1

Tour Board / Houston, TX Cullen Performance Hall 4-16-16

« on: April 21, 2016, 08:37:06 AM »

On the 19th anniversary of our first time seeing Ben [with the Five at the long-ago-shuttered Urban Art Bar], my wife and I caught Ben's show with yMusic this past Saturday night on the campus of the University of Houston. It was our 16th time to see him in one iteration or another and I've got to say it was our least favorite show....and that whatever I'd rank 15th [probably opening for John Mayer in 2007] would be way ahead.

There was very little energy from the stage, from the audience, from anywhere.  His two symphony shows here [2006 and 2014] each had way more energy and enthusiasm.  And if I'm not mistaken, this was just the 3rd show of the current tour. Very disappointing.

Here's the setlist:
Beautiful Mechanical (yMusic)
So There
Long Way to Go
Not a Fan
My Philosophy (improvisation after someone called out "My Philosophy"; not to be confused with him actually playing "Philosophy")
Effington
Free Bird (improvisation)
I’m Not the Man
Phone in a Pool
Mess
Music in Circles (yMusic)
Evaporated
Erase Me
Song for the Dumped
Capable of Anything
Rock this Bitch
Steven’s Last Night in Town
You Don’t Know Me

ENCORE
Army
Not the Same

2

Tour Board / Houston, TX House of Blues 6-17-15

« on: June 18, 2015, 05:59:57 AM »

1.   Annie Waits
2.   Effington
3.   Phone in a Pool
4.   Not a Fan
5.   Last Polka
6.   All U Can Eat
7.   Concerto/Rock This Bitch/Waltz
8.   Cologne
9.   Hiro's Song
10.  Zak and Sara
11.  Still Fighting It
12.  Freebird snippet
13.  Boxing
14.  Bitches Ain't Shit
15.  Selfless Cold and Composed
16.  You Don't Know Me
17.  Steven's Last Night in Town
18.  Army [preceded by U of Miami drum in lake story]
19.  Landed
20.  Gracie
21.  Rockin the Suburbs
22.  Kate
23.  Brick
24. Philosophy w/ Dr. Pyser

ENCORE
25.  Evaporated
26.  The Luckiest
27.  Song for the Dumped

3

News / Happy Birthday to Ben

« on: September 12, 2014, 09:10:12 AM »

Wow he's 48 today!

Hi to all the old timers.

~Fan

4

Album Board / TSOTLOTM Debuts in Billboard's Top 10

« on: September 26, 2012, 10:02:00 AM »

As Ben tweeted late yesterday and proudly mentioned at the Houston show last night, the new album debuted in Billboard's Top 10--marking the highest ranking for any BFF or BF album ever.  Congrats fellas!!

5

Tour Board / Timing Question

« on: September 20, 2012, 01:57:08 PM »

How long has KMH been playing?  And at about what time [or how long after the "concert time"] have the boys been taking stage?

Thanks.

6

General Board / Twas TEN years ago tonight

« on: December 09, 2011, 08:24:47 AM »

The Bowery Ballroom. A Sunday night in NYC. A show that was not originally part of Ben's 2001 RTS tour. A show that really was a substitute for the 9/13 show at Irving Plaza that got canceled because of 9/11.

There was no band. Just Ben and his piano. And the first crowd horn sections.

And amongst the crowd that night were the Bowery Bandit and Greyseal. Who were taping. And who began putting that show up on the interwebs for fans to share.

The recording was so good that Ben himself requested a hard copy be sent to him down in Oz where he was germinating the ideas that became the 2002 Ben Folds and a Piano tour.

Which led to the release of Ben Folds Live.

In many ways, Ben's career pivoted that cold evening in the City.

And as hard as it is to imagine, it happened 10 years ago tonight.

7

News / Boxing--#16 on Sports Illustrated's Best Sports Songs List

« on: July 14, 2011, 01:05:25 PM »

In the current double issue of SI, there is an article listing the 25 top sports songs .

BFF's "Boxing" weighs in at Number 16 with the following commentary:

A different look at Muhammad Ali, from later in his life. This is a poignant imagined conversation between the Champ and Howard Cosell as Ali's career is winding down: "My intention's become/Not to lose what I've won/Ambition has given way to desperation." "Boxing might have been a strange subject for a romantic waltz," says Folds. "But when something that's not normal gives me a chill while I'm writing it, even now, I don't question it—I'm thankful."

View the whole list here.

8

News / Sing Off Renewed--Added to NBC's Fall Schedule

« on: May 16, 2011, 02:23:15 PM »

After two years of being a December replacement "series," NBC announced today that "The Sing Off" will air on Mondays at 8 eastern/7 central beginning in September. 

Stories I've read indicate that Ben and Shawn Stockman will both be returning, but there are mixed signals concerning Nicole--who will be joining Simon Cowell's new X Factor on FOX also this fall.

I've got mixed feelings about this news because I think the show was a perfect 2-3 week filler.  Not sure it's got the legs for a 13-15 week run against original programming on the other networks.

But it's still awfully good exposure for Ben.

9

Tour Board / Ben Announces New Tour--Two shows a night

« on: April 01, 2011, 07:24:16 AM »

Saying he could no longer decide between a full band and solo show, Ben Folds announced today [Friday 4/1/2011] that he would begin a new tour this summer. 

The unique aspect to the tour is that he will play two shows a night at the same venue: the first will be with full band and the second will be just Ben and his piano.  Details are still to be worked out, but fans will have to have tickets for each show as each venue will be cleared out between the two.

"If you think my solo gigs have sucked, then just come for the full band show," said Folds.  "And if you're one of those people who can't stand seeing me with anyone but Darren and Robert, you can pay just to see me.  If you like it all, then belly up to the buffet and see me twice in one night."

10

General Board / Happy 9th Boweryversary

« on: December 09, 2010, 08:35:32 AM »

Twas a mere 9 years ago this evening that the intrepid greyseal and her still anonymous partner in crime The Bowery Bandit not only took in Ben's first piano only show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC but also recorded it, subsequently sending it around the internets for all--even Ben himself--to enjoy.

Of course, the only reason he did that show [and the one the night after] in the first place is that his original NYC tour date of September 13, 2001 got canceled--I still have my ticket to that show which I got him to sign a week later after the HoB show in New Orleans.

Whether the Bowery show represented a good or bad turning point for Ben's career remains to be determined. But there is no doubt of its significant influence over the course of the last 9 years of his career. The Ben and a Piano tours. The BFL disc. The audience sing-alongs that for all we know may have very well inspired his enthusiasm for acapella.

So for all that you did that evening greyseal, thanks.

11

General Board / Still Gutted 30!!! Years Later

« on: December 08, 2010, 09:27:20 AM »

30 years ago tonight John Lennon was taken away from us.  Here's Paul's tribute song [with a little added interview] Here Today.

As many know, in the era before much cable and certainly any real 24/7 cable news presence, in the era before any sort of internet, the news about John's death was announced by Howard Cosell. Near the end of a Monday Night Football telecast.

"Remember, this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead … on … arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take."

There was a fascinating behind the scenes story about that announcement and how it came to be this past Sunday on Outside the Lines.

Mike Marrone on The Loft has been devoting much of his show this morning to the milestone and I imagine both Vin Scelsa on Idiot's Delight and Meg Griffin will have more this afternoon.

It is still so senseless. And sad. So terribly sad.

12

News / Ben and Nick in NYC 10/12/2010

« on: October 11, 2010, 07:03:40 AM »

Saw this blurb over the weekend in the New York Times Weekend Arts section pop/rock listing and hadn't seen it posted here anywhere.  So if you're in the area, it might be worth a look-see:

Ben Folds with Nick Hornby (Tuesday) The singer and pianist Ben Folds is — when at his best — a witty, engaging songwriter possessing both chops and humor, a rare combination. He recently collaborated with the British author Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”) for a new record, “Lonely Avenue” (Nonesuch); Mr. Hornby provided the lyrics. At this event, Mr. Folds will perform, and Steve Kandell, the deputy editor of Spin Magazine, will moderate a discussion and Q&A with both artists. At 7 p.m., Housing Works Used Book Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, near Houston Street, SoHo , (212) 334-3324, housingworks.org; $35. (Petrusich)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/arts/music/08pop.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

13

Tour Board / Houston show--Set List and review

« on: May 10, 2010, 06:57:27 AM »

Thinking that I was going to have been out of town, my wife and I had not made plans to attend this past Saturday night's show at the House of Blues though I thought my son and his friends were going to go.  As it turned out, they didn't and we did...getting into the "sold out" show.

I know the order of the songs will be made right by someone else who attended, but these are the songs that were played:

Free Coffee
Annie Waits

Bitch Went Nutz
Brainwascht [with a long explanation of the song including a dig at Bruce Springsteen explaining what lyrics to a song mean and then singing those exact lyrics]
Don't Change Your Plans
Effington
Gone
Landed
Late
Long Tall Texan
Sentimental Guy [only song I'm not 100% sure that was played]
Songs of Love [Neil Hannon cover where he said he had to have the lyrics in front of him since Neil writes such complicated lyrics]
Steven's Last Night in Town
Still Fighting It
The Ascent of Stan
Video [says by reuqest]
You Don't Know Me [featuring KMH]
You To Thank
Zak and Sara

Kate [ending with his going over to the drum kit to play Wipeout]
The Luckiest [Lengthy explanation of its having been written for the closing scene of Amy Heckerling's "Losers"]
Army [no instruction for horn parts, just "come on Houston....1..2.1..2..3 followed by crowd horns]
One Angry Dwarf [final, final encore after HoB had already turned on the house lights and changed the video monitors to pimping of upcoming shows]

The venue was more crowded than for any other show we've seen there but as usual a Houston crowd just talked and talked and talked throughout.

We loved hearing the Luckiest and believe it is the first time in 12 shows over 13 years in which he has not played Philosophy.

14

General Board / Happy Boweryversary!!!

« on: December 09, 2009, 09:52:22 AM »

8 years ago tonight.

Bowery Ballroom, NYC.  Ben's first solo show.  A Sunday night.  Existed only because his 9/13/01 show at Irving Plaza that I was supposed to go to obviously had gotten canceled.

So instead, greyseal and the Bowery Bandit tape the show from the Bowery, circulate it for d/l on the webs, it makes its way to Ben down under.  Whence comes the Ben Folds and a Piano tour.  Which leads to Ben Folds Live.

And it all started 8 years ago tonight.

Thanks greyseal.

15

General Board / 29 Years Ago tonight

« on: December 08, 2009, 07:18:48 AM »

The music world suffered a terrible tragic unbelievable loss.

The murder of John Lennon.

I've only got this to say to Mark David Chapman: F*ck you, you miserable p.o.s. b@st@rd.