ben's crazy. i like it.

status check - lovely
background ambiance - typical

after much thought and contemplation, i've decided that ben lee is just brilliantly mad.

i'll be honest, i wasn't expecting too much by the time ben came on stage. it was late on a monday night, the end of an extraordinarily long day, and there were about 30 people there. gregory douglass had played a typically strong set that, per usual, just failed to grab me for whatever reason. pony up had performed its hipster altera-pop, but i wasn't really feeling it until the last song, when they sang this hilarious ironic slam of rock stars that made me burst into laughter, cheer loudly and think of a certain person about whom the song might as well have been written.

so when ben came onstage after 11 p.m., i was prepared to apologize to beth for dragging her out to nectar's for a lathargic late-night show.

fortunately, ben performed the craziest, funniest, likeable set i've had the opportunity to attend. he looked like a little kid, with his mop of frizzy light brown hair, gray hoodie and too-long jeans. he sat on his chair, rocking back and forth so hard he nearly fell off on several occasions. he got the audience to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage - all i could think of was "hipster kindergarten class." he spouted off about quantum physics, zen buddhism and being brave, telling us that we had to be brave, like english soldiers. we had to put energy into it, just as he was determined to put energy into it - he was ready to swim across the english channel for each of us. he covered "champagne supernova" for a laughing singalong. he sat onstage before he moved his chair to the audience and sat with his back to me, facing the band. he knelt on the floor, signing up into the mic, he sat on the edge of the stage, he ran outside to sing the last two songs on top of lara's car hood.

he made no sense while making perfect sense and i absolutely loved it. it was random in this fabulous, earnest way that made it impossible NOT to like him. he made sure to look each of us in the eye several times, ensuring that we were in it, we were there with him. and he'd laugh and speak with this fabulously warm australian accent that i couldn't help but smile at.

the best thing about the night is that i realized, in the midst of all this mayhem, that i was loving the music. he's an extremely tight guitarist and has a knack for knowing precisely when to bring the volume up or down for dramatic effect. his voice is intense and seasoned, but he can convey optimism and childlike eagerness when it counts.

and let's face it - the bit with the car hood was absolutely brilliant.

he'll be touring the country over the next couple of months, with stops in boston and at iota in the coming weeks - you'd be a fool not to check him out.

speaking of shows ... a couple of concert announcements.

- tristan prettyman at the roxy on oct. 3. i'm hoping i have monday off so i can hit that up and transform my crazy travels to boston into one nice, long, four-day weekend. tides, tristan and rilo kiley would make for one hell of a minibreak.

***update: oh shit ... if i do somehow manage to be able to attend that show, it's tristan, gavin decouldbegood and ... uh ... averi. haha - DAMMIT!***

- averi at the pickel barrell (killington) on oct. 16. i won't be there, but figured i would let others know of it ...