A Dream About Lightning Bugs

July 1, 2019
A memoir of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll that's long on wry humor and short on--well, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. North Carolina-raised Folds describes himself, with a kind of literary crooked smile, as the sort of person who's likely to be seen pacing around in his boxer shorts in his front yard, coffee cup in hand, working out the lyrics or melody to one of his songs. A master of the short story in song--see "Army" on the 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner--Folds writes of growing up obsessed by music and bursting with creativity, which landed him in a psychologist's office in a blue-collar South in which " 'artsy' things would normally have been written off as being 'for queers.' " A fierce advocate and ally was his mother, who, with his father, indulged him "as I terrorized the household with painfully long sessions of repeated phrases at the piano or snare drum." Clearly gifted, he enrolled in an alternative high school with patient music teachers. Later in the book, the author encourages his fellow musicians to take up the cause of music teachers "unless you really believe you learned nothing from them," in which case, he gamely ventures, they should take up the cause of reforming anti-marijuana laws. There are nice notes throughout the text, including an early pledge to himself not to perform anyone's songs but his own and the excitement of releasing his first album, which, he writes, might not be a masterpiece but still found his band, Ben Folds Five, giving their all: "From then on we would only do exactly what felt right." What felt right led him to a kind of cult-classic status, to say nothing of friendships with the likes of Neil Gaiman and William Shatner, the latter of whom provides some entertaining anecdotes. Ultimately, Folds delivers an amiable and low-key memoir without the tawdry pyrotechnics of most rock biographies. A pleasure for fans and encouragement for novices to tune in.

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July 15, 2019
In these delightful reflections, singer-songwriter Folds explores the ways in which music shaped his life and offers glimpses into the process of making music. At age three, he dreamed of a jar of fireflies; looking back, he realizes that the glowing jar is an image of his view of artistry and art: “making art is about following what’s luminous to you and putting it in a jar, to share with others.” Folds weaves in autobiography, from growing up in 1970s Greensboro, N.C., and his years at the University of Miami (he dropped out just credits shy of graduation), to his early days of making music in Nashville in the 1990s, and his world tours with the Ben Fold Five and on his own. Along the way, Folds ruminates on songwriting: “often the music fools me into something I’d rather not have revealed lyrically.” With self-deprecating humor, he characterizes himself as a singer who was forced to sing: “I had to grow a pair, or lose a pair, whatever—it’s all so confusing.” Folds’s fans will take great pleasure in this charming and insightful memoir.

June 21, 2019

The world may not need another memoir describing how a "male, middle-class, and white" musician made it in the record industry, but at least this one is written with the same charming self-awareness that Ben Folds brings to his music. In 1997, an earnest piano-based ballad about a teenage couple's decision to get an abortion became an unlikely rock radio hit for Chapel Hill, NC, trio Ben Folds Five. Folds tells the story of the relationship that begat the song "Brick" and reveals other events that informed his particular brand of punk-inspired piano rock. Bespectacled music nerd Folds may not fit the mold of the stereotypical rock front man, but his determination to turn his musical obsession into a career is inspiring. Folds gives credit to those who helped him along the way, such as his hardworking parents and school music teachers. VERDICT Folds's memoir is much like his songwriting--straightforward, wickedly smart, and with a heavy dose of self-deprecating humor.--Amanda Westfall, Emmet O'Neal P.L., Mountain Brook, AL

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