That's where the songs that connect with the most people happen. I'm a pop artist and in that pop band, it's about connecting with as many people as possible.

The Trio, what makes that so interesting for me is the absolute struggle of it. It's constant and it's a street fight, which I think is what rock & roll is supposed to be anyway. It really is about that dynamic and that all-out energy. You can't phone in a John Mayer Trio show.

RY: Say is now out there for the world to hear and it's part of The Bucket List. How did that whole thing come about and is it going to be part of the movie soundtrack?

JM: I don't think they're releasing a soundtrack for the movie, though it is in the movie. I've been approached for the last 5-6 years with ideas to write songs for movies. I've read the scripts (or didn't read the scripts), and I always knew that with this kind of an experience [writing a song for a movie] it would have to be great. I don't have to do it--it's extracurricular. Maybe this sounds selfish, but I only want to be involved in the best movies. If I'm going to act in a movie, I want to act in American Gangster, Part II. Is there one? If not, I'll write one. American Gangster Part II: Even More Gangster Than Before. I'll be that guy and then it will go straight to DVD [laughs].

I want to be involved with the best of the best. When I read the script for The Bucket List, and obviously knew who was going to be in the movie, I was bawling on the couch reading it. I'm talking like crying, twin-twitching, sniveling-crying. As an artist, when you get lit up to do something, there's nothing like it. When you get that internal passion to do something, there's nothing like it. The second half of the [summer] tour, it was all about coming up with The Bucket List song.

RY: Continuum was just re-released and in the past you've been very reluctant to want to re-release or repackage your material. What was different this time around?

JM: What's different this time around was that before Continuum came out, there was a mandate that nothing gets changed about Continuum. If you'll notice in the packaging, Continuum is always Continuum. I'm in the mainstream [though]. If I [don't] want to be in the mainstream, I know exactly where the exit door is. I don't contract it. I want to be here. I want to participate in the needs of what it takes to stay in the mainstream. Records get re-released this time of the year as Christmas present versions of [themselves]. I don't have a problem with participating in that process. Continuum is never going to have extra tracks on the record. It may have an extra CD slipped in the back, but when you take the actual CD out of the jewel case, Continuum will never ever change and I think that's kind of a fair compromise.

I've got to say, though, that Chad mixed these live tracks so well that I wish it was its own live CD. I have my own opinions about whether it could've ever really come out as a live CD [just because of] how much other live material has come off of Continuum. If I hadn't done so many--and I'm not sorry that I did--live performances, I think it would've been a great live CD. The live CD is kind of a dead model [for me] because there's so much live music that has to come out with a record now that you get a whole live CD just from clicking around the internet. When I heard those tracks, Chad came back to the house and put it in the stereo and turned it up and all I kept thinking to myself when I heard it was "you should've been there!" It just sounds like this is what you missed. It's not a throwaway add-on. It's definitely the best recordings of the concerts and some really great performances. So, I'm happy to have struck that compromise.

RY: Alicia Keys' new record has finally dropped and "Lesson Learned" is out there. You've been pretty outspoken about your adoration for Alicia and the song. Why has this song and collaboration stood out to you?

JM: The thing about Alicia is that her output musically is a direct extension of who she is as a soul, which makes the process of taking that soul and converting it into a great song effortless and breezy; even when it doesn't hit every time into a perfect song, the process is the same. She has such clear ownership of who she is as an artist. She is no accident, and as she's proven, she'll do it again and again and again and again because the art is a direct extension of the artistry and that's really rare. I don't really know where else I'm ever going to find that. I like getting around people and playing and seeing if you can strike gold. That can always happen. Alicia is no accident and no joke and that's why people respond to [her] because it's completely organic. And that song, "Like You'll Never See Me Again" is just one of the greatest things I've ever heard and it's no accident. She'll do 10 more.

RY: In terms of a new album for you, where do things stand?

JM: I have a title and I've never turned my back on a title once I've had it. The title for Continuum came up in '04. They just kind of come up and for me--titles happen as a way to give structure to the record. [As for the record,] I've got ideas, but I'm not pushing myself at all, especially when Say is coming out and all signs point to it being heard by a lot of people. I'm going to need to go away musically anyway, so I'm not putting that much pressure on myself. I worked every day in my 20s, so I'm trying not to come down on myself for not working every day of my 30s.

RY: With 2008 approaching, what is your #1 goal for the new year?

JM: Well, we're going to go out next summer. I definitely want to go out and play. I really think I need a little time to work on the dude behind the image. A good way to look at it in 2008 is I'm kind of working a little bit on the guy without the guitar.

RY: Anything else you'd like to add?

JM: I figured [something] out, man, and I want to share it with you.

[People think that when I see the paparazzi, I think] , "Oh shit, there they are!" I'm here to tell you that I have discovered--[through] a lot of ducking and covering and [finally] taking my hands off my eyes [to realize] that the sun is still out--none of that shit matters! It's not a threat. It's not a danger. It's goofy--it's actually goofy.

It's not a scandal. . . I've never been involved in a scandal, ever.I live one of the straightest lives of a rock guy you can imagine. When I'm walking into a club, which people have been [doing for] their entire lives, it's [me doing something] which I didn't do in my 20s and I'm almost done, probably. My phase is almost over, but that's my right to experience phases. If I'm walking into a place and some guy has a camera on me or 8 guys have cameras on me, I just laugh at it.

I don't see 8 guys with cameras the way that I would see 8 guys with giant syringes ready to plunge it into my neck--I don't see it as drawing blood. I don't see it as removing credibility and replacing it with junk.

It's all garbage and it's funny because the concept of the guy doing that is farcical. So, why would I tip my hat down and let somebody get the best of me during a farce? If it's already inherently farcical, then I'm just going to goof on it. I have not lost a single opportunity career-wise. Not one tabloid mention has ever taken away a great musical opportunity or a great collaborative opportunity. It's all just a bunch of noise.

All I'm really doing is building a wall around myself of weird stuff. It's already weird when you walk into a place and somebody has a camera on you. I'm just providing an equal and opposite force of weirdness so that it cancels itself out and it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter.

When I discovered that, people would say to me, "Well, you know what people are saying?" [And I'd say], "no," because no one has ever come up to me and told me I was a douchebag. Ever. I was just sitting in a car and I was like I think it'd be funny to just go into the camera and say, "You know what, I'm a douchebag!" Which, I don't really think I am. But it's just interesting to see what happens when you meet that action with an equal and opposite reaction of saying, "Yeah, I sure am a douchebag." It shuts everybody up.

Don't let people get the best of you. No one has ever stood in front of me and called me anything. Until they do, it's just vapor. The reason I'm telling you this is not so you can be like, "you're such a genius in your own life." This applies to anyone's life.

There are so [many] normal life lessons inside being a celebrity, it's ridiculous. There's so much to take from it. Don't let people try to run one on you, especially when in some ways you're smarter than they are anyway. I don't know if you've ever read it, but whenever somebody tries to post a write-up responding to my goof and be goofy about my goof, they look fucking stupid! They look stupid because I've already done the job. It's done.

I just feel like overexposure doesn't exist anymore. It is dead. What does exist is over-consumption. Overexposure used to be the fault of the artist. Consumption is now the responsibility of the consumer--not exposure the responsibility of the exposed. There's no way to help the exposure anymore.

I've been off tour since August. People have seen my face every week. I can't help that. So, instead of it being an exposure situation, it's now a consumption question. Artists can no longer be overexposed, but fans can over-consume. I think that delineation is going to have to really make it to people's way of thinking before everybody gets sick of everybody. It's going to be like a Mexican-standoff at the end of some movie where everybody fires at the same time and everybody drops dead!

I just want my fans to know as I'm speaking to you (and I couldn't speak more directly to my fans) that if you see me out having a good time, high-five your computer screen and move on because there's nothing really going on but me having a good time and going back to work the next day.

I still haven't lost it. I'm still the dude with the funny hair cut from Eddie's Attic 1999-2000. Just like you were that same guy who met that dude in the haircut, but everybody's got their own way to navigate through new courses all the time.