The Magical Armchair Rotating Header Image

“Mister Peepers” continues Ben Folds’ foray into politics

Sep 10th, 2018
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Those who have heard Ben’s live shows recognize his occasional foray into current political affairs. Though rare, his leanings belie his red-state upbringing while at the same time are generally in line with his audience. So, following in the footsteps of his recent performance for and alongside Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate and former Governor Phil Bredesen, Ben has recorded a song taking aim at the discord between Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and Ohio Republican congressman Jim Jordan that arose during a hearing in June.

In conjunction with the Washington Post Magazine, the song, “Mister Peepers”, (more…)

Posted in: News.
Tagged:

Benefit for Tennessee U. S. Senate candidate

Aug 10th, 2018
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Ben Folds will co-headline a campaign fundraising event for Tennessee Democratic U. S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen on August 20. Sharing the stage at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works will be singer-songwriter Jason Isbell.

The evening event, being called Our Country, Our Future, includes Delta Rae in support of the former two-term Tennessee governor making his bid for the U. S. Senate in the fall election. Bredesen and his challenger, Republican U. S. Representative Marsha Blackburn, recently won their parties’ primary elections. While no Democrat has been elected to the Senate from Tennessee since Al Gore in 1990, Bredesen, who considers himself a moderate, holds a slight lead in polling against Blackburn in the race. They’re vying to fill the seat currently held by Republican Bob Corker, who announced his retirement from the Senate last year.

Folds, no stranger to politics, endorsed U. S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination ahead of the Michigan primary in 2016. Sanders won Michigan but fell short nationally to Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Posted in: News.
Tagged: · ·

Ben Folds added to Music City Walk of Fame

Jul 24th, 2018
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame – home to stars like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams – gets a new resident in August as Ben Folds is one of four music industry luminaries to receive a star on the famed walk.

Folds has been honored not just for his musical accomplishments but for his support for the music business in his adopted home town. (more…)

Posted in: News.
Tagged:

Summer evenings with Ben Folds

Apr 4th, 2018
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

Ben’s summer schedule this year unites him with alt-rockers Cake on a month-long tour of east coast and midwest festival venues. The An Evening with Cake and Ben Folds mini-tour will play shows in Boston, Philadelphia, Queens, the Jersey Shore, Columbia, Md., Richmond, Nashville, Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee.

The two are a compatible match, according to Ben: “Cake – my rough contemporaries, comrades and heroes – to me, they make universal, poetic, identifiable music with a groove. I’ve learned a lot from these guys and I’m proud as punch to be on tour with them this summer.” He’s also thrilled to have Boston-based electro-funk duo Tall Heights on the bill as openers, and encourages fans to get there early.

He’ll also do a show with the Grand Rapids Symphony and a solo evening at the Bay View Festival in Petoskey, Michigan. Info is available on our Tour Dates page.

Posted in: News.
Tagged:

Majosha, then and now

Apr 21st, 2017
by Frank.
Comments are off for this post

If the names Eddie Walker, Evan Olson, Snüzz Uzzell and Millard Powers aren’t as familiar as those of Darren Jessee or Sam Smith, you’ll want to take a look back in the musical history of Ben Folds to his early days bouncing around the North Carolina music scene.

A feature article, A Ben Folds Lovefest, in the Greensboro, N.C. weekly Triad City Beat this week has a great overview of how Ben got into the music business, the friends he involved and met along the way, and some of the crazy gigs they played.

Reading Brian Clarey’s feature helps to explain the origin of many of Folds’ iconic songs like Army, where Ben drops out of school and forms a band which he subsequently gets kicked out of. It goes into Ben’s multi-instrumental abilities, with onetime bandmate Evan Olson describing how quickly Ben could learn a new instrument. And Olson’s not surprised at how many times Folds’ musical career has evolved, having realized at the time that Majosha was an “ephemeral project” but that it was time to move on.

The article concludes with a wrapup on what Ben’s original bandmates are currently up to.

There’s more about Ben Folds Five and the early days in our original Ben Folds Five website, still available using the link in the column to the right.

Posted in: Ben's Friends and Relations, Check your papers and the TV.
Tagged: · · · ·

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →