Globex Corporation Newsletter

I've listened to a lot of music today. The last hour or so has been spent listening to two of my favorites. I love the music of Ben Folds. His former band, Ben Folds Five (a trio - I love that!) will always be one of my favorites. I remember my first listens to the band, Ben's piano was always evident as it was something that really made the band sound different, but the bass playing of Robert Sledge and the drumming of Darren Jesse were also excellent. I always figured they were one of those groups that had a synergistic thing, making them greater than the sum of their parts. Then BFF broke up and Ben released his solo effort Rockin' the Suburbs which was absolutely outstanding. Breaking out of the three piece format he was really able to shine. As much as I liked BFF, I like Ben Folds solo efforts even more.

My favorite thing about Ben is his songwriting. Rockin' the Suburbs featured such gems as Zac and Sara and Not the Same. One underlying tone to most of Ben's songs is the grin of an unabashed wise-ass. He has a wonderful twisted view of the world around him. Even though it's usually a cynical view, I never find his music to be a downer. I was told by someone recently who'd met BFF bassist Robert Sledge that Ben is a bit of an asshole. It isn't hard to believe when you hear his music.

But perhaps the song on Rockin' the Suburbs that had the biggest impact on me was The Luckiest a song Ben wrote for his wife. With a beautiful simplicity, Ben chronicles a relationship and shows how sometimes two people are simply meant to be together. Now I've heard much better romantic relationship songs, but I was more appreciative of The Luckiest because of the body of Ben's work. While it still has some of the odd imagry that often inhabits Ben's songs, it's the 'nicest' thing I've ever heard from him. It has more impact because of what the rest of his songs are like.

Besides also being a great songwriter, Shawn Bitz of Abby SomeOne doesn't have much in common with Ben Folds. Shawn's music tend to be a lot more upbeat in attitude than Ben's, Shawn being a much more upbeat personality than Ben. I know Shawn a little bit and he's one of the most upbeat people I've ever met. He has faults like the rest of us, he's had his stumbles in life but I've rarely seen it get him down. His music reflects this, nearly every song on the positive side of life. Considering the twists and turns in his life and musical career (he's hosting an open mic in Rapid City, South Dakota for Christ's sake) it's amazing and I constantly find his attitude to be a personal inspiration.

But on the ASO album Back to Me there is a song called Record Machine. It's not mean, Shawn doesn't name any names, but it's so unlike the rest of his songs. It doesn't come close to approaching the 'Bad Attitude" of the standard Ben Folds song, but for Shawn it's pretty out there. And like Ben Folds' The Luckiest, the sharp contrast to the rest of his body of work really makes it stand out.

Shawn also writes a nearly-daily Blog, which is a major inspiration to this here Globex Corporation Newsletter. He wrote some nice things about the former band Slappy is Jebus recently, and I'll admit it, I started reading it after attending his Open Mic to see what he'd have to write about me. But good writing is good writing wherever you find it and Shawn is a great writer. He has a style in his blog that take 5 or 6 blogs to get used to, there's a little bit of "code" that the reader needs to decypher, but give it a week and you'll be glad you did.

Like his music, the blog is generally upbeat, but he'll use it to rant, to vent his frustration at the music industry at times. He had some problems with the Black Hills Heritage Festival recently, airing his issues in his blog. I believe he had every right to do so, his issues with the festival were quite justified, his blog a healthy place to air his beefs. It was what he did a few days later that I was more impressed with. He apologized for his outburst, he pointed out his own shortcomings in the matter and went on with his life. Time and time again he does this, he does something he perceives as a mistake and, like a man he admits when he's wrong.

My blog on the other hand is generally me bitching about all of the little things in my crappy life. I bitch and moan failing to realize that I have plenty of food in my belly, a roof over my head and friends who care about me. When I've ranted about something that I saw as wrong or unfair later to think better of it, all I've done is remove the post and tried to forget it ever happened. That sure isn't being a man.

So a week ago I bitched about all of the things I give away for free and don't get anything for. Don't get anything for? I am such an asshole! I am getting published. That's pretty damn cool. No, I won't receive payment for it, and it may be the type of stuff I don't want to put on a resume, but somebody thought people would enjoy it enough to fell it was worth their while to publish. The Rapid City Journal hasn't given me a graphics postion, but a reporter thought enough of my work to feature it in the on-line edition of the paper. What did I get out of it? A place to show my work where thousands of people would see it, the confidence to start up BOJ News Service. As for playing with a professional musician, the guy charges people for the education he's giving me for free. For me to be upset about anything is awfully damn selfish on my part. I have learned so much from Mike Reardon that I am forever in his debt. I was just a guy with some musical ability, going along by trial and error. Mike has started to show me how to go about it in a logical manner. He's taught me that logic and music can go together.

So if you read this last week and were offended, I offer my apologies. If this is the first your hearing of it, oops, I shoulda kept my big mouth shut.....

BOJ