While Rachael Hessner perused Ben Folds’ Web site one day over Winter Break, as she often does, she was ecstatic to find he was coming to Syracuse. She owns all his albums, his live concert DVD and has a folder full of everything Ben on her computer.

She’s only attended two ‘real’ concerts in her life, she says, but they were both Ben Folds concerts. So Hessner immediately looked up the number for the Schine Box Office and called for the best available seats.

Unfortunately for Hessner, though, she was told she’d have to wait until Thursday, Jan. 21. Hessner, a Southampton native, is a junior sociology and psychology major at State University of New York Binghamton, and Syracuse University students get a three-day head start on the general public for University Union concerts.

Ben Folds, formerly of Ben Folds Five, will play his much acclaimed rockin’ piano style in front of a sold out Goldstein Auditorium Saturday night at 7. Folds, who has since moved on to a solo career, will be accompanied by a band and Ben Lee, who Folds’ collaborated with on a four-song EP in 2004.

Discouraged, Hessner remained hopeful in her plight for tickets. She returned to Binghamton the next week and on Jan.21 sat by her phone as noon – the first hour she would be able to buy tickets – approached. She was sure she was the first to call. She dialed Schine right at 12 p.m., but to her dismay, the concert had already sold out – all 1,500 tickets.

‘I like his improv-ing,’ Hessner said. ‘When he’s up there (on stage), he’ll just write a song off the top of his head. Not many musicians sound the same live as they do on a CD, but he’s so good.’

For most college kids, the story would end there. Not having much money and being an hour away in Binghamton would make most of Ben Folds’ fans shrug and hope for another chance to see him.

But Hessner isn’t most fans.

‘His lyrics are so good,’ she said. ‘He’s really neat and funny on stage. He writes from experience and he’s easy to relate to for college kids.’

Folds’ combination of improv, singing and unique storytelling kept Hessner trying. She placed a call to her two friends at SU, but they couldn’t help her. Then, she decided to make use of something that’s at the heart of every college kid – thefacebook.com.

Hessner, the president of Binghamton’s Ben Folds’ group on thefacebook, searched the SU directory for students who listed ‘Ben Folds’ as their favorite music. She got more than 370 results.

That’s where Hessner went to work.

She began messaging each SU student, one at a time. During the three hours it took her to cut and paste her plea for tickets, her computer froze multiple times.

Eventually, though, she finished. And then, she waited.

A couple days later, the responses began to pour in. All three of them.

‘One girl toyed with my emotions,’ Hessner said. ‘She wrote ‘I have four tickets, but I’m using them all.”

The two other responses were of no help, either.

‘We haven’t had an artist like Ben Folds for a while,’ said Adam Gorode, co-executive director of UU Concerts. ‘He’s a quality, talented musician.’

The concert sold out so quickly that UU Concerts didn’t even get a chance to implement its marketing strategy. The concert didn’t need it.

‘I had a good feeling they were going to sell out,’ said Sarah Usher, UU public relations director. ‘I just wasn’t sure they’d sell out so quickly.’

Gorode hopes the Student Association will take notice of how well sales did for this concert in hopes that SA will increase the organization’s funding in the future.

The $8 price is the lowest of the three college stops Folds is making this week. Wednesday’s concert at Duke University cost students $15 each and tonight’s concert at Dickinson College costs $20 per student.

It was necessary for Folds to schedule three concerts in three nights because he had to reschedule the Dickinson concert from December after he got sick. There were tentative plans to bring Folds to SU in December, too, until Folds’ illness.

‘I hope that (the Student Association) sees this is something the student body wants,’ Gorode said. ‘We sold out Juice Jam in two days, too. Hopefully, they’ll reinstate our block party.’

‘I can promise an amazing show. I know Ben is extremely excited to be coming here.’

So there Hessner sat, two days before Folds was set to take the stage in Goldstein – no tickets and little hope. Still, she may make the trek to Syracuse on Saturday if she can convince a couple of her friends to join her.

She said she would be willing to pay $30 per ticket to a scalper, but she stresses that she is a poor college student with little money. Then again, she admits it would be tough to come all the way to Syracuse and leave without seeing him.

SU students paid only $8 per ticket, but what if a scalper only offered her a ticket for $40?

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I would probably end up doing it just because I don’t know when I’ll get to see him again.’

IF YOU PITY:

If you can help Rachael, she welcomes you to contact her. Call her at (607) 727-7271, e-mail her at rhessne1@binghamton.edu, or instant message her on AOL at skippasaur

Published on January 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm