rockin' the (Twin Cities) suburbs

The day after Rufus came to town Ben Folds pulled in and gave a show at the Myth. Since the venue is in Maplewood (north of the Twin Cities center) we made it up to one of my favorite restaurants in the metro: Ingredients in White Bear Lake. I used to eat there all the time when I lived in town and it's great to get back every now and then. Their artichoke dip is to die for and still as good as I remember (if I could inject it intravenously and still manage to survive I would be a happy man for the rest of my life). They also offer a "Fancy on the Cheap" item on Fridays and Saturdays so I had this amazing bowl of mussels with chorizo, caramelized onions and fresh cilantro. It was a bit labor intensive but well worth the effort.
















Ben has long been one of my favorite artists. I remember enjoying "Brick" when it first came out (he was still with the Ben Folds Five at the time and I was in high school) but when a friend finally gave me the "you have to listen to this" talk a few years ago, I was an instant convert. That same friend subsequently loaned me a book of piano transcriptions which I learned and, frankly, they really helped me become a much better piano player (especially "Alice Childress").

BF is known partly for his sense of humor which is sometimes laced with biting sarcasm and, during "The Frown Song", out trotted 2 roadies with keytars(!) in giant frownie faces. It was one of the funnier moments of the concert.





You can watch a clip from the performance in question here. My favorite quote from the guy who posted it is, "Ben was rocking so hard people were passing out." I would just say that everyone was going nutz. His new album came out recently (for good measure, I reviewed it a few entries ago) and he played every song on it but "Errant Dog".

I'm so glad I finally got to see him live. Along with Rufus Wainwright (see previous entry) he is one of my all-time favorites and it's incredible that the first time that I got to see them both live was less then 24 hours apart.

Next up: AC/DC in January...