Some of you may know Ben Folds as a celebrity judge on the a capella singing show, Sing Off. Some of you may know his as the guy who hangs out with Muppets, making videos with his long-time pop band The Ben Folds Five. Still, others may have seen him arrange a new orchestration on the spot at one of his pops concerts. So it was a little weird when the very same Ben Folds rang the buzzer to the PT studios one Saturday Morning in March.
His disheveled look was the kind you would recognize from a magazine instead of what most of us might see staring back in the mirror. A little scruff on the cheeks and chin, bundled in a cardigan. The very picture of a composer. A composer who likes taking pictures. He showed up, camera in hand, ready to shoot (on film) whatever grabbed his attention.
It's probably easy to become famous for one thing and then to keep doing that thing over and over again. People expect that. People like that. People have been showered with lifetime achievement awards for just that.
But Ben Folds has made a career of not choosing the easy path. I get the sense that it's mostly out of not wanting to be bored. He's prolific and extremely talented, with a mind that can't help but spill melodies. So why not release a record with author Nick Hornby? Why not record a record with eight piece, new music ensemble, yMusic, and take them on the road for a tour? And why not give yourself the challenge of writing a concerto? For the sake of having something to do, why not? And for the sake of the rest of us, thank you Ben Folds.
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