Who's That Guy With The Piano?

Gerritt, Mel, Josh, and I went to a Ben Folds concert this past Thursday night. I've seen a Ben show before, but this concert was a rare opportunity to see him perform with a complete symphony orchestra as his backing band. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, no less! In the brand-new Strathmore Music Hall, no less!

Strathmore, it turns out, is a beautiful place to hear music. The architecture is designed with the best acoustics in mind, such that it sounded like Ben and the symphony were right in front of our Upper Upper Nosebleed Tier seats. The room is live, as they say in the showbusiness. As for the show itself, the symphonic arrangements brought an entirely new dimension to Ben's songs. We were treated to several Ben Folds Five classics, as well as a few pieces from Rockin' The Suburbs, Songs For Silverman, and the recent EP's from last year. Ben also threw in his now-standard crowd sing-along antics, and he didn't curb down his sometimes-profane between-song banter for the presumably upper-crust environment, which I thought was awesome. I'm looking forward to the upcoming DVD that details a similar performance of his in Australia earlier this year. There's no word on a companion CD yet, but I'd be willing to bet there will be one. If not, there's always some DVD-audio capturing magic one could do, if one were so inclined...

Josh and I saw Jarhead Friday night. I enjoyed it; it's a very gritty and real look at what the wartime Marine lifestyle is like. One suggestion, though, which has nothing to do with the movie: whatever you do, don't pay an extra $2.50 to go to a "Director's Hall" showing of a movie at Fairfax Corner. We inadvertently did this, only to find out that there was no real benefit to it, other than "leather" padded seats (mine was ripped), a little bit of extra foot room, the chance to eat food in the theater, and get this - assigned seats. It was clear no one had any idea what was going on, and few people were enthusiastic about being forced to sit in a specific seat. The most enjoyment we got out of the Director's Hall experience was trying to guess before the movie just what the special benefits could be. I thought that perhaps the movie would be acted out in front of us in interpretive dance or something, but all we got was a theater manager thanking us for coming. I wanted my money back.