ARTS&LIFE MUSIC
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Dan Bern and Randy Kaplan will appear at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, at The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor. $20. (734) 761-1818. theark.org. Proof of full vaccination and masks are required.
Dan Bern brings local friend, Randy Kaplan, as opener at The Ark.
Composermusician Dan Bern will perform at The Ark Oct. 5.
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SEPTEMBER 30 • 2021
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COURTESY DAN BERN
Back on the Road
wo folk composing and recording artists — Dan Bern and Randy Kaplan — are glad to have their live appearances resuming with one scheduled together at The Ark in Ann Arbor, where Bern has entertained about a dozen times over many years. New songs and crowd favorites will be featured Tuesday evening, Oct. 5, as Kaplan opens for Bern, and they later combine talents. “Randy and I were living in Los Angeles in the early ’90s when there was a thriving music scene of singers, songwriters and musicians who were close and supportive,” says Bern, who will be playing guitar, piano and other instruments. “We got on really well right away and stayed good pals through a lot of different locations and moves.” Bern has many new songs to consider as possible program selections. They were developed over pandemic confinement, when he did streaming performances from his New Mexico home joined by 12-yearold daughter Lulu, a nextgeneration composer-performer. “I released six albums (on Bandcamp) in the last year,” Bern says. “Some of them I had sitting around, waiting for something to be done with them. I also was writing a lot of stuff all along, and Quarantine Me was the first album to come out.” If Bern chooses to present a song from that album, he’ll have many choices with themes all too familiar to his audience, such as “Social Distancing,” “Wash Your Hands” and “Hunkered in the Bunker,” also the title of his streaming series. On a sporting note, Bern developed albums about tennis and baseball and might introduce those tracks. Besides being a fan, Bern has been a tennis player as well as an artist and author. “One old song I perform
