Post number 21 in my series, listening to our cd collection.

It was 1998, and we were sitting in the living room of my first house in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  That Louisa Avenue house was 1,064 square feet and all mine, purchased while still in grad school working as a grad assistant.  Quickly it became the center of our social circle.

That particular evening Jessica Gibson was hanging out there for the first time with a group of my friends, one of whom she was dating.  I asked Jessica what music she wanted to listen to.  She responded, "What do you have?"

"All sorts of things.  My collection's rather eclectic.  Just name something, and if I don't have it, I'll have something like it."

She thought for a moment and then said, "Ben Folds Five."

I thought for a moment and responded, "I don't have any Ben Folds Five, and I can't think of anything I do have that is like it."

Which was true.  Though I was fully into the alternative sound of the 90's, I had nothing with plaintive yet catchy piano tunes.  

This was the height of their popularity, and I'm still surprised by how popular was the song "Brick," about a guy driving his girlfriend to get an abortion. My best guess is that we Gen Xers simply resonated with the angsty chorus.

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly 

 Thanks to Michael I could now play Jessica Gibson some Ben Folds Five if she wanted to hear it, 17 years later.