are filled with fiddle tunes,
poems and stories about his
more than 20 years in Alaska.
Far from Nome,
"Alaska's Fiddling
Poet" to play the
Ark in Ann Arbor.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
K
•
en Waldman, on many occasions
during the year, packs his mini-
van with a focus on long roads
that will carry him toward performance
and teaching destinations.
If good weather is in the forecast, he
will put a bike on the back of his vehicle
and scout some new places to explore.
Certain levels of adaptation have
remained comfortable for this traveler.
A native Pennsylvanian, he moved to
Alaska and has grown used to the tough
terrain. A business major in college, he
decided that writing poetry fit better with
his talents and inclinations. A fiddle hob-
byist, he swerved to professional pursuits
and let country music punctuate his
words for diverse bookings.
More adaptation comes with every stop
as Waldman changes his program to suit
the audience before him.
When the mood is political, he presents
verses about George W. Bush and the
issues facing the nation. When the mood
is more philosophical, he can pull out
messages about life's twists and turns.
Waldman's current road leads to the
Ark in Ann Arbor, where he will per-
form 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25. The music
giving melody to his varied subjects
is Appalachian, mostly traditional but
sometimes original with him.
Although Waldman often performs
alone, this time he will be accompanied
by Mark Ward, who plays banjo, fiddle
and pipes and is based in Cincinnati.
"I start out with poetry and stories
about Alaska;' says Waldman, 52, who
also expresses himself through books and
recordings and has become known as
"Alaska's Fiddling Poet.""I'll add political
material, but if people seem tired of that,
I can do something else.
"I've been a full-time freelancer
since 1994, and I joke that my job is
job hunting. While in Michigan, I'll
also appear before groups at the Scarab
Club in Detroit, a campus of Ferris
State University and at a venue in South
Haven."
Waldman can call upon lots of personal
sources for presentation. More than 400
of his poems and stories have been pub-
lished in journals and in his own books:
Nome Poems, To Live on This Earth,
The Secret Visitor's Guide, And Shadows
Remained and Conditions and Cures.
His CDs include A Week in Eek,
Burnt Down House, Music Party and All
Originals, All Traditionals.
When he appears before children,
Waldman often refers to Fiddling Poets on
Parade, his first recording for the younger
set.
No matter what media Waldman uses
or where he performs, experiences in
Alaska reach deep into his emotions and
provide a base for his sensitivities.
"My writing routine comes in fits and
starts," explains Waldman, who did a
presentation at the Detroit Institute of
Arts in December. "I don't write every day,
and I have longer periods of time where I
don't write at all.
"When I am writing, I can stay in every
day and write all day. I like being totally
involved and making the writing central
to what I'm doing. I like to push to com-
pletion and finish things.
"I have a novel that I haven't published
yet. It was eight years of off-and-on writ-
ing and I swore that I never would write
that way again."
Waldman, who studied business at
Duke University in North Carolina, took
odd jobs in Boston after graduation.
During that time, he began playing fiddle
and plugging along with short stories.
"I traveled a little and decided to
move to Seattle he recalls. "I thought I
should go to writing school and picked a
program in Alaska. At the end of the pro-
gram, I wasn't ready to leave the state and
found work teaching."
Waldman, who taught writing over
the phone at the Nome campus of the
University of Alaska Fairbanks (he now
lives in Anchorage), survived a difficult
illness and a plane crash, and those two
triumphs have entered into his literary
projects and his work as a visiting writer.
Assignments have taken him to some
160 schools in 30 states, and his appear-
ances have reached from Albion College
in Michigan to San Diego State University
in California.
Although raised in a Jewish home,
where he was encouraged to study for his
bar mitzvah and confirmation, Waldman
no longer formally practices his religion.
"I'm having another book released later
this year," says Waldman, who is single
and enjoys cooking. "I wrote it a couple of
years ago and recently did some revisions.
It's a memoir about my lifestyle.
"I've given it the title Are You Famous:
Touring America With Alaska's Fiddling
Poet. It's an artist's how-to. I tell that this
is not an easy way to make a living, but
I've found the experiences rewarding." ❑
Ken Waldman performs 8 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 25, at the Ark, 316 S.
Main St., in Ann Arbor. $12.50. (734)
761-1800. For more information and
to order his books or CDs, go to
www.kenwaldman.com .
February 14 • 2008
B17
Photo by Ka te Sa lis bu ry
Ken Waldman: His concerts