Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #64 - April 9, 1996
Ben Folds Five Digest, Issue #64
Topics for Today:
philospohy, bass players, customers
(no subject)
Re: Ben Folds Five Digest, Issue #63
BF5 Sheet Music Controversy
someone should ask one of the guys about The Customers
Re: Ben Folds Five
Re: Ben Folds Five Digest, Issue #62
BF5 in SPIN
My First BFF Sighting...
in reference to my last message
BF5 in SPIN
moxy fruvous and a little ben...
Ben Folds Five in Atlanta
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 09:28:57 -0700
From: Joe Sweetser <joes@Access.COM>
Subject: philospohy, bass players, customers
In response to various chunks of the last digest:
>
> One of my friends, who is also a fan of BF5, has an interesting theory about
> "Philosophy". Here's what he thinks....
>
> "My philosophy is that he is expressing his situation on the size of his
> penis. In my opinion, he expresses in the song that he is happy with his
> penis size and that everyone else can f*** themselves if they feel
> differently about his philosophy. I could probably give you a better brief
> on this song if I listened to it again, so I will when I get home and write
> you again tomorrow."
>
No offense intended, but I'd venture to say that it is your friend who has
the small penis and doesn't feel nearly as comfortable about it as Ben does.
Um, unless, of course, your friend is female. But somehow I doubt it.
>
> - Peace, love, and understanding,
> Flea
>
> (no, not the bassist)
I doubt the bassist would close a message the way you did. FWIW, I saw the
RHCP on April 1 in Denver and the show was amazingly short. I think BFF
played longer last month when I saw them.
And in regards to the Customers thread...I have a theory that if everybody
put as much effort into *listening* to music as the artist(s) do *creating*
the music....well, we would all like a lot more music.
later,
joe
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 09:12:42 -0800
From: Stewart <cochrans@apple.com>
>
> Date: Wed, 03 Apr 1996 16:36:48 EST
> From: REUBEN FRANK <RoobWorld@prodigy.com>
> Subject: BF5 and sheet music
>
> On the question of Ben Folds Five sheet music, Michael Bluejay wrote,
> "You know, Ben's playing style doesn't really lend itself to being
> transcribed."
>
> Huh?
>
> Any type of music can be transcribed. Even eclectic jazzy pop like
> Ben's. Any piano music "lends itself to being transcribed." Anybody
> who's taken Music Theory 101 knows this.
>
> Hey, I can't pretend I'm as talented a keyboard player as you - who
> is? - but I'm ready to give the BF5 stuff a whirl as soon as the
> folio is published. Did you stop and think that maybe the reason
> nobody's recognized your playing as Ben's music is that you're just
> not very good?
>
> roob
I see no need for a personal attack on Michael. He's correct, however,
those huge
bench-on-the-keys chord clusters aren't so easy and would be rather
pointless to chart out note-for-note. I'm just wondering why you need to
wait for a "folio" Can't you just pick it up off
the CD by ear? That's what I learned in Music Theory 101.
St
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 12:37:50 -0500 (EST)
From: "JOHN Z. MULL" <jzmull@hamlet.uncg.edu>
Subject: Re: Ben Folds Five Digest, Issue #63
>
> Any type of music can be transcribed. Even eclectic jazzy pop like
> Ben's. Any piano music "lends itself to being transcribed." Anybody
> who's taken Music Theory 101 knows this.
>
> Hey, I can't pretend I'm as talented a keyboard player as you - who
> is? - but I'm ready to give the BF5 stuff a whirl as soon as the
> folio is published. Did you stop and think that maybe the reason
> nobody's recognized your playing as Ben's music is that you're just
> not very good?
>
> roob
>
Rube, luv, calm down. I think he meant "transcribed easily," ok? He
meant it's not like three chord punk rock that anybody can pick up on.
Point two, there is not reason or excuse to personally attack anyone
else on this list. So knock it off. Let's all be friends.
zach.
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 14:35:52 -0500
From: PowerVegan@aol.com
Subject: BF5 Sheet Music Controversy
Reuben Frank wrote about my post:
>> Any type of music can be transcribed. Even eclectic jazzy pop like Ben's.
Any piano music "lends itself to being transcribed." Anybody who's taken
Music Theory 101 knows this.
>> Did you stop and think that maybe the reason nobody's recognized your
playing as Ben's music is that you're just not very good?
I'd like to keep this friendly, so I won't comment on your insults of my
music knowledge or playing ability other than in a factual way. :-)
Music Theory 101 covers traditional playing. But much of Ben's playing is
not traditional. As just one example, I suspect that on some of the rolls
and solos that he's going for an overall effect vs. trying to hit every note
precisely the same way every time -- I think he may be just trying to get
"close". As Mary wrote in the last digest: "Throughout the show, he was
stomping
on the keys (with his feet!), and playing stupidly fast, with his fingers,
his elbow, and sometimes his whole arm, getting up on the body of the piano,
though the ceiling was kinda low, and at the end of one song he jumped off
the speaker in front of me to crash into the length of the keyboard for the
final, er, chord." Have fun transcribing THAT. :-)
Even difficult parts that can be transcribed (with difficulty), would also be
very difficult to read -- I mean, playing it is hard enough, but first you've
got to tackle being able to read and interpret it (a hard enough job) before
you can even attempt the hard job of playing it. (And no, I can't play it
nearly as well as Ben does! I humbly defer!) I just think that watching Ben
play his music via a videotape would make it a lot easier to learn, since it
eliminates a cumbersome step. Sheet music is an attempt to COPY what a
musician plays, it's not the actual music -- watching somebody play it gives
you direct access to the actual music itself. Of course, I realize that we
don't have the ability to watch a tape of Ben, so sheet music would be the
next best thing (except we don't have sheet music, either). Normally I would
agree with you -- I've certainly found that sheet music was sufficient to
play any popular music besides Ben's.
As for my playing ability, I'm puzzled as to how you can judge that when
you've never heard me play. But in answer to your query, people recognize
everything ELSE I play besides Ben Folds Five, so I have to conclude that
they just don't know the songs. Actually, I don't have to conclude. When
they come up to me and ask, "What was that?" or "Did you write that?" and I
tell them it's Ben Folds Five, they say, "Who?" Even when I played a crappy
non-touch-sensitive Korg LP-10 with a cheesy vibraphone/muzak tone in a
restaurant when I was 16, people recognized the Ozzy, Rush, Led Zep, Blondie,
Fixx, Pat Benatar I played (what I was into then), even without vocal
accompaniment.
I don't know why you have it in for me, but I bear you no ill will. Ben does
not want us to hate each other. Can't we all just get along? :-)
Love, Michael Bluejay (Austin, TX)
==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 12:44:47 -0800
From: Ron Fein <ronfe@MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: someone should ask one of the guys about The Customers
Here's an idea. Since 90% of us on the list have spoken to one of the
guys before or after a show, and 90% (not all, but 90%) of us hated The
Customers, maybe someone on one of the remaining tour dates should ask
one of the guys (ideally Ben, but Darren or Robert will suffice) why
exactly they are touring with The Customers. Maybe they have some good
reason. Maybe they hate them too.
Ron
My opinions are not those of the Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft
loves customers and has never heard of Ben Folds Five.
==============================================================================
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 15:47:25 -0500
From: Hotdoglove@aol.com
Subject: Re: Ben Folds Five
Hello! I just read the 63rd issue of the digest (?) and I thought that
everyone sounded like really nice people. The first time I heard
Underground, I just started jumping up and down and going crazy. I listened
to the radio until the song came on again and I taped it. I just bought the
Ben Folds Five CD about a month ago and have been listening religiously to it
ever since. I read Mary's (i think) review of the Providence concert and it
just made me so excited, because BFF are coming to Atlanta on April 21 and I
am going to buy tickets today! I was excited before, but now I'm wondering
if I'll be able to sleep! Anyway, I just wanted to find someone else who
shares my love of BFF and I guess I found a lot of people! On March 30, Ben
Folds called me!!!!!!!! Can you believe that? I wrote them a letter, and he
called me to hear my answering machine, but I actually got to talk to him!
He put me on the guest list for the concert!!!!!!!! I honestly can't wait!
Bye!
Sara Hotdoglove@aol.com
===========================================================
My favorite quote: "Wherever you go, there you are."
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 15:59:45 -0600
From: jen sansbury <sansbury@bluemarble.net>
Subject: Re: Ben Folds Five Digest, Issue #62
On Mon, 1 Apr 1996 21:40:27 -0500 (EST), Somebody to Love
<erica67@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu> wrote:
> influence none the less... Ok. now thinking back on it, Rusted Root
> doesn't really sound like another band, but still those other bands that
> I mentioned (including stuff like Bush, Silverchair, etc) have their
> roots and sound from other bands, but still attract tons of fans and
> admirers.
perhaps you need to check out poi dog pondering. i personally think rusted
root's sound borrows a lot from what poi dog has been doing for over 10
years - with less pretense.
now back to your regularly scheduled BFF digest ...
- jen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
sansbury@bluemarble.net
http://www.bluemarble.net/~sansbury/jen.html
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Is it so wrong, wanting to be at home with your record
collection? It's not like collecting records is like collecting
stamps, or beermats, or antique thimbles. There's a whole world
in here, a nicer, dirtier, more violent, more peaceful, more
colorful, sleazier, more dangerous, more loving world than the
world I live in ..."
"High Fidelity"
- Nick Hornby
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 18:22:25 -0500
From: IamFult@aol.com
Subject: BF5 in SPIN
So anyway, I was reading my latest copy of SPIN magazine while waiting for
AOL to connect (I have a REALLY short attention span) and BAM...the first
page I turn to, there's Ben, Darren, and Robert, all decked out on page 21.
I won't relay what the interview says (It's that whole attention span thing
again), but you can buy the mag or get to spinonline at AOL.
Well, I'm late for dinner. Happy Passover.
For the record: I don't think Ben's a geek (read the article, you'll
understand).
FULT!!!
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Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 00:17:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Enrique G Ramirez <riquer@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Subject: My First BFF Sighting...
Hello All:
I had the good fortune to see Ben Folds Five at the South By Southwest
Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Definitely a double-plus-cool
moment. Imagine if you will an open air venue (actually, it was a beer
garden) with a backdrop depicting a scene from the Tyrolean Alps (or were
they the Carpathians?).
I really cannot describe the levels of pure, unadulterated joy reached by
the audience as BFF pulled off an extended version of "Uncle Walter."
The night was warm, the music was excellent, the beer was cheap.
And then a strange thought came across my mind.
Guitars are superfluous. They are overrated. Excepting bass guitars,
they should be discarded. Perhaps BFF is the new standard-bearer for a
new type of musical expression. As Copernicus shattered the Ptolemaic yoke
with a heliocentric model of the universe, so BFF broke away from the
all-too generic guitar-based rock paradigm and created some of the best
stuff I've heard in years. Bravo!
Oh jeez, now I am definitely rambling.
Adieux, mes amis.
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Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 19:43:23 -0500
From: Shan111111@aol.com
Subject: in reference to my last message
In a message dated 96-04-05 11:07:34 EST, you write:
>People have told me that they've heard Joe Jackson in BF5, Queen, Bee Gee's,
> Van Halen (??) in one of the chords, and a Kit Kat commercial (at the
> begining of "Jackson Cannery". 1,2,3,4...)
I'm sorry....I typed this too fast...I meant "Julianne"!! duh.
shan
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Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 00:48:28 -0400
From: SaintBet@aol.com
Subject: BF5 in SPIN
@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#
GREETINGS TO ALL BF5 FANS!!! I just got my new issue of Spin magazine in the
mail and was overcome with joy when I saw 3 odd looking men decked out as
ASTRONAUTS! Who are they you ask? The one and only's Ben, Darren, and
Robert! The article talks mostly about Ben and his astounding ability to jam
on the ivory, and overall a good synopsis of how the band formed and where
they are going. I definately suggest you guys check it out!
Until next issue. . .signing of in Cleveland (Go Tribe!!!),
Bet
@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#
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Date: Mon, 08 Apr 1996 10:27:15 -0600 (CST)
From: z_friedmana@TITAN.SFASU.EDU
Subject: moxy fruvous and a little ben...
hey...hello all...
i went out and got moxy fruvous...i had to ...you made it sound so
tempting:)))...well, i like it...it reminds me of they might be
giants...hmmm....
well..at the same time...i checked out those two soundtracks that contain
one bff song...and ya know...i couldn't seem to bring myself to buying a
whole cd for one song....don't get me wrong...i'm starving for some
bff...but...i just couldn't do it...nothing else on those cd's looked
good to me...so..anyone who has bought them: do you like the rest of
those cd's? or do you just put it in to play that one track?
so......when are they comming out with a new album????? i dunno how much
longer i can wait...:)
amanda
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Date: Mon, 08 Apr 96 14:38:36 -0400
From: Robin Agranoff <Robin.Agranoff@turner.com>
Subject: Ben Folds Five in Atlanta
I'm not sure of the exact details, but Ben Folds Five is playing in
Atlanta on Sunday, April 21st at the Roxy for a 99x Freeloaders show.
Tickets are $5 or free if you have a 99x freeloader card. I don't know
what time the show is or about getting advance tickets. 99x's number is
(404) 741-0997 and the Roxy is (404) 233-1062.
Thanks for running this site.
..robin, a devoted fan and supporter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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We'll be decked in all black and slamming the pit fantastic