(I have something incredibly cool to announce, that I can barely keep a secret anymore, but must wait a little bit longer…so please watch for a SPECIAL email coming your way in the next few days.)
On to the Article!
~
My inbox just pinged me with a notification that one of my favorite artists in the world is coming to my hometown of Park City, UT.
I already knew this, but hadn’t purchased tickets because I had a HOLD on the date for a client.
It’s rare for me to be happy that a client changed their date, but that’s what happened, and now I just paid a fairly large sum for my wife and children to go see, LIVE and IN CONCERT, an artist I have adored for almost 30 years.
If you don’t know his work, it’s as if Billy Joel and Elton John decided to have a child with Weird Al (in terms of comedy lyrics), and Mr. Rogers (in poignancy and wisdom). Alt-Rock, Indie-Pop, Percussive Piano…hard to explain, but the dude’s a genius, as we see in this video of him composing a piece with an entire orchestra here:
Yes, it was expensive to buy these tickets…
Yes, it is bad timing as not all of our children are in town…
Yes, it is one of the most important things we can do with our summer because this guy is a LEGEND to me, the dad of this house.
In 2002 my wife surprised me with Ben Folds tickets to see him Philly, standing room only, from the balcony, where I watched in absolute stunned amazement as the man I had enjoyed on CD while driving cross country pounded the piano (his Signature Move) before me as if he was trying to break it and made the most beautiful music one can comprehend.
Just a dude and a piano.
That was the last time I have gotten to see him LIVE.
In 2020, during the pandemic, I got a notification that Ben Folds had started a Patreon account, which means you pay a subscription fee to have different levels of access to an Artist. It was then I found out that he had traveled to Australia for a tour and was on lockdown for months, Rolling Stone Article HERE, away from his family, trapped in a room, and had managed to get a keyboard and a webcam…and began to livestream.
True story.
Just like the rest of us schlubs.
I guess no matter how big of a celebrity you are, challenging things can still happen to you, and you still have to make the best of it.
Ben, losing ALL of his concert dates and money for the year, decided to turn on the camera, play the piano, take requests, and interact with his fans while everyone was hunkered down.
The hustle, the grind, the tenacity to me was the ultimate Promise move – still deliver so the fans can see you, still make money for your family. Studly. But he did so much more, making his in-house concerts personal, custom, and he went to a new level of FRIEND to FAN than any artist I’ve ever seen.
I would log in, follow along, and enjoy his hard work, while doing the same thing from my Virtual Studio at home, striving to survive like the rest of us, admiring this great artist who was still cranking out the work day after day.
And now here we are, in 2023, and he’s coming to my hometown.
Where else would I be?
When one of your musical, entertainment, and performance favorites comes to town, you drop everything, pay whatever it takes, and get your family there.
So that’s where I’ll be this Friday, if you’re in town and want to join me for one of the best musical experiences you’ll ever see, please get your tickets HERE.
Hey – you can Thank Me later!
Truly, I’m a Fan.
Oh, to be a Fan of Ben Folds, it’s a special treat, and I’ll follow the guy anywhere, but especially when he lands in my home state. I can’t wait.
Promise kept.
(P.S. Who are YOU a Fan of? Comment below)
~ Jason Hewlett
Husband, Father, Writer, Mentor, Hiker
- Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer * Coach & Mentor
- World’s Only Keynote Speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions, and comedy to teach The Promise
- Author of “The Promise To The One”
7 Responses
Jason,
Great post! The video from The Kennedy Center was amazing. I’d heard of Ben Folds, but wasn’t really familiar with his work. If I wanted to start listening to him, where would you recommend I start? Old stuff? New stuff? Any particular album?
And as for your question of “Who am I a fan of?”–the list is too long to write. But there’s one artist where I particularly find myself as a “fan club of one” among my friends–and that is Gino Vannelli. Most people know him as a one (or two) hit wonder, but I’m a huge fan of his entire body of work. He combines pop, jazz, and even classical influences into his songs and is also a stellar live performer.
I appreciate this very much, and it made me really think what would David like? Because you’re a writer and of comedy, you’d love anything due to his wit alone, since you play piano you’ll love his driving instrumentality on the keys…but let’s start with you checking out “Still Fighting It” since you’re a Dad, as well as “Landed” since you travel for a living and is a soaring beauty of a song. “The Luckiest” since you love your darling wife so much, and “Brick” for it’s plain old catchiness. “One Angry Dwarf” may be the first song of his I heard when I was a young budding musician and I wrote the original opening to my show due to it. It’s hard to say exactly, but hope that helps. I will check out Gino, thank you for sharing!
Excellent! Thanks, Jason! Looking forward to discovering Ben Folds.
I’ve never heard of this gentleman before but after watching the clip you shared, I’m in complete amazement of his talents! Excited you are able to go see him live! Hope you and your family have a wonderful time.
Thank you for checking out the incredible video of just a little of his work. Really astounding musical genius.
I absolutely LOVE Ben Folds 🙂 Ben Folds Five at the 930 club in DC was one of my first concerts and I still remember it to this day. What a talent!
Oh my goodness man, I didn’t know we both loved this guy so much. Awesome!