Jingle Jam Part 1: Well Of Course “We Don't Talk Anymore”
WNCI (97.9) is Columbus’ local radio station. Every December WNCI hosts a holiday show called “Jingle Jam.” In 2019 Jingle Jam was scheduled for December 2nd. The lineup was for King & Country as an opener and Charlie Puth as the headliner.
On October 17th my parents, Luke, Josh, and I piled out of Mom’s minivan at WNCI’s office for a Cousin Simple show. We walked into the office before the fans started getting there, and we met up with the other Will (Frontman) Mitch (Piano/ukulele), and Joel’s (Former drummer) families. After a small walk around the office, we entered the room where the show would be.
It was a relatively small room and I knew it was going to get packed very quickly, so I stood in front of the stage to claim my usual spot immediately. Right before the boys were scheduled to play Chris Davis, one of WNCI’s radio show hosts, came out on stage introduced himself, and hyped us up. He then introduced the band and the core members (Will, Ryan, Mitch, and Joel) came on stage. The four of them sat down and after Chris Davis interviewed them for a little bit, it was time for them to play. Chris Davis left the stage and Fuad came on. Fuad was, at the time Will’s cousin’s fiance (now husband), and was there to play rhythm guitar.
The show was awesome as always, but it wasn't actually the highlight of the night. After they had finished playing, Chris Davis got back on stage and said, “We love your band so much we were wondering if you'd be willing to play WNCI’s Jingle Jam this year?!”
The crowd screamed and after they had calmed down a bit Will said, “We'd love to!”
I'm not the world's best secret-keeper. I've gotten a lot better…hiding the fact that I was writing a book for three years definitely helped, but it's still something that I have to be very conscientious about. This might take away some of the magic and I'm sorry, but Cousin Simple had already accepted the play Jingle Jam before Chris Davis asked. There were two reasons Chris Davis asking officially were important to me. 1. Everybody knew now, so there was no threat of me messing it up. 2. All of the fans screaming reaffirmed for me what we all had been saying behind the scenes, “They're opening for Charlie Puth…this is a huge deal!”
Starting the next day WNCI played Cousin Simple’s song “Star Destroyers” every day to build up hype for Jingle Jam. Unfortunately, about a week before Thanksgiving Charlie Puth canceled. December 2nd fell on the Monday after Thanksgiving, so with the holiday, WNCI was left with less than a week to find a new headliner which frankly was not possible.
Jingle Jam was canceled and we were all disappointed. The day before Thanksgiving Will's family hosted a “Friendsgiving.” For obvious reasons Jingle Jam being canceled was a huge topic that night. At some point, Will was standing with Ryan and people were talking to them about it. I sarcastically chimed in, “Well of course ‘We Don't Talk Anymore’ Charlie, You always cancel our plans!” I don’t think people appreciated that joke as much as they should have admittedly because it was too soon. While I was kind of mad about it for a while I'm glad he canceled because Jingle Jam 2021 was… well… Greattastic!
To Be Continued…
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