Ann Arbor Summer Festival

Iconic comedian and bluegrass musician Steve Martin wows Ann Arbor Summer ...

Martin said at the show that he met The Steep Canyon Rangers “at a party,” but joked that when he is in Los Angeles he fibs to make the story more exciting. “It’s doesn’t go down well in Hollywood, so there, I tell them we met in rehab,” he joked—one of the funny man’s many humorous moments in between songs.

The set at the Power Center included some purely instrumental songs—good old picking, strumming, plucking, and fiddling—like the show’s opener, “Pitkin County Turnaround”; Martin’s solo performance on banjo of “The Great Remember”; and “The Crow,” the title track to Martin’s 2009 debut bluegrass album, which won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

Martin also has chops when it comes to writing lyrics, which he showed with some of his new songs such as “Go Away, Stop, Turn Around, Come Back”; “The Yellow Back Fly”; and “Daddy Played the Banjo,” a song, he said, that makes for “bad poetry, but it’s a great country song.” And they performed “Me and Paul Revere,” their new single told from the perspective of Revere’s horse Brown Betty.

The new album, “Rare Bird Alert,” also features a couple of comedic songs that had the Power Center crowd chuckling. While performing songs like “Jubilation,” a unique take on a breakup song (it has an animated music video) and “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs,” a clever tune done a capella, Martin’s comedic instincts shone through.

Midway through the show, Martin took a brief exit and let The Steep Canyon Rangers take over for a couple of songs—but not without a theatrical exit. Humphrey pulled a banana and a beer from a secret compartment cut into the back of his stand-up bass and handed them to Martin before he took his break. He walked back on stage for a moment to joke about being too drunk to play.

The album title and song “Rare Bird Alert” was inspired by Martin’s experiences filming an upcoming movie with Jack Black and Owen Wilson, “The Big Year,” a comedy about competitive bird watching. At the show, Martin explained about a hotline that bird watchers call when they sight an especially rare bird. “Then all the birders flock there,” and then try to be “stealth” to not scare it away.

Ann Arbor Summer Festival returns Friday; full Top of the Park ...

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival, the nearly month-long celebration that includes a variety of free and ticketed performances and other attractions, returns Friday for another season.

Top of the Park—the free (donations encouraged), outdoor component involving music, movies and other attractions—returns Friday to the area in front of the Rackham Building on East Washington Street. Ticketed events start Saturday, with a concert by Andrew Bird at the Power Center.

The previously released schedules for Top of the Park and ticketed events follows. For the latest updates on season information, visit www.annarborsummerfestival.org . And watch AnnArbor.com for daily updates on Top of the Park happenings, plus previews and reviews of main-stage events.

The Top of the Park activities are presented at Ingalls Mall, located directly in front of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies on Washington Street near Burton Memorial Tower. The festival opens at 6:30 p.m on Tuesday through Thursday, with expanded weekend hours on Friday through Sunday, opening at 5:00 p.m. Top of the Park is closed on Monday nights. Few artists better exemplify the term chamber pop than violinist, whistler, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. A classically trained violinist, former swing jazz musician and now art rock virtuoso, Bird is one of the most imaginative and distinctive voices making music today. Essentially a one-man band, Bird plays and layers live loops, stacking sounds and rhythms, and offering an eclectic mix of Gypsy ballads, jazz, folk and rock. Opening set by indie singer-songwriter Haley Bonar. Equally adept on the trombone and trumpet, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is a man to be reckoned with on both. He draws unqualified respect of some of the most iconic legends in jazz and possesses the ability to deliver a high-energy funk rock show capable of mesmerizing international rock stars. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue’s forward, high-octane music has become so popular that they created a tagline for it: SupaFunkRock! Opening set by jazz-fusionists The Macpodz. The Moth, New York's hottest literary phenomenon, is an acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of storytelling. Having presented sold-out shows for over ten years, The Moth Mainstage descends on Ann Arbor for a night of wildly entertaining stories, told live without notes, by an all-star lineup of the best national and local raconteurs. This performance of the public radio favorite will be recorded for broadcast. Having spurred a revival in oral storytelling, The Moth Mainstage has featured stories by Malcolm Gladwell, Ethan Hawke, Margaret Cho, Annie Proulx, Salman Rushdie, and an astronaut, a pickpocket, a hot-dog eating champion and hundreds more. Airing weekly on Michigan Radio, The Moth Radio Hour is broadcast on over 200 stations nation-wide and sees more than one million online downloads a week. Full lineup announced in May.

RT : Steve Martin, iconic comedian and musician, wows Ann Arbor Summer Festival crowd with his banjo

Steve Martin, iconic comedian and musician, wows Ann Arbor Summer Festival crowd with his banjo

Steve Martin, iconic comedian and musician, wows Ann Arbor Summer Festival crowd with his banjo: Steve Martin at...

RT : Rocking w NOMO AT u of m! (@ Ann Arbor Summer Festival w/ 4 others) [pic]:

re: Ann Arbor - Did you get a chance to check out Amococo, Architects of Air at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival?

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Individual Donors THANKS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL DONORS Many, many thanks to those individuals whose generosity make the Ann Arbor Summer Festival a reality. ...

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