Jason Mraz is a celebrity coffee person. He’s a celebrity because he’s won multiple Grammy’s and is perhaps most famous for the sun-dappled open-mic vibe hit song “The Remedy” (ask your parents about it). He’s a coffee person because he owns a farm in California that grows, among other things, coffee. He is also maybe not a bad guy and recently helped keep the oldest coffee shop in Oceanside from closing.
As reported by ABC 10 News, Jitters Coffee Pub was in danger of shuttering for good due to an expiring lease. As it turns out, Mraz was a frequenter of the northern San Diego suburb cafe back in the early aughts, and when he heard about the predicament, he stepped in to help.
“Come in with a fresh coat of paint and some new energy and refurbish the space,” Mraz states. “It was new fixtures and some plants really, that’s about all it took. The stage is new.”
Mraz’s vision for the new and improved Jitters includes expanding the hours of operation to include evening events, particularly those in support of local artists. It will act more as a venue in that respect, as an all-ages space and platform for local “musicians, DJs, poets, comedians, and other performers.”
It’s a feel-good story about a young kid made good at a coffeehouse open mic night and returning the favor. Now, should it be news when a celebrity isn’t a complete piece of shit human? Well no, but that ain’t the world we’re living in baby. And in a sea of shiny overhyped and sweaty attempts at turning fame into a coffee brand (the reasons why anyone would even want to God only knows), a famous dude being kind—without a PR team promoting it to whomever will uncritically regurgitate the talking points—it’s nice. Certainly better than teaming up with the vultures at Live Nation to pump out another canned cold brew.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
