Hot Sauce of the Day: Jon McLaughlin

Hello, sailor!

We had no idea who this guy was, just that he attended last night’s Rock the Kasbah 2008 fundraising gala for Virgin Unite, a nonprofit foundation of Sir Richard Branson's dedicated to developing sustainable approaches to forgotten and overlooked social and environmental issues, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel alongside celebs like Charlize Theron, Selma Hayek and Jewel.

With a little internet digging, we discovering this fine young man with the dreamy blue eyes is named Jon McLaughlin, and he’s kind of like John Mayer but with a piano instead of a guitar. (They both do the same “O” face when the music is really rockin’ their soul.) He opened for Kelly Clarkson on her My December Tour, recorded a duet with Jason Mraz and Van Hunt for “Randy Jackson’s Music Club” album and his song “So Close” from Enchanted was nominated for an Oscar.

We actually remember totally crunching on him when he performed at last year’s ceremony and our friend Natalie crushed our dreams by pointing out he was wearing a wedding ring. (She's amazing at spotting those.)

Jon, we've got our eye on you now...and your ring finger.