Today Jan and I spent a lot of time looking through the classified ads for a van for me to buy. When John got home we went to check out a 1990 Mitsubishi something-or-other, which I got to test drive around the block. It drove like crap but the guy who was selling it had built a platform for a bed inside so he could slide his surf boards and camping stuff underneath and still have a comfortable place to sleep.
In the evening I dragged Charles (the oldest son) out to see Ben Lee at the Tivoli Theater. Now, everyone knows I love Ben Lee and any show I go to will be the best one ever, but I think this one really was! It’s a little different situation seeing him in the country he’s from. Sure the girls here love him as much as they girls back home, but in Australia there are just more of them! I told Charles there must have been 6 girls to every guy there, and that would have been pretty good odds except all the girls had eyes for Ben. I won’t go into details about the show, just that it was amazing, and he opened the evening buy calling up Ben Folds in the U.S. on his cell phone and having us all leave “happy birthday” on his voicemail. Apparently last time Ben played in Brisbane was the infamous “The Bens” concert where he played with Ben Kweller (from Dallas) and Ben Folds. Anyway, at some point during the show he noticed me and did a double take, which was extremely funny and flattering. I thought he was going to forget the next verse to what he was singing. After the show he sat around talking to all his adoring fans, and we talked for a few minutes in which he said something like “it’s crazy to see you way on the other side of the planet!” and commented on my t-shirt. I’m glad my favorite rock star is so nice to his fans. I watched him talking to all the people before me and he was genuinely happy to talk to all of them, or at least just damn good at faking. After the chat we headed home. I think Charles was glad I dragged him to see Ben Lee, or maybe he’s just damn good at faking too.
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