Ben Folds Five

So I've been thinking all day what my first "real" post was going to be about. The election? Nah, nothing really noteworthy has happened since the last debate other than the discovery that there are pockets of America that are apparently un-American. Sports? No, the Cowboys are seemingly spiraling downward out of control and I don't care about baseball.

Then I opened up my email and saw I had an email from Ben Folds. He told me that his reunion concert with the Ben Folds Five was online at MySpace now. And so here is my first "real" post.

I remembered reading about them reuniting and playing song for song The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner a while ago. I've seen Folds live 4 times (Kansas City, Cedar Falls, Des Moines (opening for John Mayer), and Iowa City) and he is by far top 2 or 3 live acts I've ever seen in person. Nothing can beat Springsteen live though...

I play piano in my spare time. I took lessons from the age of 7 to 14. So because of my affiliation with the piano, I have always been drawn to piano players. Specifically in the genre of rock and roll because I love rock and roll. So that basically means I'm a fan of Billy Joel, Elton John, Ben Folds, and any band that incorporates keyboards (like the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with The Professor, Roy Bittan). I do play keyboards in a band with a couple friends of mine, but we're not real serious about it. It always seems that life gets in the way of band practice.

So anyway, I went to MySpace and listened to their performance. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Ben Folds ROCKS my face off. He is an AMAZING performer. And whether it is Ben Folds Five or just Ben Folds with his solo band, I am amazed on how they make a piano, bass guitar, and drums sound so "full." They sound like a normal five-piece rock and roll band.

But the album The Autobiography of Reinhold Messner is an amazing album. They show interviews of some different artists like the members of Death Cab For Cutie (who also ROCK by the way). I always seem to overlook it when I'm talking about Folds. But between Narcolepsy, Don't Change Your Plans, Lullabye, and Army....the album is just straight up amazing.

If you like rock and roll, if you like Billy Joel or Elton John, or if you just appreciate good music and haven't heard of Ben Folds before...please, PLEASE check out the Ben Folds Five reunion concert:

Ben Folds Five - MySpace Front To Back concert