The Friday night portion of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival took place, January 31. It was a relief to have absolutely no reason to leave a building for hours and venture into the freezing weather of Ann Arbor.
This festival is a benefit for what has become one of my favorite music venues, The Ark. The Ark is a non-profit organization that has folk, roots and ethnic music playing almost every night of the week. Every time I come to Michigan, I stop by this venue to catch a show ( Most recently caught Pokey LaFarge’s outstanding set).
Tonight’s five-hour, line-up was quite diverse. The band that I was most impressed with was Pearl & The Beard. All three members of the band were vocally-strong. The highlight of the entire night was when one of the artists was doing a xylophone solo and about half-way through her solo- her bandmate jumped in with a raunchy cello solo. In the astute words of the girl next to me, “It was fucking awesome.” Beside Frank Zappa’s “St Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast”, I can’t recall a time that I have been blown away by a xylophone. I was just amazed that these guy’s were only a trio, their sound and energy feels like one of a much larger band.
Willie Nile is supposedly a big deal, having opened for The Who as a special request by the band. When the band first walked out, they looked like a mash-up of The Clash and characters off A Clockwork Orange. Having no experience with them, I had no idea what to expect. This band wants to be Springsteen so bad. They did Springsteen’s famous “fist-pump” for what had to be 80% of their act. Only Springsteen can be Springsteen, that is why he is The Boss. When others try to generate the same energy by replicating his moves – it comes across so cheesy. YES, Springsteen can be cheesy… I once saw him perform “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in a Santa Hat. When it happened, I laughed…then sang my heart out with thousands of people at The Rose Theater in Portland- because he can do whatever he wants. These guys played with Springsteen though, so I’m sure his magic just rubbed off on them and they can’t stop the fist-pumping. But, I disgress. Willie Nile just wasn’t for me – but the old, drunk ladies ate it right up. Nile dedicated every one of his songs (to hungry children, to Lou Reed, to Pete Seeger), which had me starting to wonder if Bono made a sneak attack on stage.
I could tell that Thao & The Get Down Stay Down would be a fantastic band to see in a bar or a smaller venue. Tonight however, their sound was just not mixed correctly or appropriately for the venue. An issue with this auditorium is that there is no stage space to go up and dance – it is filled with chairs. So Thao’s Janis Joplin energy just seemed out of place. She did pull off a girlpower banjo solo that should have moved the crowd to their feet.
I have a crush on Justin Townes Earle. I’ve said it before, I’m a sucker for a man with a guitar. But this one, oh boy, he is a nerdy one. I mean uber-nerd style. AND I LOVE IT. Earle’s vocals are unique and his song about New York really struck something in me.
I spent the entire first song of Neko Case’s set thinking about her pants. She walked out in skeleton leggings – which spun me on a path of trying to determine if I could rock them. And then, her sidekick had a table with a dog blanket covering it. Very distracting. Neko Case is legit. Basically, she kicks ass. Her interaction with the audience was some of the best I’ve seen and she just seemed genuinely happy to be a part of the event. Case’s “Calling Cards” was her best song of the set. It made me want to fall in love, it felt honest.
The last act of the night was Iron and Wine. It would seem like I should love this band. 1. There is a man with a guitar 2. said man has a beard …but I don’t, I just always find them incredibly boring. I don’t have much to say about their set. I do however need to give props to Mr. Iron and Wine himself, Samuel Beam who is certainly a charming man. If it wasn’t for his antics on stage, I likely would have left the set. He is hilarious. The only person who I have seen that has made the audience laugh like he did was Jeff Tweedy when he was touring his solo set this year.
Congrats to The Ark on a great event. The staff came out and did a pretty awesome tribute to the late Seeger by having the entire audience sing with the staff. Folk music fans create a great community. I made friends with strangers next to me – just as I did at the Newport Folk Festival. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it tonight.
Shout out to the guy who sold me his extra ticket to this sold-out show at face cost. Real Gentleman.