the world has turned and left me here

ben does the collabo thing

Got to see Ben Folds again, this time in the KC City Market with Craig. Guster headlined. Guster schmuster. Well they were okay I guess. Ben played a pretty short set but included were Fair, Selfless Cold & Composed, Steven's Last Night in Town, and Rockin the Suburbs, all songs I hadn't heard him solo on before. Actually for Fair all of Guster came out & backed him. This is how that started...

The Guster drummer, a wild birdman who bongo drums and cymbal clashes all with his hands, no sticks, came out & sang half of the George Michael's "Careless Whispers" cover with Ben. Which, incidentally, was funny and weird. Later he showed up again & started backing Ben on bongo drums. After the song Ben moved over to a drum set--being a former drummer himself till he threw his drumset in a lake c.f. "Army"--and for about 10 min. they traded off in a little impromptu drum circle.

Then it was decided the whole band should come out & play Fair & it was so right sounding it made you want to weep for the good old BFF days. Really, I think Ben is starting to wish he had a band together again. Flying solo isn't all it's cut out to be & you can tell he misses the collaboration.

He also came out at the end of Guster's set, backing them in a much less Ben-centric way. Really now, have you ever been to a show wherein the acts collaborate like this? Every other concert I've ever attended has had iron curtains between the bands, esp. the bigger venues. That Ben weaved the two acts together like this is amazing if you think about it--a total break with tradition. There's always some new amazing thing at a Ben Folds concert...never pass one up.

So we stopped at a Perkins on the way back in St. Joseph MO, after driving around the eerily silent downtown looking for a mom & pop's diner to no avail. It was 1 am. The place was full of mostly old people, which was really strange considering the time.

Quite a few oddballs were there. "Safari Man" was what we nicknamed this guy with a red kerchief around his neck, tan lapelled jacket, ruddy face, glasses on a string. Then we heard him talk & realized he had an electronic voicebox which made him sound like an alien. Thus the kerchief we figured, and from there the whole getup was the logical next step. The logical next step?

Also there was a small woman who looked like she was straight out of a Britcom. Gaudy hat with big feather, turquoise suit jacket and skirt, round face & build, a waddling little Mrs. Bucket. Her husband looked like a bald ex Hell's Angel. How.

The return trip sucked, we were both falling asleep & driving through dense fog. At 3 am I suddenly awoke (fear of death) in the passenger's seat to Craig turning east at Rockport, which was nowhere near our turnoff & 180 degrees in the wrong direction. I took over & he fell asleep almost immediately. Got back 4 am to unfortunately wake up Mike who was sleeping in our living room before a team Triathlon at 7 am with Andrew & Jamaimer.