Nevada City musician and director, Dalrymple MacAlpin, sold out his entire weekend of Dalrymple and The Wild Daimons: The Golden Thread, a mystical puppet rock opera at the Nevada Theater last month. The show features MacAlpin and three other musicians performing avant garde musical numbers, punctuated by scenes of eerie marionettes telling stories, singing, and interacting with the audience. In the show MacAlpin plays multiple harps, electric guitar, and keyboards, and sings in an operatic voice when he’s not cackling as a puppeteer, while dressed in a green jumpsuit with appliqued lightning bolts. There are also video projections and a fog machine. We sat down with MacAlpin at Communal Cafe on Broad Street to find out more of his backstory and future plans.
What inspired The Golden Thread?
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by Jim Henson and the Muppets, Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. In 2016, I studied puppet making in Prague. A lot of times when I tell people I’m doing a “mystical puppet rock opera,” they say, “Well, I like all three of those things except puppets.” It might be because they’re thinking puppets are just for children. I’m trying to overcome that stereotype and show that puppets can appeal to all ages.
Why do you think your show sold out?
The dress rehearsal for this show I did last year in Grass Valley sold out, too. I think people are really intrigued by the words “mystical puppet rock opera,” and think, “I don’t know what that is, but I need to see it.”
I had this moment during the performance where I felt as if I was in an altered state.
Thank you for sharing that, because that is the intention of the show. To take people out of a world of distraction and overstimulation and awaken them back to the imaginative realms where anything is possible. I was very imaginative as a child, and didn’t grow up in the traditional sense of how I saw others around me “becoming adults.” I’m still interested in the workings of imagination and magic, but instead of playing with action figures and air guitars, I now play with puppets and real instruments.
Can you say more about your childhood?
I’m from Detroit. I got my first harp in high school, and became really interested in Druidic magical Celtic lore. I made my own clothes out of velvet and felt and stuff I’d buy at Joann Fabrics. I didn’t look like anybody else. All the kids in my high school were pretty straight.
How did you end up in Nevada City?
Where I grew up, there weren’t any hippies or alternative communities. People were just working and doing their thing. Then one day when I was in high school, this guy came into the plant nursery I was working in. He unfurls this six inch long beard out of his shirt, and says his name is “Cat Skull.” Then he asks, “Have you heard about [hippie camping festival] the Rainbow Gathering?” And I said, “I sure haven’t !” He said “It’s happening in Michigan this year, and here’s how you get there!”
Did you go?
I did, and I ended up camping next to this camp with all these Nevada City people. At the end of the week, this girl who was one of the people wrote her number on a leaf in the forest, and said, “When you get to California, call this number.” So I traveled here after graduating high school, pulled up to a pay phone and called the number on the leaf. I said, ‘I’m at this place called SPD.” I’d just pulled off onto some random exit on the highway. And I’ve been here ever since.
What did you do before the puppets?
I was in a band called Lasher Keen that had a 10 year run. We recorded six albums, and then disbanded when I wanted to go in a more orchestral direction. Also, that name had gotten some stigma attached to it. People associated Lasher Keen with, you know, freak folk, which we were…
But it was time to move on?
It was medieval psychedelic folk music that felt exclusive. We’d be singing about very esoteric things, like a head-hunting cult in ancient Gaul, or super obscure Irish myths. And if you didn’t know about these things, it wasn’t really easy to connect. There was a following, but it wasn’t finding a larger audience.
What’s next for you?
We’re recording an album with (producer/engineer) Oz Fritz, who’s worked with Tom Waits and Les Claypool and all these amazing artists. It’ll be double-sided vinyl, where one side will be the human side, and the other will be the puppet side. Then we’re going to take The Golden Thread on the road.
Do you have a plan for where you’ll take it?
The plan is to take it to the Crest Theater in Sacramento, then try for the Mondavi Center at UC Davis. That will hopefully lead to performing on a circuit of more academically-inclined venues.
Are there any tweaks you plan to make to the show?
Definitely. It was written in the spirit of a variety show, ala The Muppet Show, so it’s not trying to tell a story, like “Once upon a time.” But it still has to hang together. I’m constantly tweaking the script.
What is it about Nevada City that makes it possible for you to be who you are and do what you do?
This town has completely, wholeheartedly embraced my wacky artistry and endeavors. I thought about moving back to Michigan after we had a fire come close to our house a couple of years ago. But then the reality of starting all over set in, and that’s when I realized just how special a place Nevada City is. I’ve traveled all over and I’ve seen amazing places. But there’s something about this place, and its magnetic quality that attracts people who have, in their spiritual makeup, some sort of higher calling. I was really fortunate to find myself here 22 years ago.
For more information on The Golden Thread and Dalrymple MacAlpin visit https://www.dalrympleandthewilddaimons.com/
Lessley Anderson is a Nevada City journalist and keyboardist in the band Ginger Molasses. https://www.gingermolasses.com/