Blue Jello

Ben Has­sen­ger and Pat Mal­loy have been mak­ing music together since the early 1990s begin­ning with the long-time Lans­ing (MI) Area band Mys­tic Shake and for the last sev­eral years with their duo Blue Jello.

With gui­tars, ukule­les, and har­mon­ica, their smart and clever songs draw on their var­ied per­sonal and musi­cal expe­ri­ences, explor­ing both the silly and seri­ous sides of life. A favorite of cof­fee­houses, fes­ti­vals, and other events, Ben & Pat are tour­ing in sup­port of their CD Life is Good; a fun album of songs for the young-at-heart of all ages.

Every­one was floored by their musi­cian­ship; espe­cially on the ukulele! Talk about artistry; these guys have taken the art of the ukulele to a higher level with scin­til­lat­ing songs and instru­men­tal duets. Yowie! Mag­gie Fer­gu­son: host of Live From the Liv­ing Room, Pon­tiac Michigan”

I call Blue Jello “local heroes” because they are heroic in their humor, in their pas­sion, and in their fun! I’m not quite sure why the Jello is blue, because the audi­ence was red from laugh­ing and clap­ping most of the time. Some of their songs are geared toward chil­dren, but are equally and thor­oughly enjoyed by the kid in all of us. Great songs that sur­vey the entire Amer­i­can land­scape, great wit, great tal­ent, and great enter­tain­ers period. Edward Groves; host of Mill Pond House Con­certs, Williamston MI

Rietz says in the Lans­ing State Jour­nal: “Life is Good” is strewnwith treats: the irre­sistible pop catch­i­ness of “Flippy & Max” with it’s tran­scen­dent gui­tar break, a rich­ness of har­mony vocals from guests Annie Capps and Jen Sygit, even the cover draw­ing from local poster-art icon Den­nis Pre­ston … a well-constructed batch of songs that are point­edly not dri­ven by rage, heart­break, alien­ation, exis­ten­tial angst, etc., etc.; well, it can be down­right refresh­ing. Hey — life is good!

Nine of the ten songs on Life is Good are writ­ten by Ben & Pat; the other is an African-influenced cover of the Jackie DeShan­non clas­sic Put a Lit­tle Love in Your Heart. You can pre­view audio clips from Life is Good and down­load the album at our Amazon.com web­page. If you would like a phys­i­cal copy of the CD, please send $15 (ship­ping included) and a check made out to Ben Has­sen­ger to: Ben Hassenger/Life is Good, PO Box 511, Haslett MI 48840.

Get a cool Blue Jello T-shirt for $18 (includ­ing postage) or buy the CD/T-shirt pack­age for only $25 (ship­ping included)! Chil­dren sizes: M, Adult S, M, L, XL, 2XL. Make the check out to Ben Has­sen­ger to: Ben Hassenger/Life is Good, PO Box 511, Haslett MI 48840.