Episode 282 - Brad & Shawn review What Matters Most by Ben Folds

Brad & Shaw do a deep dive review of Ben Fold's album What Matters Most.

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
From Jappetto Studios in New Freedom,Pennsylvania. Welcome to the Cosmic Jeppetto Podcast,
your home for inclusive, positive geekculture where we talk about movies,
comics, music, books, andwhatever else we feel like. Please welcome
your host, Good but not greatBrad Mendenhall. Hey kids, it is

(00:47):
episode two eighty two of the CosmicJeppetto Podcast. It is a good one
as Sean returns for a deep divereview of the ben Folds album What Matters
Most spoiler alert, We really likedthe album, not a big surprise as
I am an unabashed ben Folds fanand basically brow beat sewn into becoming one

(01:11):
as well. That's a secret ofme in my personal life. My friends
are deluged with praise for music untilthey submit to my taste rhapsodic explanations of
why you must listen to Lloyd Cole, Matthew Sweet, Chris Whitley, and
of course Ben Folds. It's basicallyone step away from the brainwashing scene from

(01:34):
a clockwork arch any who, let'sdo this. I could not see the

(02:10):
haze back in a day when welived inside of her our. I'm flowsing,
owing and haunting the halls night andday out in some story spains out

(02:34):
on the highway fifteen years tossed theirboxes, chopped with old bills, phones,
pictures, and trash of the dramasand memories attached. Now I wondering

(03:01):
what manners very excited returning to thisshow. Hasn't actually been that long,
Sean Reynolds, Sean, how youdoing. I am doing great. I'm
happy to be here, especially talkingabout something new that we desperately need about.

(03:21):
Yeah, I'm doing a great Sowe talked about in the green room.
I am doing this reporting from thePocono Mountains in the midst of while
we're having this discussion, we're justone day removed from it being a smoke
filled and sort of pinkish sky becauseof the Canadian fires. How much is
this making your news? Oh?Yeah, yeah, I see it on

(03:43):
the news, and I have upcomingtravel that this paying close attention too,
because the East Coast seems to beYeah, under this, I don't know
what to call it. This hasbut I don't know about you, but
it seems like every corner return there'ssome kind of new new crisis we have
to deal with. It's crazy becauseI feel like five years ago this would

(04:05):
have been a much bigger deal,but after COVID it's like, oh yeah,
this guy store looks like it's onfire. Makes sense. We gotta
stay inside, okay, and ifyou absolutely must go outside, you need
to have an end ninety five maskon right sounds familiar, but there's good
news. For the first time ina while, Ben Folds has a new

(04:30):
album out What Matters Most, andwe're gonna talk about it. And it's
it's been a while. I guesshis last full length album was So There,
which was from twenty fifteen, eightyears ago. Eight years ago.
Yeah, certainly it's not a reflectionof how busy he is, but yeah,

(04:53):
it's been a while. This honestly, this could be. This could
be the new normal for him,where he'll go along time and he's taken
breaks between albums before Rocking the Suburbswas seven years between that and Way to
Normal. Oh no, actually therewere songs for Silverman in between there.

(05:13):
But he'll go several years, fiveor so years in between. He's an
interesting character because it seems like hehas a lot of affection and respect in
the industry. So he put outa song I want to say a year
a year and a half ago calledit The Small Things Charlie Brown for an

(05:35):
Apple TV or Apple Plus special ofthe same name, which was fantastic,
by the way. And he's likehe gets pulled into you know, he
wrote a book, he's done apodcast about politics and the effects of politics
on the arts, and it's like, there's he's busy even when he's not

(05:58):
making music, and the way tomusic industry and the point where he is
at his career, I don't knowif he needs to put out new music
for the financial boom that putting outa new album gives him. Does he
still own his studio too? Didhe owned a professional studio in Nashville as
well, right, which was Ibelieve generating revenue for him. Does he

(06:18):
do you know if he still ownsthat too. I don't know to your
point or our point, you know, just because there may not be a
representation in in the form of analbum, it certainly does not mean that
he's you know, taking a breakfor at the time, because you know,
as you said, he's at abook, he's he's and I think

(06:41):
he's still he has a studio,he's busy, right, he is busy,
and as you said, I thinkhe's respected in the music industry and
a lot of people looked at himfor guidance and help and mentorship. And
doesn't he have his own well,I don't know if it's his own exclusive
orchestra, but obviously he does alot of work with that as well.
Right, Yeah, it's been hiredto create so there, which was a

(07:03):
pretty good album. It was veryunique. But half of that album was
an orchestral piece that he did fora professional organization I want to say,
in the Midwest. It was prettyinteresting. It was a concerto for piano
and orchestra in three movements, andit sort of felt like the first eight

(07:29):
songs were some pretty neat, youknow, some some good songs, uh,
and then like the last half ofthe album, it was almost it
felt a little slap dash. Itjust felt a little I don't want to
say, give me a moment tothink about how to phrase this, because
I want to be careful here.It didn't I'm okay that, and I

(07:53):
appreciate trying to do something different,but it just didn't feel cohesive. It
felt very disconnected between the tracks,and especially I would have preferred the concerts
just to be out on their ownand and get that full appreciation on its
sounds, separately from those new songshe had I'm with you. The songs
are fine, but it's not that'snot the highlight of the album. The

(08:16):
highlight of the album is the concerto. By the way, it was for
the Nashville Orchestra that he Nashville Symphony, that he wrote that for National Nashville,
like Nashville, Tennessee. Oh okay, so yeah that makes sense if
that's where his studio is. Yeah, what matters most. And it's a
bit of a return to form,a lot of sort of fun piano pop

(08:41):
songs. It's a pretty tight album. It's it's just a couple of seconds
under forty minutes and sort of fun, sort of fun. It's it has
the fun Benfold songs and the seriousBenfold songs, which is that's sort of
the ben Folds. I like,yeah, yeah, we are quickly.

(09:05):
I'm sorry, I had to googleit right. No, he does not
have that historic studio any longer.It's an RCA studio. They call it
Studio A. Looks like many reasons. Looks like he turned it over to
David Cobb, who's the gentleman thatproduces Jason Isbell and some other folks out
there in Nashville. Okay, yousaid some type pop songs. I think

(09:28):
it's what you said. But yetat the same time, it's a little
different for him. You know,at times it almost seems a little doll
back as far as instrumentation goes.It seems like it at times, and
then when you really listen, yourealize that there's probably more going on.
So even though it's it's back toben Folds, the ben Folds we know,

(09:48):
I still feel like he's stretching hiscreative wings and doing something a little
different here and there. Well,he hasn't. It feels like it's been
a long time since he's done thepiano, like he's done a piano solo
centric album. Yeah, when yougo back to Whatever and Ever Amen,
which was the ben Folds five bigbreakthrough album that had some just kick ass

(10:13):
piano solos, I'm sure there's examplesof it, but you don't have that.
You don't have this on this album. It's very intricate piano chord work
throughout the verses and this like,yeah, you have to listen sort of
underneath the vocals and in the introand the in between, and he's also

(10:39):
not afraid to He's also not afraidthere's some guitar in there. There's a
lot of different instrumentation in this album. And when he first broke through with
the ben Folds five, sort ofthe whole thing is they were the piano
band that rocks, and it wasbass, drums and a piano, and
they were holding onto that idiom somuch that one of an excellent songs that

(11:01):
they had that was sort of aB side was Emmeline and they didn't have
that song on their on that albumbecause it had a guitar in it.
And he's definitely gotten a wave andhe's been away from that for a while.
In Love with the World through theEyes of a Girl Still Around the

(11:24):
Morning after broke up a month ago, and my groom up. I didn't
know the b Around the Morning.You know, you mentioned a guitar.
I think everybody's brain goes straight toa rock album, and this is not

(11:46):
a rocking album. It's just not. Even though there's guitar in it,
it's not it's not prevalent, it'snot front and center it's not a rock
album. And I think I evenread an interview with him where he said,
you know, we don't need itanother rock album. I don't you
know there's we don't need another.I'm reminding you know. That kind of
reminds me of him, and Dondosaid when he was asked about making a

(12:09):
new albums like, do we reallyneed a new album music? Do we
really? I mean, do wenot have enough? So well, plus
from the fifty six year old shouldfifty six year olds four times married,
Ben Folds be the guy making thenext rock album. And I've seen him
in concert within the last year.He is still not afraid to rock out

(12:33):
to those old songs, and hestill does his sort of famous rock this
Bitch improvisation number. But I getit and he's an excellent interview that I
heard from him was talking about ElliottSmith. He was kind of friendly with
Elliot Smith and he was sort ofat the same tier, where so he

(12:58):
had done plenty of shows with Smith. Elliott's Smith talked about and Elliot Smith
had this wonderful style where a lotof sort of what you would consider soft
melodic music, and he almost wouldsing in a whisper, and Elliott Smith
said, you can tell people whogrew up in a house with a lot

(13:20):
of screaming and yelling and turmoil,because those people don't scream and yell Folds.
In the interview talking about Smith saidit's like that's sort of what he
saw as a problem with rock music, where it's a lot of people screaming
for no real reason, just forthe sake of screaming. Yeah, and

(13:41):
I think that that reminds me ofBob Boss was the same way. Everybody
knows who Bob Bross is, butI forget what military branch he was in.
But he said the same. Hesaid a seminary thing. He said,
you know, he got into painting, and why is he the way
he is. He's like, I'mdone with yelling. I'm not a military
anymore. I don't want anymore screaming. And I think it shaped them just

(14:07):
like a shape Elliott Smith or evenBen Flds. Yeah. Well, the
first single was Winslow Gardens and thatcame out a few months ago. It
was released on like Apple Music,that's the streaming service I use. From
the music and I listened to it. It was like good, solid,
straight ahead sort of upbeat song withsmart, sort of complex, surprisingly shot,

(14:35):
sort of deceptively complex lyrics. Letme just barge in here for a
moment before we get into the songs. What what and not your highs last?
Not me but forgive me, Ibeg for forgiveness. What is your
overall impression? I'm not getting agood I'm not gonna a read from you.
It seems we're we're both kind oftiptoeing. What is your overall and

(15:00):
pression of the album. Whether it'sa scale of one to ten or one
to five stars or like the Fike, But what is? What? Does
just go from the gut? Howdo you feel about this album? I
feel right now it's a seven,good but not great. But what I
will say is I feel like onceyou get past the only ben Folds album

(15:26):
that I thought was at ten onthe first listens, whatever and ever aim
at every other ben Folds album I'velistened to on the first listen and the
second and third listen, I thoughtthey were anywhere from a five to a
seven. The only possible exception beingthe one he did with Nick Hornby.

(15:50):
Was that Lonely Avenue, Oh pictureWindow, Yeah, lonely Avenue is the
name of the album, but yeah, that was probably that was probably the
only ben Fold's album other than Whateverand Ever Amen, that I loved from
the beginning. So I like thisalbum. I don't love it yet,
but I don't think ben Folds makesalbums that you love right away anymore.

(16:15):
I think he makes songs that youlove right away because I loved this I
mentioned before, the song that hedid for the Peanuts special. I love
that song. I could listen.I could have listened to it all day
long in a loop. I thinkhe makes music that has one song that

(16:36):
immediately catches your ear, and theneverything else you have to work through so
on. So there it was phonein the pool, yeah, and everything
else was like I'm not sure aboutthis. I'm not sure about this,
And then on the tenth listen,all of a sudden something clicks in your
brain. Because it takes a littlewhile to work through, it's like,

(16:56):
oh, okay, I get itnow, I love it. Yeah.
So I was gonna say, Istarted I'll use your scale one through ten,
and I probably started about a five. Right. I couldn't pick out
anything I disliked, but I alsocouldn't pick anything out that really jumped at
me, just as you're speaking of. But I will tell you that was

(17:17):
the first listen. I'm probably upto an eight now, so I'm definitely
hiring in you know, then yourseven. I'm definitely an eight. It
is as you said you had to. And by the way, just for
referenced songs for Silverman, for mewas a ten. And I echo the
same sentiment that you said. Everyalbum there's always a handful of songs that
jump out at me immediately, andthey're usually huge and grand and and you're

(17:44):
singing it by the second listen.It doesn't take any work. I mean,
he has some just huge songs.As far as the song itself,
right, I'm thinking Cologne. Well, first of all, all of songs
for Silverman's fantastic Cologne, what wasthat was on way to normal huge song.

(18:07):
The only avenue had picture Window,and actually I had a few other
ones too, But picture Window ispretty pretty pretty big for me, and
so was practical Amanda. But anyrate point being is this doesn't This is
the first time I've listened to aBen Foles album where there wasn't something that

(18:30):
just said holy cow, or Isaid holy cow. This is my new
anthem. I will be defined bythis song. Right, It's not there,
but give it a chance, becausethis album isn't for everybody. And
I'm not saying it's it's hard tolisten to, but it is a challenge
because it deserves attention, and andwhen you give it to the attention that

(18:53):
it deserves, you're going to pickup more each listen because there's a lot
of sophisticated things going on. It'sdeceptively, it seems deceptive. It seems
kind of sparse and instrumentation. LikeI said, but that's deceptive. You
really just you gotta give it alisten, and so bring it back.

(19:15):
I'm up to an eight now.You're up to an eight now, and
you're still your brainson was still tryingto get around it. I'm defending him,
right, I'm defending him because Ithink he's getting a little you know,
the reviews are coming in and theyare a bit harsh. He doesn't
get great reviews. Yeah, butthis album is not for them, and

(19:37):
I'm sorry, it's not even forus. This this is this is his,
This was for him, This wasfor himself. I really believe that,
whether that's true or not. Idon't know, but it really feels
like, you know what, Godbless him. An artist has to explore
and create and try things. Heto anything dramatically different. But at the

(20:00):
same time he's definitely flexing that creativemuscle and felt the need to do that.
So I think this album is goingto continue to pay dividends with each
listen. I remember Way to Normalnot getting great reviews. I remember,
you know, the unauthorized biography ofReinhold Messner, the reviews for that,

(20:22):
and the reception from the fans wasso middling that it was a factor in
the band breaking up. That washis the last album from ben Folds five
for for near fifteen years, becauseof how Luke. One of the reception
was. Both those albums have legs. Ben Folds music has legs. When

(20:48):
I see him in concert. I'veseen him in concert more than pretty much
any other human being on the planet. He does songs from his entire repertoire.
He'll do a song from Songs forSilverman, Rocking, the Suburb's Way
to Normal, Lonely Avenue, andpeople sing along to every song, sometimes

(21:11):
obnoxiously. There was one woman whoreally wanted to have a duet with Ben
Fold sitting five inches to my left. I was like, I just shut
up. But to that point,he has fans, he his fans do
not will not love him any lessif he does not continue to put out
music, and I think we're goingto see far and far and less.

(21:34):
But the landscape has changed. Imean, you and I have talked about
him many times about the music industry. It's dramatically different than when he started
his career. But at the sametime, I think he's benefit from it
because it's more from a cost efficiencyor a cost being able to being able

(21:55):
to try some different things without arecord company breathing down your neck, right,
or you know where was the nextbig hit? Right? Those those
two things just don't exist in thisworld anymore. So he's kind of benefit
benefited from this new landscape. Andat the same time, I think he
recognizes his place in the landscape,or it's made a decision where he wants

(22:18):
to be in the landscape. Butto your point, fans are going to
be their regardless, and he cantour every couple of years or as often
as he needs two or once too, and I should be able to pay
the bills, just nicely ten minutesand Winslow Gardens. He never noticed abuse

(22:51):
or the laws. The hole wasclosing. We just took the keys and
sun. The line comes in thewindows, watching going in with the rains
of fakes. We not rush backhome with always leaving and always coming down.

(23:22):
Sometimes just gonna one way. Thejust swim plans are name you find
you start it all over again.Well, I think he enjoys touring.
What's interesting is the he's a he'san excellent line performer, and he also

(23:49):
does I saw him five years ina row at one point, and the
first year he was solo, justa guy on the piano. The next
year he was with the Baltimore SymphonyOrchestra. The next year he did his
reunion tour with Ben Folds five,and the next two years was after so

(24:14):
there and he toured with a chamberorchestra. That first year where it was
just a guy on piano. Hedid with the paper airplane tour where he
would do his first set, thenhe would take a fifteen minute break and
add pens, pens and paper inthe lobby you could write what song you
wanted, folded up, turning inan airplane throw it on stage and he
picked up like ten piece of paperand did those songs. That's that's,

(24:37):
that's because he knows how to engagean audience and be different, you know
what. He doesn't have the explosionslike some of the other acts. Right
right now, he hit us havea big light show. He doesn't.
He doesn't dance. He looks likeit. And he's not a bad looking
guy by any stretch, but helooks like he looks like your piano instructor.

(24:57):
He's just a normal look die.Usually we pick a couple of songs
a piece. Was that one ofyour big picks or were you just practicing
it? I thought that was agood song, certainly, good song,
moved well. But the next song, and let me know if this is
the one you want to talk oneof the ones you want to talk about.

(25:21):
The second single and the first musicvideo was exhausting lover no actually no,
so good to it. I forgot. This is not a great review.
I forgot. You sent me thelink to the video and I even
watched it. I completely forgot.So obviously that didn't click with me as

(25:42):
well. I thought this song wasokay, it's a weird song. You
can't tap your foot to it.It's hard to sing along to the rhyme
schemes all goofy. He has weirdbreaks in between verses. But then the
music video, which is basically himtalking about how this is a real life

(26:04):
thing that happened to him and heturned it into a play, and then
they have like a stage play withhim as a conductor and the characters on
the actors on stage lip syncing tothe lyrics, and I love that video.
Ben Folds has done good music videosin the past. He certainly seems
to understand the value of the formatof the media. And I'm a sucker

(26:27):
for stories of rock stars who aren'treally rock stars, And that's what ben
Folds. He's basically talking about himself. And he says it's a true story.
Who knows he could just be sayingthat, but it's certainly a believable
story of basically him being on atour bus in a parking lot. A

(26:51):
cute girl sees him throws herself athim, not because she's a big ben
Folds fan, but just because shecan tell he's famous. To some degree.
It's the rock star thing stopping thegroup or the groupies but he makes
it sound as about as much funas a dental appointment. Yeah, I

(27:11):
imagine it is a kind of thatkind of experience is not the same as
when he was twenty two or something. Well, or maybe it was the
whole you know, sex drug rockand roll thing. It sounds great in
songs and it looks cool in movies, but then you realize you are consistently

(27:33):
destroying your relationships, not doing greatjob for your health. There's nothing really
saying that you're It's not like you'renecessarily having fulfilling experiences. You're doing a
lot of work to maintain something thatdoesn't deserve to be maintained in the first
place, right, whether it's thesex, drugs or rock and roll,

(27:55):
or but specifically a relationship. Butyeah, Ben Full, he's not kiss
He's not one of the guys fromMotley Crue. And he doesn't talk.
He doesn't talk a lot about whatsubstance substances he has or has not abused.
But he's never presented himself as aguy where that was a big part

(28:17):
of his experience. And I mean, heck a lot of the time rocking
the Suburbs, that whole song wasabout how a rock band. We're talking
trash to them because Ben Folds fivewasn't a rock band. The ridiculousness of
it, right and your meanwhile,you're in safe suburbia. I love that

(28:37):
song, but just because of thedung anchique, it wasn't wasn't a fantastic
song. It's a good song,but it's not fantastic. It was a
song that was maybe a little similarto Exhausting Lover. It's a song that
I ended up liking a whole lotmore when I hear the story behind the
song, because what was the bandthat sort of set that off? Oh?

(28:59):
I don't know. I don't know, but I know he's kind of
ridicaling that. The whole absurdity,absurdity of it. I guess of middle
class, tough guy, right.Yeah, I don't know who that band
was. I didn't know. Idon't know their home story. I know
they were like a rock band whoremade the song word up, So I'm
gonna find it in a second.Corn basically what started it all up is

(29:26):
Ben Folds five were at some festivalor event where they were performing and Corn
was also performing. I don't knowif the he'll set that up there's the
ben Folds Five again, three guysthat he would not be surprised to see
at a comic book convention, whowouldn't be out of places, extras on
Big Bang Theory. And then there'sCorn and apparently Korn talked trash to them

(29:51):
on you know as ben Folds Iwas walking on stage or something, and
then they were interviewed by Spin magazineor something, just talking trash at ben
Folds five, and it was sortof a shrug, is like, all
right, well, I guess we'regonna write write a song about this,
oh worry, And knowing that makesthe song that much more enjoyable, just

(30:11):
the same as the video for Me, the video for Exhausting Lover makes that
song so much more entertaining. It'swell and it helps. It's well cast,
it's well staged, the pacing isgood. It does a great job
of using ben folds awkward professorial charmto the best of its effect. It

(30:40):
highlights one of the things that Ilike about him and a lot of his
songs. It's very conversational, right, It's almost like I'm sitting on the
couch across from him listening to him. Talent you know what I mean.
It's his lyrics are not mysterious andto have a debate on what it means.

(31:02):
You know what I mean. They'revery conversational and I'm not saying they're
simplistic, but they are very conversationaland that's what I like about him,
and he can because of that,he can do some interesting things when it
comes to songwriting. But certainly thatsong highlights that. I think as well,
what's the song for this that youenjoys? As usual? It changes

(31:25):
and actually if you would have askedme two days ago, I would have
started with Winslow Gardens, believe itor not. But I had no idea
that it was a single or Idon't even know what that means anymore.
Just basically means that Apple Apple Streamingreleased it three months before it showed up
on regularly with the rest of thealbum. Yeah, he made it available
or I wouldn't have you. Let'sthat is crazy. Let's take my time

(32:04):
to open up our eyes. Wemoms, my sunday less when impossible to
find, we try to hold thesemoments, say glove will breathe them in

(32:31):
and then we'll let them go.And so I ask you to be witness
to this crime. I when myheart shine I ready is. So we'll

(32:54):
start with Momma, the last trackon there. It's a nice closer and
and I kind of get the feelingas I do some of the other songs
where it's like, Wow, somethinginteresting is really happening. And now it's
over. You're like, why couldn'tthis go on for another two minutes?
You just introduced this interesting stuff,not up to it. Now it's over.

(33:17):
Yeah, it's it's a it's alittle bit short of three of four
minutes, and it does feel likea song that could go on for ten,
but it's it's a nice closer,and it is a very quiet,
subdued song, and I think maybea little bit of that conversational that I
that I talked about it. It'sa very common song and I get a

(33:39):
different take from it each time Ilistened to it, at least lyrically.
Yeah, I don't know if that'sa surprise, but it's currently one of
my one of my two big highlightsof the album. Now he did that
song with Tall Heights or was featuringTall Heights, and Oh, I am
not familiar with it. All Iknow of them, but I don't know.
I don't even know where they comein and the music and the song.

(34:02):
I don't know what parts them.I can't even hear different voices,
and actually maybe maybe I can,because I thought he was doing his own
background vocals. So I'll just assumeit is Tall Heights. That's that's during
the background vocals. Well, they'rethey're also credited as writers on the song.
You know. I did a littlebit of research into them. They
have toured with and I think purportedthe same sort of they are the guys

(34:27):
who go on before Ben Folds,before Arcade Fire, before Fleet Fox is
Ben Iver, and they look likethey've done a very good job of ingratiating
themselves to that group. And it'sit's hard to be a big act anymore.
Again, what does that mean?But if you can get yourself in
the point where you ingratiate yourself withthese other acts, you get running credits,

(34:50):
you perform on the albums, andyou know, if you if Ben
Folds does, it's very interesting.Ben Folds does do outdoor venue tours in
Baltimore. I've seen him at theoutdoor Place in Columbia, Maryland, Oh
mary Weather Pavilion Yeah, I've seenBen falls at mary Weather Pavilion, not

(35:14):
by himself, with him and Gusterand Baron a good ladies. You know.
Tall Heights I could very easily seeas that third act that goes on
and warms up the crowd. AndI should mention they're like an electoral folk,
right, something like that, TheTall Heights, I mean it kind
of fits in the same. Yeah, they got their start in Massachusetts busking

(35:38):
in Boston, and they sound exactlyand look exactly like the sort of guys
who would be playing on the streetsof Boston doing a really good job and
getting above average amount of money throwninto their their music cases. Yeah.
Sticking a step back the song,I don't know how to describe this,
Like the piano is so busy inthe beginning, and you describe like it's

(36:01):
so fast, but it's not afast song. I don't know how to
describe it. It's like the tempois still low, but there is a
lot of piano work on it.Does that make sense? Like how I
couldn't? To me? That's that'stakes a tremendous talent to make you're You're

(36:21):
playing something so complex at the sametime it sounds so relaxing, like you're
at at a just floating on aninner tube. Well, you and I,
you know, you and I dabblewith music in our own ways,
and I there is a thing wherebalance tend to be instrumentally ponderous where and

(36:45):
as soon as you try to addtoo many notes or add too many chord
changes, all of a sudden,it's no longer a slow song. And
it takes a real skill to packthat music up and have it add intricus
and everything while it's without turning itinto a speed you know, a fast

(37:05):
song right fast up the song.Yeah, it's very hard to describe.
I would just say if you listento it, you're see its exactly what
I mean right away. I thinklyrically, I would relate this to pearl
jams, breathe. And this ismy interpretation. It's up for anybody's else
interpretation. But it does feel alittle bit and it is called moments,

(37:30):
but I feel like it's a littlebit of being present, being being appreciative
of what we have, what what'send the moment, what's right now and
not necessarily tomorrow, and and andBrad, you probably no better. I
can't have done a lot of researchon the album, but I'm getting the
impression he wrote some of this orwas working on this as early as COVID,

(37:52):
and that to me, that wouldbe also very telling with this song
and my other song choice. Butwe'll come back to that. I gotta
imagine. And if it was released, it's released May nineteen, twenty twenty
three. The first single for Lackof Better Term was released May fifteen,
twenty twenty three. And we're startingto feel a little removed from COVID,

(38:16):
but we're not that far removed fromCOVID, but I feel like he was
working on these songs back then.I'm sure he was writing these songs during
the heart of COVID, and thenhe's been recording them over the last year.
I don't think he's an especially fastI don't think he's especially fast in
the in the studio. So andhis experience during COVID was pretty interesting,

(38:42):
and we've talked about it on theshow because it was sort of a fascinating
time where he had all these athome concerts. Oh yeah, yeah.
Ben Folds was basically stuck in Australiawhen COVID hit and was doing week.
He called him the apartment Concerts whereonce a week he would set up he

(39:06):
would do a YouTube show in theapartment he had rented with a stand up
piano. He rented in Australia becausehe could not get back to the States.
I know, he has connections withAustralia and what like, goes back,
goes back there somewhat frequently. Sohe went back and was that's that's
what he was doing. So I'msure he was didn't have a lot to

(39:28):
do. I can't imagine the financialhardship Ben Folds was put through during the
COVID time where stuck in another country, and as he said, he owned
a studio at that time that hedid not have access to. And you

(39:50):
know, and this is a guywho makes most of his living as as
a touring performer. I think thatled to some sort of interesting introspective writing.
So you have, you know,moments paddle Boat, break up,
Christine from the seventh grade. Theseare all an exhausting lover which is telling
a very specific story from his sortof recent past. It's insinuated. Yeah,

(40:15):
he probably had a chance to,you know, and Ben Foltz has
never been afraid to tell stories fromhis past, so give him a lot
of time. It definitely feels likea backdrop, but backdrop to the to
the album. And and that's fine, although we should be coming out of
all these albums coming out that peoplewrote during COVID. But nonetheless he gets

(40:37):
a pass. But I think theother thing that goes with that backdrop or
is it his career. He's hada long career, and not that his
career is over by any stretch,and not that he's old by any stretch,
But the fact of the matter isthere does this seem to be a
lot more introspection that that could bereflective of his his his age and his

(40:58):
time building his career. He's becomean elder state statesman in entertainment, Hell,
look at the last ten years.Going a little deeper than that.
Starting in two thousand and nine,he was a judge on the sing Off
for three to four years. Ohyeah, God, that travesty. Yeah,

(41:20):
well he gets the past for thattoo. He was fine. He
was fine. Singing competition shows arereally challenging because who cares? Apparently a
lot of people. I've had theseconversations before, and it's not even trashing
the shows themselves, and certainly it'snot trashing the performers. I was a

(41:43):
co worker with a guy who camein like fifth place on the Voice,
and it was three or four yearsago. This guy, he was coached
by Adam Levine. He hung outat Adam Levine's house. He had Adam
Levine's cell phone number. He wason one of the more a very popular
season of a show that is stilla pretty popular show, and within five

(42:05):
years he had a job with me. It shows how little those shows actually
mean in terms of success. Name. Once you get past Kelly Clarkson,
I had that name ready to go. It was Copton loaded. I was
going to throw it in your face. You know, Kelly Clarkson and the
very pretty country singer. Yeah,Carry Underwood, Carry Underwood. Yeah.

(42:30):
All those seasons of American Idol,you have two legit music stars and a
bunch of other people that have hadmiddling to poor careers at otherwise. But
do you now, don't forget Justin. Justin Justin the guy that was in
the same season as Kelly Clarkson.Yeah, he's a doctor Pepper spokesman.

(42:52):
He's a doctor Pepper dude. He'sa little dude that comes out that who
was talking about living basically living offof food stamps, like coming in second
place on the most popular show inthe world the year he was on it
was a cultural phenomenon, and he'stalking about how he was basically living off

(43:14):
of food stamps within five years.Yeah, I think it speaks to your
point that and that's you're the topdog, and even if you're even then
that's not a guarantee. But itspeaks to your point that it really doesn't
do as much as they claim withus to help your you know, to
help your career and launching in tostart them. I woke up and a

(43:36):
truck stop parking lot, a girlin a red, white and blue halter
top was staring thick glasses like mineand a little board monotone vocal front.
She said, there's a band onthe bus. That one nerd, the

(43:58):
one that you got off, probablyno one you've heard of. Don't know
what came over me as awkwardly drownmy ruu ki. I said, I
think that's yours. And three hourslater, Robin's banging this first sound says

(44:30):
no, says let oh, Nick. There is one other person that the
gentleman that sings with queens, wouldn'tWasn't he one of them the contestants before?
Was he? Probably? Yeah,he was the second third place finisher,

(44:50):
Adam Adamson. Yeah, he's madea career out of it, he
has, and there have been ahandful of those. Jennifer Hudson, Oh
yeah, that's right. Yeah,I would still consider her star. Yeah,
some of these people just become Theydidn't become stars because they were on
American Idol. Yeah. Right,that's a great point. These were people

(45:13):
who were immensely talented with incredible drive. And if you have incredible drive and
you're trying to break through, you'regoing to, uh, you're gonna audition
for every single crappy reality show toget your face out there. And the
guy who's toyed with queen, I'mnot taking any shot because you know,
I've played barbecues with fifty people forbeer that's left out on the table,

(45:38):
So obviously I would I would takethe queen job. But let's be honest,
he's basically performing with a legacy actbecause the guy that everyone really wants
to see has been dead for thirtyyears. Yeah, I mean, people
still want great Queen, right theydo. And hey, it's a nice
paycheck, but it's not you know, he's filling in. I will say,

(46:00):
I don't think he's feeling it.Well, let me just say this,
he's won me over. Now,it's taking a while. He's won
me over though. As as faras him as a performer, he's talented
guy, really good voice, charismafor days. I just saw a clip
of him the other day that justmakes me love him anymore. He was

(46:21):
on I think it was Tonight showat Jimmy Fallon or something, and they
were playing some game and he hadto sing a share song. No,
he had to sing a song inthe style of Share or something like that.
It was hilarious. But not onlywas it hilarious, it was actually
pretty fantastic. And from what Iunderstand, people ask him to sing it
live now. But I would alsosay, I think it is very likely

(46:46):
he would have gotten the job singingfor Queen with or without an American idol.
I think he's a guy that tosseshimself out there. I think so
to him. God, and Iwant I want to know his name now.
Adam Lambert, Yeah, Adam Lambert. Yeah, it's sort of like,
have you watched the new Jack Reachershow on? Trust Me? This

(47:08):
is all going to come back around, all right, I'm gonna hang in
there. There's a Jack Reacher televisionshow. Have you watched this so on
Amazon Prime? Now? The guywho plays Reacher is Alan Richon. The
guy is like a walking, talkingtree trunk. He is massive, and
he also an good looking guy.He's gonna do the Vin Diesel rock thing.

(47:32):
One of these guys that's a massivetree trunk. They of a human
being. And that's compelling in actionmovies in action TV shows because it takes
a little bit less suspension of disbeliefto believe him beating up a person than
it does to believe Tom Cruise beatingup a person. And he's one of
these guys that's been around Hollywood forever. He was one of the Ninja Turtles

(47:54):
in the live action Ninja Turtles moviefrom a few years back. He was
the original Aquaman from the Smallville TVshow. They actually pull back and it
turns out twenty plus years ago,when he was a tall, not quite
as beefy teenager, late teenager,early twenty somethings, he auditioned for American

(48:15):
idol, No kidding, Okay,good looking guy and people like that who
are that size, who are stillgood looking, are very striking. And
it just showed him like wooing PaulaAbdul because people like that are really impressive
to see in real life. Buthe's not an American idol star. He's

(48:35):
a guy that that just happened tobe one stop on his way to killing
himself for twenty years taking crappy ninjaturtle roles. But he obviously has drive
to your point, so they springit back. Let's bring it back to
ben Folds because somehow we got ona tangent, as we infamously do it
as happens, that's happened occasionally oncein a while, you'd have to go

(48:58):
back and count, but it hasn'thappened that often. So what's another song
from this album that you want topick at? Why don't you go with
the next one? The second songon the album Clouds with the lipts.
See this is why I let youwant to let you go first? It's
okay. I got another one,Captain Loaded first off featuring Doughty and I

(49:20):
haven't thought a Doughty in fifteen yearsthat Fency Eminem song, not sense the
Eminem song she had, And it'sfunny because Eminem sampled her music for Stan
It was actually a good song She'sIt was funny where it's something that rap
and R and B is very goodat where you have the guest performers,

(49:43):
either guest rappers, you know,cutting a verse or sampling music, and
all of a sudden the music andthe music you sample ends up sort of
catching on and raps very good atthat. It's something that singer songwriters and
rock music has never done well.You don't really have guest spots on your
album, and it raises anyone else'sprofile rarely. I knew Doughty before that.

(50:12):
Actually we all, we all did, right She that song that he
sampled was huge, But that album, that album was a fantastic album by
her. Somehow I just lost interestpretty quickly, so I didn't even realize
she's on Cloud with Clounce with Ellipsis. I think it's another performer that sort
of is in the same stratosphere asBen Folds, but really good song.

(50:35):
I mean it's another lyrically. Ilove the concept and the idea behind it.
It's what am I missing? Herebecause I love I love words.
To get I love I love words. First of all, I'm fascinated by
language and what have you. I'mnot claiming to be an expert or anything,
but clounce with ellipsis. What doesthat mean? Do you think?

(50:58):
And it challenged myself to even understandwhat ellipsis is. I mean, I
use elytsis, but I don't know. I'm curious. It's an interesting choice
of words. I'm looking at thecourse your clouds of Ellipsus. They come
and go, and come and go, fade away, clauselists, they come
and go, and they come andgo and fade away. There's a lot

(51:19):
of to me. And again it'sreally open interpretation. This is not one
of his more hold your hand andwalk you through the meaning of the song.
Songs like the first line fits andstarts clouds and ellipsis. I fell
silences with the dark and I cantake it. I want to know the
uncensored thoughts are maybe not to me. It sounds like a relationship where either

(51:44):
you're not the connection isn't there,or you can't quite move on from it,
or you can't quite move forward.Well no, and it's something that
I think a lot of people canrelate to those relationships that you have that
feel like they could be something orthey could turn into something, and they

(52:07):
just don't quite want to move forwardthe way you want them to or at
the pace you're ready for, andthen you can't quite walk away from them
like you they don't move forward becausethey always feel like they're in a stutter
step. And then you always feelslike, I think we're done here,
but you're It always feels like there'sthat little dot dot dot that keeps you

(52:29):
sort of engaged, almost like aparenthesis almost. But so I just looked
up the definition because I know whento use it, but I guess I
never you know, it's hard toput into words, but the omission from
speech or writing of a word orwords that are superfluous or able to be

(52:49):
understood from the contextual place. Solong story short, Hey, I've given
you enough information, mister or missusreader, and there's no reason for me
to spout out the raft. Butyet it's unspoken at the same time to
your point, and I realize theyaren't the humor of me telling how how
approachable his lyrics are and conversational,and then we immediately launch into a song

(53:15):
that I'm trying to figure out,but I absolutely love those words together.
Clouds with ellipsis, that's that's aneat's that's a neat thing. Yeah.
There are songs where you know,and I've heard this before. I've heard
this a thousand times, not reinventingthe wheel, but you add a good
hook to it, then it worksall over again. And then there are

(53:36):
songs and this is what Ben FoldsI think is really good at, where
he puts together lyrics or a titleor whatever it might be, and you're
like, I can't. It feelsfamiliar, but you realize it's like I
have never heard this song before.I've never heard the expression clouds with ellipsis
before. I've never heard ellipsis ina song title before. Pretty, I've

(54:00):
never even heard that that word ina song before. He gets props because
who else is gonna freaking work youwork the word ellipses into a song.
I've had the exact same thought,like how in the hat do you work
that in? And I think itgoes back to his style. That's conversational.
That's the only way you can getaway with it. But why did

(54:22):
you pick it? What what you'reyou to it? You know it was,
and it's the second song on thealbum, the first song, but
Wait There's More, which was awonderful introduction song. It was slow build
song. And then Clouds with Ellipsiswas a perfect follow up because it wasn't

(54:46):
trying to match because the first songbuilds and builds and builds, and the
second song is like, we're notgoing to try to build on that building.
We're gonna take it down just likea half notch and go right into
it. And we don't think alot of album structure anymore. This is
a well structured album, it reallyis. It's that song is in the

(55:07):
perfect place of the album. Andthen you know it's so intentional. It
is like a slice of hand betweentwo pieces of bread. I mean that
it's a beautiful song. It is. It's a beautiful song, but it
works so well because of where itis in the album. Just as you

(55:28):
said, so, I'm glad youwe are hitting all the same marks today.
By the way, I don't knowif that's worth's your wrong attention too,
but it is. These days itdoesn't matter. I can let myself

(56:05):
go no disguise, us go forrestroll. It's back to anonymous. But
those years work well, big word. I'm not sure where I have been

(56:27):
A dream of pieces back now andthen m is a clean shame? Does
it sounds so ungrateful when it comesout that way? If so, I

(56:49):
only mean to say thank you forthose crazy days, but it's by Are
you feel familiar with the nineteen seventyfives? Yeah, yeah, let me
clarify. I just know of them. I don't really know their music.

(57:12):
Now. My daughter, my elevenyear old daughter, and this might be
a case in bad parenting has reallygotten into Saturday night lot. We have
the Peachcock Channel so we can watchepisodes at any time. And Jenna Ortega,
who plays Wednesday in the New WednesdayShow, was hosting, and my
daughter want to see I want tosee it. I want to see you.
And the nineteen seventy fives were themusical guests, and they did a

(57:37):
song called I'm in Love with You, a very good song and the most
I have heard these lyrics a thousandtimes. You can't get any more basic
than I'm in love with you.That is the chorus, and that's the
chorus. It's just him repeating thatphrase over and over again. It's the
opposite of this. It's funny becauseit's the opposite of most have been full

(58:00):
to music because there's no hook.I mean, let me rephrase. There's
a hook, and I think that'swhat the song was living off of.
It's this great repetitive hook that sortof pulls you in. But there's no
left turn on most of the lyricsuntil you get into pretty deep into the
second chorus, I mean the secondverse. It's comfortable. Yeah, it's

(58:23):
very comfortable with a good singing voice. I don't want to say predictable,
but there's been surprises and then there'senough of a sort of left turn in
the middle of the song where it'slike, Okay, I'm not going to
give up on it immediately because there'ssome sort of autobiographical stuff in the middle,

(58:45):
but nothing new. Really. Youserve the song, Yeah, you
serve the song. And I thinkthat's where you can go wrong when when
you force things into a song thatyou force your agenda when it shouldn't be
your agenda. It should be yoursong's agenda. Sometimes you gotta let the

(59:06):
song think its course, and sometimesthat means the middle alone. You don't
need to break out the red Siennapaint paint and go across you know what
I mean. But I hate touse the word predictable. But if I
went with comfortable, but it's comfortable, it's it's very yeah, it's comfortable,

(59:30):
all right. So Sean, what'sanother song off of this album what
matters most? So it was Clownswith ellipsis for all the reasons you said,
and I think I chimed in.I'm gonna go with but wait,
there's more, which is the openingtrack. That That's why I kept saying
stop, stop, stop, becauseI didn't want you to go onto a

(59:51):
tangent. But wait, there's more. Odd song what a It has this
borderline annoying simp as a simp.I don't know what you called it,
but this keyboard part, and Isay borderline because it is so dangerously close
to being annoying. As how Idon't know that sense sound, that that

(01:00:12):
that melody he has going on orthe hook and it is a hook,
I guess, but it is constant. It's in your face. It's in
front and center for the entire song, and it's like and it will change
pitches or octaves whatever the correct wordis here. It will change pitches,

(01:00:34):
but it's truly clear that he washe was experimenting here and trying something different,
and I think that's why it grew. I grew to love it,
but it is dangerously close to becomingannoying, as that makes any sense if
he would have. I think hepulled back on the reins just enough.
But it clearly is to me themost experimental song and weird song on the

(01:00:59):
album. It's also a lot ofsocial commentary. COVID Again, he had
to have written this during COVID justlistening to the lyrics, right, wait,
but wait, there's more. Didwe really think we could go back
to normal? Did we really thinkwe could cut that chord? Look?
Oh, and then I'm believing thishas got to be a political statement,
because look, who's coming back backfrom come back for more. It's funny

(01:01:24):
about you we are with political andyou're probably closer to right than I am.
But I always you know, Iimmediately thought COVID, right, how
many times did we were on thedownsling? I mean, we are not
that long removed from the official announcementthat Donald Trump was running is running for

(01:01:45):
president again, but we've known hewas going to run for presidentgain for the
last year and a half. He'sprobably referring to, but I like my
interpretation better. Again, there's definitelycovid because then when he said did we
really think we could go back tonormal? You could really see him writing
that when you saw everyone wanting sodesperately to return to normalcy and so many

(01:02:08):
people getting sick because of it.And again, the placement on the album
is very, very important. Itwouldn't have worked anywhere else other than the
opening track. I think it's agreat song, does very I love his
His opening tracks are fun. It'sfun. Yeah. And I'm thinking specifically
now of the first song off ALonely Avenue perfect Day or It's a perfect

(01:02:34):
day. Yeah, I'm disagreeing withyou. I don't remember for real,
though Go Ahead had a similar vibebecause that song was about a working day,
and on that that that album sortof had the same thing where had
a different instrumentation, a little morekeyboard, and it's him talking about how
great a musician he is, andthen immediately he the character of the song

(01:03:01):
receives some mild criticism and then hesays, I suck, I'm a loser.
And it's not even a two minutelong song, and it pulls you
in and then it goes right toPicture Window again, talking about how good
Ben Folds is at music song arrangementson his album, because you have this
sort of sort of quirky wonky songwith instrumentation that you're not expected from ben

(01:03:23):
Fold's album, and then he's goingto have the biggest, most heartfelt,
heartbreaking song in a soaring song onthe album next. Picture Window always resonates
with me. I have very distinctmemories with that. Have I ever told
you my running a five k listeningto Picture Windows story? No? No,

(01:03:43):
And if you did, I forgotI'm sorry, but yeah, I
don't think he did. Many ayear ago and I was working for a
company that had a Jim on campus, and I got into pretty good shape,
and for the first time in mylife, I actually started running somewhat
regularly because I never liked running.But I don't know, you reached a
certain point in your life it's like, ah, well, I have three
kids. All of a sudden,the idea of being having an half hour

(01:04:06):
or forty five minutes to myself torun for a mile and a half scenes
more appealing, and I was actuallygetting pretty good. The guy at the
gym says, like, you know, Brad, they're having a five k
you should do. It's like,can I do a five kings Like,
it's three miles? You can?You have run over three miles during a
gym class. Who you know,we would have running days, and you

(01:04:28):
can certainly do it. Just besure enough to push too hard, because
this is for anyone out there thinkingof running. What happens when you do
a five k or half marathon orwhatever you do. You get sort of
excited and then you end up gassingyourself out because you get excited and your
adrenaline pumps, and all of asudden, you run. You try to
run like Hussain bolt and you die. I was like, okay, I'm

(01:04:48):
gonna pace myself. I know whattime I want hit. So I created
a playlist that was about the lengthof that was about as long as I
wanted to have my time being.So I knew if I got to the
third from final song, it's likeI should be pretty close to the end
and I'm not there. I needto ramp up the pricing, ramp up

(01:05:13):
my pace, which, by theway, you could do with a god
damn watch. But you know,I didn't say it was real smart.
I'm running and it wasn't songs thatyou would think. You would think you
want want songs to pump you up, but I stayed away from that.
I was like, no, Iwant songs that I can sort of get
my head into and can sort ofpull me away from it, even slow
my heart heart rate down. SoI put on the song picture Window.

(01:05:36):
Love that song too, people whoaren't familiar. Picture Window performed by ben
Fold lyrics written by the excellent authorNick Hornby, and it tells the story
of a woman who is in basicallyhospice care. She is in a hospital,
she's not going to get out ofthe hospital, and she is in

(01:05:58):
the depression and everything going along thatcomes goes along with that sad song deep
lyrics. While this well I'm listeningto while this is going on, My
grandmother was not too far into hospicecare. And I don't know why I
never made this connection, but I'mrunning that five K first I've ever done
anything like that. There is sortof an emotional component, like you feel

(01:06:23):
just emotional running something like that,and all of a sudden hits. She
was like, oh my god,my grandma and this song hits and I
started crying while running a five Ktears streaming down my face. I'm having
an emotional breakthrough. I was like, well, this is not great.
I was like, okay, Igotta be really careful from now on when

(01:06:45):
I, you know, run fivek's because this was a dumb thing to
do. That's a good story,man, I mean, it's funny that
we both have a story for thissong. Mine. I wasn't gonna share
it, but and I too,now that I mentioned it. And you
had such a lovely story. Mine'snot as lovely. But all right,
here it goes. So I distinctivelyremember. I mean, I listened to

(01:07:10):
the song a lot, and Ilistened to the album a lot back when
it came out. But this israin around when it came out. It
was in the summer, or atleast the summer. I was listening.
Pretty sure I was this is embarrassing. I'm pretty sure I was home from
where it hung over and it wasso bad that I had to crack open
a beer to get past it,which rarely happened even back then. And

(01:07:30):
let me preface this story because it'sgoing to get very ugly. But I
don't drink anymore. But anyway,long story short, I'm drunk now and
the middle of the afternoon on aweekday, hanging up Christmas lights on my
patio in the middle of summer becauseI thought it was a brilliant idea,
right, this is you know.But I was listening to the album with

(01:07:51):
my headphones on and during this songPicture Window, I said to myself it
was a complete surrender, a completeuh surrender. Actually, I don't know
another word to use. An acceptanceat the same time where I said,
this is who I am, andI wasn't beating my chest like proud.

(01:08:15):
It was just accepting this is whoI am. I am a person that
drinks and excess. I just acceptedit. This is it, this is
who I am. And again Iwasn't beating my chest at the same time,
I wasn't hitting back bottom. It'sa little bit of moment of clarity,
though not necessarily the one that convincedyou to stop drinking. Oh,

(01:08:38):
this isn't. This isn't I'm nota social drinker. Yeah, And it
was. It was a little bitof the combination of the music and the
buzz and you know what I mean. It was a very feel good,
feeling good that I didn't want tonot feel good anymore, and at the

(01:08:59):
same time realizing how sick it wasto say this is who I am.
You know, it's much like aperson in a hospital and not. I
hate to compare it because it's notthe same thing and it's not fair,
but but that that sense of Iimagine when you're in a hospice, there's
a certain point where you accept itas your your your fate for that time,

(01:09:24):
right, And I think that's wherewhere I was at that time.
I was accepting. Uh that's whoI was, I guess. But anyway,
very odd. We both have veryspecific memories tied to that song fits
and starts clothes any lips is philsilences with the dark and I can take

(01:09:49):
it. Uh want to know theuncensored thoughts or maybe I know you and

(01:10:09):
you're rhythm and you to connectstrapy thatrang true being honest and thought better oven
us the cloud hesitate and nothing clowswith us, is ain't coming going,

(01:10:31):
come and going fade away? Cloudswith us, is ain't coming going,
come and go and fade away?For these moments, nothing else matters.
I found all drums and pain andfor our audience, you have rained in

(01:10:58):
the you're you're drinking. Oh yeah, it's been many, many years.
I don't know how many years.Now I'm I'm much much much happier person.
Make sure everyone knows it's a happystore. Happy into that particular store
after I just bought everybody down right. But I think the listeners are a
little words. They're going to hearthe sound of a of a can opening.
I strongly prefer who I am nowover who I was then, But

(01:11:23):
even more so I prefer staying married, which was part of you know,
you and I both have in regardsthe marriage about punted our coverage. There's
no app too. When it comesto that, I have no sequel for
that. If this doesn't work outright, all right, this is it.

(01:11:44):
I gotta make it. I hada friend who he wasn't on Facebook.
I was like, what's that about. It's like my wife whenever someone
whenever a woman sends me a Facebookrequest, I get twenty questions about who
this woman is. And I justwas tired of the grilling. So I
just said, it's not worth havingFacebook and I looked at him. I

(01:12:06):
was like, and I knew Iknew this guy good friend, and I
knew his wife very well. Iwas like, does your wife not understand
that she's the hot one in yourrelationship? I hung out with this guy.
This guy and I went the LastMan Halen toured together, and I

(01:12:28):
saw who would hit on him.She had no problems because it would be
the waitress at the bar in Baltimorewith a questionable number of teeth. That
was what was out there for him. You know, my wife asked me
twenty questions too, but the contextis completely different. She loves good gossip.
She's very secure, she's not worriedabout that. She just loves good

(01:12:53):
gossip. So I get the twentyquestions because she wants to hear all the
ugly details. How I know thisgirl the ones that we got on Facebook.
This is not very classy with me, but whatever. We're just taking
this show down, aren't we.Yeah, there's an interesting thing with Facebook
where I've learned not to there's aweird thing that happens, and I am

(01:13:15):
at the age where you see this. I'm not taking any shots at anything
because life is weird and complicated.And social media is a place where we
can share information every now and thenand it hasn't happened for a little while,
which can make you nervous. Somebodyposts an update and it always starts
with I know I haven't updated fora while. It's like here we go.

(01:13:41):
In the cases that I've seen,it's always very adult, very mature,
and they share that the marriage andoften these are people that I've known
for a long time for decades.Sometimes and I've known them as a married
couple for decades, and they sharethat the marriage has ended. It's always
and it's very sad. That's alllife happens. It's hard to be spine.
You can't hit a like on that, right. You give them like

(01:14:04):
hey, keeping good thoughts, andif you're depending on your relationship with the
person, you might even offer tohave drinks or dinner or coffee or whatever.
But then I can't help it,and how they can't help it?
Where it's like all right, nowwe're curious, and then you do that
little backwards examination. It's like,what's kind of their fault? Because they

(01:14:26):
tease you, right, they teaseyou. It's like thoughts and prayers,
please, I'm at Woodrow Wilson Hospitalor something, you know what I mean.
It's like I need to know what'sgoing on. You just caused me.
Well yea, It's like, Okay, it's been actually been six months
and they've been in a picture togetheron social media. They're announcing it now
and then, and then I keeptrack a little bit and there'll be a

(01:14:49):
case where it's like, oh,it's been a month of to day and
now there's a picture of the personwith their new partner new boyfriend slash girlfriend,
and like, okay, so they'vebeen actually split up for a year
and a half, they've been datingsomeone for six months. The divorce is
getting finalized, and they were settingus up so they could. Hey,

(01:15:12):
by the way, again, nota shock. Life moves on, but
it then becomes a thing. It'slike, oh, they've been sort of
planning this out to slowly reveal theirlives because they want to share their lives,
which everyone's entitled too. But Iget, I get, I've just
become like a nosy housewife with thatcrap. Wow, it sounds like you

(01:15:32):
could have described Ben Fallens's marriage andhalf kidding and half not. I don't
know the details. I just thoughthe's been married for right, he is
on marriage four? Four? Okay? Is he married now? Right?
He is married now, which isfunny because he had said in interviews,
is like, I love marriage,but it's not for me. But I

(01:15:54):
don't think he had made it outof his forties without being married three times.
He's still married to the person thathe was married to that did the
photography for her songs for Silberman.Nope, no, okay, that was
three. He just got married likea year ago to an Australian ballerina.
Oh okay. And before that hewas married to not married. He was
in a long term relationship with AliciaWitt. Why does that sound from Alior?

(01:16:17):
She is? I think she sungon a ben Fold's album. She's
put a few of her own albumsout and she is a pretty successful supporting
actress. One of those actresses youwould recognize if you saw her. She
sounds from Ali. Yeah. Verystriking woman, red hair, fair skin.

(01:16:42):
She was like. She was ona couple episodes of Justified, She
was on a couple episodes of WalkingDead. She was on a couple episodes
of Two and a Half Men,The Mentalist, The Friday Night Lights,
like she's she's had a nice careerwithout ever being an above the name star.
And he was with her for quitea while long term music. Yeah,
for years. All right, let'sbring it home. What do you

(01:17:02):
think you recommend this album? You'recontinuing to listen to it. Yeah,
I would say, you know,I have a friend that said I used
to talk to this friend and Iwould try and turn them on the wheelco
and I would say, look,it's not gonna it's not gonna jump out
at you. It's it's challenging music. You have to give it some time,

(01:17:25):
give it some listens to. Andhe's like, no, I don't.
I don't want to work hard.Like in music, you shouldn't have
to work at it, right.So if that characterizes you, then maybe
maybe this album's not for you.I just didn't like Summer Teeth, man,
I'm sorry it wasn't you. Yougot so mad at me that I
didn't like that album. But Iwill say that you know this album,

(01:17:49):
I mean, as Brad and Italked about, there's not a song that's
going to jump out and attack youand and and hit home right away.
But I promise it's so rewarding.On the second and third, listen as
you go on. So that's whoI would recommend it too, for those
folks that are willing to make thatinvestment in time, because it's worth it.

(01:18:10):
It is worth it, it deservesto be heard. Completely. Agree
Sean. As always, I needyour plug your plugables. If our listeners
are in the Dallas, Texas area, tell them where they should go.
They should come to control the Plano, which is a virtual reality arcade that

(01:18:30):
myself and my wife ohone and operate. It's a lot of fun, very
affordable. Looking for something to do. Look us all recommend everyone do that.
Shell has been amazing. Thank youso much. Thank you Brad.
Always enjoy being on here. Thatraps episode two eighty two. Big thanks

(01:19:04):
to Sean Reynolds. He is agreat guest and a great friend. He
will return next time. On theCosmic Japanneo podcast, kJ Valenzi makes his
long away to return to talk aboutthe TV show Justified City Prime Evil.
Till then, in the words ofJarv Harden see in the Funny Pages,

(01:19:41):
Subscribe to the Cosmic Japaneo podcast oniTunes, Stitcher, or wherever quality podcasts
can be found. Rate and reviewus while there. Follow us on Twitter
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(01:20:02):
We love hearing your ideas for upcomingepisodes. Email us at cosmic shippetto
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