My Trip To America Part 3. Keepers Concert And Pow Wow

Being a small nonprofit organisation, the Keepers Pow Wow, is their big yearly gathering and their yearly meeting as well as a concert in the Pipestone Performing Arts Center, an amazing state of the art concert hall with a capacity for about 150 people. I was invited by Bud to perform at the concert along with Reggie Boyd and Mick Daniels. I wondered what it would be like to perform in another country so I thought it would be a good experience also staying the extra week would give me time to learn more about the people and the area as well as being able to attend the Pow Wow which are always good fun. The concert went well, and here are a few pics, I am still waiting for a few videos of me playing from Mark in Milwaukee.

While we were doing our sound check an Asian-Indian man who had arrived early wanted a pic with us so I asked the photographer to get one on my camera too. Maybe he thought we were famous Ha Ha Ha!

Regie performed first and gave us a lovelly dispaly of his musical tallents, he played flutes he personally makes. I really regies performance, he did a few really relaxing songs and then a rendition of a john Lennon song.

I found micks performance equally entertaining, his style is country and he sang a song that was about him loosing stuff around the house and his wife always knowing where it was. I loved it. I loved also meeting this great man, eventually finding we had a good connection as we communicated more.

After Micks performance I was welcomed to the stage, I was a bit nervous though played about 15-20 minutes before Reggie and Mick came back out do do a further song each.

I later found out the concert was recorded for programming on a cable TV channel in Minnesota.

The weather the next day for the Pow Wow was excellent, turnout was great and all in all was a awesome Pow Wow (I'll have the great videos up here soon) My music was supported with good sales on Cd's also.

I danced, hang out with Reggie and Mick, volunteered by making and putting up Tipi’s and signs the day before, and handing out program's to the tour bus travelers who attended on the day. I met many lovely people who there was spiritual connections with this weekend an it always stay with me as a special time. A lovely lady I met was Pauline, a local from Pipestone, and also her friend Mary. I also met Eric from and we seemed to connect well.

Just before I was to leave on the last day, I gifted Mark one of my flutes to show my appreciation to him for being and for especially his contribution by volunteering and driving over 1000 miles to lend his hands. I was then offered pipestone as a trade for a flute by Russ which I said I would be interested in but couldn't carry it, then Mark offers to send the pipestone to me back in Australia, well it was hard for me to ignore this good offer so I went to the guys house to inspect the stone and after forming a fair deal we traded.The meeting with Russ, and later that evening his wife Kimmy was a great connection. The flute I traded was a really lovely inlaid flute with Russ that he then gifted to Kimmy, it was a beautiful experience, she was so happy and really lit up. Russ traded me a milk crate of Pipe Stone for the flute which previously belonged to a skilled local Pipe Carver who had died and it was then gifted to Russ. I then passed the stone to Mark who’s wife had a use for the scraps and promised to cut pipe blanks to send to me in Australia, out of the thick slabs, to cut down the weight.

Local Lakota Pow Wow Drummers.

Me dancing inter-tribal.

Circle Dance.

Marty leading circle dance.

Lakota girls in maidens dance.

Circle dance.

Youngsters doing a fancy foot dance.

Honour dance.

Russ's Part Wolf Dog. I hope Russ can hold him back if he's hungry!

Me and Russ after trading.

Thanks Keepers for doing the great work you do, I feel honored to be a member of such a great organisation and such a lovely bunch of people. I look forward to attending the Pow Wow another time if not in spirit. Thanks also for all the great connections with the Souix Indians and all the other people I connected, thanks for being so warm and welcoming.