Music & Arts

Consider this: What if writing music was left to chance? A process where notes or chords are determined by the roll of dice or flipping a coin? Music that, essentially, writes itself. A Potsdam musician is experimenting with this radical approach to creating music. Doyle Dean, former punk band drummer and filmmaker, invited Todd Moe to stop by his home studio to talk about his philosophy of music and listen to some of his latest work. In an email tag, Dean quotes himself, "I set out to re-define popular music but discovered a new way to create extremely unpopular music instead." Todd spoke with him more about his utilitarian approach to music.

Celebrate music, community and food at the second annual Hobofest this Sunday from noon until 10 pm. Hobofest is a free all-day music celebration of the Hobo spirit. It happens on the lawn by the train station on Depot Street in Saranac Lake, against the backdrop of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. NCPR is media sponsor of Hobofest. Todd Moe spoke with Todd Smith, one of the organizers of the event.

A visiting theater group will put a new twist on a classic Shakespeare play in Saranac Lake this Saturday night. Acted out as if being performed by a traveling band of gypsies, Theater Group Dzieci's performance of Makbet includes words, gestures, chants and dance-like movement. Three actors will play all the characters and the "stage" is a carpet in the living room of Franklin Manor. Todd Moe talks with director Matt Mitler about their production and Dzieci - an international experimental theatre ensemble.

The Drawer Boy is running at the Depot Theatre in Westport through September 5. Resident theatre critic Connie Meng was at the opening night and has this review. More...

Going Home was written by Pat Duniho, a North Country native who grew up alongside the Au Sable River in view of Whiteface mountain. He now lives in Plattsburgh, NY, where he's raising a daughter, teaching high school art, making his own instruments (including a fiddle and a mandolin,) painting, and writing songs. His daughter-in-law plays fiddle for DC-based Americana bad Dead Men's Hollow. The song will appear on their new CD, Angels' Share, due to be released September 21.

Carnivals are something of an endangered species these days. Knowing this was the last time Ottawa's SuperEX would be at historic Lansdowne Park, organizers made space for visiting displays that focus on the rides, sideshows and music long associated with going to the fair - including a restored Wurlitzer organ the size of a small rail car.

Lucy Martin asked Jennifer Walker about the amazing music machine, which led to a conversation about the mission of the Carnival Museum.

The father/son writing team behind the popular Adirondack Kids books, and their fans, are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the series this summer. Gary and Justin VanRiper live most of the year in Camden, in the Tug Hill region. They and the rest of their family also spend lots of time on Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks. The award-winning Adirondack Kids book series has become a regional best seller. But Gary told Todd Moe that the first volume wasn't really meant to be a book.

At a recent nature writing conference at Paul Smiths College, author and New York Times columnist and essayist Verlyn Klinkenborg teaches about the power of the sentence in strong writing.

For the last four years, a Lake Placid group of musicians has shared its love of the music of West Africa. Todd Moe spoke with members of Wulaba Drum for today's "Heard Up North."

Some trades change all the time: new tools, new techniques, new materials. Others hardly change at all. That's something Robert Vaughn likes about being a blacksmith. He's pretty sure he could trade places with a smith from Roman times, and neither one would get lost working at the other's forge. Lucy Martin spoke with Vaughn as he hand-pumped double bellows to heat coals at a heritage event in Ottawa.