Meeting Dar Williams (Live at the Ark)

Dar and me

Dar’s performance at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan was fantastic. Technically, it was billed as “An Evening with Dar Williams,” which meant that there wasn’t an opening act: it was all Dar. Wonderful. I went with two friends from Bryn Mawr. We stuck around afterwards to meet Dar, and it was super exciting. She was really sweet — she signed our CDs and tickets, took a photo with us, and chatted for a minute about Bryn Mawr. 

Dar Williams: “The Christians and the Pagans”

“The Christians and the Pagans” has been one of my favorite Dar Williams songs for a long time — so much so, in fact, that I chose it as my senior solo with my a cappella group in college (it helped that my friend offered to arrange it for me, though). It is not, however, a song that Dar performs frequently, from what I’ve been able to tell from my four concerts (and multiple YouTube searches). Nevertheless, at her concert at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN, Dar sang “The Christians and the Pagans,” and it was wonderful.

Dar Williams and “Midnight Radio”

When Dar performed at Bryn Mawr in 2010, she introduced “Midnight Radio” by saying that her friend, Stephen Trask, had told her to come see a play for which he’d written the music. It turned out to be Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The moral of the story? “Support your friends in theatre.”

“The Babysitter’s Here” at Bryn Mawr

A week from today, I’ll be seeing Dar Williams live in concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan! Even better, I’m going to the concert with one of my closest Bryn Mawr friends — and Mawrtyrs make anything Dar-related even better. I’m very excited. This will be my fifth Dar concert and my first non-Bryn Mawr with someone from Bryn Mawr. Here’s a video of Dar singing “The Babysitter’s Here” when she was at Bryn Mawr in the spring of 2010: 

Dar Williams: “You Are Everyone”

Dar Williams performed at Bryn Mawr my senior year. It was a wonderful concert; there’s always a special energy about Dar at Bryn Mawr. This is a video of her song “You Are Everything”:

I first heard “You Are Everyone,” from Dar’s album Promised Land, when she performed at the Minnesota Zoo in the summer of 2009. I love it. The line “You are everyone / I ever trusted, that never made a fool out of me” especially speaks to me.

Dar Williams in Saint Paul!

I adore Dar. And while I think that absolute best Dar concert is the Dar-at-Bryn-Mawr concert, tonight was pretty excellent (even though it was Dar and someone else). The first half of the concert consisted of Joan Osborne and then, finally, what I’d been waiting for all night — Dar appeared on stage. And she was her endearing, quirky, warm, exceptional self. It was a fantastic concert. 

My Dream Concert

My immediate reaction is that if I were to put together a perfect concert, it would absolutely need to have Ani, Dar, Babs, and Darren Criss. I thought a little more about what would really make it unforgettable — what would combine all of my favorite performances (not so much favorite songs, but favorite performances and performers), and I added a few more names: Kim (from the Night Owls, one of Bryn Mawr’s a cappella groups), P!nk, Cher, and ShinHwa (my childhood favorite Kpop group). I mean, if we could squeeze in Chris Colfer, Idina Menzel, NPH, and John Barrowman, that’d be fantastic, but I wouldn’t want to get greedy (you have to draw the line somewhere, after all).

Dar Williams at Bryn Mawr College

In a way, my experience at Bryn Mawr was bookended by Dar Williams concerts. My very first exposure to Dar was when she performed in Goodhart at the beginning of my freshman year (possibly before classes even started). And near the end of my senior year, she came back to Bryn Mawr and performed in TGH (Thomas Great Hall, to all not in the know).

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 1: Your Favorite Song

My friend is participating in a challenge on Facebook regarding posts about songs, and it looked like fun, so here I go!

Day 1: Your favorite song

Oh, no, I’m going to fail this challenge before I even really start. I don’t think I can pick one song. I love so very many songs, and I have strong sentimental attachments to a lot of songs.

According to my iTunes, my top five most played songs are as follows: 

The Musical Album I’d Bring To A Desert Island

If stranded on a desert island, and could only bring one music album with you, which would it be? What is it about this music that never gets old for you?

That is an enormous question. I listen to so much music that I don’t know where to start. I suppose the first few ideas that pop up are Dar, Ani, and Broadway, but within that — one specific album? Yikes. That’s not really how I listen to music.