Ken Waldman--Alaska's Fiddling Poet (Special Event)

Old Time Music, Stories, and Poetry from AlaskaKen Waldman has drawn on his 18 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his own.A former college professor, Waldman has had more than 400 poems and stories published in national journals, and has worked full-time since 1994 as Alaska's Fiddling Poet, performing at some of the nation's leading clubs, bookstores, universities and arts festivals.His first full-length collection, Nome Poems, was published in April 2000 by West End Press of Albuquerque and is now in its second printing. It chronicles the two years Waldman spent teaching writing over telephone at the Nome campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Also included is a section about the 1996 plane crash that led locals to refer to him as "a walking dead man." In March 2002, West End Press published a second collection, To Live on this Earth, which contains more Alaska poems, including a number about old-time music and dance. Within a year, this too went into a second printing. Both books are distributed by University of New Mexico Press.In May 2000, he released his first CD, A Week in Eek, a collaboration with Vancouver banjo and flute player Andrea Cooper. The CD features poems read over old-time fiddle music, a mix of traditional Appalachian tunes and originals Waldman has composed in the style. It received strong reviews in magazines such as Dirty Linen, Sing Out! and Old-Time Herald. His second CD, Burnt Down House, received another round of strong reviews and widespread national airplay. In January 2003, Waldman released a third CD, Music Party, that some listeners are calling the best of the bunch.Though he still performs solo on occasion, Waldman teams with other musicians for a bigger sound when he headlines such venues as Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, The ArtsCenter in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, The Knitting Factory in New York City, and The Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.He is also a popular visiting artist in classrooms. Employing both his fiddle and a repertoire of proven writing exercises, he has led workshops in over 100 schools in 18 states nationwide, and has been a guest writer at over 50 colleges and universities, including SUNY Brockport, the University of Tennessee, Albion College, University of Nebraska Omaha, Idaho State University, and San Diego State University.