#1 from Chapel Hill

Shant be anymore posts until late next week... I'm off down to a little town outside of Seattle called Woodinville to see Ben Folds (!) at a winery (?). He's co-headlining with Rufus Wainwright with special guest Ben Lee. That's two-thirds of the Bens. Score!

Ben Folds Five - Barrytown [originally by Steely Dan]
They used to show up with a non-album track on a lot of soundtracks at the turn of the millenium. This one was from Me, Myself, and Irene. Other soundtracks included The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Godzilla, and then Ben went solo on the Grinch, I am Sam, and The Banger Sisters.

Ben Folds Five - Song For the Dumped
[live from The Complete Sessions at West 54th]
I'm lucky they put out this DVD before they broke up since I'll never see them live... sigh. This is probably my favourite version of this song.

Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs
This is live from The Panel, which I think is an Aussie radio station though I could be wrong. I prefer this stripped down "Ben and a piano" version over the studio album cut.

So that'll take care of the top placeholder in the must-see-artists-before-I-die gigs. Ben Folds and White Stripes in the same summer... unbelievable. Next up, Andrew Bird and Harvey Danger (back together with a new album next week! more on that in the near future...).

==========================

And tomorrow, Terry Gilliam's first film since Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (7 years ago) will be coming out... double whammy of Gilliam with another called Tideland coming out later this year. Won't get to see it until next week, but should be a gooder. A quick glance at some initial reviews seem to savour the opportunity to use "grim" puns to describe their bad reviews, but who cares what they think? Adventures of Baron Munchausen was panned (enjoyed it). Fear & Loathing panned (quite enjoyed it). I'll be there next weekend. So to commemorate my Gilliam excitement, here's the music used as the theme to one of my favourite flicks ever, 12 Monkeys.






12 Monkeys theme






Plus, some tracks from his Python cohorts:
Meaning of Life
I Like Chinese
Theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus
(without a doubt, this is the single song I've heard more than any other in my entire life. And not this wimpy truncated theme version, but the full-length Liberty Bell March by JP Sousa. For further details, visit the downtown library in Edmonton at closing time)