UWG News Archive

Alaska's Fiddling Poet comes to UWG

January 12, 2005

CARROLLTON, GA - Close your eyes and imagine “Walt Whitman jamming with the Carter family,” or hearing “the kind of music that sweeps down and forces you to feel it in your bones.” Lovers of fiddle music will be able to see, hear and interact with one of the nation’s foremost folk story artists in an up close and personal setting for a night of toe-tapping fun.

UWG News Photo Ken Waldman — “Alaska’s Fiddling Poet” — will be performing at the University of West Georgia’s Townsend Center for the Performing Arts Saturday, Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $3 for children, and $5 for UWG students.

Accompanied by guitarist and fiddler, Amanda Kapousouz, Waldman has drawn on more than 18 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his own.

Kapousouz, a native of Athens, placed second in the highly competitive 2003 Atlanta musician talent search. She has performed with Waldman at Mercer University in Macon, at Gordon College in Barnesville and Piedmont College in Demorest. Kapousouz will accompany Waldman on a variety of instruments including fiddle, guitar, and accordion. A master of Irish fiddle playing, Kapousouz adds depth and richness to the shows. She will treat the Saturday night audience with her electrifying talent and repertoire of Irish tunes.

Waldman will be performing his Saturday night show in the Black Box Theater of the Townsend Center for a very intimate setting, said director Robert Jennings.

“This show is not on the main stage,” Jennings pointed out. “This show is meant to be performed in a small personal atmosphere. Even the back row is up close and personal so everybody is close to the artist. We’ll have limited seating so the audience can interact with Waldman and Kapousouz.”

A former college professor, Waldman has published more than 400 poems and stories and has toured full-time since 1994. Waldman’s two collections of poems, Nome Poems and To Live On This Earth, have been commended by numerous newspaper critics.

“There was a magic to the evening,” said Cinthia Ritchie, a reviewer for the Anchorage Daily News. “It was haunting and melodic; it was like being reminded of our very humanness and all the chances and changes still waiting to be discovered. It’s the kind of music that sweeps down and forces you to feel it in your bones.”

“Waldman’s multifaceted show is based on a somewhat weird concept, but it works. Picture Walt Whitman jamming with the Carter family,” said reviewer Michael Miller for The State, in Columbia S.C.

Waldman’s most recent recordings are Burnt Down House and Music Party. Along with his earlier recording A Week in Eek, Waldman’s music and poems are filled with old-time fiddle tunes, traditional Appalachian songs and original music Waldman has composed in the Appalachian style. “Poet and fiddler, or, if you please, fiddler and poet Ken Waldman combines a lyric heart with a good fiddle shuffle. His writing is singular and superbly crafted, and his playing strikes to the heart of the tune,” states Joe Newberry of Durham, N.C.

“The exact show varies with time and place,” Waldman pointed out. “Because I perform with different accompanists, I vary the program to take advantage of the strengths of a particular sidekick. I like to interact with my audiences, so I will talk about how I became a fiddling poet or how I taught writing over the telephone and traveled to villages to meet students face-to-face.” Waldman is 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 and has been a guest writer at over 50 colleges and universities.

Waldman is an artist in residence at the Townsend Center, working in various settings and multiple locations with several different age groups. In addition to his Saturday evening performance in the Townsend Center’s Black Box theatre, Waldman will also perform two Art in Education shows in the main theatre at the Townsend Center. The morning shows are part of the Art in Education series the Townsend Center presents in partnership with the Carrollton Parks and Recreation Cultural Art Division. The Art in Education series gives young students a chance to learn from various artists, musicians, actors, poets, storytellers, and authors.

The Art in Education performances for elementary grade students are Friday, Jan. 21, at 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. These performances will include poetry-writing sessions. Tickets for the programs are $2 for students and teachers and $3 for chaperoning adults.

As part of his residency, Waldman will also perform a 50-minute show especially for young children at the Neva Lomason Memorial Library on Rome Street in Carrollton on Saturday, Jan. 22, at 11 a.m. This performance features Waldman and Kapousouz in a show designed for children that will mix fiddle tunes, guitar picking, accordion playing, and poetry. Waldman will present a picture of life in Alaska and lead the children in a poetry writing session. Those interested should bring paper, pencil, and their imagination to participate.

Seating for the Saturday night performance is limited. For additional information and to order tickets, call the Townsend Center at 678-839-4722.

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