Back on the Road

ARTS&LIFE

MUSIC

Composermusician Dan Bern will perform at The Ark Oct. 5.

Details

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.

Back on the Road

Dan Bern brings local friend, Randy Kaplan, as opener at The Ark.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY DAN BERN T 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

often is called ‘Jerusalem,’ which I actually wrote in Jerusalem, and it’s the one people seem to want to hear the most,” says Bern, who musicalized thoughts about the Messiah and helping oneself. “My sister, Jennifer Bern-Vogel, was studying to be a cantor at the time I visited there.”

Helping oneself has been important to Bern since his last visit to Michigan. Due to a snow blower accident, he lost the tips of two fingers. At the start of recovery, he found it more comfortable to play piano than guitar and took up that instrument before returning to strings.

“It was kind of a silver lining to add piano to my arsenal,” explains Bern, whose early musical interests placed him at classical cello before he became a folk fan. “Things happen, and sometimes they work out.”

One experience that worked out was connecting with viewers during his virtual shows. He liked being able to have texts come in on the spot and then respond to them.

“I homeschooled my daughter throughout sixth grade, and it was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever gotten to do,” Bern says. “Some of the songs came out of exercises we did.

“When my daughter was born, I made a record of little lullabies I was writing for her and called it 2 Feet Tall. There was a sequel called 3 Feet Tall as she was growing. We just released a recording called 4 Feet Tall and Rising, and she kind of takes over.”

Writing for young people is a special interest shared with Kaplan, who teaches literature classes at Farber Hebrew Day School in Southfield. He also has written about the pandemic, but his focus audience has been young people. He put fun and lessons in his song “Keep Your Mask Clean.”

“I’ve watched shows at The Ark many times, but this will be my first time there as a performer,” says Kaplan, whose latest family release, The Hippopotamus and the Creature from the Swamp, is more of a one-act musical. “I’m looking forward to appearing with Dan again for an adult show.”

Kaplan, playing acoustic guitar and harmonica styles learned from Bern, will include numbers from his album Perfect Gentleman, which has spiritual themes presented in country-influenced folk tones. Tracks delve into following false prophets and dealing with love and loss.

“I’ve traveled with Dan through Illinois and Minnesota to open for him, and he’s been the most original thinker I’ve ever met,” Kaplan says. “We like to hash things out philosophically.”

Both entertainers enjoy looking for new topics to add to their composition repertoire.

“I think my musical style is changing all the time,” Bern says. “Lately, I’ve been adding beats, playing bass and doing harmonies. I think I’mbeing more daring than I ever have.”

Randy Kaplan

—Forbes

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