Snap: Michael Franti in the Corner Lounge

To some music fans, March 16 means a John Mayer concert, but to many others–- including the 40 radio station contest winners who gathered upstairs at The Sound studio on Prestion Avenue earlier in the day of the main event at John Paul Jones Arena–- its all about the opening act, Michael Franti & Spearhead. The band which includes one UVA grad (whose name we didn't catch) performed a few of its reggae-influenced adult alternative songs for the 106.1 The Corner-listening, Starr Hill beer-toting crowd. And frontman Franti said he's delighted that his music resonates with harried parents who might, after putting junior on the schoolbus, say to themselves, "I just want to get home and put on Michael's record and get a Starr Hill–- or something else I got off the hill."

–last updated 11:30pm with adjustment to Franti's style