1

1
John Mayer Speaks For His Generation
2
(CBS) In 2002, John Mayer descended on his public
with a rush. He topped the charts with "Your Body
Is a Wonderland" and "No Such Thing." Since then
he has charmed the music industry with vibrant
sales and audiences and critics have embraced
him. http//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/07/ea
rlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main2442131.shtml

• Descend To arrive or attack in a sudden or an
  overwhelming manner
• Vibrant ??? bright and striking 
• Embrace ??to take or clasp in the arms press to
  the bosom hug

3
Mayer has sold 8 million records and won three
Grammys. This year he was nominated for five
more. His style floats between lover-boy pop and
guitar-driven rhythm-and-blues and he's wooed the
hearts of young women, including pop-star Jessica
Simpson, who he has been linked to recently. But
at the age of 29, Mayer and his music are growing
up.

• Nominate ??to propose for an honor, award, or
  the like.
• guitar-driven rhythm-and-blues????, ???
• Woo ?? To court a woman

4
"The more I grow up inside the more frightened I
get, actually," he told E! Entertainment news
anchor and The Early Show special contributor
Giuliana Depandi .

• Anchor Radio and Television. a person who is the
  main broadcaster on a program of news, sports,
  etc., and who usually also serves as coordinator
  of all participating broadcasters during the
  program anchorman or anchorwoman anchorperson.
• Contributor someone or something that helps to
  cause something to happen

5
"I have to live up to this music, and I can't go
on stage anymore and just dilly-dally through it."

• live up to ?????? Live or act in accordance with
  
• go on stage ????
• dilly-dally To waste time, especially in
  indecision dawdle or vacillate

6
Even a star as big as Mayer gets a case of the
nerves before he goes on stage, but he said that
somewhere during the show, that fear goes away
and adrenaline kicks in.

• Adrenaline ????(???????)

7
"People say you should go on stage and play every
show like it's your last, and that's just a
little too morbid to me, so I always like to play
every show like there's a really nice cheese tray
waiting for me a cheese tray or a plate of
cookies," he said.

• Morbid?????? gruesome grisly.

8
Mayer's album "Continuum," nominated for album of
the year, is one-part tribute to old-school blues
and one-part torment over lost love. But like he
name suggests, it is all Mayer a young voice in
transition.

• Torment ????? a state of great bodily or mental
  suffering agony misery.

9
The single, "Waiting on the World to Change,"
nominated for best male pop vocal performance,
points starkly to the apathy of Mayer's own
generation.

• Stark ????bluntly or sternly plain not softened
  or glamorized
• Apathy ?? absence or suppression of passion,
  emotion, or excitement.

10
"I think there's a lot of kids watching TV going
'That sucks, oh that totally sucks,' but then
there's this other voice that goes, 'What are you
gonna do about it?' and then you say back to it
'Nothin'. What's on E!?' " he said. "There's more
of a conversation coming out of 'Waiting on the
World to Change' than a song called 'We Got to
Change the World'The world needs someone to
stand between Bono and Paris Hilton. And I want
to be somewhere right in the middle."
11
Mayer struggles to stay grounded in a business
that creates monsters every day. "I got
successful, I got happy, I got everything I've
ever needed, at a very young age," he said. "Now
it's about not losing it and not losing is so
much less exciting than trying to get it."
12
Now with five potential Grammys at his feet,
Mayer said he is both excited and nervous for his
performance. "Being there is exciting, playing
there is nerve wracking," Mayer said. "If I could
just go and hang out by the punch bowl, I would
do that."

• punch bowl a large bowl from which punch,
  lemonade, etc., is served, usually with a ladle.

13
(No Transcript)