Enjoy a visit with Wisconsin mystery writers Jerry Peterson (Janesville) and Maddy Hunter (Madison).
Peterson sets his James Early western crime stories in Kansas during the late 1940s - early 1950s, and his A.J. Garrison courtroom thrillers in eastern Tennessee in the 1960's. Hunter's contemporary series,
Passport to Peril, follows an Iowa senior citizens tour group as they travel the world.

Books will be available for purchase.    

Refreshments will be served.
No registration required.

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Stoughton Public Library’s Music on the Mezz concert series is anticipating spring with “Music of Tropical Isles,” featuring Nathan Russell, marimba on Thursday, March 1, at 7:00 p.m. on the Library Mezzanine.

Nathan Russell began playing music at the age of 11 and began his professional performance career when he was 14. He attended the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Music in Recording Technologies and Percussion. Nathan worked as a recording engineer in Nashville and spent four years touring the U.S. with the rock band “The Sound and the Fury.”

Russell spent the summer of 2007 studying Marimba on the tropical island of Roatan, Honduras. The experience enriched his understanding of the instrument and gave him the opportunity to study reggae drumming. “I’m always seeking new and interesting playing situations and am open to most styles of music,” says Nathan Russell.

In addition to the marimba, Russell plays drum set and a variety of other percussion instruments. He has also performed with the Marimba Festival Orchestra in West Point, New York - the world's largest marimba ensemble. Nathan Russell grew up in Portage where he again makes his home.

The marimba is a percussion instrument with wooden bars that are struck with mallets to produce tones. The bars are arranged like a piano keyboard. Part of the instrument’s unique sound is from the tubular resonators under each bar which amplify the tone. The marimba is played with mallets consisting of a wood or plastic handle with rubber or yarn ends. Marimba players use either two or four mallets.

According to Library Director Richard MacDonald, the Mezzanine is usually the quiet study and reading area of the Library. However, “on March 1st, we’ll be offering tropical music on a chilly night, as we present our second Music on the Mezz concert.”

Contact the Stoughton Public Library at 608-873-6281 for additional information about the performance.
The Library is located at 304 S. Fourth St., just west of the City Hall Clock Tower in downtown Stoughton.

The Music on the Mezz series is sponsored by the Stoughton Public Library.

Additional information about Nathan Russell can be found at his website at www.nathan-russell.com

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Ever since the Greeks transformed religious rituals to comedy and tragic drama, there has been a sense,
however masked by modern skepticism, of the deep spiritual impulse of all serious art. Fortney proposes to show
how this connection is made through an analysis of religious experience and some examples from the history of literature. In addition he will present some readings of his own historical fiction, particularly his latest novel Ghosts Dancing as an example of that connection. Books will be available for purchase.

If you need accommodations to attend this program, please call 873-6281 two weeks in advance.