KAYLA HASTRUP
Editor-in-Chief

For the third year running, FDU’s own Words and Music Festival (Wamfest) continues with even bigger and better artists.
One major upcoming event will be a discussion and performance featuring Robert Pinsky, John Wesley Harding and New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.
Specific dates and details for the Springsteen/Pinsky event have not yet been announced. With the exception of that event, all Wamfest events are open to all students and the public, said David Daniel, director of FDU’s creative writing program and creator of Wamfest.
“We just don’t have the capacity to handle that with Bruce, as you can imagine,” Daniel said.
The first Wamfest event, “Fiction Fest,” is set for next week. On April 6, it will feature Thomas E. Kennedy, and on April 7, Peter Carey and Wesley Stace.
“The people who’ve come and are coming are exactly the people I had in mind to begin with, which is an amazing blessing,” Daniel said.
“In most cases, they are groundbreaking, radical thinkers and artists - people who have brought something very special into the world, usually fighting for those who are dispossessed or overlooked in our culture,” he said.
Over the years, the festival has grown and expanded beyond Daniel’s “wildest dreams.”
“At first, I thought the focus would be on just poetry and songwriting, but that quickly expanded to include fiction writers, critics and journalists, filmmakers and actors,” he said.
While the first official Wamfest event was two years ago, Daniel has wanted to create something like it for a long time.
“I first had the idea when I was driving back from New Jersey to Cambridge four years ago,” Daniel said. “The name came and the whole concept, as a kind of epiphany. I immediately and somewhat illegally, since I was driving, called two of my best friends - one a poet and the other a songwriter - and told them about it, and when they reacted enthusiastically, I knew I was on to something.”
Since then, Wamfest has hosted numerous events, including one last year that featured Rosanne Cash.
“We have had several of the world’s greatest living artists come to campus to talk with students and perform in an intimate setting,” Daniel said. “And they’re not doing it for money […] because they believe in the vision of Wamfest and in the great community that’s at FDU.”
For example, he mentioned that Cash said Wamfest was her favorite event of last year because the students were so wonderful and she felt inspired by them.
With the positive feedback, as well as help and support from all of his colleagues, Daniel believes FDU has been able to establish a truly wonderful program.
“When I was first hired by FDU to direct the new creative writing program, I wanted to make it the best in the country,” Daniel said.
“I really wanted to bring something unique to the students - something they could really be proud of - to give them a chance to be around these people, to get to know them a little, and to provide models for them.”
While Wamfest originated at FDU, it has been expanding to other institutions, including the Academy of American Poets, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Brookdale Community College, according to Daniel.
Upcoming events for this year’s Wamfest include a comedy program on May 4 featuring Eugene Mirman (“Flight of the Conchords”), Michael Showalter (MTV’s “The State” and “Michael and Michael Have Issues”), Leo Allen (“Comedy Central Presents” and former “Saturday Night Live” writer), and Kumail Nanjiani (“Colbert Report” and “The Late Show with David Letterman”).
The following day, there will be a performance and discussion featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon with John Wesley Harding, who is the Wamfest Artist in Residence, Daniel said.
The success of Wamfest so far couldn’t make Daniel happier. For the future, however, he said he wants to see more student awareness and involvement in the events.
“So far, it’s mostly been me dreaming things up, but the idea is that this becomes something where the students’ visions become more central to it,” he said. “I’m old and out of touch, you know, and I want the students to know, absolutely and primarily, this is for them. Also, I’d like to see Wamfest put FDU at the very center of the national arts and education scenes - and I’m very proud to say that we’re well on our way.”

Yesterday, the College at Florham hosted a performance by Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and author Rosanne Cash, daughter of the legendary Johnny Cash, as part of the 2009 WAMFEST finale.

At press time, the event had not yet taken place, but it had been highly anticipated on campus. Cash’s appearance, hosted by the creative writing department, was called “Fact Versus Fiction, Memoir and Song: A Conversation and Performance.”

Cash was joined by WAMFEST artist and author Wesley Stace, whose stage name is John Wesley Harding. As part of the performance, Cash read from her memoirs and performed her music.
Cash’s 14 record albums, which have been released over the last 25 years, have earned her a number of awards for both songwriting and performance.

She recorded her first U.S. album, “Right Or Wrong,” in 1979 and in the following 10 years she released “Seven Year Ache,” “Rhythm and Romance” and “King’s Record Shop.” She won a Grammy in 1985 for best female country and western vocal performance. She was also named Billboard’s Top Singles Artist in 1988.

Her most recent album, “Black Cadillac,” was released in 2006 and nominated for a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Her music ranges from country to pop.

Cash’s first book, “Bodies of Water,” was published in 1995 and received widespread critical acclaim, as did her children’s book, “Penelope Jane: A Fairy’s Tale,” which was published in 2000.

Cash’s essays and fiction have appeared in various periodicals and collections, including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Oxford-American and New York magazine. She is currently working on a book of non-fiction, which is set to be published in 2009.

Harding has also been no stranger to the spotlight. An acclaimed artist, he has successfully recorded 15 albums. His most recent pop release in 2004, “Adam’s Apple,” was labeled “the finest album of his career” by the All Music Guide. He has been joined on stage by numerous musicians, including Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, among others.

Currently, Harding has been touring the nation with Eugene Mirman as the headliners of the star-studded “Cabinet of Wonders” show. Several of their friends, including Cash, have performed with them. 

Tickets to the presentation were free for FDU students, faculty and staff.

MEGHAN DROGE
Staff Writer

WAMFEST 2009: The Words and Music Festival, was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Feb. 4 in Hartman Lounge, located in the Mansion. This event was sponsored by the creative writing department, the department of literature, language, writing and philosophy as well as Becton College.

The idea for WAMFEST was suggested by Professor David Daniel when he first came to FDU.

“I’m a songwriter as well as poet, and I’ve always felt that songwriters are unjustly ignored in college English departments, despite the fact that historically—from Homer on—many of the greatest poets were, in fact, songwriters.”

Daniel believes by bringing songwriters, poets, and other writers together that everyone will benefit.
 “Primarily, the urge to communicate something about what it means to be alive on this beautiful, if difficult, planet,” he said.

The first WAMFEST event featured Dave Marsh, interviewed on “The Words Are There For A Reason” by legendary songwriter, performer, and novelist Wesley Stace. Marsh is a rock critic, historian, anti-censorship activist and talk show host. He has written more than 20 books about rock and popular music. He also co-founded and for four years edited Creem, a rock and roll magazine that covered heavy metal, glam and punk. For five years, Marsh was even an associate and contributing editor of Rolling Stone, where he was chief music critic, columnist and feature writer. As a fan of Marsh, Daniel stated, “He is probably the greatest rock critic alive, and one of the three or four most influential who’ve ever lived.”  

The purpose of WAMFEST is to allow students to have close interaction with people who are generally unavailable. Daniel was able to choose who to invite to WAMFEST based on the large degree on how well he believes the artist will relate to the students. As the director of the undergraduate creative writing program, Daniel wants to provide his students with examples of how their particular skills can be used in the real world.

“Like all people in the arts, creative writing students and graduates will likely have to develop a variety of ways to get by while they develop. I want to make sure that creative writing majors come out of FDU confident that they can succeed in the practical world—a lot of programs don’t concern themselves with that,” he said. He hopes that Marsh can serve as a role model of how students can follow their passions, be they artistic, political, intellectual, or personal, and make a living and a difference in the world.    

This is the second year WAMFEST has been hosted at FDU. Last year’s event was much more of a trial run. Daniel believes that this event has grown much more this year, that it will bring FDU a tremendous amount of national attention before it’s over.

“My vision is for WAMFEST to become a cultural institution—akin to Sundance in film—and that FDU will be seen as the great national model for arts education,” said Daniel.

BY MARISSA HYMAN
STAFF WRITER