Ben Folds and Nick Hornby are in New York City this week for a few special events to celebrate their new album, Lonely Avenue, including appearances at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Union Square Barnes & Noble, plus a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Financial Times gives Lonely Avenue four stars, saying of Folds/Hornby, "Both are excellent: witty, sophisticated lyrics about love and loss set to a range of styles." And, finally, Folds and fellow Chatroulette sensation Merton offer a joint public service announcement you can watch here.
Ben Folds and Nick Hornby—the singer-songwriter and novelist, respectively, behind the new Nonesuch release Lonely Avenue—are in the city for a few special events this week, including appearances at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Union Square Barnes & Noble, plus a Thursday night slot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
First up, Folds and Hornby co-headline "Liner Notes," an event at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on Tuesday, to explore the cross-pollination of music and literature while raising funds for Housing Works, a New York-based HIV/AIDS service organization. The event, presented by SPIN and moderated by the magazine’s deputy editor, Steve Kandell, will also include a signing by Folds and Hornby. While single tickets are sold out, there are four table being auctioned off to benefit Housing Works. The auction ends this afternoon at 4 PM EST. To bid now, visit shophousingworks.com.
Fans outside New York can enjoy the event through videos that will be posted on SPIN.com later on. Also, SIRIUS XM Book Radio (SIRIUS channel 117/XM channel 163), will broadcast the evening as a special “SIRIUS XM Book Radio Presents: Liner Notes—Music and Words from Ben Folds and Nick Hornby" on November 5 at 7 PM EST and again November 7 at 7 PM EST. The Spectrum (SIRIUS channel 18/XM channel 45), SIRIUS XM’s commercial-free music channel that plays rock from the past, present, and future, will air the Folds-Hornby performance on November 18 at 9 PM EST.
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For fans in New York unable to attend Tuesday's event, stop by the Barnes & Noble flagship store in Union Square to see Folds and Hornby Thursday evening. It's the latest edition of Upstairs at the Square, the series that pairs authors and musicians, a perfect fit for the creators of Lonely Avenue. Journalist Katherine Lanpher interviews both men, who will discuss their new CD and perform selections and sign copies of the album.
On Thursday, the fun isn't limited just to New York audiences, as Folds and Hornby head to the NBC Studios in Rockefeller Plaza for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The show airs at 12:35 AM EST. Among the show's other guests that night is Pee Wee Herman, whose live Broadway production of The Pee-Wee Herman Show officially opens the newly renamed Stephen Sondheim Theatre later this month.
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For a preview of what Folds and Hornby are like together outside their musical collaboration, the two spoke with Entertainment Weekly about it in an interview you can read at ew.com. They also spoke with New York magazine, which says of Folds and Hornby: "Their shared sensibilities—dry humor, a love of melody, and a preference for oddballs acutely observed, begged an artistic collaboration." And so it was that Lonely Avenue came to be. New York's Rebecca Milzoff spoke with both men about turning their friendship into a working partnership. You can read the Q&A at nymag.com.
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The Financial Times gives Lonely Avenue four stars. Reviewer Ludovic Hunter-Tilney says of Folds and Hornby on their new album: "Both are excellent: witty, sophisticated lyrics about love and loss set to a range of styles, from swooning piano pop to the rock-out of 'Levi Johnston’s Blues,' a song about Bristol Palin’s hapless ex-fiancée that’s catchy enough to warm Sarah Palin’s heart. Well, maybe not." Read the review at ft.com.
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The Daily News places that track, "Levi's Johnston's Blues," at No. 3 on the list of Top 10 Songs That Should Be on Your iPod. Says Daily News writer Jim Farber: "this ditty deals with Sarah Palin's ne'er-do-well, near son-in-law with surprising sympathy. Better, it's buoyed by a tune that will chase you around for days." Read more at nydailynews.com.
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Toronto's Globe and Mail calls the album "a cleverly tuneful and intriguing new disc" and rates it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars. "The record is the healthy product of a unique collaboration," reports Globe and Mail reviewer Brad Wheeler. "The collaboration clicks ... with a colourful album of stories set to dynamic music."
Wheeler concludes happily: "Nostalgia buffs who remember the days before singer-songwriters might say that they don’t write songs like they used to. In response, Folds and Hornby can proudly counter 'Oh, but they do.'"
Read the complete album review at theglobeandmail.com.
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And finally, for those of you out there still wondering whether Ben Folds and Merton, the man who inspired him to enter the fray of Chatroulette, the two men met up after Folds's recent performance with the Colorado Symphony in Denver to prove, once and for all, that they are, in fact, not the same person. They offer this public service announcement:
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