2003 - 2004 [2002 updates]

February 19, 2004
More tour dates! Just a few for now, but hopefully more on the way.

Plus, another lackluster review of The Bens EP. But you still love it.

February 16, 2004
A couple of April tour dates have popped up online, though not yet announced officially. See the News section on the right for more info.

Other stuff...

• A Washington Times review of the The Bens EP
• Tufts Daily probably won't win any fans here with Not so rockin' anymore
• A North Carolina publication made sort of an anti-Valentine's mix, topping the list with Song For the Dumped

 

January 30, 2004
Recent updates...

• The Bens EP is for sale here. Of course we all love it, but The Daily Lobo didn't feel quite the same way.
• Ben recently produced an album for William Shatner, as reported by Undercover and a gazillion other places. Apparently, Ben called up Nick Hornby (what? you don't know who Nick Hornby is?) to write some lyrics for Shatner. Read about it in Financial Times (and yes, this will one day make it into Misinfo, because Ben is not British!).
• Speed Graphic & Sunny 16 make at least one Rolling Stone critic's top 10 albums of 2003 list.
• And for your random Ben in the news tidbit, John Mayer says Ben inspires him lyrically.

More when there's more!

November 20, 2003
Here's a nice big update to make up for the long break. (*Ahem* It won't happen again?)

Super D rumors:

• Posters at Universal Buzz and TinyMixTapes reported that Ben told fans at his Oswego concert that the third EP would be delayed.

Recent concerts:

• A concert review (plus an earlier article announcing the concert) from The Emory Wheel
• A concert review and earlier blurb from the Daily Hampshire Gazette
• A student writer's personal account of her unsuccessful quest to interview Ben, and a few paragraphs on the SUNY Oswego show

EP reviews (lots of blogs and 'zines)

• Sunny 16: The Anti-Hit List | DiscoveringArtists.com | The Guardian | Hard News Cafe (Utah State) | Incendiary Magazine | mindsmith.net | pastemob.org
• Speed Graphic: Blogcritics | Kungfoo | Las Vegas City Life | morethanthis.net | The Paper | pastemob.org | Phreshwater.com | Rants, Remembrances, and Ruminations | sinkingships.net | Tuesday Morning 3am

Other EP articles and announcements:

Baldwin | Daily Illini | eightbyseven.org | Pitchfork Media | The Chronicle (Duke)

Ben & Tori Lottapianos reviews and articles:

Boston Herald | DiscoveringArtists.com | News Observer

Plus a new International Orange article on the Robert & Darren page!

Last but not least, Random!Ben continues to pop up everywhere... A USC a capella group performs Ben... an ESPN writer names Ben Folds and a Piano the best concert of the summer... Ars Technica works Ben into a review of Windows.

September 19, 2003
Today, Ben talked about Sunny 16 in an e-mail to the benfolds.com mailing list. You can pre-order Sunny 16 at attackedbyplastic.com starting Sept 23rd.

The Free Lance-Star, a Virigina newspaper, included Ben Folds Five's eponymous album in their first installment of The Top 50 Albums of All Time.

September 17, 2003
MTV reported today that "The Bens" EP will be for sale online on Dec 30th. "A US tour is being discussed." There is also a link to a video stream of the MTV news report on The Bens.

September 14, 2003
First things first, the next EP, Sunny 16, will be released on Sep 30th. (See News on the right.) As for the updates:

• A press release announces that Ben will team with the Indigo Girls and The Dixie Chicks for a benefit concert in Charlotte, NC on Oct 10th. All net proceeds go to the Honor the Earth foundation.
• From North Carolina: a great article on Ben, an article on Ben and Tori and a review of their Raleigh show.
• A review of Tori's Boston show with a paragraph on Ben.

 

August 24, 2003
Lottapianos reviews:

• Lucky for us, this Toronto music critic didn't care that Tori was the headliner.
• Equal time for Ben and Tori in these reviews: Chart Attack | Chicago Tribune | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
• Tori reviews with a few paragraphs on Ben: Chicago Sun Times & Cleveland Plain Dealer
• A general article on Ben and Tori teaming up reported in the Houston Chronicle (or get it here).

 

Articles about the EPs:

• In Between Days makes Eye Weekly's Anti Hit List.
• MTV.com mentions Ben in Downloads, EPs, Singles conspiring to kill the album format. Another article on legal downloading from the Sun Sentinel.
• A general article about Ben's EP plan from Manfield News Journal.
• Drowned In Sound blurb on Ben topping the Billboard digital charts.

 

Other stuff:

• Is this Boston Globe blurb a Ben Folds tour announcement? Nope, it's for Joe Jackson, but ya coulda fooled me!
• A festival in Edinburgh included a pop musical--"Steven's Last Night in Town"-- composed entirely of Ben Folds (Five) material. Read a bit about it at The Guardian.
• An old Ben Folds Live review from Daily Nebraskan

 

A couple of articles promoted The Bens EP and mention an August 19th release date -- as far as I know, no such release date exists. But here, read the blurbs: Philly | Milwaukee

August 10, 2003
BIG UPDATE!

• In an interesting turn of events, the Speed Graphic EP tracks nabbed five of the top six spots on the Billboard Hot Digital Tracks chart! Here's news from Reuters. There's a short message of thanks at benfolds.com.
• Thanks to Tyler Clark for writing the first Speed Graphic review! Plus a summary of the Billboard EP news at blogcritics.org.
• A great article from The San Diego Union Tribune, in which Ben talks about learning to play the piano, his style, and his distaste for digital pianos.
• Northwest Music Scene has a feature on Ben Folds complete with interview, show review, and pictures!
• Ben talks about Tori and the Lottapianos tour in a short interview with The Arizona Republic. A good article on both Ben and Tori from Bradenton Herald.
• The good, the bad, and the ugly of brief ben blurbs in various lottapianos concert announcements: BeSonic | BumRock | Filter | Freetime | kirotv | Las Vegas Mercury (misinfo alert!) | Las Vegas Review Journal | Las Vegas Sun | Nashville Rage
• For those of you who missed the MSN chat with Ben Folds on July 28th, here's a transcript.
• A live version of Eddie Walker is now available at I Tunes. More at benfolds.org.
• International Orange (the new band consisting of Robert Sledge, Snuzz, Django Haskins and Chris Stephenson) now has a website. Don't miss the mp3s, including Robert's Prince Charming!
• Concert pictures from Darren's new band, Remover.

 

July 26, 2003
From benfolds.com:
Ben folds chat!
log on monday july 28th at 8pm et/5pm pt to hear all about ben's eps, the lottapianos tour with tori amos, and the new album! the event will take place here.

Say hi for me... I'll be at work.

And that's not all!

• Video clips of the recording of the EP at benfolds.com
• Enter to win a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida to catch a show and meet Ben & Tori
• EP announcements from MacWorld and DotMusic.

 

July 22, 2003
Speed Graphic, the new Ben Folds EP is now for sale at attackedbyplastic.com, among other places. See the News section on the right for more details.

EP news from Rolling Stone, Miami Herald and MTV.

Random News: John Mayer mentions he likes Ben Folds in an interview with an Indian publication.

July 11, 2003
There's a new note from Ben at the official site with more details on the upcoming EPs!

Also, a concert review from Newport and more on the EP from The Mac Observer.

July 5, 2003
BIG NEWS! Ben is releasing three five-song EPs between now and November. The first EP, Speed Graphic, is due July 22nd! Read about it at Billboard.

Also, BFF bassist Robert Sledge has teamed with Snuzz (guitar), Django Haskins (guitar), and Chris Stevenson (drums) to form International Orange. Thanks to 'snuzzbff' for sharing the news, which you can read at Frank Maynard's site or at benfolds.org.

Not to mention...

• Joe Jackson mentions Ben in Keyboard magazine
• Australian Fans with Music Max can catch The Bens on July 25th.
• DotMusic has added Ben Folds to their download subscription service, on demand.
• Extremely brief concert review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• A Rolling Stone article on Ben Lee mentions The Bens.

June 13, 2003
The last month has brought many Ben mentions and tidbits, but not a lot of substance.

• Rolling Stone announces the Tori Amos and special guest Ben Folds "Lottapianos" tour along with Central Ohio News Journal | MTV | North Jersey Media Group | Oregon Daily Emerald | Pollstar | Reuters. Also, an article about NYC's Summerstage, where Ben will perform with Aimee Mann on Aug 20.
• Billboard.com and CMJ have articles about "Wig in a Box," a benefit album featuring indie-rock all-stars taking on songs from the musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
• Random Ben: Ben is quoted in this high school commencement speech.
• Ben Kweller mentions The Bens in an interview, and Weird Al inherits a Folds crib.

No random Ben Folds Live reviews due to the loss of the great backlog of ben folds live links. Oh well. Psst. Don't EVER keep drinks near your laptop.

May 16, 2003

• More dates have been announced for the "Lottapianos" tour with Tori Amos; Ben will open with an hour long set. LiveDaily has the latest.
• Rolling Stone's photos from Coachella (Nice hat, Ben!), plus reviews of Jammin on Jersey and Jammin on Main.
• Press for SummerStage. Apparently, they are under the impression they booked the trio, Ben Folds Five. Tsk. Tsk.
• Your random Ben Folds Live review is Ben Folds Live: As He Is Meant To Be Heard from The Hamilton College Spectator.
• As for random Ben in the press, try Dr. Ink, taking a break from journalism's toughest questions to ponder his favorite albums.

 

May 4, 2003

• Don't miss the MTV.com article on The Bens -- according to this, they will tour in the US this summer and release the EP on their websites.
• Write ups on Indio, California's Coachella festival ...
  Orange County Register | The Desert Sun [What, the newspaper man didn't like the sad newspaper man song? Poor baby.] | MTV.com
• Press for Milwaukee's Summerfest
• Frazz wears a BFF T-shirt once again
• Your token Ben Folds Live review is from Plugged In Music.

 

April 29, 2003
More, more, and more where that came from:

• The Bens in Rolling Stone
• Newly found articles from the college circuit: Boston College | The College of New Jersey | Elmhurst College | Lawrence University | St. Ambrose University
• Sports and Wine: ESPN once again plugs Ben Folds, this time pitting him against Justin Timberlake in a hockey analogy. And Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito is always good for a Ben mention too.
• The Independent Journal mentions Ben in an Ani DeFranco review.
• For good measure, I think I'll start throwing in a new-to-here Ben Folds Live or Rockin the Suburbs review with every update to the archive. We'll see how long it takes me to run out. Here's one from MusicOMH.com. Geeky/loser lyrics?

 

April 17, 2003
Here's the latest:

• New concert reviews: Cornell Daily Sun | The Ithacan | Polytechnic Online | Ripon College Days | & a pre-concert article from College of William & Mary
• The Bens: Articles from Pollstar and Undercover. Rolling Stone announced that The Bens will cover "Wicked Little Town" for a charity CD.
• General articles on Ben from Northern Star & Undercover
  
• Random Ben in the news: There's a sarcastic but good intentioned mention in a Chicago Sun Times article about piano greats and... Ben donated a guitar for charity?

Last but not least, Ben performed some new (yet to be finished) material at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and you can grab it at Greyseal's rockin' site. (Thanks so much to those who shared the ben. You've got to give the people what they want...)

March 23, 2003
First and foremost, do not miss Chris Horgz's excellent new site: the-bens.com.  He's got cover art, downloads, links, press, and the kitchen sink.  If you've been to a Bens show and want to review it, email Chris. 

Here's the latest from The Bens.  Many Australian papers don't archive their news for very long (they're onto us and all our non-subscribing ways), so read them while you can!

• An Xpressmag feature on Folds and The Bens

• Really good articles from Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald

• A Ben Lee article in The Age with a few paragraphs on The Bens

• An excerpt of an interview with Folds in the Sydney Herald and press from DotMusic.

As you've probably noticed, benfolds.info is temporarily back at Angelfire.  I apologize for those annoying pop ups.

March 8, 2003
The server may be down, but The Bens must go on.  They've popped up in:

Bocs Ticketing | Citysearch | CMU Online | Denver Post | Entertainment Weekly | Excellent Online | Salt Lake City Weekly | Sony | Undercover

To get you in the mood for the upcoming tours, here are some concert articles and reviews new to the archive:

• Williamstown, MA article and review (Nov '02)

• General article from Pitchfork (Feb '02)

• Los Angeles, CA with guest appearance by Hanson (Oct '01)

Be sure to look at the Current News (right-hand column) for info on downloading the first Bens track and their live studio appearance at The Basement.

February 23, 2003
Wow. Has it really been a month since the last update?  Well, it hasn't been for a lack of news. There are a few new US dates, including an appearance at the Coachella festival (not yet listed on the official site) and more:

• A Pollstar article mentions The Bens (Folds, Lee, & Kweller) will release an EP of their collaborations, sold only on their two-week Australian tour.  The Sydney Morning Herald calls The Bens "the year's best tour concept."

• Live Daily announces Ben's mini college tour.  Articles from University of Richmond, DePauw University, and St. Ambrose University.

• In a December 2002 interview with Recoil Mag, Ben talked about the internet helping him sell out shows (and namedrops Frank Maynard).

• Months ago, an alleged Ben Folds attempted a message board apology for inadvertently slamming Ben Kweller in an unnamed magazine.  I can't remember if we found it back in October, but today I came across the article at Zia Records.

January 25, 2003
Don't miss the note from Ben at benfolds.com.

Here's the latest:

• A very favorable review of Ben's Jan 9th Beacon Theatre performance from NY Post, and a review of the Providence show from the Providence Journal.

• A January 12th article in The Salt Lake Tribune.

• Press for "The Bens" at DownloadMusic | Excellent Online | Michael Chugg Entertainment | Ticketek Australia | Undercover Media

• Reviews from the most recent US tour:
  Hollywood Reporter | Music-Critic.com

I also updated the Misinfo section this month with new stuff in the Who, What, When, Why, and How sections.  Plus, there's a brand new page for the rumor related stuff last fall.

January 11, 2003
Happy New Year! First things first, a great Newsweek web exclusive on Ben Folds came out on the 9th.

The first update of 2003 brings a lot of random Ben mentions from all over the place:

• Scene Magazine mentions they dig Ben Folds in the first paragraph of Where Music Is or Isn't Going In 2003.

• I Am Sam has been nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Soundtrack Compilation.'  (Article on North Carolina Grammy nominees)

• Ben talks about books he's read recently at BookForum.

• Ben's Beacon Theatre shows were mentioned in the New York Times Pop and Jazz listings.

• A sentence on Ben's track from the USC student newspaper review of Maybe This Christmas.

• Rockin' the Suburbs is used to review stereo equipment in Home Theater Magazine.

• Heather Donohue, the female lead in The Blair Witch Project loved Ben Folds Live.

 

2002

December 15, 2002
Here's that overdue update I promised:

• OnMilwaukee has a great interview with Ben (including Barry Zito, who flew in for the show).  Also, a few Ben quotes on Tiny Dancer at top-40 charts.

• Recent live reviews from Playback St. Louis (Thanks to Jim from Playback for sending in the link) and the San Francisco Examiner.

• Another live review from Sorted Magazine on Ben and The Divine Comedy's stop in Dublin.

That's all you get for now.  On deck, more reviews of Ben Folds Live.

Oh yeah.  There's been a new Beacon Theatre date (NY, NY) added for Jan 9th.  Tickets went on sale Saturday. 

December 6, 2002
Well, if you're at this little niche of a Ben Folds site, you're probably already aware of the bizarre and exciting events this week.  Just in case, here's a recap:

• Strange rumors have been plaguing the message boards, from Ben levitating to Ben riding around in a hot tubbin' limo with scantily clad women, to Ben getting arrested, to Bill Clinton joining Ben on stage... plus a few letters, one very strange, from Ben's management to a fan who posted a picture of Ben signing a girl's thong underwear.

• Next, Ben's December tour dates were cancelled (in some cases postponed) due to pneumonia.  Sadly, this is no rumor.

• On December 3rd, Ben posted a message at benfolds.org "from his sickbed," stating that he wanted to clear up the rumors he started and that he would log on to chat at 1PM EST.  After various technical difficulties, the chat took place in the AIM chat room, Ben using a fan-provided screen name, "Zloo."  (So don't bother trying to message Zloo -- it won't be Ben.)

• During the un-moderated chat, Ben explained that he started the rumors at shows and collaborated with his manager on the letter/s, but he didn't intend any ill will against his fans... while we tried to figure out if he was for real, blurting spontaneous questions and praise.  Beyond that, lots of topics were covered.

• Missed it? Don't worry. Read the transcript.

• So was it REALLY Ben?  Yes, it was.  Several sources, including Frank Maynard, have received e-mail from Ben's management stating that it was, indeed, Ben Folds. Proof.

• Thanks to various gods that I decided to log on at 10 till, during an otherwise normal workday.  And thank you, Ben.

I guess I have some work to do on my Misinfo section.  I'll be back with more articles this weekend... I'm sure the transcript will take you a while, anyway.

November 28, 2002
Happy Thanksgiving.  Here's some holiday reading:

• Two concert reviews of the Northwestern show -- one from concertlivewire and another (plus an interview) from The Daily Northwestern.

• Plus don't miss "barbfoldsfive's" write up of her "San Fran Experience."

• A Ben Folds Live review, written by a high school freshman from The News Press

• This concert preview from Madison explains the evolution of the Ben Folds & a Piano tour.  Also a brief preview for The Rave show.

• A pre-RTS article from Wake Forest University

• Photos of Ben's recent performance in Portland

November 23, 2002
More new reviews & articles:

• If you only read one Ben Folds Live review in today's update, read the one from Indy Star.  Also, reviews from The Advertiser (Au) |  Blogcritics | Launch | Pitchfork | Pitt Post-Gazette | The Reader | Sacramento Bee plus a touring profile from Grokster.com.

• Pretty good general articles from The Daily Princetonian and The Creightonian and a pre-concert article from The Tartan (Carnegie Mellon)

• Gods of Ramen reviews all Ben Folds +/- Five albums.

• Two articles from The Daily Northwestern, chronicling the booking of Ben and the fast ticket sales.

Interesting Ben references:

• Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito is a big fan of Ben Folds, as he has mentioned in several articles. This time, their names pop up together again because Barry recently accepted the Cy Young award while wearing a Ben Folds T-shirt.

• Jef Mallet references Ben Folds Five once again in his Nov 16 Frazz comic strip.

November 18, 2002
Yes, it's been a while.

First off, Ben is supposed to be on The Wayne Brady Show today -- the description at the website doesn't include him, so I guess we'll see.

Ben put on a phenomenal show here in L.A. last week including (but not limited to) a performance by William Shatner.  If you haven't seen them already, check out my pictures.

New articles:

• Ben Folds Live Reviews from Artvoice | buzz online | CDNOW | cluas.com | Cornell Daily Sun | Jam!Showbiz | Kung Foo | Modern Rock | The Phantom Tollbooth

• A review of the Ben Folds Live DVD from a high school student

• This blurb on Ben Folds Live includes a quote from Ben about covering Elton John's Tiny Dancer on the album

• A pre-show article from Gainesville

More soon!

October 25
More new stuff:

• Listen to Ben's segment on National Public Radio (4:45) on the web.

• Ben Folds Live reviews from: Daily Trojan (USC) ~ The Highlander (UC Riverside) ~ Sacramento Bee ~ Western Herald

• Concert reviews from: Des Moines (June 02) and Indianapolis (March 02)

• Short article/concert promo from The Hartford Courant. 

• Press for Ben Folds Live at Buzzwords.

October 19
Ben's appearance on The Caroline Rhea Show will re-air on 'ABC Family' on Tuesday, October 22nd.  Check your local listings here. 

A few new tour dates were added last week.

13 New Articles:

• Ben talks about Ben Folds Live in Rolling Stone.  The album debuted at no. 60 in the Billboard Top 200 -- here's an article from E.

• Lots of Ben Folds Live reviews:
  ~ Elle ~ The Gamecock (USC) free registration required ~ The Greyhound (Loyola) ~ KindaMuzik ~ Rocknworld ~ Scan (LUSU) ~ Tuesday Morning 3 a.m. ~ U-Wire ~ Washington Times ~ Whir.org

• Scotland's Sunday Mail claims, "Even the Divine Comedy frontman had to concede he was in the presence of genius" at the Barrowlands gig. (Many thanks to David Bennett for the link.)

October 13
A HUGE update:

• Ben Folds Live reviewed in The Daily Camera and The Dartmouth Online... and Playboy... I believe this is where I say, "I only read the articles."

• Promo for Ben Folds Live at Baldwin.  Plus find the misinfo in this synopsis

• Submit your own review of Ben Folds Live at Buy.com or CD Universe

• Ben was on the CBS Saturday Early Show this week -- you can download it at benfoldsweb

• Ben was on WNYC (radio) last week discussing his contribution to BAM's Next Wave Music Festival and Ben Folds Live -- you can listen to the excellent interview here.

• Glasgow's Sunday Herald reviews Ben Folds & The Divine Comedy live at The Barrowlands -- much praise to Ben here. Another great review of the Albany/The Egg gig last July.

• Photos from Dallas/The Red Jacket gig (Sept 01), Seattle/Music Mountain Lodge, and WCLZ (Portland, ME) radio performance (June 02)

• A nice sized section of this Raleigh News & Observer article is devoted to Ben

• Anthony Kable provides detailed specs and synopsis of the Ben Folds Five Sessions at West 54th DVD and Jack Feeny reviews all 3 of Ben Folds Five's studio releases

• Rockin' the Suburbs is on the "Current Favorites" list at rabbitsongs.com.  Yet another review of RTS, this time from freakscene.com

• A blurb on Ben at the Warner Theatre and a blurb about Ben Folds Live at Sony Music

• Another lost review of Ben at Summerfest

I told you it was huge.

October 11
Another quick update:

• Justin Parlette (darthjustin at the .org) reviewed Ben Folds Live on his website.

• Thanks to James from the suburbs for posting this London concert review from BBC Cefax.

• Here's a review of the Summerfest gig in June.

• Ben Folds Five's performance of Honey Don't is now available on the Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records DVD.

• According to this, Darren Jessee and Robert Sledge played in separate bands at the same place on the same night last August. (It's in the paragraph titled "Kings" Scroll about a quarter of the way down the page.) Was anybody there?

Let me know if you find reviews of BFL or concert reviews!

October 9
More Ben Folds Live:

• A recent promo article at woxy.com. A blurb in upcoming releases at Sundazed, one in new releases at Gallery of Sound, and one from August in the Pitt News.

• Read or write a review at Barnes & Noble

• From the official site: "music choice presents ben folds - catch a live ben folds show on tv as a part of music choice's concert series."

Ben Folds Live reviewed in your town? Hot tips always appreciated.

October 8
Today is the day... Ben Folds Live is out in the US and UK! Go buy it!

• Check out the new look at the official site!

• Read some early reviews at epinions, or add your own there or here.

• A promo article from ChartAttack and a mention in a press release from Epic.

• Press for the upcoming Portland gig.

There's more, but I'm out of time! Check back soon.

September 30
Today, I've got a couple of new articles and a bunch of older ones.  For the first time in nine months, my folder of links to articles is empty!

Don't worry, here's plenty to keep you busy, and I'm sure there are more out there to be found.

• From Billboard, Folds Solo Jaunt Yields Live Album

• An interview with Ben from last spring and another from fall 2001

• An interview with Neil Hammond (The Divine Comedy) that mentions Ben

A few older items from Australia:

• This blog lists favourite Aussie TV moments, including Ben Folds Five's appearance on the Midday Show.

• Reviews for Rockin' the Suburbs and the BFF Sessions at West 54th DVD.

More top 10s and best of lists:

• Ben Folds Five's eponymous album ranks #15 on Ed Masley's list of top 25 debut albums in rock history

• Rockin' the Suburbs is #10 on Wertnert's Top 10 of 2001, #12 on Keith Watson's Pick of 2001, #1 in the "Best of the Rest" category at BuzzOnline, and makes an appearance in Canada's U of S top 11 albums of 2001.

I've also added several more reviews of RTS and various short blurbs.  If you're interested in those, your best bet is to browse the articles section and look for NEW 09-30.

September 21

• A review of Ben's 6/12 show at the 9:30 Club from DC 101.  (I was there!)

• A paragraph on Ben Folds in Pitchfork Media's recent review of Ben Kweller's Sha Sha

• Press for the live album (beware of the misinfo): Buzzwords ~ MTV 7-17 and 7-18 ~ Sony Canada

• Press for the Banger Sisters soundtrack: Fox97

I hope you don't hate the new design; please email me if you experience any problems.

September 12
Happy Birthday, Ben!  36 years old today...

September 10
The official site has announced the 7 songs on the upcoming DVD (included with the first pressing of Ben Folds Live in the United States): Not The Same, Philosophy, Army, Eddie Walker, The Ascent of Stan, Tiny Dancer, and Song for the Dumped!

Also, they will be premiering one song each weekday at BenFolds.com beginning September 17th!

Here's more from the never-ending supply of Rockin' the Suburbs reviews from various music review sites (amateur and professional), as well as the occasional college newspaper:

• "Ben Folds = Sesame Street, but without the Big Bird" -- that's an entire review from beginning to end.  Don't believe me? See for yourself.

• More:
  Adult Pop ~ Angst ~ BUZZonline ~ Cosmically Speaking ~ Dekadamag ~ dotmusic ~ E! ~ Gamut ~ GoodSound ~ gotpunk ~ Grey Aeroplane ~ Music-Reviewer ~ NewBeats ~ Power of Pop ~ Record Boy Ink ~ Sheepzine ~ Stylus Magazine ~ Superstar in Stereo ~ Tangmonkey ~ Texas Planet ~ Tuesday Morning 3AM ~ University of Akron ~ York Daily Record

• A review of Rockin' the Suburbs the single.

August 25

• A great article from Artvoice and an interview from On Tour with Shure.  Also an article (and a tour announcement) from The Detroit News.

• An article promoting Ben's concert at University of Connecticut this Autumn.

• Press for the live album at 947NRK.com ~ Pitchfork ~ Undercover.  Beware of the misleading wording at Universal Buzz. We have no reason to believe that the album will include "unreleased Ben Folds Five live tracks."  It's safe to say this is a misinterpretation of the press release.  (Hmmmn...)

• Ben Folds and a Piano reviews from Melbourne, Au and Houston, TX.

• DrownedInSound.com recently reviewed Whatever and Ever Amen (BFF).

Here's some older stuff.  Hopefully I'll be able to get all of this stuff out of the way before we are inundated (and I mean that in a good way) with live album reviews:

• Rockin' the Suburbs reviews from Blender, Eye, The East Carolinian, and two from Whatzup. (So many more of these to come.)

• Last year's articles from ChartAttack, BMI MusicWorld, Daily Pennsylvanian (concert review), and The Crusader.

August 4
Time to catch up; here's everything I've found recently...

• Concert reviews from Atlanta, GA ~ Austin, TX ~ Lincoln, NE ~ Northampton, MA ~ Philadelphia, PA ~ San Francisco, CA ~ Seattle, WA

• An interview from Australian Musician magazine and a short interview from The DePaulia.

• UK Tour announcements from Ananova ~ Hot Press ~ NME.com ~ UK-Fusion. Plus a May 2002 announcement from Live Daily.

• A short article from The Advocate Weekly 2002 Summer Concert Guide (Mass)  and a March pre-show blurb from Tablet (Seattle).

• This interview had disappeared from the archive, but the author Mike Sembos helped me find an alternate link for it!

Thanks to Annie (Greyseal) and Doug (slk24kgj) for sending in articles!

July 23 - Live Album Info
More news on the live CD! Rolling Stone published an article last week with news about the live CD, to be released on October 8, 2002. 

The official press release, found at Frank Maynard's site reads:

From Ben Folds Five to Ben Folds Live. Featuring songs from Mr. Folds's critically acclaimed solo debut "rockin' the suburbs" and Ben Folds Five hits, this record intimately showcases Ben's unique talents as a songwriter and pianist. The disc was recorded during Ben's 2002 spring solo tour and will tentatively include live versions of such B-sides as "One Down," "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis" and "Hiro's Song". A valentine for long-time fans and a great primer for the uninitiated, Ben Folds Live will be in stores on October 8th.

More (not necessarily recent) articles coming soon, I promise!

July 7 - New Additions & News

• The official Ben Folds website has confirmed that a live album will be released in October.

• Ben's concert in Chicago last week was filmed, and according to this Chicago Star concert review, it may be for sale along with the live album! (Official Ben Folds sources have not given any indication of this so far, but I believe at least one other concert on the current tour was filmed.)

• Ben Folds and his family will be appearing on "The Book Place," an Australian children's television program, on July 11th.  '2dope' posted a short article about it in a message board thread at benfolds.org.

• Another Chicago review from the Tribune. (You will need to login to view this article, but you can use my registration information [UserName: ben-folds  Password: dotinfo]  Also, it will disappear into the paid archive very soon, so I hope you are able to read it before then.)

• St. Louis concert review; thanks to Gabriel for sending this in.

• An article in the National Review lists Ben Folds Five's eponymous album as one of the 5 CDs You Need for summer.

• This interview (scroll down the page) was in the May 2002 issue of Juice Magazine. Thanks Dion, who typed this up and e-mailed me about it.

Finally, I've added some more stuff to the Misinfo section.

June 30 - New Additions

• An article promoting Ben's show at Clutch Cargo's (Pontiac, MI)

• An article about the success of FEST, the concert Ben headlined at DePaul University (Chicago) on May 31st.  There's also a picture of Ben on the cover of the current issue of The DePaulia.

• A review of Darren Jessee's show in Chapel Hill

I've also dug up some older concert reviews that are new to the archive:

• 9:30 Club ~ Washington, DC ~ Sept '01

• Roxy ~ Atlanta, GA ~ Sept '01

• Belly Up ~ Solana Beach, CA ~ March '02

• Vic ~ Chicago, IL ~ March '02

• Cajun House ~ Scottsdale, AZ ~ March '02

Also, if you haven't signed my guestmap yet, head on over and mark your spot on the map!

June 24 - New Articles
More new stuff: 

• Two really good articles from the Fairfield County Weekly (CT) and The Lincoln Journal Star

• Concert reviews from New Haven, CT (6/11) and Milwaukee, WI (2/27)

• An interesting (and extremely technical) four-page feature from prosoundweb.com: On Tour with Ben Folds.  This was written by Chris Kathman, who filled in for Tour Manager Doug Goodman for a while this year.

• Spinner.com has an audio interview and performance with Ben as part of "New Ground", a Los Angeles radio show.  (This is the same performance aired on AOL Sessions.)

More older stuff: 

• An article from The Canadian Press, Ben Folds set to launch solo career with new CD, and an archive of Canadian articles on Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five.

• A Nov 2001 article/interview from The Denver Post, Folds Wants Us to Laugh.

June 20 - New Articles
Well, I've been away (caught Ben at the 9:30 Club in DC), but I didn't come back totally empty handed. 

• Concert reviews of the shows in Northampton, MA and New York, NY

• Articles promoting the shows in Northampton, MA and New Haven, CT

• Ben gets a mention on Charleston.net in an article about the WAVF festival

I never seem to be in short supply of older articles. Here are a few from various colleges:

• From the University of Dayton's Flyer News, Music lover mourns loss of bands

• An article/album review from Yale Daily News and a review from Macalester College

June 5 - News
Ben's performance on Last Call with Carson Daly has been rescheduled to air June 13th / early AM of June 14th (NBC). 

Also, a press release from Girlie Action Media lists several other interesting items.  Here's an excerpt of what has not been mentioned here yet:

• Keep an eye out for Ben’s speaking role (no music) in Apple’s new I-Book TV ad campaign.

• Ben has recorded a cover of the Jackson Browne classic "Doctor My Eyes" for the new Susan Sarandon/Goldie Hawn film, Bangor Sisters, coming out in September. A CD soundtrack is simultaneously slated for release on Combustion.

• Ben is writing, recording, and performing the musical parts of the opening sequence to MTV’s 2002 Movie Awards. Lyrics to be sung by Tenacious D’s Jack Black.

June 3 - Tour Review
Ed Masley reviews Ben's Saturday night show at 'M' (Pittsburgh). Thanks Boni!

June 2 - Hot Off the Press
The start of the new tour brings new, in-depth articles!

• Ed Masley (who mentions Ben every chance he gets) has a fabulous and lengthy music preview in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

• Two telling articles from The Pittsburgh Tribune Review and The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

• In this tour announcement in The Pitt News, Leslie Hoffman adds to her ever increasing "Almost Right Title" repertoire.

Let's hope the tour reviews are soon to follow.  Meanwhile, here's a review of Ben's show at The Vic (Chicago) last March.

May 30 - Last Call & Updates
The taping of Ben's appearance on "Last Call with Carson Daly" will take place in New York City at 6:30 PM on June 3rd. 

Information on how to score tickets from the Ben Folds mailing list:
"Send an e-mail to lastcallaudience@nbc.com with BEN FOLDS in the subject line. Give them your name, phone number and number of tickets you would like to reserve. They will follow up directly with a confirmation email. You must be at least 16 years of age to be in their audience."

The show will air on NBC on June 6th or early AM of June 7th.  Check your local listings for details. 

"Newie82" typed up a recent interview with Ben in The Age (Australia) and posted it in this message board thread at benfolds.org.  Thanks Newie!

I haven't found many articles or interviews surrounding the new U.S. tour (yet), but I have come across a couple of promotional blurbs: one in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Baltimore Sun.  The latter claims while Michelle Branch headlines, the real draw of the Mixfest is Ben Folds.

May 26 - U.K. Tour
Ben Folds has announced a U.K. Tour!  He will be co-headlining six shows with The Divine Comedy in late September/early October.  Read all about it at the official site.

More articles coming soon!

May 20
Here's a summary of recent Ben Folds news:

• There's an online petition started by "Melanor Rigby" for Ben to do a U.K. tour.  Those interested in getting Ben on that side of the Atlantic can (and should) sign here.

• From the official site: "ben will perform on last call with carson daly on june 3. this airs at 1:35 am et/pt (which is technically june 4). check your local listings for exact showtimes."

• Zak and Sara is featured in a Sony video camera commercial in Japan and in the U.S., "The Luckiest" will be played during the first hour of the finale of Felicity on the WB this Wednesday May 22nd.

• Quotes from Ben are included in the new book "Mouthing Off: A Book of Rock and Roll Quotes".

New articles:

• An article from DePaul University (Chicago) on the free festival Ben will be headlining on May 31st.

• In the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Hot Picks for the summer, Ed Masley writes, "Expect this show to be among the more inspired concerts of the year, if not the decade."  (The blurb on Ben is in the right hand column.)

More updates to the archive:

• Articles from Tucson Weekly and WhatzUp (Fort Wayne)

• Reviews of Rockin' the Suburbs from Ace Weekly and Entertainment Today

• Blurbs promoting Ben's shows from The Paramount in Seattle, The Gambit (New Orleans)

May 13
New additions:

• A March 28th article from Las Vegas Mercury

• A review of Ben's performance at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA

• Ben's bio at the official Summerfest site

• Pre-concert blurbs from the last tour leg: Object Magazine, OnMilwaukee.com, and Daily Egyptian

Here are even more 'top tens' and 'best ofs' that mention Ben Folds:

• Best Albums of 2001 lists: Rockin the Suburbs is number 2 at powerpop.org, number 5 at speedysnail.com, number 10 at The Rogovoy Report, and number 18 at the-diner.net; the album is also on the list at Rollie Radio and the readers poll at the Alternative Music site at About.com.

• Norpert Pek at KindaMuzik.com lists Ben Folds Five among the bands that would make his Nick Hornby style "Worst Breakups" list.

• The single "Rockin the Suburbs" was number 53 on WBRU's top 95 songs of 2001.

• Yikes! Ape Culture seems to think RTS is the "Disappointment of the Year"

May 6
As the misinformation keeps on coming, I keep on updating.  To go straight to the list of which sections have been updated when, click here.

May 4
Ben's latest single "Still Fighting It" is number 12 on the Alternative Top 20 in Australia.

Tour related press:

• An interview with Ben prior to the "Ben Folds and a Piano" tour.

• In this article, Ben discusses touring towards the end of BFF and how he feels about what he's doing now.

• The release of Still Fighting It and the new tour dates made an appearance in Thursday's Daily Music News at Pitchfork Media.  Thanks Greyseal, for the heads up.

Concert reviews from the "Ben Folds and a Piano" tour:

• Anaheim, California

• Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Chicago, Illinois

• Las Vegas, Nevada

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Finally, I've updated the Name Dropping section in Misinfo.

April 28
Don't miss the new and improved "Almost Right Titles" section in Misinfo.

April 26
Last week's issue of Beat Magazine (Melbourne, Australia) included an interview with Ben.  The friendly folks at Beat let me reprint it here.

I also have even more reviews of Rockin' the Suburbs - when will it end? This batch is from various newspapers in Atlantic City, NJ ~ Grande Prairie, Alberta ~ Hartford, CT ~ and The Star Newspapers (USA).

April 20
The next U.S. tour dates have been officially announced!  You can find them at the official site or at Frank Maynard's Ben Folds website. 

Recent news from the land down under:

• The Power of One, an excellent article in The Sydney Morning Herald

• A great blurb on Ben at the Channel V website

• PR for the Still Fighting It single at Sony's Aussie site

• Coppel.com has Ben's Aussie tour information and a bio in done in Flash.  Dr. Boni found some "misinfo" ... can you?

• Ben joined Elton John on stage in Adelaide for The Bitch is Back!! 
  Check out photos at benfolds.com and a write up at eltonjohn.com.

Tour-related leftovers:

• A February article/interview from The Gazette (Iowa City)

• Past concert announcements and blurbs from:
  ~ Cincinnati Enquirer ~  Citysearch (Indy) ~ Clear Channel ~

April 14
There was an article on Ben in last Thursday's Herald Sun (Australia); Krystel pasted it into a message board thread here.

Here are many new additions from various university publications:

• Reviews of last Fall's Lawrence, Portland, Seattle and Chicago shows

• 15 reviews of Rockin' the Suburbs from:
  ~ Bowdoin Orient ~ Bradley University ~ Colgate University ~ Cornel ~ Hamline University ~ University of Illinois at Chicago ~ The Lawrence School ~ Louisiana Tech ~ Loyola University (Chicago) ~ McCallie School ~ Notre Dame ~ Pima Community College ~ Ryerson Polytechnic ~ Saginaw Valley State ~ William & Mary ~

• A album review from Technical High School in St. Cloud, MN

April 8
Just a quick note to say that I've moved the site over to a new host, which means no more ads!  A great big THANK YOU goes to Greyseal for sharing her web space with me.  She seems to have more of that these days, with the launch of Andy's new project www.benfoldsmedia.co.uk... prepare to be amazed by this collection of b-sides, live shows, and videos.  The site is still in its infancy, so bear with Andy and Grey as they sort out any issues and upload, upload, upload so you can download, download, download.

I've also updated the Misinfo section of this site. (The Billy Joel count is now up to 60 with Elton John trailing at 37.  I've tried to clearly mark where any new (mis)information appears, so go ahead, check it out!

April 6
More NEW stuff:

• Entertainment Today, a free mag in Los Angeles, has a feature story on Ben Folds including commentary on the 3/27 show and bits from an interview.

• Ben is also featured in this week's Rip It Up, Adelaide's "leading street press magazine." (Sorry, this link no longer works - Rip It Up's archive is "coming soon.")

• Jef Mallet, the artist responsible for the comic strip "Frazz," is apparently a Ben Folds fan...or at least his character Frazz is.  Check out Frazz's T-shirt on April 1 - he also wore a BFF shirt on March 8 and March 9.

More on Ben's Australian tour: though the grapevine says there will be no drummer, many articles quote Ben as saying recently (?) he will be playing with Joey Waronker.  I guess we'll just have to see.

More Top 10's:

• Marc Weingarten of the LA times put Rockin' the Suburbs (RTS) as number 3 in his list in Pop Music Writers' Top 10's for 2001.

• The Hawk, a newspaper at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA listed RTS as the best album of 2001.

• The Pittsburgh Tribune Review put RTS among the best as well.

• RTS also makes the top 10 at The Rogovoy Report.

April 4
Tired of me yet? Or perhaps of Ben? Too bad, there's always more Ben where that came from... try these:

• Las Vegas Weekly brings us "One Man Standing"

• An interview with Ben in Time Off, an Australian publication.  Ben says he is pleased with the quality of the live tracks from the US tour.

• Brisbane City Search promotes Ben's Aussie tour with Clem Snide

As for other news, Julie (one of Ben's biggest Australian fans) has learned from tour manager Doug Goodman that a drummer will not be accompanying Ben on tour in Oz as originally planned.

April 3
Well, I'm back on the job after taking in several Ben Folds shows in the Los Angeles area.  WOW!  While I'm sad it's over, I'm glad for the experience.  Thanks Ben for "gracing us with Narcolepsy" and singing our note too! (Right, like he reads this...)

Here are a few articles from LA:

• The Hollywood Reporter reviews the March 27th El Rey show

• The Los Angeles Times lists Ben's shows as a "Best Bet"

• A concert announcement from the Los Angeles New Times

Older tour reviews and ramblings:

• Another concert review from The Hollywood Reporter (October '01)

• A short blurb on the Dec 5 '01 Madison show from an amateur site

• Another amateur webzine's take on a show at Cat's Cradle in North Carolina

• An informal review of RTS and an Australian show... can you find the misinfo?

• More of a personal account than a review of the Northern Lights show

March 24
More tour related press:

• A high school student reviews Ben's show at the Beaumont Club for the Kansas City Star

• A pretty good pre-show article from The San Francisco Examiner

• Ben's upcoming shows at the Fillmore are listed as an "indie pick" in the SF Gate.  (Scroll down.)

• Concert Photos: Pittsburgh, PA (Sept 2001) and 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia (Nov 2001)

Today's installment of older stuff features the U.K. with a little Australia:

• Durham 21, a student webzine at the University of Durham, says Rockin' the Suburbs "is for everyone."

• Oxford University gives the album four stars.

• An album review from Outbiz, an Australian 'gay & lesbian entertainment lifestyle magazine'

• Prepare to be annoyed.  "I Hate Music," a webzine devoted to exposing the worst in music calls Ben Folds Five "the most contrived band in existence."

March 21
Blink and you'll miss these new additions:

• Seventy-five words.  Four of them are either Joel or Elton.  Tom Lane's Music Page, a website devoted to music, rates Rockin' the Suburbs a 7.

• A pre-show blurb from The Salt Lake Tribune.  (Scroll down to "Earnestly Funny.")

• An even shorter blurb from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Update: Blink and you'll miss turned out to be an accurate description of this blurb, now gone.

For those craving content, here are a couple of interviews from the depths of google:

• Creative Loafing (Charlotte) published an interview with Ben in December 2001.  Ben imagines himself in the audience and talks about filtering his music through a pop music producer, among other things.

• In November 2001, Ben did a phone interview with Whatzup, an Illinois weekly.  Here he touches on his song-writing style and cynicism in the arts.

March 16
Here are a few more new articles:

• When asked if he has ever considered a solo piano album, Ben says they are recording this tour "so that'll give me an idea — by listening to that — if I'd be interested in making a record like that."  Here's the interview from the East Valley Tribune (Phoenix).

• A pre-concert blurb from The Denver Post

• A press release from Girlie Action; the source of many of these solo tour articles

By varying my google search terms slightly, I've found TONS of articles (mostly album reviews) from last fall.  Look for them here in installments.  The first batch, below, comes from various "weeklies" from the United States and Canada:

• A review of Ben's show at Irving Plaza from a Long Island biweekly, The Islandear.

• Weekly Planet gives Rockin' the Suburbs '4 and a half planets'.

• Don't expect to be pleased with this blurb from The Portland Mercury.  To borrow a phrase from the writer, "it just makes me want to blow out my brains."

• A feature on "Solo Men" in the Windy City Times includes a paragraph on Ben.

• Las Vegas Weekly gives Rockin' the Suburbs a B+.  The Las Vegas Mercury throws in their two cents as well.

• And finally, the Montreal Mirror says the album is f***ing amazing and gives it 9.5/10.  Not bad, eh?

March 15
Here's a brand new article from The Rocky Mountain News with a lot of information and quotes from a phone interview with Ben.  Thanks very much to Leia for sending me this one!

March 9
Various articles and fan reports have brought to light a lot of information about future projects and tour formats Ben Folds is considering.  Here's a recap:

• The current "Ben Folds and a Piano" tour, as one might guess, is Ben on the piano with no backing band. According to Billboard, "Folds and his trusty piano will be going at it alone in what amounts to a relaxed, no setlist, "Storyteller" sort of affair. With fan interaction encouraged, ... he's driven by inspiration to open up his songbook and play whatever comes to mind."

• Billboard also reports that "Folds plans on recording each show of the tour's first leg for a hopeful live release in the near future."

• Ben's new material (written for an eventual studio release) is "jazzier."  "Think kind of irreverently jazzy, not like, 'Hey I'm all jazzy and cool,'" he discloses. "That's kind of where my head is at. Basically, sparse-when-it-needs-to-be-sparse and then go f***ing-ape-s***-when-it's-time kind of vibe."

• According to a fan who talked to Ben after a show, Ben has two plans for the next tour: he wants fans to write letters, poems, or lyrics, and he'll make songs up for them with the city in the title and release a CD of this material. Also, he wants to score something for the audience to sing, record it, and integrate it into his next album. (Posted on the Magical Armchair Digest by Lyon2kc@cs.com.)

• Reports that Ben Folds is writing a musical are true.  He is very excited about the project, and he has chosen a collaborator (stage writer) and started writing songs.  When asked what inspired him to do this, Ben replied: "There's not enough pop music in theatre, and not enough theatre in pop music."  (Thanks to mikeylawless for this info from a Canadian radio interview.)

On to the articles:

• The Dallas Observer comments on the pairing of Ben Folds with The Divine Comedy

• A great preview article from The Houston Chronicle and a blurb from The New Olreans Times-Picayune.  Thanks, "Ben Folds Fan," for the Houston link.

• The UWM Post (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) reviews Ben's show at The Rave.

March 6
More, more and MORE new articles:

• The Detroit Free Press interviews Ben on his new tour format

• An excellent article from Sunday's Kansas City Star

• Another gem with lots of great quotes from Ann Arbor News

• A review of Ben's performance at the Vic last Saturday in Chicago (and a pre-show blurb from October) from Metromix

• Another pre-show blurb, this time from The Indy Star (scroll down to "All By Himself")

• The Star Newspapers' Pop Stops' 2002 Grammy Award Picks listed Ben Folds as a better choice for nomination in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category.

March 3
More new tour articles:

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finds "Folds' music a satisfying blend of styles" after his show at the Rave

• The Chicago Star promotes Ben's March 2 show with Folds brings piano magic to Chicago

• A short blurb on the solo tour from Detroit Free Press

March 1
Today I've got a few brand new articles surrounding the current tour:

• A pre-show article and album review from The Daily Iowan

• An interview with Ben and short pre-show blurb from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

And here's the rest of the older ones I've found:

• A short album review from Wired

• The Minnesota Daily looks at Rockin' The Suburbs from a different perspective

• Two informal reviews of RTS from Complete Chaos, a Canadian webzine.

• A collection of member reviews from epinions.com

Feb 27
The Michigan Daily published a really good article on Ben on February 20th. Be sure to read Fold the band: Ben goes solo.

Feb 25
The "Ben Folds and a Piano" tour kicks off today, and there's a brand new article from Billboard - this is truly a must-read, offering information on what to expect on this tour, a second leg of midwest and east coast dates, and more of Ben's future plans.  Thanks to Andy for the heads up!

More new additions:

• An (audio) interview with Ben at www.musiclive.com.au

• A review of Ben's show in Rochester, NY last fall

Feb 18
You may have noticed I ever-so-slightly redesigned the site.  May it always be a work in progress! Oh... I also learned how to spell Pittsburgh.  Thanks Boni!

More soon...

Feb 16
Dekalb, IL concert goers were the envy of every Ben Folds fan until Bowery came along six days later. The ten song encore had anyone who couldn't attend drooling... Word on the street is that a bootleg of this show will be available soon! I recently found links to articles from the Northern Star (Northern Illinois University):

• Ben Folds Q&A, printed the day of the Dekalb concert

• Ben Folds Takes Five, concert review

• A new fold for CAB concerts, discusses profitability v. student satisfaction when bringing a concert on campus and the then upcoming Ben Folds show.

Many thanks go to Sarah Rejhert for sending me hard copies of these last fall! There was also a feature and huge picture of Ben announcing the show in October, but it's not available online. (Hopefully you'll see it here eventually.)

Feb 14
New additions:

• Another tour announcement, this time from Yahoo.  (The Los Angeles dates are incorrect in all of these articles - get the official tour information here.)

• Gavin's "Ben Folds Rockin' the Radio"- a very good article (posted last week) regarding the single Still Fighting It and Ben's comments on RTS.

• Ed Masley of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named Ben's Sept 9th concert #2 in his top concerts of 2001.

• A review of Rockin' the Suburbs from The Brown Daily Herald and Campus Circle Magazine, plus an off the wall review from Ear Candy/LowCrats.com.

Feb 10
If you missed the webcast, here's a transcript of Ben's interview on 90.7 WFUV in December 2001.  Thanks to Greyseal for helping me transcribe it!

Also, I've updated the Misinformation section with an already necessary "Falsely Accused" section (just to show I too am human) and a bit more ambiguity in the "Chapel Hill Native" section.

Feb 9
As Ben adds tour dates for this month and next, articles announcing the "Ben Folds and a Piano" tour have surfaced at Billboard and LiveDaily. It sounds like this tour will be a big treat for fans!

Here are some more newly added articles:

• I'm not sure how I missed this November interview from LiveDaily; it includes info that hasn't been mentioned anywhere else - Ben must have been feeling rather talkative.
• LiveDaily also did an interview with Robert Sledge in early November.
• Greg Glasgow of Boulder's Daily Camera named Rockin' the Suburbs as one of his top ten albums of 2001.
• Check out these reviews of Rockin' the Suburbs from The Collegian (Penn State, McKeesport), Sound The Sirens, Modern Rock, the Yale Herald, and PowerPop.org.

Feb 3
Thanks to Andy of The Suburbs, benfolds.info now has a chat room where you can chat with other visitors to his site and mine.

New Additions:

• Rockin' the Suburbs converted an Australian reviewer at Grudnuk.com.
• The DePaux University newspaper calls Ben's album a masterpiece, and Revue Magazine likes it too.
• Brad Barrish reviews Ben's Oct 16th show in Los Angeles.  If you never believed that Hanson joined a surprised Ben on stage, you have to see Brad's photos.
• An Indiana radio station, 92.3 WTTS, has a short blurb on Ben's show at the Egyptian Room and a couple of pictures with the WTTS staff.
• A positive if lackluster review of Ben's show last fall in Omaha from the Creighton University newspaper.

Feb 1
Here are some of those newly discovered reviews I promised.  

• Buzz Online gives Rockin' the Suburbs a B-, admitting a preference for Ben Folds Five.
• The Red Jetta, an e-zine run by two college guys, grades RTS a B in this thoughtful review.
• Aperturius of another webzine, Monkeys v. Robots, rates the album "4 out of 5 monkeys."  In the process, he coins an interesting new word: puke-tastic.
• New Rock 97.9, a Grand Rapids, MI radio station, has posted some listener reviews.

More to come...

Jan 30
Finally, the new section is done! For the anal-retentive Ben Folds freak in all of you, I present And it doesn't look right: Misinformation. Enjoy!

I've also recently found a couple dozen articles, so check back soon for those!

Jan 25
Yes, I'm still here, and I've been working on a new section for the site.  Expect "And It Doesn't Look Right," a collection of misinformation and other odd or amusing things found in the archive's many articles, to make its debut sometime in the next week.

News: 

• A few tour dates have popped up in February and March, and this time it's just Ben and his piano! Here's hoping for more dates soon...
• Robert Sledge, former Ben Folds Five bassist, has produced an upcoming album for Hobex out of his home studio in Chapel Hill.  Check out some song samples at www.hobex.com; the songs Robert worked on are Aint Pushin Baby, Say Yeah, and Sold Down the River.  Thanks to "hobexfan" for the news.

Here are some articles to tide you over: 

• A review of the NY Town Hall concert, "Shift in Pain as Growing Up Hits Home", a pre-show article from the Athens Banner-Herald, and a review of the Baltimore show from unpop.com.  The latter includes an interesting picture of Ben I've never seen before.
• In Music We Trust gives Rockin the Suburbs an A+
• An annoying yet seemingly honest album review from Oilzine.com and another album review from takeoutmusic.com

That ought to keep you entertained for a while...

Jan 11
ArtistDirect.com gave musicians a chance to rate their favorite albums of 2001 - Zach Lind of Jimmy Eat World rated Rockin The Suburbs as Number 1!  Thanks to Andy at The Suburbs for this.

Jan 8
There's a new article at CNN: "Ben Folds, Doing His Own Thing" is a very interesting read touching on Messner, Ben Folds Five, Rockin The Suburbs, and Ben's ability to write "almost hits."  Thanks, "Squeaky!"

Jan 7
Top Albums and Songs of 2001: 
Everybody has a list, and Ben has shown up on a few.  If you catch Ben on any other end-of-year lists (best or - I sure hope not - worst), please let me know about it!

• Rockin The Suburbs is number 6 of the "Top 10 Albums of 2001" at Music-Critic.com. After you've perused the list, take a look back at their review.
• Rockin The Suburbs was voted number 8 in BUMrock.com's year-end poll.  Plus, the singles Rockin The Suburbs and Still Fighting It were voted into the "Top 100 Songs of 2001" at numbers 7 and 69, respectively.

Jan 1
Happy New Year!
The final portions of the Bowery bootleg are now up, plus CD cover art and most of the Irving Plaza show!  Get it all here. 

New additions: 

• Concert reviews of the TLA, Fillmore, and El Rey shows printed in the student newspaper of Saint Joseph's University (Philly), University of San Francisco's Foghorn, and the Los Angeles Times, respectively.
• This blurb from a UK alternative lifestyle magazine is bound to be unpopular among fans - if you're gonna bash something, at least get your facts straight. Am I right?
• A favorable review of Rockin The Suburbs from HipOnline.

 

2001

Dec 25
Merry Christmas!
Just a quick update to let you know that Parts 1 and 2 of the Bowery show are now available.

Dec 20
The encore portion of Ben's solo show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York is on the web!  (That's really solo with no backing band.)  Though it's 25MB, this amazing eighteen minutes is definitely worth your while!  Get it here or here. Undying gratitude goes to BoweryBandit and greyseal.  And more good news... the first 4 parts of the show are coming soon!

Today's Additions:

• A Dec 7th article from The New York Daily News
• A good review from UNC Charlotte and another album review from the University Wire printed in the same publication.
• Dec 6th blurb at New York Newsday.com

Dec 18
Ben put his business in the street with his first 'note from Ben' at the official site. Short, sweet, and strangely funny as usual. He mentioned he will get started on a new album while at home in Australia!  (Although it's rumored he'll be back on the road in a few months.)

Another batch of articles is coming soon.

Dec 17
Several items from college newspapers:

• An album review from The Sagamore, the weekly newspaper of Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis.  (That's quite a mouthful, isn't it?)
• An article, interview, and an album review from two different student newspapers from the University of Wisconsin.

Plus, the broken links I mentioned yesterday seem to be working again.

Dec 16
First of all, my apologies that the 3 articles from The Guardian/Observer in yesterday's update seem to have suddenly stopped working. I'm not sure if the articles have been permanently removed or if it's a temporary problem.  Hopefully, you'll see them back here one way or another.

But there's always more...

• Learn how Ben identifies with Fred Jones in an Indy Star article
• An interview and album review from the October issue of Sound and Vision. Thanks Stef!
• A review of the Hartford, CT show
• Two more reviews of Rockin The Suburbs from Musiciansnews.com and InBaltimore.com

Dec 15
I got an early Christmas Present!  So now you can reach this site with a much more palatable URL:  www.benfolds.info.

New Additions:

• Three articles from back in August - all with great Ben quotes - from Canada, the UK, and Australia.  Also, an album review and pre-show blurb from The Guardian, the same UK publication.
• The Onion has named Rockin The Suburbs (the single) as Best Commentary in a Pop Chorus.
• A review of the Madison, WI show from Music-Critic.com.

Dec 12
New Additions: A review of the 11/20 Albany show and an article in the Hartford Courant in which Ben talks about his best instrument (not the piano!) and the difference between his solo music and the five.  The newspapers will move these to paid archives soon, so check them out now.

Golden Slumbers (the Beatles cover Ben did for the I Am Sam soundtrack) is on the web. You can download it at The BFF Clubhouse or The Suburbs.  The soundtrack of Beatles covers (various artists) will be released in January.

Dec 10
Ben has been spotted on CNN! Here's a brief article and interview at the CNN website, along with 2 video clips from the "Bowling with Ben" event held in Los Angeles in October.  (I can't help but mention that I was directly behind the cameraman who filmed these shots!)

Also, I've added two articles from the MIT student newspaper: one on Rockin the Suburbs and one on the Avalon show in September.

Dec 8
Remember the other Santa song Ben spoke of in his post to the Magical Armchair last year?  Well, now you can listen to "Bizarre Christmas Incident" at the official site.

I've broken down the articles section into several pages, so everything should load much more quickly now.

Dec 7
More new additions: a review of the Athens show from the University of Georgia and a review of the Columbus show.  Also, the University of North Carolina college paper staff voted Rockin The Suburbs as one of the top 10 albums in 2001! And 5 more...

Dec 6
Today's Additions: Another campus review of RTS and a July '01 write up entitled Ben Folds Two (Timer, That Is) on the (now canceled) re-release of Whatever and Ever Amen.

Dec 4
Six reviews of Rockin The Suburbs from the US, UK, and Canada added in the Sept, Oct, and Misc Fall sections.

Dec 2
The December Maxim article has been added to the articles page (very funny Robert story), along with 10 other articles.

2002 Updates