Alaskan Fiddler at ACTC November 7

Ken Waldman, Alaskas Fiddling Poet, will perform Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 12:00 noon at ACTCs Technology Drive Campus. His free performance will include poems, stories, and Appalachian fiddle tunes that reflect his 25 years of experience in Alaska.

A former college professor, Waldman has released nine CDs that combine old-time Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry. Some Originals, Some Traditionals is a set that contains one CD of Waldman playing his original songs with a five-piece string band and one CD of Waldman and friends playing traditional tunes to Alaska-set poems

Two of his CDs are for children, Fiddling Poets on Parade (2005) and D is for Dog Team (2009), which goes with the childrens book of the same title. In addition to the childrens book, he has published six full-length poetry collections, over 400 poems and stories, and a memoir about his travels around the U.S. entitled Are you Famous?

As a performer, Walden plays the fiddle in festivals concert series and festivals around the country. He teams with other musicians when he headlines such venues as Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, The Ark in Ann Arbor, and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

He is also a visiting artist who has led workshops in over 180 schools in 31 states nationwide, and he has been a guest writer at over 80 colleges and universities.

Waldmans performance is part of the New Harmonies Exhibit: Celebrating Roots Music. The exhibit is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institute and State Humanities Councils nationwide that is supported by the United State Congress

The exhibit was made possible in Ashland by the Kentucky Humanities Council, with support from the KY Transportation Cabinet and ACTC. The public is invited to attend.

For more information, contact ACTC Library Director Matt Onion, 606-326-2113 or email: matthew.onion@kctcs.edu.