35th Alaska Folk Fest

Well it’s time for the 35th annual Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau.  Festivities kick of tonight at 7 pm at Centennial Hall, all shows are free.  Get the full day by day schedule here.   If you can’t make it down to the Hall, listen live on KRNN- Rain Country Radio.

Check out Elias Antaya (JPL Blog book reviewer) and his fellow 5th graders for a set of humor driven folk complete with witty between-song stage banter.

Monday 4/13 7pm
Alaskan Travelers • Juneau, Alaska
Elias Antaya, Max Blust, Robert Newman.
Legos, root beer and comic books – not necessarily in that order.

And don’t miss:

Bingo Schmingo Storytime
with singer/songwriter Kathleen Rushing
April 16, 11am – noon Douglas Library
April 17 11am – noon, Valley Library
Kathleen is here to help us celebrate Folk Fest. Enjoy this interactive musical entertainment for all ages.

Get Digital: Uncrate Your Vinyl

Got crates of vinyl laying around that you wish you could listen to on your ipod or car CD player? Do you wish you could in some way archive these priceless collections in case the not so ideal storage conditions of your basement or attic destroy them? Don’t miss, Get Digital: Uncrate your Vinyl: a hands-on workshop that will show you how to convert your analog audio collections to digital using on-hand stereo equipment. If you can’t make it, here’s The Slideshow from the workshop as well as several links to great web resources.

Digitizing Vinyl Records with Audacity.

Refining the Process of Digitizing Vinyl Records with Audacity

Ripping Vinyl Records to FLAC (Digital Audio)

A Guide to Using Audacity (U-Illinois iSchool)

Creating a Simple Voice and Music Podcast

Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale

Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale performed by the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra / written by Maurice Sendak is a frolicking musical journey that follows the young boy Pincus in his farmyard confrontation with the devil pig, Chozzer.  Each of the story’s characters are represented by a musical instrument or a combination of a few, the effect creates a musical theme which accentuates the interactions between the characters.  Maurice Sendak introduces all the characters and serves as the story’s verbal narrator, weaving this Yiddish version of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter And The Wolf and bringing it to life with an assortment of Yiddish terms (a glossary is included).

Though you’ll find this incredible compilation in the kids music section, adults will love the moody, mesmorizing tone of the clarinet and the other-wordliness of the accordian ring true in this Klezmer celebration.  

reviewed by Jonas