Pity poor Ben Folds who has been traveling the globe for two years now, playing with orchestras from Australia to the US. Elton John’s old arranger, Paul Buckmaster, has even signed on, giving the prolific composer his own seal of approval.
And Folds is due some respect as he is quietly becoming this generation’s Randy Newman. On tour now with John Mayer, Folds helped the famed Boston Pops open their concert season last week when a fistfight broke out in the upper rows.
Cameras captured the image and spun it all over television and the web. One half expected the fight to have been caused by Folds’ fans well-known tradition of singing along with every line of every song. Orchestra members seem astounded, and sometimes a bit overwhelmed, by the attention. But in the end, the fight was simply one guy talking through a song, another telling him to shush and ratting him out to an usher, followed by shoves and punches and posturing.
In the most delicious of ironies, Folds was not playing his sentimental favorite Boxing, but rather, Jesusland, when the brou-hahaed.
Spinning In The CD:
Forget that Taylor Hicks won season 5 of American Idol. We’ll also stipulate that McPhee can sing almost as well as K.T. Tunstall and looked pretty darn pretty sprawled on a stage singing Over The Rainbow. Elliot Yamin has turned in the slickest release of all of Season 5’s contestants. Daughtry will undoubtedly sell more. Playing your single to 30 million people every week will do that for an album. Just ask Daniel Powter. But Yamin, who producers kept on a short vocal leash, shows that his is a voice that will be releasing ballads, soft rock and smooth jazz for another generation. Now if we could just get him a duet with Stevie…
