The Magical Armchair Rotating Header Image

Wait, wait – it’s Ben Folds Five!

Oct 3rd, 2012
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

This weekend, Ben Folds Five becomes part of one of public radio’s most popular shows as Ben joins Peter Sagal, fellow North Carolinian Carl Kasell and the panel on Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me.

Wait Wait is a weekly light-hearted news quiz program in which a panel of columnists, satirists and commentators discuss the week’s serious and strange events in a nutty way that will have you laughing. It’s recorded each week in front of a live audience, usually at the Chase Auditorium in Chicago, though they go on tour a couple times a year. Listeners call in (1-888-WAIT-WAIT) to play games like the Listener Limerick Challenge, where they have to complete a series of limericks about the news, or Bluff the Listener, where the caller has to figure out which of three offbeat news stories is the real one.

The most popular segment, though, is called Not My Job, where a celebrity guest (more…)

Posted in: Check your papers and the TV.
Tagged:

Number Ten (with a bullet)

Sep 26th, 2012
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

The long-awaited return of Ben Folds Five in recorded form, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, made a successful launch this week, scoring a number-10 placement on the Billboard 200 chart, listing the top-selling albums of the week in physical and virtual units. TSOLOTM moved roughly 30,000 units, and the tenth-place ranking was the highest for any Ben Folds with-or-without Five album ever, even during the Brick days. Looks like all the advance buzz from the “Dam VPs” paid off!

Posted in: News.
Tagged:

Help Ben pick the tunes on BBC’s “Now Playing”

Sep 20th, 2012
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Ben will be the guest on Tom Robinson’s Now Playing show on BBC Radio 6 Music Sunday, September 23, a popular British radio programme in which guest artists help choose the songs to be played during the two-hour 6-8pm block. (That translates to 1pm in the US Eastern time zone.) As Ben sits in, he’ll be watching the hashtag #BenFolds56Music on Twitter for fan suggestions. No worries – if you’re not in the UK you can listen online.

Posted in: Announcements.
Tagged:

Ben Fraggles Five?

Sep 17th, 2012
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Chris Hardwick, also known as The Nerdist, has put together a special video version of Do It Anyway from the upcoming album The Sound of the Life of the Mind, featuring The Fraggles, from Jim Henson’s 1980s-era childrens’ show Fraggle Rock. The video, with Chris as the hapless audio engineer, also features Rob Corddry and Anna Kendrick as well as a Fraggle cast of thousands (well, not quite thousands). Fraggles are seen down in their cave as the ceiling starts to crumble from the pounding on the floor above, only to find it’s Robert’s jumping around and Darren’s drumming that’s causing the collapse. Saved by a stray mic cord that falls down the hole in the floor, the Fraggles emerge from underground and join the band, popping up from behind the drums and joining Ben at the keys. For anyone who grew up on Henson’s lovably silly creatures, this is a nostalgic look with a wickedly contemporary twist. And one wonders, with the band back together, whether a Fraggles version of Underground is in the works?

You’ll recall that we debuted Do It Anyway as a free download here on the Armchair back in May.

Posted in: Ben's Friends and Relations, Interesting or weird stuff.
Tagged:

Track three: “Sky High” (and subsequent previews)

Sep 8th, 2012
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Editor’s note: As each individual track from The Sound of the Life of the Mind is released, we’ll update this post with the latest links instead of creating a new post for each song.

The third track, Sky High, is out and available for preview at AOL Spinner. The mellow ballad written by Darren Jessee is nicely mixed and produced with the piano dominant in the foreground. Robert’s raucuos bass lines take a gentler turn in this apologetic story, the latest to become available from The Sound of the Life of the Mind, due out September 18.

Update: The title track, The Sound of the Life of the Mind,  is available from Fuse. (10 September)

Update: On Being Frank is available from Idolator. It’s not about me; it’s another Frank he’s singing about. (11 September)

Update:  Draw a Crowd is now available via Rolling Stone. (12 September)

Update: Hold That Thought is now available via Paste Magazine. (13 September)

Update: Away When You Were Here is now available via Yahoo Music. (14 September)

Update: Thank You For Breaking My Heart is now available via MSN Music. (17 September)

 

Posted in: Announcements.
Tagged:

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →