Ben Folds - Declassified

(double entry for the digits. Didn't get to post this on Wednesday night) 

My friend Sara asked if we wanted to go see Ben Folds with her. Doug wasn't interested on a school night, and her husband wasn't really interested in going either... but we figured what the heck. Girls' Night Out, bitches! 

Ben does a series called Declassified with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. Usually it is Ben, as the Creative Director, curating artists to perform with the orchestra, like we recently saw William Shatner perform his songs about going out into space, for real, instead of just on a TV Show. 

I was disappointed at that show because I'd hoped Ben would perform more with Bill. Ben did a wonderful speech about how when he was a young boy he found The Transformed Man album at a yard sale, and it transformed him. Later in life, he had the opportunity to do an album with The Shat Man, and they've developed a wonderful friendship through the process. They put out an album together, Has Been. I would have loved to seen them perform that together. 

They did one song together, it's rather adorable. "I Want To Be A Tree." This is partway through a clip show of Shatner's songs that someone shot from the audience, they didn't include Bill teasing Ben and talking about their friendship. You can watch the whole thing if you just jump back to the beginning but I picked the start point from their one song together here. 

Experiencing that was nice, I mean, that's William Fucking Shatner, yo. Captain James T. Kirk. Legend. Absolute unit. It was worth the trip even if it lacked a certain amount of Ben. 

However, I left pretty convinced I didn't need to go back for a Declassified if it was not going to have a lot more Ben (unless he curated Guster to perform, ya know). I like the lineups he has had but felt that it wasn't really something that I wanted to go down into the city for. Although I would have loved to see Kishi Bashi. 

Watch and enjoy what he makes with a key, a line from the program, and an upbeat tempo. It's like an improv comedy show, but an orchestra and a piano genius.

Here's a link to the NSO's website with some previous performances. Go watch some and enjoy. 

When Sara asked if I wanted to go and we read up on what the show would be, it was obvious I'd get my "can I please have some more Ben" wish. He was going to be performing songs from a soon to be released album, like a whole First Listen experience. 

We went out to dinner first, and took the shuttle to the Kennedy Center from the metro. Thank God for that. The Kennedy Center is in a weird and unwieldy location. There is plenty of parking nearby but driving into the city is hard enough, and then this thing is all the way Over There with nothing good around it for a meal. Walking there in what is expected to be some mad crazy heat will be no fun. So we were down with the shuttle. 

Ben performed a cover of a Psychedelic Furs song "The Ghost In You" which is a tremendously beautiful song when slowed down and coupled with an orchestra. 

He performed two songs that he wrote with Patreon fans, and I am kind of sad that one of them was called "Christine." It is about a girl he knew in 7th grade who is kind of a Q-Anon nutter and sends memes and all caps emails and is certifiably certifiable. 

Why. Why Ben??? Why did you have to name her Christine. I've been waiting for someone to redeem my name. Stephen King named a car Christine and it killed a mess of people. KISS has a song about basically underaged sex with a girl named Christine. Why can't someone write a great song with my name in it. Please. I want some pop culture redemption. 

Sara told me that her son thinks that I'm mentioned in a Guster song. "Doin' it By Myself" has a line of "Pure, pristine, unbroken" but he hears "Pure, Christine, unbroken."

I guess I'll take it as the most sweet thing anyone has ever thought about me. 

Ben's curation for this show included Leyla McCalla, who I knew from her time with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She played cello and banjo, and her music was focused on Haitian Creole story telling. Tremendous with the orchestra. She confessed that as someone who spent her whole life running away from orchestras, it was an honor to be performing with one. I ended up spending most of the morning on Thursday watching videos of her performing with fiddle players and accordionists, just absolutely tremendous musicianship. 

The other guest was Cody Fry, polished, slick, expert and precise, he's like a young Ben Folds - without the anger and violence on the piano at that age with a mix of Michael Bublé and look of Ryan Reynolds. He got voted off of American Idol, but, that hasn't stopped him. He was nominated for a Grammy for an arrangement of Eleanor Rigby, and they performed it with the audience singing "Aah! look at all the lonely people." Before he came on stage, the orchestra performed a piece that his dad wrote. This level of talent runs in the family. 

All told, aside from me being sad about a song named after me, it was a great night. Sara and I had so much fun just chatting at dinner, we ran into 2 guster friends, and just had a great time. Here are a couple pictures. 

Top row: Leyla and her drummers. Bottom: Ben Folds wore sweatpants to the show to indicate how laid back and not fancy this series is (people were dressed fancy). Bottom pictures: Sara and me; Sara, Tim, Rachel and me. Fun meeting up with Guster fan friends who also love Ben! 

No pictures of Cody, I was too busy watching him.

Digits, Wednesday July 20

Exercise: dedicated 10 plus 9. 10 in the house, 9 in DC.

Blood Glucose:
8:45am: 189
5pm: 184
11:30 pm: 210

Food:
Coffee
Water
Iced coffee
greek yogurt + peach
small ramekin of "Everything" seasoned cashews (slightly honey roasted .... should have read the nutrition label first)
1/2 chicken parm piece left over from dinner the other night
2 cocktails
tuna poké nachos and bruschetta (OMG so good)
steak salad

Thursday, July 21

Exercise: "Dedicated 10" + 15. Doug ran errands and I stopped work long enough to walk my laps before 6pm

Blood Glucose: 
8:30am 197
4:30pm 168
11pm 160

Food:
Coffee
Water
yogurt + peach
sliced turkey rolls with avocado and swiss cheese
handfuls of everything cashews
Chicken breast, grilled in greek marinade (yogurt, mayo, olive oil, lemon, parsley, garlic) 
cucumbers & tomatoes in marinade sauce