Search Results
July 02, 2012
The Ark Presents: Victor Wooten
The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor
(734) 761-1451
Victor Wooten: A high-wire act on low-pitched strings
Hailed as the most influential bassist since Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten is known for his solo recordings and tours, and as a member of the Grammy-winning supergroup Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. He is an innovator on the bass guitar, as well as a talented composer, arranger, producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Continuing the tradition of virtuosity forged by James Brown, Funkadelic, and Prince, Victor will make you wonder how he could possibly be creating his incredible bass effects in real time. His show is a high-wire act on low-pitched strings that owes some of its inspiration to another Wooten mentor, the inimitable Bootsy Collins. A three-time winner of Bass Player magazine's Bass Player of the Year award, Victor Wooten is a musical experience not to be missed!
Cost: $45
Show starts at 8:00pm, Doors open at 7:30pmJuly 12, 2012
The Ark Presents: Edwin McCain
The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor
(734) 761-1451
In a way, Edwin McCain began sowing the seeds of Mercy Bound, his tenth album and debut for 429 Records, seven years ago. The songs comprising Mercy Bound are the fruits of an on-again, off-again collaboration with fellow singer/songwriter Maia Sharp that began in 2004 with their lovely duet "Say Anything." Since co-writing and tracking that song, McCain and Sharp have kept up their friendship and creative partnership. They decided to make Mercy Bound their first full-album collaboration.
And that collaboration has offered McCain, some 20 years into his career, a chance to try something new—not only with someone who's worked with everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Art Garfunkel, but also someone who had an eerie habit of being able to get deep inside his head, he says with a laugh.
Like such McCain signature songs as "3 a.m." and "I'll Be," the horn- and Rhodes piano-tinged tracks comprising the Sharp-produced Mercy Bound are classic Edwin. They're story songs about lovesick romantics or truth seekers stumbling around life trying to make sense of all their good luck, or of situations gone awry; pop-tinged sing-alongs written on acoustic guitars jammed with percolating hooks.
Cost: $20
Show starts at 8:00pm, Doors open at 7:30pmJul. 13, 2012 - Jul. 14, 2012
Michigan Elvisfest!
Riverside Park in Depot Town, Ypsilanti, MI
The world-renowned Michigan Elvisfest began in 2000 at Ypsilanti, Michigan's Historic Depot Town. Beautiful Riverside Park is the place where Elvis fans flock by the thousands every July to pay homage to the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" and to hear the most award-winning professional Elvis tribute artists in North America, as well as other talented legend tribute artists.
Cost: Advance tickets: $12.50-$22.50. $30.00 for both days / Gate Tickets: $15.00 - $25.00
Fri: 5p.m.-Midnight Sat: 12:00p.m.-MidnightJuly 22, 2012
The Ark Presents: Junior Brown
The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor
(734) 761-1451
"A lot of people tell me they don't like country music, but they like what I am doing," says Junior Brown. "I hear that line more than anything else," which is ironic because a couple of licks is all it takes to erase any doubts concerning Junior's stylistic allegiance. His music combines the soul of country and the spirit of rock n' roll.
In Junior's case, playing everywhere from the Grand Ole Opry to rock showcases on the West Coast and his hometown of Austin, Texas, *crossover* is not synonymous with watered-down or light-weight. He says of his ever-growing legion of converts: Just about the time they label me as some old time honkytonk singer, I throw something new in there that surprises them. And then they'll appreciate the traditional styles of country music too. Do something to wow them without ruining the roots of country and they end up accepting the music that they would have been prejudiced against.
*Sponsored by Wolverine Brewing Company
Cost: $25
Show starts at 7:30pm, Doors open at 7:00pmAugust 01, 2012
The Ark Presents: Mindy Smith
The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor
(734) 761-1451
Mindy Smith was born and raised in Long Island, N.Y., but moved to Knoxville, Tenn., with her father after the death of her mother in 1991. In the South, she soaked up the sounds of Appalachia and fell in love with acoustic, jazz and blues music. She moved to Nashville in 1998 to pursue a career in music and developed her unique vocal style, writing and acoustic skills while performing and singing at clubs and writers nights.
Smith won the 2000 Tin Pan South writers contest and signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music in 2001. At the famed music conference South by Southwest in 2003, Lee Ann Womack invited her to perform "Come to Jesus," after singing harmonies during Womack's set.
As the only new artist featured on the 2003 tribute album Just Because I'm a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton, Smith revived "Jolene." (Parton appeared in the video as well.) Smith wrote all the songs on her debut album One Moment More, was released on Vanguard Records in early 2004.
Cost: $20
Show starts at 8:00pm, Doors open at 7:30pm
