Bern delivers his 'Eggs' to Ark

For years, Dan Bern has been traveling from city to city across the United States playing mostly in relatively small folk clubs for crowds who go to his concerts with very minimal knowledge of his music.

But once concertgoers hear his sarcastic, political, upbeat folk performances, the majority walk out as Bern fans, entertained and inspired by an extraordinary show.

Most of Bern's success has come as a result of these fans becoming inspired to spread the word.

That's exactly what happened six months ago when Bern played at The Ark. As a result, his Saturday night return concert to Ann Arbor drew in almost twice as many fans as the last time.

And twice as many of them were familiar with his songs, judging by the way they sang along when Bern requested crowd participation.

Most of what Bern played, however, was unreleased material. It was somewhat disappointing not to hear familiar songs, but this disappointment was outweighed by the quality of his new songs.

He sang about everything from being in love to blaming the fall of communism in Russia on the building of a McDonald's in Moscow. A fun time was had by all.

Bern is currently touring after just having released the album, "Fifty Eggs," which was produced by fellow musician and folk rock rejuvenator Ani Difranco.

On working with Difranco and of the efforts he put into his recent release, Bern said in a recent interview, "It was a really fun, positive experience and I'm pretty proud of it."

Following along the same lines as his past work, the album is highly political, with very strong and potentially offensive social commentaries.

REVIEW
	Dan Bern April 18, 1998 The Ark

With lyrics like "go down Moses / go down on me," he inevitably receives constant criticism.

"It's important to have a good filter," Bern said. "I try to separate legitimate criticism from shying away from certain subjects that are simply real. People are free to like it or not like it but it doesn't change how I see things."

Perhaps a key explanation why Bern has not yet received much radio play and mainstream success is the nature of his lyrics. But this is not a foremost concern of Bern's.

"It's not what I think about when I make a record." Bern says. "A lot of my stuff would sound just great on the radio, but it's not where radio happens to be right now. But things change pretty quick. When Nirvana came out things changed drastically in a very short time so the whole landscape could change."

So maybe fame and fortune are in Bern's future.

He has been labeled the Bob Dylan of today's generation by critics since the beginning of his career and perhaps he will become just that. In fact, he has been compared to Dylan so frequently that he has finally become immune to it.

"At this point it doesn't even really mean anything. I don't think about it one way or another. He probably doesn't either," Bern said.

No one can be sure what is in Bern's future, but he has made quite an impression in the past. And Saturday night was a fine example of what a remarkable entertainer Dan Bern is.

04-20-98