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Benefit

Folds livestream to help musicians’ mental health effort

Ben Folds will contribute a streaming set to Set Break, a livestream fundraiser by the Backline project to support its mental health and wellness access efforts for musicians, particularly those affected by the pandemic.

The event takes place Saturday, April 10 on The Relix Channel, which streams on TwitchTV, and features sixteen musical acts along with immersive wellness experiences and public service announcements from music industry professionals. (more…)

Benefit for Tennessee U. S. Senate candidate

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.).

A mixtape from Ben

benleemixtape_200It’s a recent project by Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee, not Ben Folds, though it does feature a track on which Lee is joined by Folds on Life As Unusual. The album features several other artists who sit in with Lee, including Zooey Deschanel, Sean Lennon and Neil Finn, and is a benefit for the Q’ero Project, which supports the Q’ero people of Peru, the last living vestige of the Inca people.

It’s available as a digital download on a pay-what-you-wish basis.

Of the project, Lee said:

After almost 23 years in the music business I never presume to know what is around the next corner, and I certainly didn’t see signing to Warner Bros. Records coming. The release of the mixtape project is a great milestone for me, as it has been in the works for over a decade. I’m looking forward to sharing the music with my loyal fans, as well as supporting one of my favorite charities, Inkarri, for their wonderful Q’ero Project.

Lee will release a full-length album, Love Is The Great Rebellion, later this year. And as you will recall, Folds, Lee and another Ben – Kweller – collaborated on a tour of Australia and subsequent album in 2003.

If trees could sing

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Image by Pollinator / Creative Commons 3.0 ShareAlike

In recognition of the many species of trees in Nashville’s Centennial Park and the role they play in our everyday lives, the Nature Conservancy has sponsored a series of short videos featuring some of the country’s top musical performers talking about their favorite tree. Ben Folds is fond of the sweetgum, a tree native to North Carolina, and he recorded a tribute to the species with many interesting factoids about it.

“Native Americans used sweetgum sap to treat their wounds, and when it hardened, they used it for chewing gum,” Folds said of the tree that can grow to over a hundred feet tall and which turns brilliant shades of red and yellow in the fall.

“Who doesn’t have a favorite tree?” (more…)

PopUp Brooklyn

popup-dinner-image-smBen Folds has been announced as the headliner for this summer’s PopUp Brooklyn do-it-yourself picnic dinner and fundraising event for the Prospect Park Alliance, a community effort to preserve and improve the storied greenspace in the heart of Brooklyn, New York. Advance pre-sale tickets for the June 28 event sold out in April but others can ask to be placed on the guest list and purchase tickets ($35 per person).

The concept behind the pop-up dinners is simple. At a predetermined time (5 pm) and at a secret location (announced to ticket holders two hours prior), revelers dressed in white gather to set up tables, enjoy dinner and wine they bring themselves, then music and revelry. After the event, everyone pitches in to clean up and remove their trash, leaving no trace of where they were in the park. (more…)