The Ark

Lake Street Dive
2023-11-10 19:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | Masonic Cathedral Theatre, 500 Temple Street, Detroit, MI, 48201, United States
Since forming in 2004, Lake Street Dive have matched their sophisticated musicianship with a fearless refusal to limit their sound. As shown on their most recent full-length album, 2021’s critically acclaimed Obviously, the Boston-bred band also possess a keen talent for combining sociopolitical commentary with immediately catchy pop gems. With their current lineup comprised of founding members Rachael Price (vocals), Bridget Kearney (bass), and Michael Calabrese (drums) — as well as keyboardist/vocalist Akie Bermiss and touring guitarist James Cornelison — Lake Street Dive continue to create joyously soulful rock & roll with equal parts ingenuity, intelligence, and irresistible abandon.
Although a certain spirited eclecticism has defined Lake Street Dive since their earliest days, the band’s four original members (including former guitarist/trumpet player Michael “McDuck” Olson) first crossed paths while studying jazz at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. Their full-length debut In This Episode… arrived in 2007, followed by three more independently released and rapturously received albums. As the band’s energetic live show continued to earn them a devoted following, Lake Street Dive made their Nonesuch Records debut with Side Pony: a 2016 effort that instantly shot to No. 1 on three Billboard charts and later landed on Paste’s 50 Best Albums of 2016 list. The following year, the group experienced a new infusion of creative energy with the addition of Bermiss (previously their touring keyboardist), who has since begun sharing writing and arrangement duties. Arriving in 2018, Lake Street Dive’s selfproduced sixth album Free Yourself Up debuted in the top ten on the Billboard 200 and spent seven-and-a-half months on the non-commercial radio charts, with the smoldering hit single “Good Kisser” holding steady in the top five at Americana radio for over a month.
In recent years, Lake Street Dive have brought even more boldness to their kaleidoscopic sound while deliberately expanding their songcraft. To that end, Obviously finds the band examining such complex matters as gender inequality (on “Being a Woman”) and the monumental challenges faced by younger generations (on “Making Do”), shaping each track with a profound intentionality and ineffable mastery of melody and groove — a process Price refers to as “putting these messages into three and a half minute snippets, dropping whatever truth we can and hoping it’s the type of thing that people want to ruminate on.” Made with producer Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Mary J. Blige), the result is an endlessly illuminating body of work that’s earned praise from the likes of Rolling Stone (who noted that “[a]t a moment when pop strives for lo-fi, solitary-world intimacy, the jazz-pop-whatever band refuse to think small”).
Last fall, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their first covers EP, Lake Street Dive released Fun Machine: The Sequel, a 6-track EP of cover songs produced by Robin MacMillan and recorded at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn and Lucy’s Meat Market in Los Angeles. This new collection of songs reveals what makes the group so unique and their curations so special. Lake Street Dive don’t just inhabit these interpretations; they knock the walls down, re-finish the floors, and on some of them add a new room or two — it’s a way to both acknowledge their inspirations while also advancing their own musical foundation, inspiring a new generation of fans along the way. And as always, it’s their signature combination of immaculate musicianship, exceptional, inventive chops, and free-wheeling, playful sense of fun and originality leading the way.
Over the years, they’ve captivated massive audiences at such esteemed festivals as Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Toronto Jazz Festival, in addition to headlining tours all across the globe and sharing stages with acts like Brandi Carlile and Sheryl Crow. And through their fierce commitment to constantly elevating their artistry, Lake Street Dive have ultimately emerged as one of the most compelling voices in alternative music today, both reliably sublime and thrilling unpredictable.
Lake Street Drive have partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket will go towards supporting gun violence prevention initiatives.

Croce Plays Croce 50th Anniversary Tour
2023-11-12 18:00 - 23:00 | Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W 4th St, Royal Oak, MI, 48067, United States
A.J. Croce has been a staple of the Americana, AAA, Blues, Top 40 and other charts throughout his own stellar career, releasing ten studio albums that effortlessly transcend multiple genres and have had 20 songs chart in the Top 20 on various radio charts. However, the 50th Anniversary Celebration of You Don’t Mess Around With Jim has prompted the most affectionate look back yet at his father’s enduring legacy. The renewed interest leading up to the celebration of the classic album (which was recorded for only $18,000 and spent an incredible 93 weeks on the charts) has inspired a special version of A.J.’s popular ‘Croce Plays Croce’ concert series.
A.J. crisscrossed the country in 2021 with this unique concert experience to sold out shows and rave reviews: ‘As a considerate tribute, Croce Plays Croce covered just about everything a fan could expect. With A.J.’s stories and sentiment, though, it was elevated beyond a mere musical homage. Instead, the evening felt more like a family reunion.’ – Live Music News & Review
This special 50th Anniversary performance promises A.J.’s unique interpretation of Jim’s iconic You Don’t Mess Around With Jim album with a full band and visual presentation of the songs, including indelible hits, “Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels’), “Time In A Bottle,” and others.
Jim Croce found long-overdue success in 1972 following years of struggling to make a name in the music business. That year he released his debut album, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, which topped the Billboard Album chart for more than a month, spawning the hit singles “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels),” and “Time in a Bottle”. His final studio effort, I’ve Got a Name, was released just after he passed in Fall of 1973, ten days after his death. Three more hits (“Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues,” “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song” and the title song) came from that album, which reached #2 in the album charts. His records earned three #1’s and ten Top 10’s. His three classic albums (including Life and Times) amazingly were recorded in just a one-and-a-half-year period. Jim Croce was just thirty when he died but helped christen the singer/songwriter era of the early 70s, influencing generations of great songwriters to come. He has achieved unprecedented record sales for a working-class, solo ‘folk’ artist including The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame induction, surpassing the 50 million sales mark (worldwide) with his memorable self-penned tunes gracing more than 375 compilations. His music continues to be included in major films, TV shows, and commercials including Apple’s Siri Ad, Tarantino’s Django Unchained, the X-Men franchise, Netflix’s Stranger Things and currently in George Clooney’s The Tender Bar.
A.J. was only two years old when his father was killed in a tragic airplane crash in 1973, but came to love and appreciate his dad’s blue-collar, empathetic wordplay and irresistible melodies, “just like everyone else…by listening to the albums,” says A.J. The younger Croce never performed his dad’s song live until he came across a batch of old covers Jim Croce recorded of classic and obscure blues and folk songs, including work by Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Pink Anderson. “I was amazed to discover he was into stuff I was playing myself,” says A.J. The revelation eventually led the singer to conceive the ‘Croce Plays Croce’ concert experience where he delves into both artists’ mesmerizing work, their shared influences and career paths.
As the respected online music database AllMusic states in its comprehensive biography of A.J.’s legendary father: ‘Listening to the songs Croce recorded, one cannot help but wonder how far his extraordinary talents could have taken him if he would have lived longer.’ His son A.J. not only appropriately honors his father’s legacy, but further illuminates the power of the Croce pedigree with an iconic identity all his own.
