Ben Folds: Band, Orchestra, A Cappella Group or Solo?

Sometime in the fall of 1995 I showed up at MSU’s college radio station with a copy of the Ben Folds Five’s self-titled debut in tow. A friend of mine, who was a mass communication major at the time, had recently secured his own radio show and extended an open invite to me to stop by at any time. To a music lover, famous for forcibly pushing his tastes onto others, this was a great opportunity for me.
My hopes of impressing my friend (and the three people on campus listening to the show) were quickly dashed, though, as he passed it off as some sort of “punk-rock Bee Gees.” Admittedly, it is a quirky song and those definitely do pepper Folds’ records, but it’s terribly catchy and the insult stung. I guess I should have just been happy he let me come back after an incident earlier, when I’d talked him into playing a track off a Pride and Glory disc and he shut it off mid-song.
The love of everything Ben Folds started for me the week before when I was home, sick from work and saw the video for the album’s first single, “Underground,” on the much-missed MTV program “120 Minutes.” To me, this was the best pop song I had heard since the last Jellyfish album and I immediately ran out and purchased the disc. This happened a lot with me, MTV and sick days. I am glad they don’t play videos anymore.
What initially made the band interesting was the fact that the “Five” were actually three and there wasn’t a guitar player. What most people missed, though, was the expert songcraft involved. An excellent pianist, songwriter and arranger, Ben has always been an artist that seems to have been born two decades too late.
 
Coming from the same bloodline as musicians like Billy Joel, Louden Wainwright, and Todd Rundgren, it wasn’t hard to believe that the restraints of a band would soon wear. After two more albums with Ben Folds Five, he dropped the other members and went solo. Playing all the instruments himself (including guitar), he released his first solo disc, “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” in 2001. He followed it up with “Songs for Silverman” in 2005 and “Way to Normal” in 2008. 
His most recent projects include “Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella,” a collection of his songs recorded by college a cappela groups, as well as a series of songs co-written with author Nick Hornby, including the internet hit “Levi Johnston’s Blues.” And, yes, it’s about that Levi Johnston. Why they wrote a song about the biggest media whore since his baby’s grandma is hard to say, but it has been thrown into recent set lists.
 
With Ben playing shows with bands, orchestras, a cappela groups and solo, it’s hard to say who and what will show up on Friday, but it will be great whatever it is. Australian singer-songwriter Karen Miller-Heidke will open the show and will most likely play the part of Regina Spektor on “You Don’t Know Me” as she has during previous shows.

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INFO:
 
Who: Ben Folds
Where: The Venue
When: Fri, Oct 23, 6:30 p.m.
How much: $30, all ages.