I Got My Name from Rock and Roll

Carrie Cleaveland

Remember 1997? I sure do. That was the year of my musical discoveries of Ben Lee and Radish. These two helped to shape my junior and high school years. Ben Lee’s monumental ***Something to Remember Me By*** was the first album that spoke straight to me. I related to every song on that record.
Then there was Radish and it’s former lead singer, Ben Kweller. Ever hear of him? At the time of the release of ***Restraining Bolt***, Kweller was 16. How old was I when it was released? 15. Naturally he started me thinking about a career in rock and roll.
Now, you’re probably asking yourself, why is he talking about two different Ben’s releasing albums in 1997? And what about another important Ben, like Ben Folds, didn’t he and his ‘5’ release ***Whatever and Ever Amen*** in 1997? Well, yes ***Whatever*** did come out in 1997, but it went unnoticed by me until 1998 when I finally bought the album. But I did not fall in love with BF5 until ***The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. ***