Ken Waldman News

January: Several fun shows in New York, Long Island, and North Jersey, plus first-ever Philadelphia gigs--I grew up just outside the city and, oddly, it´s been one of the last big-city places to perform in this country. There was a nice big feature in the Philadelphia City Paper for my bookstore gig with Brooklyn banjo player, Eli Smith, and for my solo visiting writer gig at Community College of Philadelphia.

February-April: Seven-week Midwest trip included visiting writer gigs at Iowa State, Illinois Central, Ferris State, UW-Superior, and UW-Stout, plus shows at The Ark, at the Thrasher Opera House, and at Duluth´s Mitchell Auditorium. I also did school shows in Duluth and Green Lake WI, and concluded with a week residency in Menomonie WI, which included an extended middle-school residency, a senior center visit, and a concert at Mabel Tainter Theater. Lots of shows with lots of friends.

April: Two weeks in California and Nevada included school residencies in Henderson and Winnemucca, a concert series show in Winnemucca, and visiting writer jobs at Sierra Nevada College and American River College.

May-June: A month in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Two concert series in and around Seattle, other shows, then up to Fairbanks and Anchorage--it had been my longest time out of state since moving to Fairbanks in 1985. Accompanied by Mark Tamsula, I finished recording a big double-CD at 10th Planet Records, plus started and finished a kids´ CD there (that will be a 2009 highlight). Shows in Fairbanks and Denali Park (with Mark), and then solo shows in Anchorage and Kenai.

July: Though not yet officially out, Catalyst Book Press sends me first copies of Are You Famous?, my new memoir. To celebrate, I do unofficial book release shows in Haines, Skagway, and Juneau, and also travel to the Yukon to play in Whitehorse and then to BC to play several sets at Atlin Arts and Music Festival.

August: New double CD of 60 original tunes arrives in West Virginia in the midst of Clifftop Festival--though not without drama. More unofficial book release (and now CD release) events there, and in Pittsburgh, in Bethlehem (at Musikfest!), and in New York City. Lots of great music-making.

August-September: Continuing the tour immediately above, I fly to Anchorage, grab my rental car, head to Alaska Public Radio Network, get interviewed about new book and CD--interview airs statewide the next day. Book and CD are officially out August 15, and I do gigs in Homer, Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks--where I finish recording/mixing the next two projects. Then I fly to Seattle and do book release/CD release shows in BC, Oregon, and Washington, which included Tumbleweed Folk Festival.

More September: A run of what felt like successful booking conferences/gigs in Seattle, Kansas City, Atlanta/Athens GA (where I got to play with Beverly Smith and Carl Jones!), plus residencies at Virginia Wesleyan College and Thomas More College.

October: At Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, Friday night I opened for Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill in front of a crowd of almost 700, and Saturday, accompanied by John Fabke, did three kids shows at Overture Center for over 750 attendees total. Still in town on Tuesday, got interviewed by John on community radio, WORT, my birthday gift to myself.

October-November: Three-week California and Nevada trip included 4 BIG READ shows at Pasadena libraries, playing fiddle behind Bob Hass at Berkeley´s Watershed Poetry Festival, reading a Sarah Palin sonnet on West Coast Live in San Francisco the weekend preceding the election (where my absentee ballot was witnessed by the show´s host, Sedge Thomson), finally playing Arcata, and shows in Vegas, and more.

December: Back in California less than three weeks later, I do my third outreach show at Shannon Center in Whittier, and my fourth outreach in Lancaster through Lancaster Performing Arts Center--had just been there in April!

December: My second home in Louisiana, I´m doing a book-signing, visiting a middle school, playing an Alaska Holiday show (I should book more of these!) with pals Hogie Siebert and Mitch Reed. I´m also anticipating my 8th CD, Some Favorites, out in time for January 8-20 New York City/APAP trip. A compilation, it´s to go with the memoir. On the 2009 horizon: that new kids´ CD, a kids´ book, and more!

Well, I'm still at it, have been continuing at it, look to be continuing to be at it for the forseeable future. And while I do manage to juggle lots of activities--booking dates, getting to dates, actually performing at those dates, plus all the other administrative and, yeah, the occasional creative work, that goes into this business--one thing I DON'T do is regularly, or even irregularly, keep my news up-to-date on this site.

No, I'm not interested in being a blogger, I guess.

But since it's been more than a year, I should say that 2007 was best year ever for the fiddling poet business. The good jobs continue to be better than ever; the bad jobs are just weird in different ways. Overall, I had the most income ever at this and continue to feel I'm just scratching the surface of all this. My contacts keep widening since I've been working at going to regional and national booking conferences as well as all sorts of other events. I'm even doing a little bit of informal repping/agenting for friends.

Biggest news, maybe, came towards the end of the year when a new press from Northern California, Catalyst Book Press--and you can find them at www.catalystbookpress.com--offered to do a book of mine. It has a November 2008 pub date and will be my first book of prose. Titled ARE YOU FAMOUS? (with the subtitle: TOURING AMERICA WITH ALASKA'S FIDDLING POET) it's part memoir, part travel notes, part artist how-to. We're marketing it as a Blue Highways for the 21st century. Want to know how I got into this fiddling poet work and have managed to continue it (with the minimum budget? Want to know how I've been getting my mail the past decade, where I sleep while on the road, how I managed for years without my own computer with internet access? The book has the answers. Want to know how to get gigs yourself? All will be revealed.

Otherwise, god, I even have a myspace presence--four different myspace sites actually with one as kind of an introductory site, one for trying to get festival gigs, one for my newest political project, and one for my children's CD.

And there's much much more. Poking around, you'll get an update: it's not all that hard to find a little bit of this and that, and how I've been all over the past year--lots of nice library gigs in the Southeast, some festival gigs in Louisiana, Georgia, and North Carolina, other travels, a show in Detroit at Detroit Institute of Arts, and how coming up I'll keep being here and there--lots in Wisconsin in March and a show in late February at The Ark in Ann Arbor.

So, there it is--and here we are in February 2008.

Drop a line or say hello as you will!

Been busy with projects, projects, projects.

Fall I attended three major conferences, or was it four, and this coming week will be in New York City, attending APAP, the biggest conference of all.

What's the point?

To keep meeting folks, with budgets, who'd like to book my mix of old-time Appalachian-style fiddling, original poetry, and (mostly) Alaska-set storytelling--whether for adult programs, music or arts festivals, kids' shows, educational outreach, or whatever.

Some highlights of past six months (the one right below is the result of one of those new projects of mine):

Look at what I heard from Kate Klein, music director from KMUD in
Mendocino and Humboldt County in Northern California (check out #8!):

YOUR cd is great. So enjoyable ...so informative. so funny.....this one shines. I have put you on our charts for the world to see. \Thank you.
KK
1.
> From: Kate Klein <1. md@kmud.org> > Date: November 8, 2006 2:54:34 PM
PST > To:
md@kmud.org > Subject: CMJ 11-06-06 KMUD KLAI KMUE > > CHARTS FOR NOV. 6 06 > > TOP 30 > >
1 PAUL SIMON Surprise Warner Bros. >
2 ANI DIFRANCO Reprieve Righteous Babe >
3 BRUCE COCKBURN Life Short Call Now Rounder >
4 GREG BROWN Evening Call >
5 ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND Colorblind Warner Bros. >
6 BOB DYLAN Modern Times Columbia >
7 BECK The Information Interscope >
8 KEN WALDMAN As The World Burns >
9 ROY ZIMMERMAN Faulty Intelligence Metaphor >
10 BLACK KEYS Magic Potion Nonesuch >
11 ERIC CLAPTON Back Home Reprise >
12 AYNSLEY LISTER Everything I Need RUF >
13 SPANKY WILSON AND THE QUANTIC SOUL ORCHESTRA I'm Thankful Ubiquity >
14 COWBOY JUNKIES Long Journey Home >
15 STING Songs From The Labyrinth UMG >
16 LOS LOBOS The Town And The City Hollywood >
17 JELLO BIAFRA In The Grip Of Official Treason Alternative Tentacles >
18 WILLIE NELSON Songbird Lost Highway >
19 MIHO HATORI Ecdysis Ryko >
20 AMOS LEE Supply And Demand Blue Note >
21 SCISSOR SISTERS Ta-Dah Universal >
22 DAN BERN Breathe Messenger >
23 ELTON JOHN Captain And The Kid Interscope >
24 JOHN POPPER PROJECT The John Popper Project Featuring DJ Logic > Relix >
25 CANNED HEAT 1967-1976: The Boogie House Tapes RUF >

That's just the littlest tip of very big iceberg. Otherwise, in addition to the conferences, in the summer I recorded first part of yet another future CD project with Chicago's Jordan Wankoff, and there's been filming, and, well, two nice September gigs at colleges in Ohio where for part of their performing arts series I played with the terrrific Cleveland banjo player and fiddler, Mark Ward, and then there were appearances near D.C.--gig with Lou Janesko--and NYC--got to play with my pal, Charlie Shaw, and down to West Virginia, and across to Memphis where I spent a week and did several gigs including the Southern Festival of Books, and up through Blytheville AR to Iowa City, to Galesburg IL and Knox College, and then to Chicago, where I got to hang out with Jordan and his great band WABOLABR (check out their new CD!), and then down to Murray State where I had an especially fine event, and then to Nashville, and then an arts council residency in Tate County, Mississippi. Later November I spent close to a week in Austin, and then the very end of the month worked in the Florida panhandle and up to Athens and Atlanta GA. Still spending as much time, or more, in Louisiana as in Alaska, but touring remains busy so mostly I'm on the road. Just spent a week in Maine visiting a school in Portland and then a day at Stonecoast Writers, the low-residency MFA program at U. of Southern Maine. Last night I got to play with Mark Wholley and Erica Weiss at Johnny D's in Somerville, right outside Boston. Next stop, NYC, and a couple of days visiting schools in Paterson NJ, and then the APAP conference, and a couple of shows in town, and, well, early February I'll be in Montana, and then Southern California. We're keeping at it as we can.

Working on projects--expect a few surprises in the coming months.

For now, getting a few reviews here and there, like this from the journal popmatters.com

Ken Waldman
All Originals, All Traditionals
(Nomadic Press)
Rating: 6
US release date: 29 November 2005
UK release date: Available as import
by Michael Metivier

Amazon
Insound Email Print Comment
Sometimes, when I?m exhausted or overwhelmed by the superficial machinations of modern life, my mind retreats to one particular PBS-inspired fantasy: I imagine myself to be as intrepid and resourceful as the families depicted on many a publicly funded show, taking a one-way trip into the Alaskan wilderness to start a homestead from scratch with only a sack of barley, an ax, and a few pairs of home-stitched breeches. Oh, and Ken Waldman provides the soundtrack.

Waldman has lived in Alaska for 20 years, and the Last Frontier has been both his musical and poetic muse. His fifth recording is the sprawling, two-CD All Originals, All Traditionals. Each disc contains exactly what it describes; the first compiles Waldman?s own original fiddle tunes, the second traditional and public domain songs augmented by original poetry (also presented in the liner notes). The combination of music and written verse makes for a unique and rewarding listening experience.

All Originals is direct and unpretentious, a back porch jam session among friends; the entire recording gives off a feeling of sharing rather than showboating. The band is comprised of Waldman on fiddle, Jerry Hagins on banjo, multi-instrumentalists Hogie Siebert and Jordan Wankoff, and bassist Mitch Reed. The fiddle is the featured instrument throughout, sawing away over a variety of bluegrass and old-time structures. Although the band keeps steady time, there?s a loose, scrappy quality to the performances. The players all have evident skill and deep knowledge of Appalachian (and older) music tradition, but this is neither the polished sound of young Nashville upstarts, nor the stuffy preciousness of folk music antiquarians.

With the backdrop of Alaska?s dramatic landscapes firmly ensconced in one?s imagination, songs like the melancholic ?Summer Snow? and banjo-led ?John Michaud?s? sound relevant and true. Then there are tunes like the Opelousas, Louisiana-inspired ?Swamp Puddle? and ?Gonna Find Me a Door?, which are dripping with humidity and draped in moss. The playing can be a little scratchy, not always perfectly in tune, but in fine participatory folk tradition it encourages and welcomes you to play or pick along.

The second disc features traditionals like ?Yellow Rose of Texas?, ?Camp Chase?, and ?Cumberland Gap?, with Waldman reading his poetry over the top. Traditionals is a perfect companion for the wordless marathon of Originals, as Waldman?s poems make it easier to distinguish one track from another?on a project with 57 total tracks that is definitely an issue. Waldman?s verse is as straightforward and unvarnished as his playing, appropriately enamored with Alaskan place names like ?Sitka?, ?Kotzebue?, and ?Kachemak Bay?. He reads ?Iliapuq? over ?Camp Chase?, a one-stanza sketch about a former student, an Inupiat Eskimo who fought in Vietnam, tripped on acid in San Francisco?s Haight, and ended up on Nome?s skid row. ?Iliapuq? is Siberian Yup?ik for ?orphan,? which we learn is also slang for one who finds parents in a bottle. Waldman?s skill is in his avoidance of pathos, a refusal to editorialize on or judge his subjects ? he wisely leaves it to the reader and listener to make what they will of his words. Even though many of the poems? subjects meet sad, sometimes tragic fates, they receive neither pity nor glorification.

?Into the White?, which Waldman reads over ?June Apple? in his warm, friendly tenor, details the rise and fall of a young Yup?ik woman who flunks out of college and ends up walking away from her village onto the sea ice beneath a full moon, presumably to die. Waldman describes the piece as ?spooky? in the liner notes, but I?m not sure I agree. It?s definitely not spooky in the macabre sense. What?s spooky about the poem could be the way in which it elicits emotion without demanding it through the use of flashy or overwrought language. As representative of Waldman?s entire deal, ?Into the White? is humble, and therefore powerful.
_______________________________________________________

And there's this one from NewPages

Fiddling Poets on Parade

By Ken Waldman

Nomadic Press, December 2005

www.kenwaldman.com

CD; $15

Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

And so begins an Appalachian musical journey.

These are the sounds you want to start your Saturday morning to. Kids love this CD featuring Ken Waldman and his friends belting out some of the silliest and some of the loveliest lyrics put to fiddle and banjo. Indeed, some of the lyrics are poems written by kids and the songs themselves have been performed in schools all over the United States to wide acclaim.

One such song is ?I?d love to Blues? based on a poem written by a fourth-grader Mayra Morales called ?I Wish? that Waldman culled from the Kenneth Koch anthology of elementary school writing Wishes, Lies, and Dreams:

I?d love to be a backyard so animals and people could play on me
I?d love to be a horse so I could gallop on the grass
I?d love to be a turtle so I could hide in my shell?

Another song called ?Angeline the Baker? written by Waldman and sung by Angela Bowman and Elizabeth Lamberti is an ode to a whimsical gal named Angeline:

Angeline the Baker likes to bake her cakes
But if you want to know the truth, they give her tummy aches

Angeline the Baker likes to knead her dough
But if you want to know the truth, she sometimes picks her nose?

The song ?Ah Ha Ha (The Laughing Poem)? is based on a poem written by fifth-grader Charles Conroy called ?Blahhhh.? It begins with ?ah ha, ho ho, hee hee,? zoink, blurp,?wee?? and continues as such in a sprightly fashion to its finish. The poem is set to a tune called ?Hogskin,? a C-tune from Kentucky.

It?s difficult to say anything negative about songs inspired by poetry written by children. Indeed, there is nothing negative to say about it. They are amiable tunes with catchy melodies that adults can appreciate as well over a morning coffee. They will surely bring a smile to your face.

Waldman, a twenty-year Alaska resident, creates original music inspired by his surroundings and his interpretations of them, as well as by the Appalachian style. He is accompanied by Chicago multi-instrumentalist, Jordan Wankoff playing guitar, banjo, twin fiddle and African thumb piano; by Clayton Brown on guitar or bass on several cuts; and by Elizabeth Lamberti and Angela Bowman on vocals on several of the songs.

Don?t forget your lasso!

? Kathy Fretz

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© 1999-2006 NewPages
NewPages P.O. Box 1580 Bay City, MI 48706 USA
Phone: (989) 671-0081 Send e-mail www.newpages.com

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Just completed two-week loop of Oklahoma (Metro City Libraries), Kansas (Meadowlark Center and Salina Arts & Humanities Council), New Mexico (week-long residency at Cottonwood Valley Charter School), and Texas (Marfa Public Radio and Bread & Breakfast Cafe in Alpine). In San Antonio, meeting up with my WIngs Press publisher, Bryce Milligan, new copies of my new Steel Toe Books collection, Conditions and Cures, were awaiting. If you're counting, that makes three books in the past six months: The Secret Visitor's Guide (WIngs Press, www.wingspress.com); And Shadow Remained (Pavement Saw Press, www.pavementsaw.org); and Conditions and Cures (Steel Toe Books, www.steeltoebooks.com). Oh, and should mention earlier in the month I was in Thibodaux, Louisiana at Nicholls State University to take part in their Jubilee Arts Festival, and in Eunice, Louisiana at LSU-Eunice to be a part of their performing arts series, where I also visited classes.

Next, I'll be up in Alaska from mid-May to late July, mostly working at Klondike Gold Dredge in Skagway, doing what I do for tourists. Ought to be fun! And with all the new stuff out--not only the new books, but the two new CDs, which have been selling well, and are continuing to get reviewed--I'm getting geared for the next round of big projects. Stay tuned!

PUBLISHED ON MARCH 30, 2006:

Rhythm & Views

By JARRET KEENE



KEN WALDMAN
All Originals, All Traditionals (Nomadic Press Audio Division)

If you haven't heard of Ken Waldman, Alaska's Fiddling Poet, you will soon. This bearded musical bard is perpetually on the road, crisscrossing America, logging infinite miles in a battered minivan, looking for the next paying gig, whether it be at a school, nursing home or loony bin. A plane-crash survivor, Waldman is a rugged, techno-savvy Walt Whitman for the 21st century. His life is itself an epic poem worthy of recognition. But his actual literary and musical production is even better.
This is a big year for Waldman, with the near-simultaneous release of two poetry collections and two CDs. Make that three CDs: All Originals, All Traditionals is a double album with 55 songs. Side one offers the originals, instrumentals written and performed by Waldman and backed up by a quartet of musicians (banjo, bass, acoustic guitar, second violin). The Alaskan fiddler's raw, Appalachian-style approach carries the melodies and is particularly effective on tunes like the shimmering country stomp of "Goldstream" and the minor-chord two-step of "Swamp Puddle."

But it's the traditionals CD, in which Waldman recites poetry over standard fiddle tunes, that really catches fire. The poems mostly chronicle life in Nome, Alaska, and when Waldman recites "Hitchhiking on Solstice: The Yukon," you can hear the blasted terrain in his voice: "In the 1 a.m. light / as odd cars pass / my thumb's shadow eclipses my body / I am arriving." And for the kids in your household, Waldman also has released Fiddling Poets on Parade, which provides welcome respite from the Wiggles. You can get Waldman's music via CDBaby.com.

Busy few months--from Atlanta to NYC to Boston to Chicago to Anchorage to Fairbanks back to Atlanta, then a week in Florida working in Gainesville, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Tallahassee. Catching my breath this week--and getting grants and showcase applications out in the mail. Next week Southern California, then a week or two in Texas.

Been getting reasonable attention in the media. Nice 120-word listing in January 16 New Yorker in Above & Beyond section for my January 16 show. Big color photo in January 17 Boston Globe for my Johnny D's gig that evening (and had fun visit to Marilyn Rea Beyer's show on WUMB that noontime, where I was accompanied by Maine fiddler, Hope Hoffman), and the next week found a review of my new Wings Press book and my new double CD in Chicago Reader. Must be helping because people have been showing up on the strength of what they're reading there.

Plus yesterday just found this review of the new kids' CD:

Title: Fiddling Poets on Parade , By: Karre, MaryAnn, School Library Journal, 03628930, Feb2006, Vol. 52, Issue 2
Database: MasterFILE Premier

Section: Multimedia Review
AUDIO: Music

Fiddling Poets on Parade



Fiddling Poets on Parade
1 CD. 44:22 min. with lyrics.
Nomadic Press. 2005. $15.

Gr 3-8-- Ken Waldman, "Alaska's Fiddling Poet," is a former college professor who has had more than 400 poems and stories published in national journals and two full-length collections published by Albuquerque's West End Press. He has performed since 1994 at some of the nation's leading universities, festivals, arts centers, and clubs. This is his fourth CD, and it features work that is usually performed at schools and family shows. Co-producer and engineer Jordan Wankoff joins Ken on guitar, banjo, twin fiddle, and the African thumb piano. On some tracks they're joined by guitarist and bass player, Clayton Brown, or by fiddler and singer Elizabeth Lamberti and singer Angela Bowman. The music they create together is a lively Appalachian style, and the sound is fresh. The CD begins with "Little Dutch Girl / Sadie at the Backdoor," an extremely silly fiddle tune, accompanied by barking and meows. It progresses to the even sillier "The Slurp Song" and "I'd Love to Blues," which is based on a poem written by a fourth grader, and two versions of "Old Joe Clark," a traditional fiddle tune with a dog-mushing theme. In "Fairbanks Cabin Waltz," Waldman celebrates the state of Alaska, singing the praises of Denali, the highest point in North America, the Iditarod, and the cold. The uplifting tunes, repetitive lyrics, and ridiculous themes will appeal to young children, but "Burnt Down House," complete with story, poem, and sung refrain, has been popular with middle, high school, and adult audiences wherever Waldman performs. For those who don't live near Alaska, this is the next best thing to a visit from the "Fiddling Poet."

~~~~~~~~

By MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY

EDITOR Phyllis Levy Mandell


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© 2006 School Library Journal, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright of School Library Journal is the property of Reed Business Information and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Just a thought, too, that if you want to pick up the new Pavement Saw Press collection, And Shadow Remained, it's also available at hober.com, a wonderful internet radio station that has been supportive of my work--all my CDs and books are available at their online store.

Otherwise, I'm about to start touring in another week: New York City, Boston, Chicago, Anchorage, Fairbanks, near Atlanta, then Gainesville, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Las Angeles, Austin--and that just takes me a couple of months along. Then there's San Diego, Louisiana, Oklahoma City, Salina KS, and Socorro NM.

We'll see where the new books and new CDs take me this summer.

A month now in Opelousas. Both new books and both new CDs are finally in my hands. The past weeks I've been busy with mailings--getting the new work out in people's hands, and for querying about more jobs. So far so good--I have Interesting work lined-up in interesting places for the next year and a half.

Oh, the jobs this past fall went pretty well. Highlights included a two-day residency in Wausau at University of Wisconsin, Marathon County, where everything just clicked as it should. Class visits were fine, and we had a great crowd at the Arts & Lecture Series event there. Sure enjoyed my visits to Wisconsin Rapids, Fond du Lac, and Luck. Getting to meet, and play with, John Fabke and Mike Keyes was a treat. Slim turnout, though, in Minneapolis, which was too bad--I had Pop Wagner and Eric Lind accompanying, and the show was terrific. Great seeing my Nomadic Press pal, Kent Aldrich. What a world, seeing each other every few years and being pals--all because we happened to share a business name.

Later in October, I played a few dates in Ohio, one in Dublin, where I was joined by Matt McElroy and Tim Peacock of that driving Athens old-time band, Rattletrap. The three of us also did a slot at the Ohio Arts Presenters Conference in Newark OH, and then Matt joined me in Sidney, where after visiting a couple of classes we played for 800 middle-schoolers at an assembly, and wowed them. Showing off our versatility, we then played for 150 folks--mostly seniors--in a senior center that evening. Then I was off to Pittsburgh, where I met up with Mark Tamsula and Don Shean, two of my all-time favorite musicians. Me and Mark played on the Saturday Light Brigade radio show in the morning, then Don met up with us, and we did a show that evening for the Calliope Legends Concert Series.

Then it was back to Chicago, my base for this in-between autumn--thanks to the incredible Jordan Wankoff. Mid-November I finally left Chicago for a gig in Madisonville KY, and Jordan ended up driving down a few days later. He and another pal, Jerry Hagins, who flew in from Austin, joined me onstage for a concert at the Glema Mahr Center. That was the end of my two-day residency at Madisonville Community College. Really, that show was the first of what'll be a year of CD-release shows, and it was a good one to start with: good turnout, and accompanied by two of the great musicians who appeared on the new All Originals, All Traditionals double-CD.

From Madisonville, I kept going to Louisiana, and here I am for another few weeks. One thing I really like about this part of Louisiana--when I'm here, I really don't feel like leaving the area. Lots of great music, lots of great folks.

Meanwhile, I'm staying busy writing letters, sending out packets, and doing email. The CDs are getting airplay, and I'm waiting for the CDs and books to get reviewed. I'm also getting set to head all over this next year. Looking forward to the adventure--New York City, Boston, then Chicago. And in another five weeks, I'll even be back to Alaska for the first time since April.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say a little something about what's happening next. In the next few weeks, be on the lookout for two new CDs. All Originals, All Traditionals is a two-CD set. First one was recorded June 2004 in Fairbanks at 10th Planet, and features me on fiddle, Jerry Hagins from Austin on banjo, with help from Joe Karson on guitar and Phil Cassel on bass on several cuts. That one has lots of traditional tunes and lots of poems. Then in January 2005 I recorded the All Originals part down in Cecilia, Louisiana at Al Berard's studio. That one has me on fiddle, Jerry Hagins back with more banjo plus some fiddling, and we're joined by Chicago's Jordan Wankoff (he's playing fiddle, banjo, and guitar), Breaux Bridge's Hogie Siebert (she's playing banjo and guitar) and Lafayette's Mitch Reed (he's playing bass, and joins in on fiddle on a couple of tunes). That one was released in a limited signed and numbered set this summer. In a few weeks it'll be in my hands with a great cover and 24-page booklet. Also, in August, at DANEJO Studios in Chicago, I recorded Fiddling Poets on Parade, a children's CD--or as the subtitle says, Alaskan Fiddling Poet Music for kids of all ages. Joined by Jordan Wankoff on fiddle, banjo, guitar, and vocals, we have help from some Chicago friends, Clayton Brown on guitar, bass, and vocals, Elizabeth Lamberti on fiddle and vocals, and Angela Bowman on vocals. This one also came out great.

And I'm having three full-length poetry collections out in the next eight months. Out in a few weeks will be The Secret Visitor's Guide from Wings Press in San Antonio--www.wingspress.com will take you there and you can even see the cover. In November I expect And Shadow remained from Pavement Saw Press--www.pavementsaw.org gives you an idea about the press and I expect the book to be up shortly (and it has a great design!). And in June 2006 I'll have Conditions and Cures out with Steel Toe Books--www.steeltoebooks.com will take you to the website, and click on books and then Ken Waldman, and you'll see the page.

All that, and set to head back out for a few jobs in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

Guess I should mention how I holed up this summer and wrote myself a memoir, Minor Folk Celebrity. Its subtitle: A Post-Doctoral in Americana. Already have been querying agents. Between that, and moving things along on the double-CD and the new poetry collection, both due out this fall, I've been busy. Oh, and getting ready for another round of touring.

The next days, onto Clifftop: The Appalachian String-Band Festival.

Nine months, I see, since I last stuck something here. No news? Hardly. Just a time that most all writing has taken a backseat to the touring and the logistics of the touring. Always, so much to do.

I type today from from Breaux Bridge, Lousiana, several miles from Lafayette, an area I've been spending a fair bit of time the past year when not going from job to job. Increasingly, it's getting harder and harder to get back up to Alaska. Not enough work to justify returning, and I don't have the means to just go anywhere without a lot of forethought to make it all work. So, Louisiana has been worked out for now. Last fall, a long while back now, I spent two and a half months here, from early November to mid January. Back then I got lots done. But first I'd let the dust settle from my six week fall tour--gigs in Arkansas (Ouachita Baptist University), Missouri (The Common Space), conferences in Kansas City (Arts Midwest), Nashville (Americana Music Association), Pittsburgh (PAE--where I was chosen to do a residency showcase), and Springfield OH (Ohio Arts Presenter Network), a gig in Michigan (Kirtland C.C.--The Controlled Burn series) and then three more in Kentucky (Thomas More College, Western Kentucky University, Americana Crossroads Live concerts in Morehead), plus a good visit to my pals at hober.com who helped me celebrate my birthday--I revised the novel, revised the story collection, put poetry collections in shape, made up a whole mess of fiddle tunes, booked the long 14-week early 2005 tour, and then recorded a CD in Cecilia at Al Berard's new studio. This new one will have 27 original fiddle tunes, it'll be half of a two-CD set (other half recorded in summer '04 up in Fairbanks) to come out officially in fall '05--though I'll be manufacturing a signed and numbered set to come out by early/mid summer. The CD came out well--had Jerry Hagins, who drive over from Austin, as well as had Jordan Wankoff, who flew down from Chicago. We were all joined by Hogie Siebert and Mitch Reed. Like I say, I thought it came out pretty well. Both CDs are mastered, and are in process of getting designed.

Since I'm on the topic of new stuff, I also have a new book coming out this fall with Pavement Saw Press, out of Columbus. Pulbisher David Baratier has really been gearing up his operation there, and I'm happy to be included in his catalog. He was interested in doing a book of mine, I sent him a slew of manuscripts, and he chose a lot of dark, intense, interesting ones. No title yet--one of the last things to be decided on for this project--but I found him poems he wanted, and it'll be out by this fall.

Also, still waiting to hear about about Polartype Press is doing up in Anchorage. They're looking hard at a poetry collection--working title "Honorary Alaskans"--and are considering marketing it in tandem with another CD, which would mean going back to the studio, which is fine with me.

And then there's Jordan Wankoff's record label in Chicago, DANEJO Records, which would like to do a CD of what I do with kids. We're looking at August to record that, maybe, or late September/early October, sometime I can get to Chicago. Since I do so many kids shows, since kids love what I do, and since all my CDs so far--and the new double-CD is no exception--are geared for adult tastes, well, this is something that obviously needs doing.

And, yes, I'm still doing the booking, and most everything else in my business.

Speaking of my income-producing business--the touring--the gigs last fall went well. I had some excellent crowds, and met lots of great new folks, plus saw old friends. But that was a little tour--about six weeks worth. Mid-January, after the recording time at AL Berard's, I left Opelousas, where I'd been staying, headed to Birmingham and the UAB English Dept. for the visiting writers series. From there, I didn't look back. For that first gig, I was a pick of the week in the weekly paper there, did a feature interview on WBHM, the public station in town, and we had a very full-house on campus for the event. That weekend, at the Townsend Center in Carrollton at West Georgia State University, it was more of the same, though there, instead of being solo, I was accompanied by the terrific guitarist and fiddler from Athens GA, Amanda Kapousouz. Then I just held on for more than three months gigs in Augusta GA (where I did an Alaska show for an Alaska exhibit at the Morris Museum of Art), in Charlottesville (where I was accompanied by two terrific old-time musicians, Steve Parks and Dick Harrington), at Georgetown U., at an elementary school in Rockville MD, at a house concert in D.C. through the folk society, then up to Connecticut (where I did two kids' shows with Lloyd Graves), then school gigs in New Jersey and up in New York by the Delaware River (plus a gig at the Puffin Cultural Forum, then over to Harry Bolick's where I sat in one night in the East Village with his band at Old Devil Moon, and then a gig in Brooklyn with Charlie Shaw (not much turnout, but it was listed in the New Yorker), then the children's Museum on Long Island, gigs out in Riverhead at chef and bassist (of the fine Americana band The Hombres) Michael Meehan's, and on and on. Up to Boston, where I stayed at my sister's, and was a visiting writer at Bridgewater State U. and at Suffolk U., then across to Worcester at Cafe Fantastique (at Rotman's furniture store), and on to North Adams where Inkberry, a great literary organization, and Railway Cafe, a coffeehouse series, collaborated to host me. For that show, I invited Sallie Mack, an old Alaska pal now living in Charlotte VT, to come play with me. Afterwards, following a visit up to Sal's to catch my breath, it was a trip to Folk Alliance in Montreal for a few days, then a good long drive to Ashland OH for a reading, and, there, that was the end of February.

March 1 found me driving across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, into Iowa, where March 2, my 9-year anniversary of my plane wreck near Nome, I performed at Cornell College (accompanied by French professor and guitarist, Jan Boney, and then 11 days in South Dakota--from Vermillion to Sioux Falls to Gayville to a few days in Wakonda to hang out, and then on to Pierre, Faulkton, Sturgis, and Spearfish, everything from school visits to university visits to concert series to a few senior centers, a library, and community writing and fiddle workshops. Then it was off to Wyoming for a few days, first the college in Sheridan, then St. Patrick's Day in Jackson where the library did a great job with the publicity (and I didn't do so bad myself, getting material to the weekly paper, Planet Jackson Hole, that ran a couple of photos and had nice things to say) so we had an overflow crowd for my first visit there.

Then off to Montana, where in Great Falls I found my way to the O'Haire Motor Inn and the world famous Sip 'n Dip even before I had any idea what I'd wandered into. And then I even found musician/writer/professor Aaron Parrett, who played with me for a nice Monday night gig on his campus, University of Great Falls, then joined me the next night in Butte. Aaron and his pal, Jeannie had to drive back home through wicked snow, but I just sidestepped the weather, as I had all winter, drove into Missoula, where I spent a couple of days hanging, got to see the nice feature in the paper (it'sa bonus to not only get a photo, but to find a music writer, like Joe Nickell at The Missoulian, who listened to the CD I'd sent, and looked at the materials, and wrote something that's not only accurate, but something I can use for the next press pack--now I can write "In the tradition of John Hartford," The Missoulian) for my Thursday night show an hour away in Ronan.

From there it was through Idaho, and across the Cascades into Seattle, where I holed up, saw a few friends barely, got the CD mastered, then up to Vancouver, and AWP Conference, where we even pulled off the first "Writers Who Play" event, assembling a whole bunch of writers who play music. From harmonica-blowing Kim Addonizio to banjo-playing Molly Tenenbaum plus Iowa City's Will Jennings, Dick Harrington (who I'd seen eight weeks earlier in Virginia) and Jim Clark, with members of his band, the Near Myths, and more--now we're looking to expand on the concept for Austin in March '06.

After a Sunday afternoon gig at the marvelous Nancy's Farm, outside of Bellingham (where I was joined by the same Seattle folks who played with me up in Vancouver--Cat Fox, Doug Yule, and Robert Hinrix ), I spent a day in Seattle running more errands, plus getting to catch up with music pal, Andrea Cooper. Then off to Alaska for the first time since the preceding summer. Mainly, I got stuff out of storage, but did a small show at Organic Oasis with David McCormick and an even smaller one solo at Title Wave Books, and did a nice short set, with help from Shawn Zuke, at the Snow Goose my last night in town for Rob Shatzer's Alaska Music Conference. I did get to Valdez for a really nice event through the Valdez Arts Council (for that, Cat Fox flew up from Seattle to accompany me--after all, we'd been practicing the week before), and there got to visit with old pal Jennie Kelly, and her great family. Then even got to fly through Juneau on the way back down to Seattle, and since it was Folk Festival weekend, I spent a few days visiting as I could, and did an onstage set with Haines concertina player, Len Feldman, who I always enjoy hanging with. We pulled that one out--Len played stuff of mine he didn't know, while I played a tune he likes that I didn't fully know, Benares Farewell, written by our pal, Cliff Landes, who's been living in the Bay Area awhile now. Ah, Juneau. Saw lots and lots of people. And it didn't even rain until Monday afternoon.

Tuesday I flew to Seattle, Wednesday I picked up the mastered CDs, and was off to Portland, where I stayed with friends Danny and Nancy for a few days, then with Ned and Tia. One night I was part of a triple-bill at Artichoke Music with a couple of great acts: Portland singer-songwriter, Juliet Wyers, and the traditional music duo Shanghaied on the Willamette, that is Gordy Euler and Jonathan Lay. One day I visited an elementary school as part of Wordstock, ther Portland Book festival, and over the weekend I did a couple of sets at the kids' stage (and on Sunday I was accompanied by my pal, Tia Regan), and one on the poetry stage.

Then I was back to Montana and the Storytelling Round-up in Cut Bank, where I spent the last half of the week visiting schools, Friday night and all day Saturday taking part in the festival, doing a number of sets. After visiting Aaron Parrett in Great Falls, I was off to Louisiana via Denver and Austin.

I've been around these parts now for a couple of weeks, and am back to projects. Getting the double-CD manufactured is taking time, plus there's work in dealing with the new books. Bigger work is setting up the next year of touring--the phone calls, emails, and correspondence. And biggest work will be starting in June. Plan is to complete a book I've started about the past few years of touring. I got a title--Minor Folk Celebrity--and a concept (as the subtitle will say, it's a post-doctoral in Americana) and I have several weeks to get more of the material down, and to shape it so it reads like it's supposed to.

Of course, this entry is just the slightest tip of what I've been up to, but at least it's a little something. More information? Be on the lookout for the new CDs, the book(s), or, better, do what you can to help keep me busy. I'm doing lots of events, and am setting dates through spring 2007, and even beyond.

See you soon!

Another six or seven months or so, and another entry. Late August, and I'm in the midst of a gargantuan mailing--really, the work of being a fiddling poet is in getting enough work in order to remain a fiddling poet--but have found minutes to type something here.

Let's see, if I go back to my most recent entry--all the way to early February--I find myself back in central Florida, Florida Southern College in Lakeland, where I got to visit a class or two, got treated wonderfully by the English Department there, and did a solo show one night. Thanks to Bernie Quetchenbach there, and eveyone else. Wonderful. From there, I drove an hour to Tampa for a radio interview on WMNF, then onto the Florida Suncoast Writers' Conference in St. Petersburg. There I led a couple of workshops, did a short set one night, met terrific folks from all over, including others on staff there that weekend who I've long admired, such as Al Young and Robert Olen Butler. Early Saturday morning I drove back to Tampa and WMNF, where Jim Strickland had me as a guest on his old-time music show.

From St. Pete, I drove up to Tallahassee, where I finally got to meet Hank Taylor, a fiddler and violinmaker who I've corresponded with for years. I did a house concert there, and got to play with John Copps, who was terrific. Once again, terrific hospitality.

Then, Georgia, where I met up with Amanda Kapousouz, a guitarist, fiddler, accordion player, and all-around killer musician from Athens. We played at Mercer University (thanks, Gordon!), Gordon College in Barnesville (thanks, Caroline!), and Piedmont College up in Demorest (thanks, Stephen!) and then I visited a class at Oglethorpe in Atlanta (thanks, Linda). Even found time to hit a dance or two at the Knights of Columbus Hall, and found out a I received a grant from the Puffin Foundation in New Jersey for help on my next CD project.

Next, North Carolina, where I got to return to UNC-Asheville, where I did a lunchtime show in the glasshouse. A month earlier, late January, at ArtsMarket in High Point, NC, I roomed with Ira Bernstein, an amazing dancer and fiddler from Asheville. Since he was home that day, he joined me for the show at UNCA (thanks, Bunny!, thanks, Amy!). First time I've ever done poetry to flatfooting and tap like that--really fun for me. If schedules could ever be coordinated it would be really wonderful to take that one on the road. Then Winston-Salem, a return to Fiddle & Bow, and the Morning Dew, where I played with Bobb Head, a pal from Durham, and Andy Edmonds, a guitarist and fiddler from Mount Pilot, who's also in Benton Flippen's band. What I've found with this current tour: audience varies, sometimes excellent, sometimes only fair, and seems to depend on some mix of publicity, fate, luck. But with the musicians I've been playing with, the music and shows have been excellent, so it's been one artistic success after another, which has spoiled me in some nice ways.

From North Carolina (stop back in Chapel Hill--thanks, Lisa!), it was up to Frederick, MD, where I visited my Hober Radio pals Russell (aka Gregor) and Alane, and did a show up at New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt with Alane's brother, Steven, a banjo player and guitarist. From there, a middle school visit to William Carlos Williams hometown of Paterson, then got to stay with my friends Harry Bolick and Pat Schories in Hastings-on-Hudson as I visited Pace University (thanks, Jane!). I got to spend a long weekend in New York at my long-time friend Howard Nelson's, appeared at the Frequency Reading Series in the Village curated by Shafer Hall, then played the Bowery Poetry club in the East Village on Monday night, accompanied by Harry Bolick and friends, the Wahoo String Band. Fun! Even saw my sister and eldest niece, Rachel, who drove down from near Boston. Left New York metropolitan area after an event at St. Thomas Aquinas College and a visit to Blue Rock School in Nyack (thanks, Gerald!).

Spent a few days driving to Michigan, spent the weekend in Ann Arbor, thanks to more great hospitality, this time from my pal, Eleni Kelakos. Then it was up to Sault Ste. Marie, and Lake Superior State University, which was fantastic. My first time in the UP, it was close enough to feeling like Alaska that I was totally at home (thanks, Gary!). Then, a return to Ann Arbor for a couple of nights in between a morning working at the elementary school in Napoleon and an evening presentation at Siena Heights College.

Then, Illinois, and AWP with its cast of three or four thousand. I roomed with Jim Clark, who had a great new CD out with his original poetry and traditional songs. So during the days we hung out at my table, peddling our wares. The evenings there, it was anything goes. Saturday night, we journeyed up to Evanston, where I did a show for Hogeye Folk Arts, accompanied by Jordan Wankoff, another of the wonderful musicians I'm fortunate to play with. Jim Clark did a couple of pieces, and so did Jeff Talmadge, Atlanta singer-songwriter, by way of Austin, who has several CDs, had just landed a European record deal, and was also at AWP.

From Chicago, I headed south to Louisiana, spent a week in Lafayette, got to do a show at Lousiana Heritage and Gifts, Mitch and Lisa Reed's source for all things Acadian, and most especially the music. Got to do the show with my pals, Richard Burgess and Anya Schoennege, ending with triple fiddles, and spent the week holed up doing a mailing, spent some nights out enjoying the music scene.

From Lafayette to Austin, where I rehearsed with my buddy, Jerry Hagins, for my next CD, and even did a set with Jerry, who was playing with his Pistol Love Family Band at Mozart's an Austin coffeehouse. Then it was the day-long drive to El Paso, where I got to hang out with new pal Jessica Powers, and do a show at Moontime Pizza, where Eddie Holland's Celtic band, Los San Patricios, played a set, and Rus Bradburd, back in Las Cruces from Ireland, came on by and played a few tunes with me onstage.

And the tour kept going . . .

Next, Flagstaff, where I visited Mike and Janet Levin and their adorable girls, and worked at a couple of wonderful schools, FALA and Mountain School, and then to Sedona, where I returned to Future Studios (thanks, Ben Dameean!), and played with Jim McConnell and David Firestine. More great music.

Then Las Vegas, where I got to hang out with my friends Jarret and Jennifer Keene, and played at the Clark County Library, and then did assemblies and visited classes at Ernest May Elementary. From Vegas, San Diego, where Jack Webb--with lots of help from terrific volunteers--puts on the Border Voices Poetry Fair. I visited a middle school, appeared on TV, and did a well-received fiddling poet set with Long Beach musician, Jordan Ruhle. Especially wonderful to be able to say I was one of the four guest poets, when the others were Adrienne Rich, Sandra Cisneros, and Robert Creeley. At the end of the day I was on a panel with Rich and Creeley--I thought it best to listen hard and speak only when I really had something to say.

Then, after a house concert in Glendora (thanks, Tim!; thanks, Lois!), next work stop, after a week in Bay Area (thanks, Lynda!) and visit to Reno to check out International Reading Association Conference (thanks, Nile, for the invite to the Poetry-olio!) was up near Seattle. Thanks, Betsy, for the great Ballard hospitality. Then, Skagit River Poety Festival was great fun (thanks, Bunny, for the housing, and, thanks, Kathy, for the invitation to perform, and for putting on such a great event) and included folks like Billy Collins, Jane Hirshfield, Coleman Barks, Sekou Sundiata, Jim Bertolino, Dorianne Laux.

By then, I was getting closer to home. Late May, after the festival, I started back north, ended up working a few days at the high school in Dawson Creek, BC, mile zero of the Alcan. Thanks, Jennifer, for making all that happen so wonderfully. I loved the community there. One thing then led to another. Continuing slowly, I stopped at museums and gift shops en route north, sold several CDs to a shop here, a museum there, was told to look up a fellow in Whitehorse. when I got to Whitehorse, I found Pat Reece at PR Services, who's now distributing my books and CDs in the region, feels there's an excellent market, and feels, too, he can translate Nome Poems into German, and they'll sell. That all was good news.

And then I returned to Alaska, did a show at the Bonanza in Skagway with my pal, Len Feldman, on concertina, who came in from Haines. Next day we headed back that way on the ferry, and I spent a few days hanging out, beautiful weather, wishing I could figure a way to spend more time there. Visited my pal, Gershon Cohen, who once again kicked me hard on the scrabble board.

A few days later, got up to Fairbanks, where I hustled around selling a few more books and CDs, did a show at Sam Fejes' Alaska House Gallery, and performed at Fairbanks Summer Folk Festival with Jerry Hagins, up from Austin. Mainly, though, we were up at 10th Planet Records off Chena Hot Springs Road, recording the new CD. Came out great, and on Sunday even had Joe Karson on guitar and Phil Cassel on bass, who are both playing with Five Buck Fiddle, come on by to record a few tracks with us. So, we got a CD done, but since it's going to be a double-CD, it's only half-done, and won't likely be out until late 2005, or even early 2006. But it'll be worth waiting for. Thanks, too, to Charlie Hunt and Nancy Bayer, and Mike Welsh and Cindy Hardy for more more exceptional hospitality.

Then a few weeks "home" in Anchorage, hanging out with my pal, David McCormick. We did a show at Organic Oasis. Plus I did a solo one at Kenai Visitors Center, and another downtown for the noon concert series, where Richard Gelardin played banjo. More fun as I ran around town taking care of what business I needed taking care of.

Then I was off again in early July. First a show in the Yukon at Dawson Peaks Resort, which was excellent. Four days later--hey, it's 2500 miles from Anchorage to Seattle--I was down in Port Townsend, saying hello to friends at Fiddle Tunes week, and on Monday I was in Portland, picking up Chicago pal, Jordan Wankoff, now a high school English teacher, who has summers off. We played jobs in Boardman, Oregon, Moab, Utah, then a whole series of jobs in Colorado--Cortez, Durango, Gunnison, Montrose, Telluride, back to Durango, then onto Taos, Oklahoma City, and on home to Jordan's home of Chicago--by way of a great jam in St. Louis. Too many thank-yous and details from that tour to get into now. But later, when I write the book . . .

And after Chicago I've enjoyed time off, which included a week at Clifftop, WV, seeing friends from all over, a week in Asheville, NC, and now in Lafayette, LA where I'm typing this.

Check the concert schedule for future events. Plan is to not to be on tour like this, to be more settled, to get back to writing. But the big residency/writing grants I've applied for haven't come through, and since I'm almost sustainable financially (almost sustainable means, please, book me for events, or at least buy books or CDs so I can become sustainable), for now I don't seem to have much choice but to continue on this track. Mid-September I'm at Midwest Arts Conference in Kansas City with Sunday night independent showcase there, October 1 I'm showcasing at Performing Arts Exchange in Pittsburgh, have a bunch of events in Kentucky the last week of October, have applied to Yaddo for November/December (keeping my fingers crossed, since this means time and place to get more writing done), and sometime will shoehorn in time to complete the recording of the next CD.

Does that say it for now? Oh, there is one more thing that I nearly forgot. Late March 2005 I expect a new full-length collection of Alaska poems out with a brand new Alaska Press, Polartype Publishing. And later in 2005 I might likely have a full-length collection out with Pavement Saw, a fine small press out of Columbus, Ohio--at least we're seriously talking about it.

Anyway, this isn't all the news, not even close, but it's a little of the surface, so at least it feels a bit caught up.

'Til later.

How long has it been? Six months? Seven months? More?

After spending the beginning of last summer housesitting in mid-city New Orleans, I drove up to Clifftop in West Virginia, then spent several weeks taking care of odds and ends in Western North Carolina and Georgia.

Starting mid-September the touring started up: Black Mountain Center for the Arts, UNC-Asheville, Catawba College, Court Square Theater in Harrisonburg VA, Glenville State College, Muskingum College, U. Nebraska-Omaha, Peru State College, Oklahoma City libraries, a weekend in Albuquerque visiting friends, Ft. Lewis College, Ignacio High School, Telluride schools, a middle school near Colorado Springs, University of Northern Colorado, Western Wyoming Community College, Idaho State University, College of Eastern Utah, Vegas Valley Book Festival, a middle school in Las Vegas (and here I'll stop to catch my breath).

Then on to California. Mesa Community College in San Diego, Santa Barbara City College, three club dates in the L.A. area, Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, West Valley Community College, Notre Dame de Namur University, an elementary school in Berkeley, New College in Santa Rosa, West Coast Live Radio show, a Q Productions show in Placerville, a club date in Nevada City, then I helped facilitate a weekend with teachers in La Conner (in preparation for the May 2004 Skagit River Poetry Festival).

Then it was up to Alaska--gigs in Anchorage at Organic Oasis, up to Palmer High, then the Talkeetna Roadhouse, up to the Pub at UAF, then back down to bookstores in Talkeetna and Palmer, and a fun show in Kenai for Mike Morgan and his Kenai World Music Series.

All that in three months--and that's just the public stuff. The rest of my life? I'm not telling here.

Very end of 2003 and early 2004 had me getting lots of work done on my car--some done in Seattle, some in Lexington NC (a new transmission!)--so I could continue this relentless touring. I did one last 2003 show in Eugene, at Tsunami Books, then drove back to Seattle, then started back down I-5 and across the southern route--hardly a job, but lots of visiting, and picking up a few future ones here and there (see the concert schedule for an update).

Highlights?

Well, just the fact I have the energy for now to keep going at this pace is a highlight. Also, I continue to play with great old-time musicians all over the place. Some of those great folks include Randy Johnson and Neal Carroll in North Carolina, Doug Van Gundy in West Virginia, Brett Heitzke in Oklahoma City, Mike Cutler (who had just moved back to Colorado from Michigan), Barb Richer and Andy Cameron and Paul Jarrell and Jordan Ruyle as well as Barb Hansen and Walter Spencer in Southern California, Ray Bierl and Brendan Doyle as well as Don Coffin and Gus Garelick in Northern California. David McCormick in Anchorage. And then there was that great night up in Fairbanks when I was joined by Tom Hart, Eric Graves and Bob Bell, known collectively as Raising Holy Hell (and I apologize for missing a few folks here and there in my fall '03 travels.)

And since getting back down south, I've played with Diane Hoglund, Chip Cohen and Andy Murdzek in Eugene, my pal Jerry Hagins in Austin, Fay Baird in McIntosh FL, and Bob and Cathy Murphy for a show in Stuart, FL. And looking ahead, I have shows with John Copps in Tallahassee, Amanda Kapousouz in Georgia, Bobb Head in North Carolina, the Wahoo String Band in Manhattan, Jordan Wankoff in Evanston, Richard Burgess and Anya Schoenegge in Lafayette, and Jordan Ruyle in San Diego.

This coming weekend I'm on staff at the Florida Suncoast Writers' Conference. In late April in San Diego I'll be at Border Voices Poetry Festival, which I'm really looking forward to (after all, it's me opening up for Sandra Cisneros, Adrienne Rich, and Robert Creeley), and then there's the Skagit River Poetry Festival in May, which includes Billy Collins and Jane Hirshfield.

Of course, there's much more than this. It's been interesting times. The CDs continue to sell here and there, and get radio airplay. The books sell in their steady way. Soon, I think, Nome Poems will be heading into a third printing.

Now, if I can only find a way to get that very publishable novel of mine published, or the collection of stories, or find a publisher for the nine more full-length poetry collections that are already written and needing homes, or find the time--and money!--to write the next books I'm to write. That'll have to be news for another of these reports.

Thought I'd add a few words about what people are saying about my new CD, Music Party.

June/July '03 issue, p.88
Reviewer: Dan Willging, Dirty Linen Magazine
Leave it to Ken Waldman, Alaska's Fiddling Poet, to dispel the notion that all Alaskan fiddling poet music sounds alike. His third offering is the most diverse yet . . . Though the music never loses its Appalachian identity--especially with renditions of "Forked Deer" and "Greasy String"--Waldman's words are what seal the deal. They're often vivid and profound, such as the last line from "Fiddler," which concludes with, "Fiddler, all he had to do was be." The last five tracks (including the hidden track) feature over 22 minutes of scintillating, old-time dance music with the mayhemic Music Party Band. As evidenced here, Waldman is poised to become America's fiddling poet. Crown him--now.


Music Party is on MY A+ list
Reviewer: William Smith - Nashville, Tennessee
I first heard the cut Sandy Boys on HOBER internet radio, I liked it so much that I came here straight away and ordered it. I have now listened to the whole CD and I am Very glad that I bought it. I intend to pass it around to some of my friends here in the Music City.


Maybe the best musically of Ken's three great CDs.
Reviewer: Jeff Edgin
Please complete the following survey: 1) I love old-time music, especially played at top levels with that classic drive (Y) (N) 2) I enjoy poetry and storytelling, especially when it's inventive AND accessible (Y) (N) 3) I have been to Alaska (Y) (N) If you answered "yes" to any of the questions, buy the CD. If you answered "yes" to two of the questions, this CD will quickly claw its way to a coveted "Top Ten" spot in your personal CD collection. If you answered "yes" to all three, "Fuhgettaboutit !!"


Ken has done it again, with style!
Reviewer: Rik James
Ken Waldman has done it again with MUSIC PARTY! The album's title itself says a good bit about how you feel soon after the CD starts spinning in the hopper -- folks sitting around, pickin', having a good time, playing music together, then more folks arrive, start to feel good, like to be gettin' up and movin' around a bit. Like many a music party. No amps, no subwoofers. The real stuff! Ken's poems set album this album apart as they describe real feelings about experiences and feelings that the music inspires. Love of old-time music and friends, the themes I pick up from his words. Ken's fiddling, as well as the fine banjo, and sometimes guitar rhythm and bass -- all played in the true old-time style, with high energy and relaxed precision. Anyone who's not been to a fiddle camp or fiddle festival, but always thought they'd like to, can hear the spirit of one on in this recording, like that you'll find at a festival or a really good house jam session. My radio listeners continue to love Ken's earlier recordings, and now, I'm sure they'll call me up and say, "Hey, Rik, play some more of that MUSIC PARTY!" (Rik James, "Americana Backroads," KGLT-FM, Bozeman, MT).

Well, it's been some months, and I've been all over the place--west coast, southwest, southeast, D.C., New York City, New England, upstate New York, western New York, Ohio, back to Alaska for a few weeks, and now I'm in New Orleans, settling in, getting ready to work on a few projects.

Recent highlights?

Well, it makes sense to include the show at the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center. Accompanied by a wonderful musician (and writer, too) from West Virginia, Doug Van Gundy, you can actually go to the show right now. Click to my bio page, then click the link to the Kennedy Center site. That gets you to an archive where if you type my name, you can see and hear the show. Qualifies as a highlight right there.

Otherwise, great gigs all over the country--too many to list (well, actually, I did list it twice, and each time something went off in the transmission--it's the computer I'm on, I think, and its tenuous connection to the web)--but lots of artistic successes, sometimes combined with pretty good financial successes too.

Ah, I'll indulge myself with this quote from the Austin Chronicle (I was in Austin late January to do a CD release show with Jerry Hagins, who's on my new CD, Music Party):

"Ken Waldman, Alaska's Fiddling Poet is back in town with a new CD and his wondrous energy. Local Jerry Hagins accompanies on banjo. Feels like a Ken Burns movie. So American. Imagine an America that can hold Eminem and Waldman. Sweet, as my girls say. Always recommended."

It can't get much better on the publicity end (there I am, minor folk celebrity, in the same sentence with Eminem, a huge pop icon whose face and music I wouldn't recognize, but whose name I do), though gigs in Sedona (with Jim McConnell accompanying at Future Studios and Ben Dameean and crew getting word out), El Paso (thanks, Eddie, and the whole Cinco Puntos family), and Alpine (thanks again, Emmy) were lots of fun. Same for Louisiana, the Sliman Theater in New Iberia where Richard Burgess and Anya Schoenegge accompanied me. (Thanks too to Renee Roberts at the Acadiana Arts Council and Susan and Gaywynn at the Iberia Parish library.) Kerry Gromacher and I shared a bill in New Orleans and Kerry arranged for us to be on WTUL and the famed WWOZ jazz heritage radio station.

Got to Nashville for the first time--nice gig at a library--and had a pair of terrific events following that, one in Knoxville at UT-Knoxville where Marilyn Kallet and Lou Gross made sure the event was utterly memorable (I mean, the big arts calendar for the spring semester had me on top, big photo, with Marcel Marceau looking up to me) and then great show in Winston-Salem at Fiddle and Bow concert series at Morning Dew Coffeehouse playing with Bobb Head, Adam Tanner, and Lora Pendleton. Gigs too in Carrboro and Raleigh (thanks, Al, for bringing me to Wake Tech, and thanks, Lisa, for putting me up again in Chapel Hill). Then a really wonderful school visit in Bel Air, Maryland (thanks, Curtis!). Played Baltimore and D.C. for the first times--three cool events, of which Kennedy Center was just one (another was an event at Creative Alliance in Baltimore--a bunch of writers who could also play music, me, Paul Allen, Jim Clark, Madison Smartt Bell, Wyn Cooper, and a literate 80's retro-punk band out of NYC, Ruffian--and there was the other one, a reading at the Writer's Center in Bethesda) Anyway, Doug and I joked that the Kennedy Center gig was just a warm-up, anyway, for our show later that week in Elkins.

Otto Bost had me--accompanied by my pals Tom and Nathan Druckenmiller--on his Acoustic Eclectic show on WDIY in Bethlehem (I played with Nathan the next day at my two assemblies at Weisenberg Elementary near Kutztown), and Ron Olesko had me on WFDU prior to my show in North Jeresy at the Puffin Cultural Forum (god, it was great fun playing with Harry Bolick and his band, the Wahoos, there, and at The Bowery Poetry Club in the East Village).(And can't forget my three days in schools in Brentwood on Long Island, and hanging out in the city with my long-time tennis-teaching buddy, Howard Nelson, and his dog, Dudley.)

Got to visit with my friends, Ian Pounds and Sallie Mack, up in Vermont, plus did a show there. I hadn't seen Ian in half a dozen years, and Sal in maybe twice that long. In Plattsburgh, Peter Fraissinet, driving in from Ithaca, joined me, and we wowed them on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus, the Clinton Community College campus, and in town later that night, onstage on an open-mike night. Then a few days later we played a house concert in Rochester (thanks, Dolores!).

Lots more too--thanks, Dusk, for hosting me in downtown Hollingsworth Georgia --and an extra-special thanks to hober.com and Russell and Alane for inviting me to visit, and letting me stay and stay and stay.

There's a whole lot more--more reviews, more newspaper stories, more everything--but you'll have to take my word on that for now. Instead, here it is hot and humid New Orleans when I could be in warmish, long-lit Alaska. But that's the charm of doing it the fiddling poet way--good place here to hole up and write a new book. A couple of months and I should have a fair bit of it written. And that would be real news, certainly a whole lot bigger than anything here. When it happens, I'll let you know.

To Live on this Earth, my second collection with West End Press, which was published in early 2002, is going to be reprinted. Now both my books are in a second printing.

The book is reviewed in the current issue of Book Magazine. Want to read the review? Pick up a copy at the newstand or library (it's available nationwide at those places) or go to www.bookmagazine.com and click on the section that says "capsule reviews." Scroll down and there it is. (Now it's no longer the current issue--you have to go to the archive and find the January/February 2003 issue; but if you look, you can find it . . .)

And if you haven't already heard, my new CD, Music Party, copyright 2003 with Nomadic Press, Audio Division, is out and making the rounds on public and community stations around the country. Listen to it here on my website, or go to cdbaby.com.

Quick 2002 Wrap-up and Review:

January 2002: Cross-country trip east included successful gigs in Eugene (Tsunami Books), Berkeley (Freight and Salvage), Albuquerque (Outpost Performing Space hosted book release for the West End Press book, To Live on This Earth), plus performances from Las Cruces to Austin, and onward.

February 2002: North Carolina and South Carolina gigs at venues as varied as ArtsCenter in Carrboro, University of North Carolina, Duke University, Barton College, Sumter Opera House, and onto Folk Alliance in Jacksonville. Big feature newspaper stories in Chapel Hill and Columbia, SC.

March 2002: 2 weeks in New Orleans (AWP Conference there too), and onto Athens, OH, Elkins WV, Greensburg, PA, Ithaca NY, and residency at SUNY Brockport as part of Writers Forum series.

April 2002: From Cleveland to Minneapolis, including gigs at Detroit Writers' Voice, Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, and universities such as St. Cloud State, Firelands College in Huron, OH, Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI.

May 2002: BookExpo in New York City (and gig at Knitting Factory) led to cross country drive back to Anchorage.

June 2002: Festivals in Kenai and Fairbanks, a visit to Homer, a number of performances in Anchorage. Finished recording new CD, Music Party.

July 2002: From Anchorage to Clifftop, West Virginia, with stops in Seattle, Denver, Bloomington, and Louisville.

August 2002: Started design for CD. Time in West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. Feature story appears in big bimonthly folk music and world music magazine, Dirty Linen.

September 2002: Gigs in Charleston and Sumter, South Carolina, also Wilson, North Carolina. Appearance at Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo Village, New Jersey--featured both as a poet and as a musician.

October 2002: Gigs throughout Colorado and Arizona--Swallow Hill Music in Denver, Mesa County Library in Grand Junction, Fort Lewis College in Durango, Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, a Tucson Friends of Traditional Music concert, shows too in Dewey and Flagstaff. Also numerous school visits. On Halloween night in Flagstaff, CD appears in Flagstaff.

November 2002: CD release shows in Los Angeles, Berkeley, Santa Rosa, Eugene, Seattle, Anchorage.

December, 2002: CD release shows in Terre Haute, IN (visiting Indiana State University as a scholar), and Fairbanks. Looking ahead to upcoming shows throughout North America, including March 3 show at Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and June appearance at Old Songs Festival in upstate New York, near Albany.

See performance calendar for more information.