MIM: Celebrate Poetry Month at MIM with Alaska’s Fiddling Poet! Ken Waldman draws on his twenty-three years in Alaska to produce poems, stories, and fiddle tunes that combine into a family-friendly performance uniquely his own.
I had really wanted to see Ken’s evening show – how fun to watch a fiddling poet in action! How memorable of my youth with the Robison family! But alas, the evening shows were booked long before…
SO, I added a matinee show instead. Matinees are more casual, less crowded, and I like to see how the artists will interact with the school children.
In the aftermath, I have mixed feelings about the show. On one hand, he played good ol’ fiddle tunes like ‘Old Joe Clark’. He encouraged the kids to write and shared several of his poems. But on the other hand, everything was lazy, relaxed, distracted. His poems were mediocre, his music was lackluster, and I didn’t get the solid connection between the two that I wanted. While he attempted to have the kids write a poem with him, the entire exercise was half-baked and disinteresting to the kids. While he let the kids ask him questions, they were far more interested in polar bears and his friend’s mandolin. I left without learning much about Alaska. Or poetry. Or singing. And the part of me that wanted to see the show was vastly disappointed.
More than anything, I was left yearning for post-Thanksgiving meals with my brother, uncles, and random musicians as they would play and sing and entertain. I missed the story-telling and fiddle-playing that Tom Robison is famous for – and I sincerely think Tom might be able to pull off this kind of show. Ken Waldman is no Tom Robison.
