At a press conference for the event the band proclaimed, "Ah-ah, it was good, givin' to you, ah-ah, it was good."

Final standings:
1) Better Than Ezra
2) Ezra
3) Jake
4) Less Than Jake

They're not better than Ezra Furman & the Harpoons. Nice gesture though.

Peaceboy:
Final standings:
1) Better Than Ezra
2) Ezra
3) Jake
4) Less Than Jake

I LOLed.

Pretty damn cool, I would of never thought they still had that type of money.

Anyone wanting to sample -- download Desperately Wanting it is still one of my favorite songs.

They rule. I love them. That is all.

No, wait:

Peaceboy: Final standings:
1) Better Than Ezra
2) Ezra
3) Jake
4) Less Than Jake

AWESOME

Neurochemist: download Desperately Wanting it is still one of my favorite songs

ditto

And good on Better Than Ezra for doing this. What's funny is they've played Chicago a ton over the years, even showing up to play shows when they haven't been on a tour. Turns out that after NO, this is where they get the best crowds.

Good

Better Than Ezra is great live! I saw them a few years ago here in Atlanta and it was an awesome time. A fun live band, definitely recommended.

The Glass Dragon: Better Than Ezra is great live! I saw them a few years ago here in Atlanta and it was an awesome time. A fun live band, definitely recommended.

They are fun. The wife and I traveled from Atlanta (where we first saw them) to New Orleans a year ago to see them at the HOB on New Years Eve.

Great band.

I'm sure Ray Nagin will spend it wisely. By wisely I mean channel it into an offshore untracable account.

Still one of my favorite albums of all time.

StubePT: Still one of my favorite albums of all time.

Mine too, I let my dad, who is almost 60, borrow my copy about 10 years ago and never got it back. He still listens to it. He told me to go get another copy because he wasn't giving mine back.

Neurochemist: Pretty damn cool, I would of never thought they still had that type of money.

Anyone wanting to sample -- download Desperately Wanting it is still one of my favorite songs.

Absolutely This! Great song! I hadn't heard it in a long time until about 3 weeks ago, I was at a bar and it came on the jukebox. Awesome.

/Also love "In the blood"

BTE's album probably came out at a pretty bad time, in retrospect. I really enjoyed it myself, and it did get some good radio airplay, but when it came out, American "tastes" (as dictated to them by their record company masterlords) were evolving from the grunge/alternative/reality bites fad to a more bubble gum era of Hanson, Aqua, and Britney Spears. Bands like SpaceHog (which I liked), and Semisonic(who were terrible) likely would have been much bigger acts had their albums come out 3 years earlier; the country had just been too saturated with that brand of music by that point. Truthfully, I myself was tired of nothing but crap like Bush and Smashing Pumpkins dominating the airwaves, and I couldn't exactly just log on to Prodigy and bittorrent the stuff I wanted to listen to. So I listened to the radio, since I had no other choice (at 14 years old, I wasn't exactly going to bars and clubs, either).


So when BTE released a typically alternative album that was simply much better than most of the other alternative out there, it was already too late; their fate had been decided. Too bad, too; I really liked them.

Better Than Ezra have ALWAYS been amazingly charitable throughout their career. They're known, but not U2 known, but still quietly do what they can do to help who they can.

And best album EVER, in my opinion:

Better Than Ezra- "How Does Your Garden Grow" (1998)

Caught them pretty much every time they've come to STL since Deluxe came out...by far and away one of the best live bands I've ever seen. They're fun and clever on stage...but not smarmy. When they bridge one of their songs into another song ("Good" starts off as "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child, will break during the solo into "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince, etc.), you can tell they're really having fun on stage.
Met them twice, and some of the geniunely nicest musicians I've ever met. The type of guys you're happy standing there having a beer with.

An ESPN columnist said they recently played at the Superbowl Press party and looked miserable.

But I agree, Desperately Wanting and Good are fantastic songs.

I liked the post about them coming around at a bad time, but I disagree. There were plenty of other rock bands like Gin Blossoms, Foo Fighters, and others making decent acceptable music that was getting radio airplay. It was just vastly outnumbered by the pop garbage.

I understand that the Pixies donated over a million to the same cause and Better than Ezra didn't want to break with tradition.

Peaceboy:

Final standings:
1) Better Than Ezra
2) Ezra
3) Jake
4) Less Than Jake

You win one FREE internet!

busy chillin': Peaceboy:

Final standings:
1) Better Than Ezra
2) Ezra
3) Jake
4) Less Than Jake

You win one FREE internet!

And you should send part of it to Norm McDonald, who wrote the first half of your joke about a decade ago.

Good for these guys - also a big fan of BTE and Desperately Wanting is my favorite BTE tune. Deluxe is good pretty much top to bottom - if you haven't checked out all of "Friction, Baby" it's worth a listen for sure.

Just had to cue up Friction, Baby on the iPod in honor of this. One of my favorite albums of the 90s

Hebalo


And you should send part of it to Norm McDonald, who wrote the first half of your joke about a decade ago.

I was quoting someone else, but no need to pay attention to sh*t like that when you know everything ever created by everyone.

King of New Orleans is a farking great tune as well.

You know, it's possible that they didn't have all that much to spare, and are simply doing what they think is right.

/not probable, but possible...

i figure a band like this is pretty wise with money...they have put out several good selling albums, and 2 BIG selling albums (deluxe & friction baby), have toured almost non-stop for 15 years, and they don't seem like the kind to just blow all their earnings. so it's very likely they could easily afford, as a band, the $100k

Better than ezra are smart on top of smart.

They:

1) Invested their advance in real estate rather than blowing it on whores and coke..
2) Are amazingly nice guys who are accessible to their fans, which builds a huge, strong, loyal base...
3) Had enough of a cushion built up so that when their major dropped them, they didn't have to quit. Unlike a lot of their contemporaries, they just kept going.

This presence of mind has resulted in their ongoing ability to release amazing records on their own terms and sustain themselves through touring. They can sell out the Chicago House of Blues two weekend nights in a row with no label, no single, and very little radio support. Of course, their music is some of the most underrated out there, so that helps. Hell, Kevin Griffin can write a dozen #1's a month, as evidenced by the fact that he's constantly writing songs with and for other artists that rocket to the top with alarming reliability.

They're pretty damned phenomenal, and I oughta know. I've seen them 58 times. And no, I'm not exaggerating. They're amazing. Great guys, great songs, a great live show, and an all around great band. See them.

I like there newer song, but it's so different.

Link (new window)

Not a Rick roll

their

I saw them at Virginia Tech during my freshman year (96-97).

Virginia Tech is freaking HORRIBLE at times about promoting music events. Now, this concert was when they were getting a LOT of airplay. They were a known currently hot band.

And NO ONE knew the concert was happening. Me and a few friends only found out because we were just walking by.

There was maybe 50 people at the concert, taking place in one of the campus f'ing dining halls (which doubles as a small ballroom on very rare occasions).

But the band still put on a good concert.

---------------------
Currently listening to Eurythmics' Greatest Hits