How I ended up on stage with Jamiroquai circa 1997
Let me preface this story by stating that it is 100% true. I will include some pics just for further evidence, but as I wrote this out to post, it’s still hard for me to believe all of this happened. Enjoy!
Back in 1997, a friend who worked at Live 105 called me on the Tuesday before Labor Day and asked if I had plans for the weekend.
I told him no.
A few hours later he called back and explained that 7-Eleven was running a nationwide Slurpee promotion with radio stations around the country. Contest winners from each city were being flown to Los Angeles for a VIP Labor Day weekend.
The problem was that the Live 105 winner from San Francisco couldn’t be found.
So he asked if I’d be willing to be the winner.
I figured…why not?
A few days later I was checking into the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel with contest winners from all over the country. We got Slurpee backpacks full of 7-Eleven swag, team shirts, and a schedule for the weekend.
The next morning we walked onto Santa Monica Beach where 7-Eleven had built what looked like a real-life American Gladiators competition. Cameras, JumboTrons, announcers, celebrity guests, members of MADtv, and even Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell were there.
There were unlimited Slurpees and unlimited samples of 7-Eleven’s new hamburger-shaped hot dogs (yes…that was actually a thing).
I was the only real athlete on my team, so I ended up doing almost every event. We made it to the championship round, and I advanced all the way to the final “Slurp-Off,” where you had to drink a 12-ounce Slurpee as fast as possible.
I lost by a small margin to a huge guy who proudly announced he drank multiple Slurpees every day. Honestly…he looked like he’d trained for that moment his entire life.
That evening everyone was taken to the House of Blues for dinner. We knew there was going to be a concert afterward, but nobody would tell us who was playing.
Then the restaurant literally opened up, revealing the concert venue below.
The headliner was Jamiroquai.
The contest winners came from every kind of radio station imaginable—country, Top 40, rock, adult contemporary. Most of them had never even heard of Jamiroquai.
I was already a huge fan.
I went straight to the front of the stage and sang every word to every song. I was dancing, jumping around, and having the absolute time of my life.
After “High Times,” Jay Kay looked down at me and asked:
“Are you a fan?”
I yelled back:
“YES!”
Everyone around me started laughing and yelling “YES!” too.
Jay Kay pointed at me and said:
“You need to be up here for the next one.”
Security pulled me onto the stage.
The next song was “Hollywood Swinging.”
Ironically, it was one of the only songs where I didn’t know every lyric.
I did my best, laughed through it, stayed onstage for another song, and then went back to my front-row spot.
Looking back almost 30 years later, I still can’t believe it happened.
One random phone call turned an ordinary Labor Day weekend into what is still probably one of the greatest personal experiences of my life.