ben_folds tender_square he rocked this bitch in a casino of all places. in an intimate room with a few hundred other fans. and when he came out on stage right, he looked in our direction and waved, directly at our seats and i waved excitedly back, like i was seeing an old friend. his left foot was a stomping metronome while he sat on a drum throne and played a grand piano, his fingers fluttering like a million moths against the keys. he told a story about being at a minneapolis outdoor music festival, and stepping into an elevator with two men. he was just about to say, “you’re jeff bridges!” when the other man, michael mcdonald, said “you’re ben folds!” he watched mcdonald’s set from backstage, entered a suv limo with the two men after where he “saw more middle-aged breasts pressed up against the window than i’ve ever seen in my entire life—and it was for jeff bridges!” he said bridges shrugged at the scene because it happened all the time. the three of them went to a bar and bridges bought folds a white russian. he played “evaporated,” the closing track from “whatever and ever amen” and i cried, the tears making my mask damp, as ben’s voice belted and retreated “i poured my heart out…it evaporated, see?” he hit all the high notes on “jesusland,” talked about having a beer with his grown son, in reference to a lyric that was written on “still fighting it” when the boy was born twenty-three years before. the women in the crowd sang all of regina spektor’s parts on “you don’t know me.” and we all belted “she plays ‘wipeout’ on the drums, the squirrels and the birds come, to gather round to sing the guitar” when the chords of “kate” began. i recorded songs with the audio notes app on my phone to share with the love i wished i had been sitting beside. “i love you more than i have ever found a way to say to you,” folds sang during the encore and i knew that i was the luckiest. 220625 ... nr i remember going to see tori_amos in concert when i was about 20, and ben folds opened. i'd heard some songs by him and liked them, but had no idea what he'd be like live. he came out to just a snare drum and started playing an intricate rhythm on it, before people brought out the rest of the drum kit and set it around him, and he started playing a killer solo. "oh wow, okay, so he also plays drums," i thought. and then he got to playing the piano and doing his thing, and it was amazing. he's also really funny as a guest in "you're the worst." 220626 what's it to you? who go blather from