Thursday, September 23

The webbiness of some of my favourite musicians

Here are some of the interconnections between Jon McCrea of Cake, Weird Al, Ben Folds, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. I like all of these musicians, so it's amazing to see how much they collaborate. I'm sure there are more, but these are all I can think of for now.
  • Jon McRea sings backing vocals on "Fred Jones Part II" by Ben Folds
  • Weird Al Yankovic directed the Ben Folds video for "Rockin' the Suburbs."
  • In that video, when Ben sings the lyric "some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks," we see Weird Al pulling down the "sucks" slider on a soundboard while someone else pushes up the one labelled "rocks." Who is that person? Is it Jon McCrea? I think it is! And then, as the camera cuts back to a shot of the producers nodding happily at the soundboard, there's someone else standing next to Jon McCrea and Al. Is it a Squirrel Nut Zipper? You decide!
  • In the Squirrel Nut Zippers' video, "Suits Are Picking Up The Bill", Ben Folds has a cameo appearance as a music industry guy.
  • Ken Mosher Tom Maxwell of the Squirren Nut Zippers play the horns on Army from the Ben Folds Five album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.
  • Ben Folds plays piano on the Weird Al track "Why Does this Always Happen to Me" off the album Poodle Hat.
  • On the album Perennial Favourites, the Zippers have a song called "Pallin' with Al," with such lines as "who's that man who's got that sentemental swing \ Plays that mess just like it doesn't mean a thing." Who indeed? Who indeed.
If any of you beloved readers can think of more, post them in the comments field!

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