The Ark - Ann Arbor, Michigan. September 18, 2009

[AndaleOrbea]

Hey Y'all!

Here in Ann Arbor. Beautiful day for a drive. We took the senic route along Lake Erie. It was beautiful. I'd love to live by the lake. Especially this time of year. Great cycling, swimming, and would love to learn to sail for real. Lots of cool boats and such. Looking for a great show. Great venue. Nice seating. Awesome pictures on the wall. Paddyinthepub would love to see (I think). Even one of Ellis near the elevator on the ground floor. Maybe someday he'll get promoted next to Vance Gilbert!!! lol. I'll post more notes from the road soon

Dean

[Richard + Jela]

Dean - thanks for the posts from the road. Looking forward to more reports from you and say 'Hi' to Elaine.

You sound as if you are having one swell road trip.

Jela

[paddyinthepub]

Dean, The Ark in Ann Arbor is a mecca and bucket list venue for this music loving tour dates following ardent fan for years and all my music heroes have long had The Ark on their many stops along their ways.....I'd love to see those photos, and should you get this message before exiting the building, do me a big favor and snap a picture of a few hundred of them!

Enjoying your notes from the river road, lake road, and all roads in between.

Thanks a million.......and keep them coming!

[AndaleOrbea]

Ellis was in top form last night but because it's a co-bill they both got about an hour to play each. Guess that was true on Thursday, too.

Anyway Ellis sounded fantastic last night! He did need to blow his nose during the set and his friend from Michigan was there to help him. We were sitting in the reserved section, so not very close to the stage. I couldn't get there fast enough to help. Really need to re-establish the folk singer emergency kit. Complete with hanky, sharpie, bottled water, spare harmonica, guitar pick, fingernail polish (for those split fingers - ouch!) - what else am I forgetting???

Here's Ari's set:
1. My Philosophy (?) this song is going to be on a locally produced album (I think the Ark puts these out or a local radio station)
2. The Wait
3. June
4. I'll be There to Make You Miserable
5. Sleep Tonight
6. When and If
7. Morning Streets
8. Cranberry Lake
9. All Right (?) or So Right (?) [on piano]
10. [can't even guess the title on piano]
11. Caught Up in Your Love
12. Reason to Believe
13. Ann Marie
14. I Got You
15. Refuge (?)

Sorry Ari, just don't know the titles of your songs well enough.

Ellis' Set:
1. Hurricane Angel
2. Rose Tattoo
3. Lights of Vegas
4. Maria's Beautiful Mess
5. Jukebox On My Grave
6. Annalee
7. The World Ain't Slowin Down
8. Home
9. Take All the Sky You Need
10. Alice's Champagne Palace.

Encore
1. I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover, Ari on lead, Ellis on back up)
2. Let It Be (You-know-who cover, Ellis on lead, Ari on back up)

Second Encore
1. I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Raitt cover, Ari on lead, Ellis on back up and second verse)

Now that was a sight! Seeing two men sing that song together without even cracking up!!! When I asked for and saw Flynn sing The Heat of the Sun with Ellis live, they couldn't keep a straight face (both times they tried it). Ellis and Ari were total professionals and did a wonderful rendition. The crowd was swooned. Really a nice treat. When I request that song, I have to say - "How about your Bonnie Rait Cover" because if I called out "I can't make you love me", well that would be funny!!!

Dispite Ellis having to cancel the Madison show, he looked really good, well rested. I'm glad, because he looked quite road weary the night before.

Plus he dumped "THE HAT" last night. I'll just say that I prefer the 'no hat Ellis' (sorry buddy, I hope you don't mind).

Sorry Paddyinthepub! I couldn't get a good picture of the pictures at The Ark. Came out too dark. The last time I tried to take a picture of 'Over the Rhine' for a friend at work, it flashed back at me. This time, I used the phone and it wasn't bright enough. Gonna have to talk to Richard about photography and what I should do/camera to get/how to take pictures.

Now time to drive home, do a wardrobe change and off to Evanston!

Love you guys!!!
Dean [and Elaine]

[Richard + Jela]

..and we love you guys too! Great report (again!) thanks a bunch for posting. Have fun tonight

Jela

[paddyinthepub]

Dean I'm watching the Rose Tattoo youtube video from Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland and of course Ellis is wearing the hat and two things came to mind......

Ellis looks like he could have fit in with the rat pack...
We'll settle for the Rad pack...

Personally I like the hat, but I really wanted to say here that he debuted the hat on the Harbor Cruise in Boston, he had just bought it that day, so my guess is that it's like a souvenir reminder of a very good time from days gone by....

Only his hairdresser knows for sure....

Rose Tattoo in Cleveland

[flygtime]

Ellis was excellent, but his set was only an hour - We were expecting more. Plus the Ark was only about half full.

[paddyinthepub]

flygtime.......welcome aboard!

Imagine the co bill nature of the show allowed less time!

Understand completely....when I saw setlists from the weekend of shows with Ari Hest I thought it looked like Ari acually played more songs than Ellis at one of them. Also, as to the low turnout, I think in this economy arts and leisure always take a hit. I don't think Cleveland drew all that well.

What's lost on most folks is that often a show like this is about the same out of pocket expense as a night at the movies.

Hope you picked up the new one and can take solace knowing it's only available at shows for now and you can now spend as much time with the new songs gathered for our listening pleasure...

[AndaleOrbea]

I'd say 55 at Cleveland, twice that in Ann Arbor and TNTC (too numerous to count) in Evanston - SPACE was packed to the gills. Cleveland was a Thursday night, so that might have had something to do with it, although the previous times I saw Ellis there, it seemed like there were more people. Oh, and Friday was the night before a U of Michigan home football game and Oktoberfest was going on in the streets of Ann Arbor - that was pretty packed too.

L8r.
db

[paddyinthepub]

Thanks Dean, can always draw better that's for sure, and 55 in Cleveland leaves me feeling a whole lot better than what I first thought I was hearing via one of the youtube songs from Beachland Ballroom. It sounded dreadfully quiet to me and led me to a short sighted conclusion.....for I have just seen this youtube video of Ellis unplugged in the audience and I see from the numbers that Cleveland brought the love.....and why not?

Cleveland Rocks

Anna Lee in Cleveland

[Richard + Jela]

Dean thanks for all the weekend reports - have just loved reading about your trip and the shows.

Tim McGraw doing TWASD????? That'd be a real winner all round.

Jela