Willamette Valley Life: Everything Great About The Willamette Valley
John Donaghue: Ringmaster Of The Circus of Possibilities
Interview by Sarah Horner
John Donoghue isn’t known for just one thing. Instead, he’s known for several things, and for doing them all at the same time. His art and music are an eclectic collection of found objects, moving parts, and seemingly endless creativity.
Donoghue’s day job is in the Oregon mushroom industry, providing consultation to commercial and home growers on cultivation, farm design, and troubleshooting. He’s also a musician has played with old-style string band Wild Hog in the Woods for nearly three decades. He’s also know for the circus-style organs he built from scrap items and junkshop finds, the marionettes that accompany his music and the artful “crankies” he creates as an homage to the precursor to motion pictures.
When asked how he has time for all these endeavors, Donoghue chuckles and says, “I don’t sleep that much.”
“I love to create animated things out of inanimate objects,” he says.
“Bringing things to life is fun, to make them dance.
Children love it. It’s kid magic.”
Before the pandemic, John and the three other members of Wild Hog in the Woods played gigs two to three times a week. Of course, like so many other things, live shows were canceled starting last March. But Donoghue was determined to keep entertaining. He converted a trailer into a colorful “circus wagon”: the side drops down and the roof lifts to create a portable stage. Wild Hog in the Woods offered well-received pop-up concerts during the warmer months at local parks.
As if it weren’t enough for Donoghue to play numerous instruments (including the mandolin, guitar, harmonica, cello and more), this artful music man creates marionettes out of items he finds at thrift shops. “I love to create animated things out of inanimate objects,” he says. “Bringing things to life is fun, to make them dance. Children love it. It’s kid magic.” Donoghue explains that he connects the marionettes to instruments so that they move with the music, animated with a pedal, for example. He and the band love to busk at farmers markets and delight audiences with their tunes and puppets.
Given Donoghue’s penchant for animation, music and vintage aesthetic, it’s no surprise he creates crankies as well. A crankie is an old storytelling art form that pre-dates motion pictures. It’s comprised of a long, illustrated scroll that is wound onto two spools and viewed through a box. The scroll is hand-cranked while the story is told, often accompanied by a song or music. Donoghue recently contributed his creations to the Berkeley Oldtime Music Convention’s Crankie Cabaret.
Donoghue frequents a scrapyard where he finds materials he needs for his mushroom business. During one visit, he recounts, he found a bin filled with old organ pipes. He ended up taking them, hatching the idea for what became “The Organism.” It’s an incredible one-person band supported by an elaborate, hand-made system of instrumentation. Using the organ pipes as a foundation, Donoghue plays this hand-crafted instrument with foot pedals that operate a mechanism similar to a bike horn. He can play the harmonica at the same time, using his hands to play the mandolin or other string instrument. Sometimes Donoghue plays a modified euphonium, also sourced from old, dilapidated finds, that’s fitted with a kazoo as a mouthpiece, creating its own unique sound. Visitors to Oregon’s Country Fair likely have enjoyed the spectacle and sound of Donoghue and his "Circus of Possiblities" as he has dubbed it.
Donoghue lives, creates, and plays in Corvallis. He and his wife have three adult children and two grandchildren who live close enough to enjoy the sounds, sights and many delights that Donoghue has created.
Sarah Horner is a freelance writer, photographer and Oregon wine industry professional. She and her husband are empty nesters who live with three cats on a small orchard in Amity, OR.
John Donaghue: Ringmaster Of The Circus of Possibilities
Interview by Sarah Horner
John Donoghue isn’t known for just one thing. Instead, he’s known for several things, and for doing them all at the same time. His art and music are an eclectic collection of found objects, moving parts, and seemingly endless creativity.
Donoghue’s day job is in the Oregon mushroom industry, providing consultation to commercial and home growers on cultivation, farm design, and troubleshooting. He’s also a musician has played with old-style string band Wild Hog in the Woods for nearly three decades. He’s also know for the circus-style organs he built from scrap items and junkshop finds, the marionettes that accompany his music and the artful “crankies” he creates as an homage to the precursor to motion pictures.
When asked how he has time for all these endeavors, Donoghue chuckles and says, “I don’t sleep that much.”
“I love to create animated things out of inanimate objects,” he says.
“Bringing things to life is fun, to make them dance.
Children love it. It’s kid magic.”
Before the pandemic, John and the three other members of Wild Hog in the Woods played gigs two to three times a week. Of course, like so many other things, live shows were canceled starting last March. But Donoghue was determined to keep entertaining. He converted a trailer into a colorful “circus wagon”: the side drops down and the roof lifts to create a portable stage. Wild Hog in the Woods offered well-received pop-up concerts during the warmer months at local parks.
As if it weren’t enough for Donoghue to play numerous instruments (including the mandolin, guitar, harmonica, cello and more), this artful music man creates marionettes out of items he finds at thrift shops. “I love to create animated things out of inanimate objects,” he says. “Bringing things to life is fun, to make them dance. Children love it. It’s kid magic.” Donoghue explains that he connects the marionettes to instruments so that they move with the music, animated with a pedal, for example. He and the band love to busk at farmers markets and delight audiences with their tunes and puppets.
Given Donoghue’s penchant for animation, music and vintage aesthetic, it’s no surprise he creates crankies as well. A crankie is an old storytelling art form that pre-dates motion pictures. It’s comprised of a long, illustrated scroll that is wound onto two spools and viewed through a box. The scroll is hand-cranked while the story is told, often accompanied by a song or music. Donoghue recently contributed his creations to the Berkeley Oldtime Music Convention’s Crankie Cabaret.
Donoghue frequents a scrapyard where he finds materials he needs for his mushroom business. During one visit, he recounts, he found a bin filled with old organ pipes. He ended up taking them, hatching the idea for what became “The Organism.” It’s an incredible one-person band supported by an elaborate, hand-made system of instrumentation. Using the organ pipes as a foundation, Donoghue plays this hand-crafted instrument with foot pedals that operate a mechanism similar to a bike horn. He can play the harmonica at the same time, using his hands to play the mandolin or other string instrument. Sometimes Donoghue plays a modified euphonium, also sourced from old, dilapidated finds, that’s fitted with a kazoo as a mouthpiece, creating its own unique sound. Visitors to Oregon’s Country Fair likely have enjoyed the spectacle and sound of Donoghue and his "Circus of Possiblities" as he has dubbed it.
Donoghue lives, creates, and plays in Corvallis. He and his wife have three adult children and two grandchildren who live close enough to enjoy the sounds, sights and many delights that Donoghue has created.
Sarah Horner is a freelance writer, photographer and Oregon wine industry professional. She and her husband are empty nesters who live with three cats on a small orchard in Amity, OR.