90s Live Now #12 - BEN FOLDS FIVE

As you may have noticed, I grew up in the 90s. That's not exactly true. I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Though, I'm not really sure which decade I'm supposed to have grown up in when it comes to Buzzfeed articles and Microsoft Internet Explorer commercials. I was born in 1979, so I became self-aware in the middle of the 80s, but had reached a certain maturity level in the early 90s when I became a teenager.

But, when it comes to music, I'm all 90s. Obviously, since I write a 90s music blog that like 3 people look at. That takes a special kind of dedication.

The 80s, when it comes to music, kind of sucked. Don't get me wrong, there was great stuff in the 80s. Pixies, The Cure, REM, The Cars and other bands that were mostly on the fringe of the mainstream. And I love the hell out of Hall & Oates and Huey Lewis & The News. Unironically, even. But for the most part, I consider the early-to-mid 80s to be a bunch of synthy bullshit and the late 80s to be homogenized pop. Again, there are a lot of exceptions. But look at what the 80s did to great bands like Chicago and Jefferson Airplane. In the late 60s and early 70s, Chicago was pretty much the greatest thing alive and Jefferson Airplane was not far behind. In the 80s, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "We Built This City." WE BUILT THIS FUCKING CITY. That's what the 80s were - "We Built This City" on endless repeat while yuppies snort coke in Volvos while wearing shoulder padded power suits and watching Dallas. 

But the 90s, now that was a special time. I know a lot of people will say, "Ugh the 90s was just grunge marf marf marf." But the mainstreaming of grunge lasted for like 18 months. And, it paved the way for alternative music to become popular, which it still is today: Mumford and Sons. Gotye. Fun. There's even some bands that don't suck.

For those that don't waste time dissecting this, "grunge" is synonymous with both the fashion of wearing beat-up clothes and flannel shirts, and the music. But to those people, "grunge" just means "loud guitars." Everclear and Eve 6 were grunge bands to a lot of people. This is wrong. Grunge was a very specific type of riff-based rock that was mostly popular in the Pacific Northwest. Early Soundgarden, Tad, Mudhoney, etc. It's a lot closer to Black Sabbath than it is to goddamned Everclear.

No, what these people consider to be grunge is actually "alternative rock" or "modern rock" or "alt rock" which is another umbrella term for rock that includes Soundgarden, Nirvana AND Everclear. And if you remove the rock, you just get alternative. Which allows for pretty much anything, including...

BEN FOLDS FIVE

Herein lies the greatness of 90s alternative and the 90s as a whole - you could turn on an alternative station in 1995 and hear Pearl Jam (rock), Beastie Boys (rap), Beck (whatever) and Ben Folds Five - which draws heavily from 70s-era soft rock like Elton John and Steely Dan - all on the same station, in a row. It was like your iPod on shuffle except with shitty commercials every 3 songs. Seriously, radio commercials are the lowest form of art.

But, as a child of the 90s, I hated this band. For years. Well, two years. But when you're a teenager, two years is a significant fraction of your existence.

My introduction to BFF came while watching 120 Minutes (February 4, 1996) and seeing the video for "Underground." My first thought, clear as day:

"WHAT. THE. SHIT."

In the previous hour, I had seen videos from Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Spacehog and Radiohead. All guitar-based groups that used a buttload of distortion, which was the litmus test of musical awesomeness in the 90s. It took a lot to appreciate a group that wasn't stepping on a distortion pedal as the chorus starts. I came of age during the height of Nirvana; I was conditioned to hear a wall of distortion and feedback in every other song. And now, there's this twirpy guy banging on a piano in cowboy outfits singing about being cool and "Underground" in a weird falsetto like an adult Varys. This was the stuff of my 16-year-old nightmares. Well, that and Jennifer Bryant giving your friend Brent a handy when you clearly liked her.

I may have overreacted. After a couple more airings of that video it started to grow on me, but it wasn't until 3 months later when I saw the hilarious video for "Uncle Walter" that I came around and learned to appreciate this band for how great they were.

Fast forward a couple years and "Brick" just explodes. Everyone is singing it and no one can figure out that it's about abortion except me. Is that true? Of course not. Other people figured it out. But no one that I talked to at the time could. And no one had ever heard of this band before. Except me. I was so amazing and special and kind of an asshole for thinking that. Regardless of the newfound popularity, I had both of their albums on near-constant repeat. To me, this was as close as you could get to Weezer (my favorite band at the time), even if the loud guitars were replaced by a guy pounding his piano like it was a keg of Miller Lite at a freshman year frat party.

Fast forward a couple more years and we get to "Army" and The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, the band's third album, and once again, I'm on the outside with BFF. Gone were the melodies and humor and fuzzy bass that was their first self-titled album and Whatever and Ever Amen. Messner was something else entirely, and I wasn't buying in. Until I gave it a year or so and re-listened and realized this was their best work. Hell, this was some of the best music of the whole decade.

Sadly, many others had the same initial reaction to Messner that I did. Music was changing; pop and boy bands and hip-hop and shitty Limp Bizkit buttrock were taking over and an album that could have been the Sgt. Pepper's to OK Computer's Pet Sounds had it just came out 4 years earlier was lost in the shuffle.

And then the band broke up, taking my chances to see them live with them.

I'd missed seeing a lot of bands in the 90s, but Ben Folds Five was with Buffalo Tom and that dog. at the top of the regrets list. So, when it was announced in August of 2011, a tour only seemed inevitable.

Which brings us to January 26, 2013 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood.

In past 90s Live Now entries, I've written about fevered crowds, but I've not seen anything like tonight. This band was beloved, and every single (white) person in the greater LA area was there, singing along with every song.

Seriously, everyone was white. It was like being at the Republican National Convention.

More seriously, the crowd was manic. During "Army", Ben turned the mike to the crowd, and we sang back the horn parts, even breaking them up into their distinct parts without any direction. It was one of those special moments that happens once in a never. Like the time Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace started crying when the crowd sang "4am" louder than he was and completely unprompted.

Last fall, the band released their fourth studio album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind. And unlike Buffalo Tom's Skins, this is an album I found myself listening to over and over and over again. While not quite as exuberant as their first 2 records, nor as melancholy and experimental as their 3rd, Sound has great songs for a band that hadn't even played together in 13 years. So, when they opened with "Michael Praytor, Five Years Later", the second track off of their newest album, there was none of the backlash that you would expect from a crowd who paid a lot of money (seriously, these tickets were expensive) to see one of their favorite bands reunited but they insist on playing the new shit no one knows. Point is, the new shit is good so no one cared.

Also helping - this is a tight band. Even during songs they just sort of made up on the spot, drummer Darren Jesse and bassist Robert Sledge expertly kept up with Ben Folds and his magical piano, making it seem like these little improvs were fully formed ideas that the band had rehearsed for weeks. It was like a little window into their creative process, furthered by Ben Folds' story about how the new song "Do It Anyway" was inspired by an event that occurred the last time he had played the Wiltern (short version, Ben said he couldn't dance on top of his piano to whatever song they were playing, a fan yelled "Do It Anyway" and he wrote 75% of it right there and then).

Another very cool thing about tonight's show: Ben Folds said that the band broke up 13 years ago and his kids are now 13 years old and tonight was the first time they had met Darren or Jesse and the first time they've seen BF5 perform live. What a spectacular first time to see them - in a packed auditorium, with thousands of people singing along with their dad's songs. They must've been beaming with pride. Hell, I was for them.

So, bottom line, amazing show. Like Buffalo Tom two years ago, this is a great live band, made better by the fact that I waited a decade and a half to see them live.

Here's the setlist:

Michael Praytor, Five Years Later

Jackson Cannery

Hold That Thought

Selfless, Cold and Composed

Erase Me

Landed

Sky High

Missing the War

Battle of Who Could Care Less

Draw a Crowd

Thank You For Breaking My Heart

Brick

Theme From Dr. Pyser

Army

Do It Anyway

Alice Childress

Tonight the Bottle Let me Down (Merle Haggard cover) 

Song For The Dumped

ENCORE:

Philosophy
Chopsticks (Liz Phair cover)

Magic
Underground

How fitting that they should end with the song that had first turned me against them before I learned to love them. It was a perfect way for the cosmos to rub my early stupidity in my face.

Whatever (And Ever. Amen.).

90s Live Now - #4 that dog.

For whatever reason, the music gods have deigned me worthy of receiving their divine attention, and have chosen to bestow it upon me in the form of the Troubadour's event calendar. In one amazing summer, I've gotten to see Buffalo Tom, Archers of Loaf, Smoking Popes and tonight, FINALLY:

that dog.

Lowercase T, lowercase d, period at the end.

For the uninitiated, that dog. was a Los Angeles-based alternative band that put out three great albums in the mid-90s before breaking up. Often described as the female version of Weezer, they were fronted by petite chanteuse Anna Waronker and featured the equally adorable Haden sisters, Rachel on bass and Petra on violin, and also adorable Tony Maxwell on drums.

that dog. then

 I've gone into more depth about that dog's style and musicianship on this blog, so I'll just focus on tonight, and their sold-out show at (once again) the Troubadour in West Hollywood/Los Angeles.

Introduced by screenwriter Ali Rushfield, the band immediately launched into "Old Timer" their biggest single off of their first, self-titled album. The energy level was palpable immediately and remained this way throughout the evening, as a very diverse and enthused crowd kept yelling for more during the band's 90 minute set.

 that dog. now

The band's musicianship was impressive -  there were hardly any mistakes, save for a few forgotten lyrics - surprising for a band that hasn't played a show together in 14 years. This reunion attitude was pervasive throughout the evening, as the band joked about how some things never change and often shared glances (and, most importantly, encouraging smiles) in each others' direction - none of the animosity that plagued the band towards the end was present. It's amazing how much a decade-and-a-half can wash away.

This was the first of 2 sold-out shows the band is playing this weekend, and their attitude has been "see how these go, then we might do more." Judging by the turnout (Rachel's reaction upon learning that some fans traveled FAR to get to the show was a shocked "that is so rad!"), their performance and their reception tonight, you might be seeing them in your area soon.

Here's the setlist:

Old Timer
Jump
Ms. Wrong
Long Island
Being With You
Raina
Lip Gloss
She Looks At Me
Grunge Couple
Did You Ever
Retreat From the Sun
Silently
Zodiac
Minneapolis
Gagged and Tied
He's Kissing Christian

(1st encore)
Punk Rock Girl
Never Say Never
In the Back of My Mind
Michael Jordan
Angel

(2nd encore)
This Boy

Also important to note is they had a very special surprise opening act that I unfortunately missed: Tenacious D. Though I have it on good authority that there will be another opening act Sunday, one that is Wonderful, Excellent, Exceptional, Zippy, Exquisite, & Reknowned.

(that spells Weezer)

Whatever.  

90s Live Now - #1 Buffalo Tom

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing one of my all-time favorite bands, Buffalo Tom, for the first time.

In the 90s, I had 3 key moments of exposure to the band, all of which are fond memories and factored heavily into who I am today. Or something like that.

Moment #1 - The "Self Esteem" episode of MY SO-CALLED LIFE. You know, the one where Angela and Jordan were making out in the boiler room and she goes to the Pike to see Buffalo Tom and Jordan is playing pool and totally gives her the cold shoulder. What a douche. We heard "Sodajerk" when Angela enters and "Late at Night" during that unforgettable moment. Side note: who would have thought that years later Jordan Catalano would be in a bigger (but in no way better) band (30 Seconds to Mars) than the one he was going to see that night? Crazy.

(Side note: Claire Danes was in attendance tonight. Awesome.)

Moment #2 - The June 25, 1995 episode of MTV's 120 Minutes, hosted by The Catherine Wheel. The episode premiered Buffalo Tom's video for "Summer," which was most appropriate, not only for its timeliness, but also that it will forever remind me of the summer of 1995, aka The Best Summer Ever.

Moment #3 - The last episode of the John Stewart Show. In his introduction to them, John said the network had given him his choice of musical guest for his last episode. His first choice was Nine Inch Nails, arguably the hardest act to book in 1995. His second choice? Buffalo Tom, a relatively unknown band at the time. Actually, they still are today. The played their newest single, "Summer" and I was hooked.

Fast forward to 1998. Buffalo Tom was running a promotion on their website. Fans could write their local radio station requesting their new single, "Rachael" and forward or cc the email to the band. One lucky winner (presumably) from each town would be put on the guestlist for an upcoming show.

It was to my great surprise one evening that my mom told me that there was a message on the answering machine (no voicemail yet!) from a guy named Bill. Sure enough, it was Bill Janovitz, thanking me for the email I sent to Orlando's terrible (and at the time only) rock station, WJRR. The station around this time had Stabbing Westward and Korn in heavy rotation, so the chances of "Rachael" getting played were slim to none, but I tried. For my reward, Bill would put me on the guestlist of the nearest show...which was in Connecticut. Buffalo Tom had not come through Orlando before and would not again before their breakup, and I never had the chance to see them.


Bill Janovitz on a different night

Which brings us to tonight. When I saw that they were playing the Troubadour, one of the greatest music venues in the world, I couldn't pass it up. And thank god I didn't. Opening with "Tree House" from their album Big Red Letter Day, the band launched right into their 90+ minute set, and hit all of the highlights; every song I wanted to hear. I can't remember the last time I saw a band that played so many of my favorite of their songs. "Summer", "Late at Night", "Mineral", "Taillights Fade", "Sodajerk"...even a cover of New Order's "Age of Consent" and a great one at that.

On top of that, the band was extremely tight, engaging and played with an enthusiasm rarely seen anymore. A fantastic show and the perfect first entry for this feature.

Whatever.