Fringe 2004 Early Buzz - Top 10 - Philosophy: The Music of Ben Folds
 
If You Held A Gun To My Head (4 of 10)
...or If I Could Only See Ten Fringe Shows...
...what would they be, and why?

Philosophy: The Music of Ben Folds
Brown Bee Productions
Loring Playhouse

We all have a soundtrack to our lives. It evolves as we do. If we're lucky, we have musically savvy friends who periodically broaden our musical horizons with new suggestions and a gift of a CD or two. One such friend for me is K Snodgrass. It was she who introduced me to Ben Folds Five with their disk "Whatever And Ever Amen" five years ago or so now. To this day, I repeatedly listen to (and share with others) tracks from that CD - "Smoke," "Brick," "Evaporated," "Song for the Dumped," "One Angry Dwarf..." and, well, nearly every other dang track on that thing. Quirky, clever, alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, haunting and pulse-pounding (and that *voice* of Ben's). I bought the other Ben Folds Five CDs as well, and follow Mr. Folds now on his solo career. With the good ones, you feel like the singer/songwriter crawled in your head and your heart and dragged out the best and worst of it and then set it to music, to somehow make it all a little better. Ben Folds does that for me.

So it was with much delight I discovered among the 175 plus shows this year that a show would be up to its eyeballs in Ben Folds' music. I got in touch with Brandon York of Brown Bee Productions and here's a little of what he shared with me...

"This show is an idea that has been molded over a number of years...By the time my senior year in high school had approached, I decided to disect the fourth and final Ben Folds Five album, "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," and came up with a storyline within the music...[W]hile attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts [in New York], I wrote three more scripts...From original ideas I held within [these] previous scripts...and from new ideas, we've constructed a series of films all inspired by Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five music. While showing the film above us, we'll set up a live/staged cabaret style underscoring which, I hope, will captivate an audience on a whole different level.

The show has a simple plot. It's a simple journey through a simple life - the ups and downs and curveballs life throws your way, brought to you through the music of Ben Folds.

Along with [Tony Radecki, John Lynn and myself], we''ve collaborated with a few other top musicians and film buffs to help us in our journey."

If I weren't already such a big Ben Folds fan myself, Brandon's enthusiasm would still be infectious enough to take me along for the ride. Because I am a fan, and want to share good music in much the same way Brandon and my friend K do, I urge you to give the show a slot on your schedule. It's not in my top ten this year for nothing.

For a look a the rest of my evolving New Top Ten (If You Held A Gun To My Head and I could only see ten fringe shows, what would they be and why), click below:

Death Penalty Puppetry
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Metamorphoses

Plus, 3 Sure Things (shows from artists on my top ten last year that are back again this year)

Plants and Animals
In Defense of Sin (My Friends' Best Stories)
Whoppers, from Kevin Kling

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)