Fiddles and magic to converge on coast

A fiddle and some chains. Sounds like a dangerous, if not disastrous, combination. But thankfully, the fiddle will be safely in the able hands of musician Kate Wegner and the chains will be part of magician and escape artist Dr. Wilson’s Houdini-esque grand finale at tonight’s “Fiddle and Chains: Music and Mystery” at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.

Part of Bar Harbor’s Legacy of the Arts festival, “Fiddle and Chains: Music and Mystery” promises to take the audience on a journey through no less than five centuries, tracing the history of music and magic from the 16th century to the present. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in Gates Auditorium at COA. Admission is $8 and free for children under 8.

Maine fiddler Wegner, guitarist Chuck Donnelly, and banjo player Dave Manski will perform a mix of Celtic and old-time music from North America and Europe, as well as some of Wegner’s original tunes.

Both alums of the Green Mountain Railway, a Bar Harbor contradance band, Wegner and Donnelly have performed as a duo since early 2003. In May, Wegner released her first CD, “After Sunset,” on Standing Stones Records.

It’s been a busy month for Dr. Wilson, aka Bar Harbor resident and Jackson Lab researcher Paul Szauter. Earlier this month he staged “Against the Tide,” a Houdini-style escape from chains and padlocks, to promote tonight’s show as well as to spread the word about Wegner’s album.

Thankfully, he survived the stunt – as well as the other vaudevillian tricks and feats he performed at this year’s Cirque du Poulet in Frankfort last weekend. He’ll start the night off with a performance of street magic, and will later demonstrate the magic of his Memory Elixir, capping it all off with a daring escape.

And really, how often does your evening’s entertainment give you a music history lesson and end with a man in chains and a straitjacket?

For information about “Fiddle and Chains,” call 288-5196, or log onto www.memoryelixir.com. To learn about Wegner and Donnelly, visit www.katewegner.com. George Bragdon can be reached at gbragdon@bangordailynews.net.