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“Sara spelled without an ‘h’ was getting bored
On a Peavey amp in 1984
While Zak without a ‘c’ tried out some new guitars
Playing Sara-with-no-h’s favourite song…”

-Ben Folds - “Zak & Sara”

Ben Folds is one of the most entertaining live performers I’ve ever had the good fortune of seeing. He owns both his piano and the crowd, channeling Jerry Lee Lewis and Elton John in the same set. He can get a hipster/poseur crowd singing in rounds under his direction, not an easy task considering applause is sometimes too much of an effort. I’ve seen him a few times - at the University of Missouri with the defunct Ben Folds’ Five and solo in London and in Kansas City.

That latter show was the most memorable - it was some time in June of 2002 (I think). We got cheap promotional tickets from a radio station and headed to KC with our friends Alex and Nichole to see Folds’ at an outdoor show at the Kansas City River Market, which sounded nice and rustic. I’m sure that there is more to it than what I experienced but as far as I could tell on the day it was essentially a very large parking lot - with a stage. Now I don’t mind standing at a show, but for those of you unfamiliar with Missouri summers, June is a hellishly hot and humid time in the Midwest (like mid 90’s F and 60% plus humidity). Even at dusk, as the show was starting, that baked pavement held in enough heat to cook a stir fry. Because it was in a parking lot there was no incline from the stage, so your view of the stage was entirely dependent on your genetic good fortune. Now, Alex is a tall fellow, Sinead and I hold our own on the height curb, but Nichole - well, I think vertically challenged is the politically correct term.

But Nichole is not short on resourcefulness. A few songs into the show, she and Sinead disappeared, leaving Alex and I to gently simmer on our tiptoes in the parking lot. Turns out they had wangled their way into the V.I.P area - shaded, with nice seats, a great view of the stage and free drinks. All Alex and I knew on the day, was that they had vanished leaving us to sweat and pay extortionate prices for liquid refreshments. Here’s Nichole’s (likely censored) account of what happened. But I’ve spent a lot of time in the nooks and crannies of rock shows, I know what goes on in the “V.I.P. areas” - hedonism! Dancing children indeed.

Alex and I, sweaty, stiff and sore found Nichole and Sinead after the show - all smiles and restful euphoria. Years later, I’m still a little bitter (and suspicious) about this, but on the day I had to give Nichole and Sinead points for initiative. And I must admit, I was kind of chuffed that my partner was, and still is, hot enough to get into the V.I.P. area. Oh, and by the way, it was a great show parking lot and all.

————-

“Good morning, son.
I am a bird…”

This is a Zach’s Music Monday post, but Zach was in a pretty poor mood this Sunday morning. It was the first time that I found it difficult to pretend that our father-son musical time was solely for Zach’s benefit. I picked Ben Folds’ first solo album, “Rockin’ the Suburbs” largely because it’s full of good sing-a-long songs - including one that kept me from vetoing Zach’s name as an option. Folds, along with being an excellent multi-instrumentalist, is one of the best narrative songwriters around. Each of his tracks tend to be self-contained stories, so that a Ben Folds (or Ben Folds Five) album is a musical short story collection. There is something more coherent musically about his solo work, the elimination of the band dynamic seems to allow him more control over the finished product and for this album it works wonderfully.

“Rockin’ the Suburbs” is full of evocative musical tales of lovers - from the stood up “Annie Waits” to the star-crossed in “Zak & Sara” - and losers - the burnt-out hippy in “The Ascent of Stan” and the middle-class white guy in the title track. But it was the strange little third track on this record that got under my skin on Sunday morning. Zach was a bit grumpy to have a favorite track, so this one is Zach’s Dad’s choice.

“Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We’re still fighting it, we’re still fighting it
And you’re so much like me
I’m sorry…”

Since becoming a father I’ve become a sucker for a whole new class of music - the bittersweet parent-child song. Song’s like Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle” or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Teach Your Children”, which I would formerly have ignored or derided can move me to tears. And on this early Sunday morning, an emotionally fragile time anyway, I had a little Hillary Clinton moment of my own listening to a song that Folds’ wrote for his son…

“And I can tell you ’bout today
And how I picked you up and everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you’d feel the same things…”

Who knew that fatherhood would make me into such a sentimentalist? The video, featuring Folds’ son Louis, is even more tearjerking:

Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ the Suburbs” is available from your local independent record shop, and Amazon.

 

 Ben Folds - "Still Fighting It" [4:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download