Community High School

Where can you go to be serenaded by the rich voice of Rufus Wainwright, tickled with laughter by the hilarious stories told by Jeff Daniels, and amazed by a variety of legendary folk singers and performers? You can go to one place, Hill Auditorium on the 26th, and 27th of January for the Ark’s 30th annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival. The Ann Arbor Folk Festival is known as The Ark’s largest annual fundraising event. Going all the way back to the day when “The Ark” started in 1969, in a small house on hill street, where local artists would perform and guests would grab a seat on their living room floor. As the growing popularity of this local music house arose, the ark then moved numerous times, and are now located today on 316 South Main St. The Ann Arbor Folk Festival has been one way for The Ark to keep tradition running, as it has grown in size and popularity through out the years, the Folk Festival has always been a traditional event. Although the Folk Festival is a fundraiser for The Ark, it still is a nonprofit organization. “The Ark is a small, non-profit organization, so we all pitch in lots of ways with the festival from filling ticket orders for Ark members and our Patron and Sponsor ticket buyers to helping out back stage at the Festival”, said Barb Chaffer Authier, marketing director of The Ark. As the popularity of The Ann Arbor Folk Festival has grown, so has the variety of regular ark customers. The Folk Festival creates a unique opportunity to hear many undiscovered artists who many times create a stir in the Ann Arbor folk community. Also, on the same bill are big stars at the top of their game. The Ark continues to try and provide all types of folk entertainment from young, pop-style performers like Rufus Wainwright to local, folk artists representing the roots of folk music such as John Prime who was a headline the year the festival began in 1977, as well as 2007, and mother of Rufus Wainwright Kate: McGarrigle, who made a surprise appearance on Friday night’s show. “Traditionally, Friday night of the festival features performers that are pushing the boundaries of the genres that The Ark presents and you can expect the line up to skew a little younger, the music to be maybe a little louder and a little edgier. Saturday night is more traditional and what longtime patrons of The Ark and the Folk Festival think of when they think of folk and roots performers. We also always book at least one local act each night of the festival. A lot of the performers at the festival will be unknown to a lot of the audience, and that it intentional. We want to showcase performers who are up and coming and deserve to be exposed to a much bigger audience than they would have the opportunity to be in front of otherwise”, said Barb Chaffer Authier. This year, 2007, the same type of line-up remains, but many new and exciting performers are included in the bill. “I think over all this year’s line up both nights is just fabulous and with Jeff Daniels hosting both nights, that’s also going to make for a special year”, said Barb Chaffer Authier. Jeff Daniels, who told numerous stories off the set of “Dumb and Dumber” (a blockbuster film he starred in), and sang a folk-style song about a time when he left his wife behind at a truck stop, while vacationing with his family was undoubtedly a huge hit on Friday night’s performance. Daniels had the audience roaring with laughter. Along with Daniels, many performers got the crowd riled up, whether it was Kate McGarrigle (folk legend, mother of Rufus Wainwright) bringing back memories for old-time folk lovers or the Kiyoshi Nagata Ensemble who has the audience amazed as their muscular, bulging bodies beat the life out of the drums they played in complete coordination. One family of performers certainly stole the stage towards the end of the show. That family has roots going way back in the folk music industry, they are known as the Wainwright’s. “I’ve never seen Rufus or Martha Wainwright perform live before, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing them”, said Barb Chaffer Authier. After Martha Wainwright performed solo, she was later replaced by Rufus Wainwright and then the two did a duet. Then, to even further excite the crowd, the mother of Rufus and Martha, Kate McGarrigle walked onstage as the audience gazed in adoration. Before performing a few songs, McGarrigle told a surprising story of the birth of son, Rufus. To the audience’s surprise, as well as to the surprise of Rufus, she told everyone how she actually discovered she was pregnant with Rufus right here in our very own beloved city, Ann Arbor! With stories like that told, mixed in with amazing varieties of folk music, this year’s Ann Arbor Folk Festival was one to remember.

By Alex Hahn