Ben Folds @ Mississippi Nights
This is the crew that went to see Ben Folds live in St. Lous in the summer of '02. It was my second Ben experience, and was made twice as cool by the fact that I could actually see him this time. (Standing-room shows aren't cool when you're only 5'6"...) But for this show, we were up on a raised section of the floor, so we could see over everyone's heads and stuff. If you enjoy listening to Ben Folds, I recommend checking out a live show when you get the chance. He plays in quite a few smallish venues, so you can usually get tickets at reasonable prices. Plus, it's incredible just to be standing about 30 feet away from him where you can actually watch his hands on the piano.

On a related note, we were kinda ticked that none of the St. Louis recordings made it onto the Live album... I know for a fact that our audience sounded a heck of a lot better on "Army" than the one that made the cut. Come on, Ben, we even made shirts for you!

Speaking of the shirts, Mike made these at work so we'd truly be representing our fandom. Contrary to what some of the other fans thought, they're not supposed to form a cohesive sentence. Each shirt is a separate Ben-inspired message. I've got hopes that Ben Folds actually might have a picture of my shirt, because every time he got out his own camera to take a picture of the crowd, I actually took mine off and held it up above my head. I'm sure I wasn't making the folks behind me happy, but that's a price I was willing to pay.

Anyway, here's the lineup of this picture, from left to right:

First, sporting a request for one of his favorite songs and my snazzy Bud Light visor, is my good friend Mike. If this picture fills you with an insatiable desire to know more about this man, you should probably just visit his blog immediately. Hurry, before the madness takes you! Next, with the perfect smile and the oh-so-clever "black t-shirt" is Lauren. Yes, for those of you keeping score at home, that would be my girlfriend. If you're feeling that same insatiable urge to learn more about her, you're just going to have to be patient... she just might have a site coming soon. (end shameless plug) Next, looking stunning in the pink "Kate" t-shirt is Laura, aka: "Cleave." She gets her nickname, of course, from the Old High German kleben which means "to stick." The nickname is due to the way she adheres firmly and closely... or loyally and unwaveringly, take your pick. Either way, it means she's a good friend. Yeah, and the last guy on the end there is me. Exciting!