Ben Folds

Last night we went to see Ben Folds with the Louisville Orchestra. It was a really cool show. The orchestra started out with 5 pieces in the first half, and they were all fairly friendly to an audience that bought tickets to see Ben Folds and not the orchestra. Tchaikovsky, Aaron Copland, a medley of Star Trek themes. But that didn't stop the high schoolers sitting next to us from talking and being generally obnoxious during the whole thing. Look at your programs, people; that's what they're there for. If you don't want to sit through the first half, go out to the lobby and wait.

Geez, I feel like an old geezer. But seriously, I was about to slap them.

Then Ben Folds came out, and he was really good, as was expected. At first, his piano wasn't miked enough, so he blended with the orchestra too much, but after the first song, that was resolved. He played lots of favorites, and one song from his new album. With an entire orchestra to accompany him, I hoped he would play "Steven's Last Night in Town," and he did. Since it's my favorite song, I hoped he would play "One Down," and he did -- all by himself, with no orchestral accompaniment. It was better that way. I totally love that song.

(By the way, I just Googled "one down three point six" and the first hit was Transmogrification. Small world!)

The low part of the concert was "The Ascent of Stan," for which the orchestra was dragging a bit.

The low part for me was when he performed "Gracie," the first line of which goes, "You can't fool me, I saw you when you came out." He had told us about watching his twins be born, and used the phrase "saw them come out" a couple times while talking, and I guess the third time, in the actual lyrics, was too much for me. Remember that very, very sad thing I mentioned before, that I hadn't had any time to process?

Well, my subconscious sent it flying up into my consciousness, and I processed it right there in Whitney Hall, while Ben Folds sang "Gracie." And I mean tears were running down my face uncontrollably. That's how emotionally exhausted I am from this month.

The very, very sad thing involves a baby dying last week. I don't think I want to tell the whole story any more, so please forgive me. Let's just say that in obstetrics, there are a few different types of "fetal demise," but I think I've concluded that for obstetricians, there are only two types: expected/unsurprising, and unexpected/surprising.

This one was out-of-left-field unexpected and very, very surprising and upsetting. Not least of all for the mother, of course, but also for the rest of the team. I barely met the mother, she wasn't my patient, but there I was, crying uncontrollably at a Ben Folds concert last night for a baby whose father didn't get to watch it come out.

Two weeks down, two weeks to go.