Flavah of the Month

On the menu board this month is Ben Parker. This chappie came to me by way of a song on a CD that UK friends Chris and Erica made for me a couple of years ago. The song was one from when he was in the dynamic duo, Ben & Jason - they managed to be dynamic despite the lack of masks and capes. When I was in the UK last year the same peeps added some tunes on my iPod for me and Ben Parker was one of those additions....you guessed it kids, he played the role of Ben, in Ben & Jason!! They added 2 of his songs, 'Survive the Rain' and 'Angels & Demons', both of these songs have for months, become part of my morning routine. Even when I shower, I take my iPod and portable speaker system with me...and well, it is there that Ben sings to me. He continues to sing to me throughout the rest of my morning, and he often makes me leave for work much later than I had originally intended to - lucky for me, my start time is very flexible, which is good as I often continue to listen to him via his Myspace or YouTube.
He's so much more than your average bear, his beautiful voice combined with some pretty fantastic song writing really takes me away - obviously not in the direction of work though!!
You must do yourself a favour and check him out, I get more hooked with each listen. 'One Of Us Must Change' (this tune reminds me of Queen a little - the song is amazing!), 'It's Not What You Are', and 'This Message' are some of my current faves, but again, they're all pretty fab. His latest offering, Dream Painted Gold is so much more than your typical pop song, which is why I love his music so much, not a bit of useless fluff to be found anywhere....oh, how it makes my heart sing to listen to well written music. He never takes the typical 'rinse and repeat route'...hallelujah!!
Don't forget to check out his former Ben & Jason work too...more great music for ya....actually their song, 'I'll Always Want You' is also part of my morning musical tour, this song is quietly epic...trust me, that will make sense to you when you have a listen, it is one superb offering, has a bit of a Rufus Wainwright feel to it, with a dash of Fiona Apple.
So there you have it, slowly you'll be able to put together my whole day in musical terms, mornings with Ben, work cruising with Chris.....maybe next month I'll feature who I listen to while I eat...I know, edge of your seat kind of suspense!!!
So give your ears the pleasure of listening to the super talented Ben Parker.
Ben can be found at http://www.myspace.com/benparkermusic and of course, you can see him in action (sans cape) via YouTube.

Before I wrap it up, I just need to bang the Chris Keys (last months' Flavah) drum one more time. In the time since I wrote about him, my copy of his EP Hitman has been delivered. As you may know my listening habits can be classified as 'Rainman' like - I usually have about max. 6 cd's in my regular rotation at a time. I play them over and over, so I get to know them pretty thoroughly. I've been playing Chris's EP almost everyday, and I must say it makes a lovely addition to my commute, great cruising music.
Aside from the songs I mentioned in the original blog, Open Seas and Reliving are another two stand-outs. Most played tune at the moment is Fix It, it's an especially beautiful tune with rich guitar. I've played that particular song so many times, that I even felt qualified to give Chris my suggestion for a little instrument addition - hey who doesn't love a shot of harmonica?? What can I say, I'm an avid listener! So that's my reminder for you to check him out and of course Ben too!
http://chriskeys.com/
http://www.myspace.com/chrisjkeys