Split Level Concerts and 90.5 Present: Dan Bern with Special Guest Redbird

Dan Bern is a captivating live performer who has enthralled a loyal and ever-growing fan base in the US and Europe since the mid ‘90s. His songs range from deeply moving to wildly imaginative and hilarious, often within the same song. He has been compared favorably to the great masters of songwriting, such as Guthrie, Dylan, Costello. Split Level Concerts is back for its 3rd season at Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove! The partnership between Split Level Concerts and JSAC brings critically acclaimed national and international touring Americana and contemporary folk musicians to the Jersey Shore. Artists from the Asbury Park music scene will continue to open many of the shows. Visit each artist’s website to learn more about the pairing for this month’s show. https://danbern.com https://www.redbirdflyingsolo.com Net ticket proceeds from all Split Level concerts support the programming and arts education offered by the Jersey Shore Arts Center, a non-profit organization serving Ocean Grove and its surrounding areas. The second season of the series netted approximately $10,000, money that the Arts Center is using to help pay for the presentation of additional arts programs and improvements to its historic building. In addition, Jersey Shore Arts Center and Split Level Concerts are proud to partner with Brookdale Public Radio 90.5 The Night and Musicians On A Mission (MOAM) to promote the concert series. Musicians On A Mission is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating connection and inspiring giving through music. During the shows that made up season two, the volunteers from MOAM collected nearly $4,000 in cash donations and 587 pounds of non-perishable food items to benefit Fulfill (formerly the Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean County). For season three, MOAM has again chosen Fulfill to be the beneficiary of their fundraising efforts. Dan Bern (aka Bernstein, a name which he sometimes performs under) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and painter. His music is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. His song "Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce, and Dan Blues," from the album Smartie Mine, offers a joking take on this influence, presented in the style of a Guthrie or Dylan talking blues song, and containing a spoof of a Dylan song as well. Bernstein has also toured with Ani DiFranco. He is known for sardonic, literary lyrics, a range of musical styles, and a folk music style paired with rock instrumentation. He also wrote the novel Quitting Science (2004) under the pen name Cunliffe Merriwether and wrote the preface under his own name. Although a vein of social and political humor runs though even his earliest work, Bern's work became more explicitly political during the 2004 US presidential election campaign, with songs such as "Bush Must Be Defeated" and "President" highlighting his sometimes surreal political takes. Bern is reflexively literate, in the style of his favorite authors, including L.A.'s legendary bohemians Charles Bukowski and John Fante, urbane fantasist James Thurber, and yarn-spinning humorist Ring Lardner. He is in love with the power of words to turn on themselves, to frolic, to bite, and his strong, friendly voice can go from earnest to ferocious within seconds. Being captivated by Dan is the easy part; describing his music to the non-initiated is more difficult. One journalist tried: "topical-poetical-sarcastic-punk-folk." An admirable effort, further elaborated by the New York Times: "He veers from comedy to anger, conjectures to shaggy-dog stories; he takes sidelong approaches to theology, science fiction, consumer culture, art, love and baseball."