AN EVENING WITH CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS
Our 16th Annual Fall Fundraiser

The Ark is proud to present An Evening with Carolina Chocolate Drops on Sunday, November 18, 2012.

With their 2010 Nonesuch debut, "Genuine Negro Jig"—which garnered a Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy last year—the Carolina Chocolate Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they’d so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound. Starting with material culled from the Piedmont region of the Carolinas, they sought to highlight the central role African Americans have played in shaping our nation’s popular music from its beginnings. Now, with their brilliant 2012 release "Leaving Eden," the Drops have expanded (their Ark appearance will be as a quartet), and their new repertoire incorporates more blues, jazz, and folk balladry alongside crackling string-band tunes. Banjoist and founding member Dom Flemons points out: “There’s a new diversity that comes from the new ensemble. My thought process of how I put together songs for the Carolina Chocolate Drops now is more like working with a jazz group." Though often striking out in new directions, the Drops return to familiar turf with tracks like “Riro’s House,” a traditional piece they’d learned from their late mentor, North Carolina fiddler Joe Thompson. Once again they break out such unique instrumentation as jugs and bones; vocalist Rhiannon Giddens performs on the unusual bass banjo (also known as a five-string cello banjo), while Dom Flemons employs his quills, a panpipe instrument of African origin. Much more than simply revivalists, the Carolina Chocolate Drops have evolved into American tradition-bearers of the first order—and their show is as much fun as anybody else's in the business.

A buffet dinner will be provided by Zingerman’s Roadhouse for our Jug Band Benefactors ($500), Guitar Strummin' Sponsors ($250) and Banjo Pickin' Patrons ($125). The evening will also feature a Silent Auction for your bidding pleasure and an afterglow dessert reception.

Our schedule for the evening:

5:00 Doors open for dinner ticket holders
5:00 Buffet Dinner provided by Zingerman’s Roadhouse (until 6:45)
7:15 Doors open for our Fiddlin' Friends ($50, general admission tickets)
7:30 The music begins

A dessert after-glow reception follows the performance for all ticket holders.

Proceeds from the evening will benefit The Ark, helping us continue to present the best folk and roots music to be heard anywhere in the world, over 300 nights a year.

Ticket levels:

• $500 Jug Band Benefactors ($450 tax-deductible). Includes dinner, valet parking, table seating during dinner, converting to front and center seating on the dance floor during the show.
• $250 Guitar Strummin' Sponsors ($200 tax-deductible). Includes dinner, valet parking, table seating during dinner, converting to reserved seating on the dance floor during the show.
• $125 Banjo Pickin' Patrons ($75 tax-deductible). Includes dinner, valet parking and reserved seating in the drink rail areas (best available; location will vary).
• $50 Fiddlin' Friends ($25 tax-deductible). Includes the show only. General admission seating in remaining seats.

Remaining tickets will go on sale to the public on Monday, June 4. Please call The Ark's business office at 734-761-1800 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The number of tickets available at each level is limited, so don't wait. Thank you for supporting The Ark!

Thank you to our media partners, WEMU, Ann Arbor's 107one, MetroTimes and iSPY.