June 25, 2005
THE BEST DAY AFTER MY BIRTHDAY EVER
God bless Ben for being so freakin' talentedMy friend calls me up on Wednesday and tells me that the record industry is having a big deal in Cleveland this year. They usually have it in LA or NY but they decided to have it in Cleveland this year. Cleveland has become the big to-do for the music industry lately. I don't know why and I don't care - as long as they keep bringin' it.canon 1120 driver win2000
Anyways, he tells me that he got invited to a Ben Folds concert and was wondering if I wanted to come. I said sure and then he tells me that only 30 people got invited and its a special private performance. I about crapped my pants when he told me I could come as his guest. In fact, if I hadn't already crapped my pants before he called, I would've.canon 1120 driver win2000
This blog entry is all about this night and what a glorious night it was.canon 1120 driver win2000
Let me start by apologizing for the quality of the pictures. The room we were in was crappy for my digital camera and I basically had to take all of my pictures in the dark. So, that's why they are blurry and cut weird.canon 1120 driver win2000
The night started when I decided that I would go downtown early and meet up with my friend John Connor (from Q104) who was working his radio gig at Shooters. I parked near his house and had to find my way down into the flats to the west bank which I didn't realize was a hefty walk. This is the first picture I took just kind of testing the camera out and shooting into nothing. I don't use this camera much and I've just since decided that I'm going to, so I'm still getting the hang of it.canon 1120 driver win2000
Here is a picture I took while waiting for the bridge to connect. A big barge was rolling through (complete with a tugboat, which, ironically, was pushing) and I looked down and noticed that someone had made a stamp and stamped the side of the bridge. I like graffiti and I like Spy Vs. Spy so 'tis a perfect photo opp.canon 1120 driver win2000
When I crossed the bridge I noticed, high up, that someone had a stop light in their window. I thought I could make a funny joke about Cleveland's streets being so crazy that they go everywhere (and I mean everywhere) but that's not a funny joke.canon 1120 driver win2000
I finally make it to Shooters and here is what I see. This guy (John) gets all the girls, especially the golden ones:canon 1120 driver win2000
His show ends at Shooters and we make our way back to his apartment. We listen to Sufjan Stevens on the way back and it's beautiful. We get there and our friend Emily is calling and is trying to find his place. Here are two pictures (out of this timeline) of John and Emily:canon 1120 driver win2000
After Emily gets here and we park our cars into John's lot, we make our way over to the Ritz Carlton hotel where Ben is playing. We walked there since he lives downtown and it's pretty close to his apartment. On the way there we are talking about how exciting this is and how we hope we can still be normal Ben fans even though this is an industry show. We were talking about using the flash in our cameras and how we hope we are able too. I didn't think so - I was expecting a suit and tie affair - everyone else didn't have a definite opinion. This part of the story is actually quite boring and I think my description does it justice.canon 1120 driver win2000
We got to the front entrance and I'm expecting a bit more than was there - nothing but a doorman (who was very nice, as was the rest of the staff - almost weird-nice). We looked around for some sort of info on where to go and we talked to the front desk. This party was very secret, I guess, and so I assumed we would need passes, guest lists, golden beards, etc. - something to let them know we were "in." Instead, all we needed was the knowledge that the show was going on. We told the lady we were here to see Ben Folds and she told us to go up to the 6th floor and it was to the left. Easy enough.canon 1120 driver win2000
We get to the 6th floor (oddly enough, there was only a 1st floor and a 6th floor) in a flash and out into the lobby where we are told to go into this middle-sized room. The room was very cozy and there were elegant chairs and sofas splashed around the room. There wasn't really anyone there yet so we went right to the front chairs, next to the piano. The piano was about 5 feet from us - you can't tell in the picture, but it was SO close. I was starting to get very excited.canon 1120 driver win2000
We were talking about our cameras again so I started taking pictures to see what it would look like without the flash and with the flash. As you will see, it was VERY hard to get any good pictures. Even with the flash, it was still hard to frame the pictures since my viewing screen was almost black.canon 1120 driver win2000
The pictures were okay - I got a few more of the piano:canon 1120 driver win2000
I even got a blurry one of the equipment for no reason at all.canon 1120 driver win2000
I decided that I would take a couple of pictures so that you can get an idea of the room. I took some of the chandelier(sp?) and of the view from the window. I didn't want to mess with anything so I put the camera up close to the closed drapes to see what kind of picture I could get of the Cleveland skyline. You can't really tell what it is, but I think it looks cool and I just explained what it is so don't complain.canon 1120 driver win2000
Here's what the night's all about - radio people. These people all have something to do with radio, or they know someone who does.canon 1120 driver win2000
According to John, these are the bigwigs from Epic. A bit blurry but maybe I did it to disguise their identities. You'll never know (unless you read the beginning of this and find out why they are blurry).canon 1120 driver win2000
AND THEN - the man shows up. I was really disappointed because I couldn't get any good shots of him coming in. Just a few blurry ones here - if you'll kindly squint-and-notice in the second picture, Frally (Ben's wife) is standing next to him. Also, in the first one, he has his arm around her.canon 1120 driver win2000
Finally - what you've all been waiting for - a setlist, followed by the pictures that accompany that same list.canon 1120 driver win2000
1. He sits down at the piano and just starts playing Zak and Sara. It was great. My friends did the clapping part and I was a bit embarrassed because I still hadn't felt out the vibe. Ben chuckled when they did it and I think I started to realize that it didn't matter what the night was like - we were there to see Ben and it was going to be fun and loose.canon 1120 driver win2000
2. Ben starts laughing about how he hasn't done a gig like this in a while and that the room reminds him of his first give ever when he was 12. He had written 15 songs and he was playing a chicken dinner. During his set, the older ladies kept asking him to keep it down a bit. He was annoyed by it because he was only 12 and had written all these songs and no one was giving him credit. Towards the end, they asked him to play Happy Birthday and he left.canon 1120 driver win2000
3. This next part really let me know the vibe of the night. Ben said that he would take any requests that we had. We all started yelling out stuff. I yelled out Rocky and he said that he didn't know that one. I also yelled out Lydian Song but it was overshadowed by shouts of Emaline (from my friend), Brick (from idiots), One Angry Dwarf, etc. He said that he would play them all (implying that he would play them all at once - a funny joke, if you're there so I shouldn't even have told you about it). Also, someone yelled out Happy Birthday and he played the first line of it.canon 1120 driver win2000
4. He decides to play All U Can Eat and he explained the origin. He asked if anyone knew who The Divine Comedy was and I raised my hand. I was hoping that he would start talking to me about The Divine Comedy and how great they are and that we would make a deep connection and be best buds forever. He just nodded instead. The song is dedicated to Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) and it's about Neil's beef with America. He likes America but this song is about the parts of America that Neil doesn't like.canon 1120 driver win2000
5. John requested Emaline and Ben honored that request. My friend said that he actually teared up a bit (his cat is named Emaline - and apparently he has something with his cat).canon 1120 driver win2000
6. Ben says that someone requested Bitches Ain't Shit. He explains that he wrote the song with Dr. Dre but that Dre doesn't know it. He says that Dre wrote words so if you don't like the words you can't blame Ben. It was amazing - we all chanted, ("and all the children say") "Bitches can't hang with the streets." It was beautiful.canon 1120 driver win2000
7. Then he played Brick.canon 1120 driver win2000
8. Philosophy was up next complete with the Pyser ending.canon 1120 driver win2000
9. Landed. Someone to the left of me clapped for this song. He must not have heard it performed 15,000 times on every show like I have.canon 1120 driver win2000
10. He started asking what our requests were again and I yelled out Tom and Mary this time. I could hear some other people yelling some of the other same stuff like Dwarf but I did hear someone yell Common People. Anyways, he heard my Tom and Mary very clearly and chuckled saying, "I don't even remember that song! Shit, I wrote that when I was 18! Thanks for - that's - wow. I know the first few chords. I'll play those." He played the opening chords (which were so awesome) and sang the lyrics, "For the benefit of Tom and Mary," and then said that was all he knew. We all laughed, but secretly I cried a tear.canon 1120 driver win2000
11. He ended up playing The Ascent of Stan (which, while good, can not be satisfying without the techno and banjo, in my opinion) saying that he would play that first, Dwarf next and then a song that proves that record industry folks can keep a tune.canon 1120 driver win2000
12. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces - he explained that a lot of people think that this song was written from his perspective but they are wrong. It was written about all the ass he kicked in high school.canon 1120 driver win2000
13. He ended (and forgot to play Army or Not the Same) by saying, "Thanks y'all. Feel free to come up and play duets on the piano. I'm going to go get a beer."canon 1120 driver win2000
Here are the pictures I could manage to get while trying not to be annoying, trying not use the flash (although I only did that once or twice - most everyone else was using flash, why not me?), trying to get more than one perspective from the same seat and trying to see in pitch black to frame him in the picture.canon 1120 driver win2000
He left the room and we were kind of bummed because we didn't know where he was going to get a beer. It looked like they were ushering him out of the room. Well, my friend wasn't having it. She went through the door to find him and we followed. Turns out the beer was right by the door and everyone pretty much lined up to talk to him. I felt kind of bad because he's trying to relax with a beer and here we are trying to talk to him but he was so nice. The whole time we are trying to talk to him though there was a guy that kept introducing him to industry people and it was very formal - it was almost kind of gross. Like - here is so and so, they don't care about you, but they think you are cool and it will make them cool if they say hi to you. Also, they hope to make money off of you. But, I am stereotyping and being a snob. It seemed like there were a lot of fans in there that truly liked Ben. My friend told him that she would be playing The Luckiest at her wedding (which, by now, is so overdone - especially by all of my freakin' friends that stole the idea from me back in 2001 - damn all my early marrying friends!). He said that was sweet and then signed her iPod with a little piano drawing. I told him that the show was great and that I wanted to thank him for introducing me to The Divine Comedy (hoping that this would be our deep connection that we didn't get to have during the show) with the Songs of Love cover. We talked for a couple of secs about how great Neil Hannon's voice is and about how he had just seen him in Dublin. He also told me that the end credits of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was done by Neil and I told him it's another reason for me to go and see it. We got some pictures taken and off we were. There are two of each with us because both times Ben blinked in the first take.canon 1120 driver win2000
I mentioned that I felt kind of bad trying to talk to Ben right away after the show, you know, bugging him and all. I felt okay about it after talking with him but my feeling changed again when leaving because behind all of these people pushing in to talk to Ben was Frally looking kind of lonely and almost like a little girl being pushed away by people crowding around her famous dad. I felt a bit sad for her but also realized that this isn't anything new for her, I'm sure.canon 1120 driver win2000
And thus, the night had come to an end. We walked back to his apartment and called some people about our experience. It was a great night and God bless John Connor for letting me straggle* along and God bless Ben for being so freakin' talented.canon 1120 driver win2000
*huh?canon 1120 driver win2000
Posted by Nathan Smart at June 25, 2005 2:04 AMcanon 1120 driver win2000
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.nathansmart.com/mt32/mt-tb.cgi/157canon 1120 driver win2000
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)canon 1120 driver win2000 (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
BACK TO HOME | MUSICcanon 1120 driver win2000
