Tucked into this piece from the Los Angeles Times about a new-ish trend — bands performing entire albums start-to-finish in concert — is an offhand mention of Ben Kweller. Back in the day, when he was maybe 17, Ben used to call me at the office for no particular reason. “Hey, Zac — it’s Ben. I’m just hanging out. It’s getting kinda hot outside. I’m thinking about putting on some shorts. I might make a sandwich later. Maybe peanut butter and jelly.” This went on for several minutes, and I’m only slightly paraphrasing. It was awesome.
Seems that Ben — now a husband and father, a development that doesn’t make me feel old at all — has enough fans and enough albums under his belt to join the entire-album-concert trend. He has a three-night stand (Sept. 5-7) coming up at The Echo in L.A to do just that; Sha Sha the first night, On My Way the second, and Ben Kweller for the finale. If that sounds like a bit of hubris, well, he already pulled off the trifecta once, and it apparently went pretty well.
