You like keyboards?
Then you'll love this guy:
I've gotten out of the habit of wantonly posting links to other sites and / or pictures, videos, etc. In fact, that's why I took down a couple thousand of my blogposts. Literally. (And I mean that literally.) But with respect to Mr. Ben Cosgrove, I thought it was safe to do, since he posted the video himself and put a share option on it. Also, I really wanted to do my part, however small that is, to promote this fellow's music. Check out that concert, brahs and tahs. Is that some fantastic shit or what? If I could play like that, I probably wouldn't even notice that there was a lockdown.
Funny, too, because 27 hours ago I hadn't heard of Ben.
Long version: 7 1/2 years ago I had a glimpse of an EP cover which caught my eye. It was Burnin' Both Ends by Doug Balmain, and the image was of a bipedal spaceman in a suit, holding his helmet in his hands. But said spaceman had a lion's head. Well. He had me at lion's head. 🦁. And it turned out to be some really great music--six very soulfully sung tunes. (You can find it on iTunes or Amazon...and there is a video of the title track on YouTube. I'm pretty sure that if you listen to that one, your feet will be tapping before the song ends.) My love for that EP led me to follow Doug/Douglas via various media platforms, which is probably how I ended up being on his email list.
And yesterday I got this email:
So I thought I would give a listen. (If it's good enough for Doug/Douglas, then....) Just to prepare (since I'd never heard of this Ben Cosgrove), I went online and found a video--Ben Cosgrove - Montreal Song | Sofar Boston. I liked Ben right off, as he introduced the song by saying, "I'm going to play a song and then we can talk about it. Or about whatever." He seemed a little quirky and awkward...which is something I really like in a man. Or a woman. (Too much confidence really pisses me off. It can turn a pretty girl into just a big mouth, and a big boy into an annoying prick right quick.) And then when he started playing...oh, my. Solo piano is not always a big hit with me, but I immediately felt that I could listen to Ben play for hours. So I posted a Facebook link to the live stream concert and sent a message to my #1🌞, who is a professional musician, and then, sorry to say, I kind of forgot about it.
At 7:45 pm I remembered the concert and tuned in for the last couple of songs. And it was so good. When it was over I backed up and listened to the whole thing. And having enjoyed all that free music, I wanted to give something back. So I started with my favorite Music Access point, /bandcamp. They had some stuff. In fact, they had a lot of stuff. Five full albums and two singles. As I poked around, I also visited Ben's own website--where I found four albums, a t-shirt, an unavailable and out of print book, and a sticker/magnet--and Amazon, where I found six albums. Hmmm. And it wasn't even quite that straightforward, because one of the albums on /bandcamp didn't appear anywhere else. (And on top of that, that album--Midwinter, was actually a compilation of six EPs which had been released over the course of five years.) And there were two albums on Amazon that didn't appear anywhere else. I know it's very autistic of me, but I immediately had to stop what I was doing and attempt to create a complete, chronological discography of Ben Cosgrove.
To wit--
Kaleidoscope (11/27/2005)
Well. There goes an hour of my life...but hey, now it's forever, and we both can enjoy it.
One of the things I learned whilst completing this so-far-as-I-can-discern Complete Discography is that it might be a bit precarious to acquire all of this music. As stated earlier, Midwinter seems to exist only on /bandcamp, and Kaleidoscope and Empty Rooms were both released on CDBaby, which no longer sells cds.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen A Thing That I Wanted, not bought it (because even to this day it's hard for me to buy things because I want them, even if I have the money to do it effortlessly; I assume it's the product of growing up poor divided by serious self-esteem issues multiplied by divorce squared)...and a day or a few days later, when I'd decided that I was, indeed, going to buy That Thing, I found that it was gone, gone, gone. Many times, for sure. So I bought Midwinter Volumes 1-6 from /bandcamp, and then I went to Amazon and bought Kaleidoscope and Empty Rooms. So it looks like my quest to acquire All Of Ben has begun.
News as it happens.
Somewhere in between paragraphs above, I went out for a walk. A solo walk, which is a rarity in the Covid-19 Days, as I have charge of my two adult autistic children six out of seven days, and we walk together. So I was going to fire up an audiobook--I currently have Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, and Blowout
by Rachel Maddow--both of which I've started but (1) not gotten very far into and (2) haven't really absorbed much from. But my phone is woefully out of date (it's a Samsung Galaxy S4, which came out April 27, 2013), and sometimes apps just don't load. This was one of those days. So I thought, "I shall listen to Ben Congreve's Live From a Room again!" And I did. And it was even better the second time around.
And even as we speak, I'm listening to "Ben Cosgrove interviewed on Vermont's WGDR, July 2015" (radio station located a mere 86 minutes from #1🌞's front door, which for some reason makes this dearer to me), and after a bit of chat Ben sat down to play a live version of "Montreal Song." And then he played a new song which had not yet been recorded at the time of the interview: "Grace Harbor." And then "Abilene." Which got me thinking...there should be a discography of live performances...at least the internet-preserved ones...shouldn't there?
Hmmmm.
Man, it's not easy being anal retentive. On the other hand, it pretty much guarantees that you can find a purpose for living at the drop of a fucking hat.
ANYway...I think you should lend Ben Congreve your ears, and some dollars if you have any to spare. These are hard times for musicians. And I think that concert posted up top is probably a good starting point, but as I explore more I'll see if I find something else.
A lot depends on where you start, doesn't it? Starting at the wrong point can mean that you end up not liking someone you really would have liked a lot. (For instance, I am just about finished reading Amor Towles's Rules of Civility, and I do not like it very much at all. If this had been my first Amor Towles book, it probably would have been my last. As it happens, though, I first read his second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, which I loved. So instead of being through with Mr. Towles, I'm looking forward to his next novel instead of shaking his dust from my sandals In fact, I loved A Gentleman in Moscow so much that I read the completely forgettable "You Have Arrived at Your Destination" (which is either a long short story or a short novella) and am willing to finish The Rules of Civility. I might even be persuaded to read his short short story collection Eve in Hollywood if I can find it for free. (It's a companion to The Rules of Civility, so I'm not willing to spend any money to get it into me.)
So, yeah.
That's it for now. Listen to some music.
☮📤
Then you'll love this guy:
I've gotten out of the habit of wantonly posting links to other sites and / or pictures, videos, etc. In fact, that's why I took down a couple thousand of my blogposts. Literally. (And I mean that literally.) But with respect to Mr. Ben Cosgrove, I thought it was safe to do, since he posted the video himself and put a share option on it. Also, I really wanted to do my part, however small that is, to promote this fellow's music. Check out that concert, brahs and tahs. Is that some fantastic shit or what? If I could play like that, I probably wouldn't even notice that there was a lockdown.
Funny, too, because 27 hours ago I hadn't heard of Ben.
Long version: 7 1/2 years ago I had a glimpse of an EP cover which caught my eye. It was Burnin' Both Ends by Doug Balmain, and the image was of a bipedal spaceman in a suit, holding his helmet in his hands. But said spaceman had a lion's head. Well. He had me at lion's head. 🦁. And it turned out to be some really great music--six very soulfully sung tunes. (You can find it on iTunes or Amazon...and there is a video of the title track on YouTube. I'm pretty sure that if you listen to that one, your feet will be tapping before the song ends.) My love for that EP led me to follow Doug/Douglas via various media platforms, which is probably how I ended up being on his email list.
And yesterday I got this email:
At 7:45 pm I remembered the concert and tuned in for the last couple of songs. And it was so good. When it was over I backed up and listened to the whole thing. And having enjoyed all that free music, I wanted to give something back. So I started with my favorite Music Access point, /bandcamp. They had some stuff. In fact, they had a lot of stuff. Five full albums and two singles. As I poked around, I also visited Ben's own website--where I found four albums, a t-shirt, an unavailable and out of print book, and a sticker/magnet--and Amazon, where I found six albums. Hmmm. And it wasn't even quite that straightforward, because one of the albums on /bandcamp didn't appear anywhere else. (And on top of that, that album--Midwinter, was actually a compilation of six EPs which had been released over the course of five years.) And there were two albums on Amazon that didn't appear anywhere else. I know it's very autistic of me, but I immediately had to stop what I was doing and attempt to create a complete, chronological discography of Ben Cosgrove.
To wit--
∆The Ben Cosgrove Discography∆
1. Intro
2. Treading Water
3. Refraction
4. Phoenix
5. Treeline
6. Undertow
7. Mirror
8. The Architect, Act I
9. The Architect, Act II
10. The Architect, Act III
11. Kaleidoscope
12. Until Again
13. BONUS TRACK: Scattered Flowers
Yankee Division (3/22/2011)
1. Prairie Fire
2. I Am Walking Inland
3. When You Are a Road
4. Nashua
5. From Ten Thousand Feet
6. Middle Distance
7. North Central
8. Good Fences
9. Oarlock
10. All the Weather Ahead
11. Yankee Division
12.I Remember When Days Like These Were Instantly Available
Midwinter, Volume 1 (12/1/2012)
1. Coventry Carol
2. In the Bleak Midwinter
3. I Wonder as I Wander
4. O Come Emmanuel
5. Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming
7. 6. Greensleeves
8. The First Noel
9. In Dulce Jubilo
“Little Rain” single (9/27/2013)
So far as I can discern, this is the same version/mix as the one that appears on Field Studies—same time (3:33), too. (Yes, I do think about these things. Worry, even. So sue me.)
“Palo Alto” single (12/1/13)
And again…so far as I can discern, this is the same version/mix as the one that appears on Field Studies—same time (4:04), too.
Midwinter, Volume 2 (12/1*/2013)
1. Huron Carol
2. Silent Night
3. O Little Town of Bethlehem
4. We Three Kings
5. I Saw A Maiden
Field Studies (1/30/2014)
1. Lafayette
2. Montreal Song
3. West
4. Little Rain
5. Abilene
6. Palo Alto
7. We Will Be Fine
8. Sigurd F. Olson
9. Hold Your Latitude
10. Bath
11. We Never See Anything Clearly
12. Narrow Land/River of Grass (feat. David Berkeley)
13. Nautilus
Midwinter, Volume 3 (12/1/2014)
1. Wassail Wassail
2. O Holy Night
3. Away in a Manger
4. Sheep May Safely Graze
5. Joy to the World
Midwinter, Volume 4 (12/1/2015)
1. Bring a Torch
2. Jeanette Isabella
3. Deck the Halls
Solo Piano (9/2/2016)
1. Montreal Song (Live Solo Version)
2. Black Is the Color - Palo Alto (Live Solo Version)
3. Grace Harbor (Live Solo Version)
4. Abilene (Live Solo Version)
5. Come Down (Live Solo Version)
6. Wind Falling from a Higher Place (Live Solo Version)
7. Siletz (Live Solo Version)
8. When You Are a Road (Live Solo Version)
9. Distant Music (Live Solo Version)
10. Bath (Live Solo Version)
11. Nashua (Live Solo Version)
12. Coldwater (Live Solo Version)
13. Nautilus (Live Solo Version)
Empty Rooms (10/13/2016)
1. Harbor
2. On Acrobats & Calculus
3. Distant Music (Song for Michael Furey)
4. Toulouse #4
5. Unfolding
6. New Salem
7. Public Alley 429
8. Shoulder High
9. Come Down
10. Armory Road
11. Anchor & Crane
12. All That Surrounds It (postscript)
Midwinter, Volume 5 (12/1/2016)
1. Good King Wenceslas
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
3. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Salt (6/5/2017)
1. Champlain
2. Break
3. Pine
4. Salt
5. Let
6. Landfall
7. Slip
8. Oxbow
9. Kennebec
10. Glass
Midwinter, Volume 6 (12/1/2017)
1. Cherry Tree Carol
2. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
3. Adestes Fideles
* I’m presuming that the release date for all of the volumes of Midwinter occurred on the same date…because that’s the way that I would do it. The only release information I could find indicated the specific date of release of volume 1, but only the year of release for volumes 2 - 6.
One of the things I learned whilst completing this so-far-as-I-can-discern Complete Discography is that it might be a bit precarious to acquire all of this music. As stated earlier, Midwinter seems to exist only on /bandcamp, and Kaleidoscope and Empty Rooms were both released on CDBaby, which no longer sells cds.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen A Thing That I Wanted, not bought it (because even to this day it's hard for me to buy things because I want them, even if I have the money to do it effortlessly; I assume it's the product of growing up poor divided by serious self-esteem issues multiplied by divorce squared)...and a day or a few days later, when I'd decided that I was, indeed, going to buy That Thing, I found that it was gone, gone, gone. Many times, for sure. So I bought Midwinter Volumes 1-6 from /bandcamp, and then I went to Amazon and bought Kaleidoscope and Empty Rooms. So it looks like my quest to acquire All Of Ben has begun.
News as it happens.
Somewhere in between paragraphs above, I went out for a walk. A solo walk, which is a rarity in the Covid-19 Days, as I have charge of my two adult autistic children six out of seven days, and we walk together. So I was going to fire up an audiobook--I currently have Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, and Blowout
by Rachel Maddow--both of which I've started but (1) not gotten very far into and (2) haven't really absorbed much from. But my phone is woefully out of date (it's a Samsung Galaxy S4, which came out April 27, 2013), and sometimes apps just don't load. This was one of those days. So I thought, "I shall listen to Ben Congreve's Live From a Room again!" And I did. And it was even better the second time around.
And even as we speak, I'm listening to "Ben Cosgrove interviewed on Vermont's WGDR, July 2015" (radio station located a mere 86 minutes from #1🌞's front door, which for some reason makes this dearer to me), and after a bit of chat Ben sat down to play a live version of "Montreal Song." And then he played a new song which had not yet been recorded at the time of the interview: "Grace Harbor." And then "Abilene." Which got me thinking...there should be a discography of live performances...at least the internet-preserved ones...shouldn't there?
Hmmmm.
Man, it's not easy being anal retentive. On the other hand, it pretty much guarantees that you can find a purpose for living at the drop of a fucking hat.
ANYway...I think you should lend Ben Congreve your ears, and some dollars if you have any to spare. These are hard times for musicians. And I think that concert posted up top is probably a good starting point, but as I explore more I'll see if I find something else.
A lot depends on where you start, doesn't it? Starting at the wrong point can mean that you end up not liking someone you really would have liked a lot. (For instance, I am just about finished reading Amor Towles's Rules of Civility, and I do not like it very much at all. If this had been my first Amor Towles book, it probably would have been my last. As it happens, though, I first read his second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, which I loved. So instead of being through with Mr. Towles, I'm looking forward to his next novel instead of shaking his dust from my sandals In fact, I loved A Gentleman in Moscow so much that I read the completely forgettable "You Have Arrived at Your Destination" (which is either a long short story or a short novella) and am willing to finish The Rules of Civility. I might even be persuaded to read his short short story collection Eve in Hollywood if I can find it for free. (It's a companion to The Rules of Civility, so I'm not willing to spend any money to get it into me.)
So, yeah.
That's it for now. Listen to some music.
☮📤
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