Neu News

Benny and the Band

Well folks, there’s already band drama. Kaia doesn’t think I’d be a good drummer. I’m pretty sure it would be easy since I already play piano. But even if I didn’t already play piano, it doesn’t really seem that hard. All you need is rhythm and maybe a little bit of anger towards your dad. I’m just kidding. I don’t have any anger toward my dad. Matter of fact, I’m not a very angry person generally, though driving in Denver has tested me. So, I guess I’ve written myself into a corner, because I am actually inclined to think that you need to be a little bit angry to be a good drummer. So maybe Kaia’s right, maybe I wouldn’t be a good drummer. No, fuck that. I wouldn’t be a great drummer, but I would probably be a fine drummer. I certainly wouldn’t be bad. Anyway, I’ve got piano pretty under control, so I guess I’ll just stick to that.

Hey guys, can I get real for a second? I know I, we, joke around in our columns a lot, but I am dead serious about this band thing. We won’t actually go live in the woods for a month (at least not right now), but the band is real, it’s happening. As long as John and Kaia are as serious as I am, anyway. I’ve got music in my heart and music in my bones as well, and I think that probably explains why I have a little bit of a tremor in my hands. The music needs to come out!

Switching gears, as anyone reading may be/may have been able to tell, I am a guy who likes to joke around. And while I like to joke around everywhere and always, one of the places I like to joke on is Twitter dot com. The issue now is that some of the attention I have started to get on Twitter is from people in the journalism world—other journalists and publications or people I interview or report on. And so I hope that my Twitter, which is all jokes, (@benhn99 if you want to check it out….) is not too off-putting to anyone from this area of my life. My issue is that while I may try to pursue a career in journalism, I may also try to pursue a career in joking around, so it’s not like I can just give up one or the other.

But I don’t think anything I’ve said on there is a cancelable offense, so it should be fine.

Got comments on the news section? Questions? Pitches? Send me an email at

benjamin.neufeld@ucdenver.