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General Board / Nashville

« on: June 20, 2017, 12:49:38 AM »

Hey, I'll be in Nashville in about a week's time.  Anything special worth checking out from a Ben Folds fan perspective?  I know he's not at RCA Studio A anymore but I plan on taking a peek since it's nearby some other attractions I'm going to.

2

Tour Board / Thoughts on AMAA/VIP/Soundcheck stuff

« on: June 12, 2017, 10:57:57 PM »

I've read through a scattering of older posts I can find that mention the VIP/MasterClass experience. Seems like hit or miss in terms of whether people thought it was worth it, though a large part of those feelings seem tied to the exorbitant cost. Scrolling through the pre-sale site, they don't even list prices and it's like "if you have to ask, it's probably out of your price range".  I've seen Ben several times now: right up at the stage, way at the back, with and with the Five, with and without symphonies. I met him once with a bunch of other Burbanites in that Chapel Hill pizza shop at the 2008 BF5 reunion where I got a photo, signed CD, and mumbled some nonsense at him. I feel like I've read enough articles, interviews, etc. that I've heard most of the stories and answers before to common AMA questions (and don't have much original to ask myself). The CID Entertainment aspect is somewhat off-putting, like there's no hiding that it's a straight-up business transaction.  Yet, he's coming to Vancouver for the first time since 2001 and I can virtually guarantee I'll cave and do this since I'd rather regret doing it than regret not.

Anyway, have any of you gone? Were you awed? Underwhelmed? Somewhere in between?  I doubt it'll sway me either way, but I'm genuinely curious since there's so little info out there about these.

3

Tour Board / Setlist for 2013/02/05 Ben Folds Five Roseland Theater Portland, OR

« on: April 25, 2017, 09:14:26 PM »

From the setlist I took (Robert's!): https://www.flickr.com/photos/fongolia/8457639992/in/album-72157623734097875/

Ben Folds Five
Opener: Nataly Dawn (of Pomplamoose)
Roseland Theater
Portland, OR

1.  Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
2.  Jackson Cannery
3.  Hold That Thought
4.  Selfless, Cold and Composed
5.  Erase Me
6.  Landed
7.  Sky High
8.  Missing the War
9.  Battle of Who Could Care Less
10.  Draw a Crowd
11.  Thank You for Breaking My Heart
12.  Brick
13.  Philosophy (from printed setlist)  Theme from Dr. Pyser
14.  Kate
15.  Do It Anyway
16.  Alice Childress
17.  Steven's Last Night in Town
18.  Song for the Dumped
19.  Army

Encore:
Magic (from printed setlist)
Underground
One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces

**not sure at what point, but they played a Folsom Prison Blues-style improv song and separately a Rock This Bitch for Portland jam

4

Tour Board / setlist for 2015/09/14 Ben Folds & yMusic Moore Theater Seattle, WA

« on: April 25, 2017, 09:04:46 PM »

From the setlist I took: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fongolia/27336079870/in/album-72157623734097875/

I didn't take any notes, so I can't verify how closely they followed this and it's been so long I don't remember any details either.

2015/09/14
Ben Folds & yMusic
Opener: Mindie Lind
Moore Theater
Seattle, WA

1. Beautiful Mechanical (yMusic)
2. So There
3. Long Way to Go
4. Not a Fan
5. Effington
6. I'm Not the Man
7. Phone in a Pool
8. Mess
9. Music in Circles (yMusic)
10. Yes Man
11. Erase Me
12. Jesusland
13. Capable of Anything
14. Steven's Last Night in Town
15. You Don't Know Me

Encore:
Evaporated
Not the Same
Army

5

News / Jamie Cullum covers Brick as part of new cover song project

« on: July 31, 2015, 10:31:41 PM »

One of my other favourite piano-pounding musicians Jamie Cullum just started "The Song Society" on his youtube channel, a project wherein he and his bandmates learn and perform some of their favourite songs within a 1 hour time limit.  The first entry is Brick, which apparently inspired him as an aspiring piano player and songwriter as a teen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcRjGHOVRA

As a cover, I find it a little too faithful, though I always love to hear Jamie's voice on covers regardless.  More fun I think is his jamming on Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk in the second episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0pewX67mE

Enjoy!

6

Tour Board / Seattle, WA Showbox 02/04/2013

« on: February 04, 2013, 11:31:52 PM »

Amazing show! Closest, most intimate Ben Folds/Five show I've been lucky enough to attend.  Seeing them again tomorrow in Portland! Woot woot!

Setlist:
Michael Praytor
Jackson Cannery
Hold That Thought
Selfless, Cold and Composed
Erase Me
Landed
Sky High
Missing the War
brief cover of Reunited (by Peaches & Herb-- had to look that one up)
Battle of Who Could Care Less
Draw a Crowd
Thank You for Breaking My Heart
Brick
Philosophy
Kate
Do It Anyway
Alice Childress
Song for the Dumped
Army

Encore:
Magic (not on printed setlist)
Underground
One Angry Dwarf

[EDIT: correction on song order]

7

News / Ben interviewed on CBC's Q

« on: October 24, 2012, 05:03:59 PM »

Ben was interviewed a few days ago on the CBC Radio program Q by host Jian Ghomeshi: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Q/ID/2293205502/

The best part is when Ben plays audio from his phone from the live show where Do It Anyway originated (around the 11:55 mark of the interview) where some dude in the crowd shouts "Do it anyway!".  I didn't know (or I forgot) that it came from a Rock this Bitch improv.  A youtube video also has the most of this performance though the start is cut off.

Another cool tidbit is he's working on a piano concerto and plans to tour that with an orchestra next year with time also scheduled for the next potential BFF album.  Along with the Neil Gaiman EP, I sure hope all these plans come into fruition!

8

News / Ben Folds Five on the World Cafe

« on: October 08, 2011, 12:35:16 AM »

Yesterday, Ben tweeted about an early Ben Folds Five feature airing on NPR's World Cafe.  If you missed it, they've thankfully uploaded it here.  They performed Underground and Alice Childress.

9

News / Ben interviewed by Stephen Merchant

« on: December 01, 2008, 11:24:58 PM »

Didn't see any other mention of this, but Ben Folds was interviewed on Sunday by Stephen Merchant (i.e. co-creator/writer of The Office/Extras) on his BBC Radio 6 show.  It can be listened to here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music (link on the right sidebar)

Haven't had a chance to listen to it, but I was told it's just an interview with no live performance.

EDIT: by the way, fast forward to about the 42 minute mark for the start of the interview

10

Tour Board / My reunion summary + BF5 and the BFF Brass Quintet on KCRW

« on: September 28, 2008, 01:14:25 PM »

Hey, I posted my review/sum-up of my trip to see the Ben Folds Five reunion on my blog:
http://fongsongs.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-met-ben-folds-in-pizza-parlor.html

**EDIT: before the trip, I also posted some BF5 covers:
http://fongsongs.blogspot.com/2008/09/going-to-chapel-hill.html

As part of the post I uploaded Ben Folds Five's 1997 appearance on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic.  Quality is not perfect with some weird digital glitches (ripped from a KCRW archive stream), but this was the first time I'd heard these versions of the WAEA era songs since they were accompanied by the BFF Brass Quintet (i.e. a string quartet  ).  Here's the tracklist:

Ben Folds Five & The BFF Brass Quintet
Morning Becomes Eclectic 07/17/1997

01 One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces (with string intro)
02 interview
03 Fair
04 interview
05 Smoke
06 interview
07 Kate
08 interview
09 Theme From Dr. Pyser
10 interview
11 Misirlou/Philosophy
12 Outro

Weird thing I learned from the interviews: it's pronounced Dr. "Pee-zer" and not "Pie-zer" as I had always assumed.

11

Tour Board / Re: Chapel Hill Accommodations

« on: September 12, 2008, 05:45:49 PM »

Hey to out-of-towners flying/driving to Chapel Hill...  Any consensus on best bets for accommodations??  This is so last-minute, my head's spinning.  My first picks in the heart of Chapel Hill are booked up and I'm leaning towards the Red Roof Inn or the Holiday Inn Express.  Red Roof is about $150 cheaper and both are near the freeway.  Any recommendations?

12

Musical discovery / Danny Michel

« on: April 30, 2007, 08:39:25 AM »

This is the first time I've noticed this Musical Discovery thread...  so I'd just like to draw your attention to a Canadian artist I've been digging for a few years now.

I first heard of Danny Michel[/u] from a cover album he did called Loving the Alien, in which he performed all David Bowie songs.  After listening to his version of Young Americans non-stop, I was compelled to track down more of his stuff since it was obvious he was a major talent.  His original material is fantastic as well and he's just about to release a 10-year retrospective CD/DVD combo.  He mainly just tours Canada, including one coming up, but he also did a bit of the UK early last year.

Check out http://dannymichel.com/ for a bunch of samples.

13

Album Board / iTunes originals, please? (semi-obscure Ben-related tracks for download too!)

« on: October 04, 2006, 10:52:27 PM »

I don't know if it's kosher to request mp3s here, but alas I'm from Canada and thus cannot buy the Ben Folds exclusive iTunes tracks even if I wanted to (which I do).  iTunes spites me so, because I'm also deprived of the Living End iTunes exclusive which is only for Aussies!  I saw someone had kindly uploaded Ben's iTunes tracks as recent as a few weeks ago, though I missed it and the link is now dead.  I'd really appreciate it if someone would re-upload Ben's iTunes tracks.  I can't even pre-order Ben's new EP from Canada since AttackedByPlastic inexplicably moved to a US-only policy despite being able to order from them in the past and clearly posted instructions on international shipping... (I wrote them to complain and they said "No dice, sucker").

As a sign of good faith, I thought I'd upload a few semi-obscure Ben Folds-related tracks for yous people to enjoy.

Butterfly Boucher - I'm Different
http://www.savefile.com/files/132399
I'm not sure how many people know about this track from the children's album For the Kids Too.  Imagine my surprise when I read the liner notes and saw additional vocals by Louis & Gracie Folds, Ben's twins.

Rickie Lee Jones - Up a Lazy River
http://www.savefile.com/files/132412
Ben sings background vocals on this Hoagy Carmichael cover (for the ultimate version of this check out Bobby Darin's!).

Rickie Lee Jones - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
http://www.savefile.com/files/132415
Ben plays piano on this one, a Traffic cover.

Ben Lee - Brick (live)
http://www.savefile.com/files/132436
One of the Bens covering another.  I nicked this from the Live Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/audio

Darren Jessee - The Magic that Holds the Sky Up From the Ground
http://www.savefile.com/files/132419
An acoustic guitar version by Darren, the song's writer (BFF's Magic on the Messner album).

If anyone can help out with the iTunes originals or any other obscure Ben Folds tracks, I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks! 

...And check out my seldom-read, infrequently updated mp3 covers blog
http://fongsongs.blogspot.com