I'm never sure what to say here. Hi, I'm Ben! I'm 25*, live in St. Louis, and I graduated from Truman State University, the Harvard of the Midwest, with a B.S. in Psychology. So what have I done with that fantastic degree? I'm a musician, of course! Which means I work nights and don't get paid. Being from the Midwest, I've noticed I have a lot of quirks. I'm skeptical of bragging, and so I don't brag all that much (they call us the Show-Me State for a reason). I leave prepositions hanging all over the place, and if you don't like it...oh well. That, and Cardinals baseball is my life between the months of March and October.

I'm Catholic, and I lead worship (mostly for the youth, but everyone is called to worship) whenever I can. I've also been very lazy in my faith lately, probably because life has been so comfortable, but I can feel the edges of something big. It's in that leading that I picked up the guitar just over 3 years ago and my life has never been the same since.

You see, I have a sickness. A disease, if you will. This sickness causes me to do strange things, like selling a perfectly good guitar to buy parts for an identical-looking guitar so that I have something to do. Or spending hundreds of dollars on small rectangular boxes that are only good for being stepped on. Or, in general, buying obsolete technology, and spending way more on it because it's harder to find. Ladies and gentlemen, I have "G.A.S.". And it is bad.

But the other thing I spend all of my money on is alcohol. I have a prideful disdain for Old Milwaukee's Best, Appletini's (or Vodka in general) and Southern Comfort. Although that one's not so much about pride, as it is about this one night in college. I spend obscene amounts of my "hard-earned" money on things like Maraschino Liqueur, Rye Whiskey, Cointreau, and Bitters of every kind. Raise your hand if you've ever made your own grenadine. Yeah, but you know, it was actually really easy, once I found pomegranates......

Now raise your hand if you almost never use grenadine.

Wait a minute, what's that you're saying? Alcohol AND religion? That's just a huge contradiction! To which I respond, "No, you see, I'm Catholic". Besides which, I'm way better at moderation of drinking alcohol than I am at moderation of playing guitar. But this is me. And while I will probably proselytize on about how I'm absolutely right about everything I say, even the stuff that contradicts the stuff I said earlier, that's another Midwest trait. I think it comes from the weather. If you don't like it, wait 5 minutes. It's like a very subtle form of bragging. You know, the thing I said I don't like. Just go with it. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, I don't actually think I'm as right as I say I am. Unless I say I am. So enjoy the contradictions.

Ben



*subject to change