At the NBC Television Network’s Upfront (a presentation on fall programming for the affiliates) today, the network announced that its popular a cappella competition show The Sing-Off, which features Ben Folds on the panel of judges, will expand for its third season. (more…)
“The Sing-Off” to expand, add another judge
Folds covers Kesha song, for charity
Ordinarily, Ben covering another artist’s song, even in his inimitably parodistic style (e.g. B****es ain’t $#!+), doesn’t make news, but for some reason the entertainment press has picked up on his latest celebrity knockoff. This time, it’s the work of Kesha Rose Sebert, mononomically known as KE$HA, if you can call it “work”. (more…)
“8 in 8” album available for download
Now available for download 
is Nighty Night, the eight-track album recorded in a bit over eight hours on Monday, April 25 by Ben Folds, along with fellow musicians Damian Kulash and Amanda Palmer, and Amanda’s husband, writer and now lyricist Neil Gaiman. While webcasting the confab and taking suggestions from fans on Twitter, the quartet plunked away and produced tracks titled Nikola Tesla, One Tiny Thing, and Twelve Line Song. Proceeds from the sale of the album benefit the Berklee Music Network, which helps pay for music education for underprivileged youth in the Boston area. Update: Spin article on the session.
“8 in 8” project gets underway today
As we told you earlier, Ben’s in Boston, getting ready (at 4:00 PM EDT; 2000 UTC) to team up with Amanda Palmer and Damian Kulash to write the songs to Neil Gaiman’s lyrics in their project to write and record eight songs in eight hours as part of the Rethink Music conference. Â The whole thing is being webcast live. The team is seeking suggestions for song titles as well as a band name and will be watching the hashtag #8in8 on Twitter (see our right sidebar for a running feed during and after the event). It’ll be released Tuesday morning and available for purchase.
“Rhymes with Nothing” latest from Ryan
Ben’s touring bassist Ryan Lerman has posted his latest song, Rhymes with Nothing, to YouTube. As with his earlier songs, he’s multi-tracked it, playing drums, electric bass and Fender keyboard, and the video is presented in the VideoSong multi-frame visual style. Ryan tweets that he’ll have a full album out in about six months.
Update: Ryan posted another song, After the Fact, today on YouTube. (25 April 2011)
