Speaking of William Shatner, Ben produced one of William’s recent albums entitled “Has Been.”  I have my good friend and fellow Shure Artist Relations comrade Richard Sandrok to thank for introducing me to this record.    It’s full of fun songs, some deep lyrical content and just plain craziness.  The craziness comes in the form of a song called “I Can’t Get Behind That” in which Bill and Henry Rollins go off on all kinds of topics.  If you are still reading this, take a short break and go to iTunes to download this entire record.  It’s worth your time and money.  Joe Jackson’s on the first track and Brad Paisley is on the last.  The band is killer!

The other time I got to experience Ben Folds was when he was backed by the Nashville Symphony at TPAC in Nashville.  Amazing show!

Back on track now….

So the title of this blog is Ben Folds Five, right?  Never seen them before and I am not familiar with any of their songs.  I do like it sometimes when I go to a concert that I am not familiar with the groups catalog.  It causes me to pay closer attention to the show and the band rather than just rocking out and signing along.  (I like those concerts too!)

I arrived at The Ryman in time for sound check where the group was joined by Ke$ha and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.  They were working up a special cover of a Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn duet called “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.”

The opening act was an Australian singer named Kate Miller-Heidke who was joined by a great acoustic guitar player.  Kate has had operatic training and works it very well into her material.  During the set they rattled off a pretty funny version of Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady.”

When Ben Folds Five hit the stage to thunderous applause, Ben kicked it off and the crowd went wild.  After the first song, he announced that this was their first tour in 13 years.  As the show went on, Ben prepared for another song by installing mute’s on certain piano strings to get a muted guitar sound.  As he explained what he was doing to the audience, a crowd member shouted out an exclamation of doubt.  Ben quick shot back through his SM58 vocal mic “No, I’m actually going through a car wash backwards with a plastic bag over my head.”  (crowd laughs) Then he proceeded to play the muted piano keys, which sounded exactly like they should and Ben said to the crowd member “See?  No but that’s OK,  I encourage ignorant heckling like that.”

Ben Folds Five is such a great band to see live because there is such a fun aspect to their personalities.  People come to see great music and are treated to some comedy along the way.  They have a few shows left in the States before they head overseas to Australia and then to Europe.

Ryan

One of the things I love most about my job is that no day is ever the same or what I consider “normal.” Some days are more challenging than others and some are more fun than others. It really just depends on what I’m working on and who I’m working with on a particular day. Not too long ago, I enjoyed one of my best days ever as a Shure Associate.

For the past several months, I’ve been working on a corporate video project for our CEO and we’ve recently finished shooting and are now getting into the editing/post-production phase of the project. One of the remaining tasks was to record the voiceover for the script.

We had thrown around a bunch of ideas as to who we’d like to secure as the narrator for the video and the one name that kept coming up in conversation was that of longtime Shure endorser and SM58 fan, Henry Rollins.

For those of you who might not already know this, in addition to his career as a musician, talk show host, writer, actor, spoken word artist and all-around modern day Renaissance Man, Mr. Rollins is a very accomplished voiceover talent. Listen closely the next time you see a commercial for AT&T or Infinti and you just might catch one of the ads that he’s done.

I headed out to Hollywood last month and met up with Henry at Margarita Mix Studios for the recording session. After he got himself situated in the booth with our script, a few cans of apple juice and, of course, an SM58, Henry began to read the first few lines.

Wow.

I am not exaggerating to you when I tell you that I got chills and had goosebumps on my arm.

It was that powerful.

His voice has such grit and he reads so eloquently. I was absolutely blown away and excited at the thought of how much his voice is going to add to the video when it’s finished.

The session lasted about three hours and we did multiple takes of each segment of the script…just for good measure, but honestly, I think he nailed it on the first take every time. He’s an absolute pro at whatever he does…whether he’s behind the mic, in front of the camera…you name it.

And, for those of you who are curious, we’re planning to post the video on www.shure.com later this spring and I hope you’ll take a few minutes to check it out.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

We take a look at the history and technology of the legendary SM57 and SM58® microphones in this episode. A few highlights from the show include: the “drop test” and a testimonial from devoted SM58 user Henry Rollins. Tim Vear from Shure’s Applications Department is our guest.

Henry Rollins brings the power to the cover of this issue, in which editor Cory Lorentz recaps the Artist Relations team’s whirlwind summer and dares readers to become the bands they want to hear.

View and download the full On Tour With Shure Fall 2006 Issue on shure.com.