I can't think of a good pun on "Folds"

[vovat]

See, I saw Ben Folds at a casino in Atlantic City last night, and you can FOLD at the poker table. There must be something there, right? Well, never mind. It would have been lame anyway. What wasn't lame was the concert itself. It did take forever to get started, but since we had seats, it wasn't the big deal it might have been otherwise. The opening band was the Hotel Lights, the current project of former Ben Folds Five member Darren Jessee. I honestly can't say I had much of an opinion on them one way or the other. Ben himself was accompanied by a band, and did an interesting set that included a few of the fake versions of the Way to Normal tracks, which were apparently leaked out before the album's release as a joke. I hadn't heard any of them before, but maybe I should seek them out. It was actually a while into the show before he pulled out any songs from his days with the Five, although he did play several in his encore. For "Free Coffee," he placed Altoid tins on top of his piano strings, producing a weird, sort of electronic sound. Ben also told stories about crazy cab drivers, one of which he turned into a brief song. (Whether the song was totally off the cuff or something he'd prepared ahead of time wasn't totally clear, but he certainly made it sound like he was improvising it.)

After the show, bethje and I went out to eat with her cousin Mark and his girlfriend Katie, which was fun. It took us a while to find a place we could eat at that time of night. We tried to find the Bombay Cafe at the Trump Taj Mahal, but were unable to locate it, so instead we went to Breadsticks at Resorts. Oh, and while we were in line for the concert, I noticed someone wearing a shirt with what looked like the Oz symbol on the back, but it actually turned out to be advertising a cult. If I were Ozma, I'd sue. {g}

You might have noticed that, even though the Animation Domination block on Fox (NewsCorp sure loves the word "dominate," don't they?) was new last Sunday, I didn't review them. That's because Beth and I were out with her cousin Craig when they were on (well, we got back in time for American Dad, but not the others), and I didn't get a chance to watch the tape until Thursday. I don't really have too much to say about them even now. The Simpsons episode was pretty bland for the most part, and Bart pretending to be good to impress a girl had been done before. I did like the focus on Milhouse, though, and some of the brief gags. I do have to nitpick the bit near the beginning with Groundskeeper Willy being knocked out by the letters from the school sign, though. When he was knocked out, we saw three N's turn sideways into Z's, but there are only two N's in "Springfield Elementary School." I hope someone got fired for that blunder. :P

I don't have much to say about Family Guy or American Dad. They were passable, and the "Bag of Weed" song in the former was pretty good, but neither was anything all that special. I do feel I should say a bit about Sit Down, Shut Up, though, seeing as how it's new and all. Despite top-name voice talent (I think the creators of the show must have come to the set of Arrested Development and gotten as many people as possible to sign up as cartoon voices), I didn't think it was that funny. Honestly, it seemed to be trying too hard. And is it really reasonable to do so much meta-humor before you've even fully introduced your characters and premise? Oh, well. You can rarely judge a show by its first episode.

And now we're pretty much caught up to the present day. I do still need to provide the answers to last week's lyric quiz, though, don't I?

Comments

[nova-one.livejournal.com]

Ha-ha, well who's to say the blunder wasn't by the in-universe sign crew? Not like they showed it saying "Springfield Elemenntary School" to establish that, but it could be done via retcon!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Maybe they should have shown a plane in the air above the school with a missing letter N. {g}

[nova-one.livejournal.com]

You know, I betcha that could end up on the DVD!

[auronsgirl.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is weird. I just caught up my Ben Folds collection and bought Way to Normal last night, along with Regina Spektor's album that I've been meaning to get.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I haven't been too thrilled with most of what I've heard of Regina Spektor, but I do like her performance with Ben on "You Don't Know Me." When they did that song at the concert, one of the guys in the band sang the Regina parts.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

I've never listened to Ben Folds. I wasn't too crazy about the Five when they were around. Too "college prep rock" to me.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I didn't get into Ben until after he wasn't quite as popular with the general public. The first hit the Five had was "Brick," which I really didn't like too much at the time. I actually think his first post-Five album, Rockin' the Suburbs, is probably the best starting point for anyone wanting to check out his music.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I also missed the the Sunday Animation Block! So, I guess that makes sense then or something -- since usually I really enjoy your bits on 'em. I suppose I could just bit-torrent 'em, but... I am a little curious about "Sit Down, Shut Up", but the artwork is blegh, the ads looked terrible and I've yet to see anyone say they like it, so.....

Also: Are you gonna pick up the Ben Folds Presents record of the a capella versions of his songs? That's... an interesting idea. Even if I were a bigger Ben Folds fan than I am (causal at best), I don't know if I would.

BTW: I could have sworn I had hooked you up with the Fake Leak? Dang. My favorites are "The Bitch Went Nutz" and "Dr. Yang".

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Are you gonna pick up the Ben Folds Presents record of the a capella versions of his songs?

I don't know. I think this might be the first I've heard of it. I definitely WOULD like to hear the Fake Leak songs, though.

And yeah, the artwork in Sit Down, Shut Up is pretty bad.

[i3uffalogirl.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Ben Folds Five in college (waaaay back when we were in the ol' Robert E. Cook H.C. together), but haven't thought to seek out any of his newer work. I have wondered if he was still touring and how the shows might be, so thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a local tour. Probably not something I'd go ridiculously out of my way for, but I wouldn't mind having the opportunity to check him out.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's weird, because I think he's not as popular now as he was with the Five, even though his music isn't much different. But maybe his problem wasn't the dissolution of his band so much as the fact that few musicians stay consistently popular with the masses.