Charlie Mars to play Ark in Ann Arbor
Written by Vicki L. Kroll | | news@toledofreepress.comCharlie Mars made a hot video for “Listen to the Darkside” that features Mary-Louise Parker.
Coincidentally, the singer-songwriter-guitarist has been linked romantically to the star of “Weeds.”
“That song came from a day where I was talking to a friend on the phone; she was having a bad day,” Mars explained. “She was in Texas, and I was in Mississippi, and I hung up the phone, and I was listening to Pink Floyd and engaging in extracurricular activities, and that song just sort of popped out.”
Charlie Mars
The Mississippi musician is flying high on his fifth disc, “Like a Bird, Like a Plane.”
“That song is about the ability of a relationship to elevate me to a new place and a free place, and the inevitability of people who are supposed to be together coming together,” Mars said of the title track.
During a call from New York City, he also talked about “No Place Like Home,” a song featured on an episode of “Cold Case” last year.
“There’s an existential difficulty of being in a constant state of flux; it creates something that is piecemeal and strange over time in your brain. And there’s something about the idea of being home in your own house in your own bed that really starts to feel like it can bring some sanity.”
Mars, who appeared in Esquire and Vogue last year, will play at 8 p.m. at the Ark in Ann Arbor March 1. Griffin House will open. Tickets are $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Any doubts about his career vanished when Mars toured with R.E.M.
“I grew up listening to [R.E.M.], and they’re one of two bands I would consider myself a rabid fan of,” he said. “If I had insecurities about whether I was good enough to be doing what I was doing, there’s something about being able to look across the stage and see people who are my heroes who have chosen me to be with them. It really changed me for the better.”
Lyrics are important to the Southern Methodist University graduate who majored in English.
“I always was attracted to music and books that had a literary quality,” Mars said.
“I think the best songs, poems and books are the ones where you connect with them emotionally, yet you haven’t quite heard something that defines whatever the situation is going on and, in that way, it sheds a new light on something and, hopefully, a deeper light so you can see it more clearly than you did before.”
Tags: Ann Arbor, Charlie Mars, Mary-Louise Parker, R.E.M., The Ark, Vicki L. Kroll
