I’ve returned from the 25th annual Rock Art Rendezvous in south Texas. By many many reports is one of the best ever. Certainly I felt honored to be there again and so glad to spend time with friends, some I see only once a year. Our weather was beautiful Friday then windy as ever Saturday with a very cold night. We huddled and put on layers each morning enjoying coffee and the generously offered burrito from folks camping nearby. That is the kind of atmosphere it is there, generous, open and giving.
some of the crowd Saturday night 150-200 Crowd
Jamming with my friend Nick Morgan around the campfire each night was a blast and treat I look forward to. Each day we would hike to petroglyphs and other points of interest on the White Shaman Preserve. It is named that after a few White Shaman petroglyphs found only in the lower Pecos river area. It is believed to represent the ultimate Mother Earth in some complex and wonderful origin stories shared by these people and the Huichol https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/huichol and may be my ancestors. I feel, since the first time I saw these panels that these were done in communication with our plant helpers. I’ve learned about Peyote pilgrimages from the Huichol homelands in the Yucatan and Jalisco areas up to the lower Pecos area. My DNA tests confirmed ancestry from Jalisco and Palenque.
New fan from Germany very nice Sound check with 40mph winds
Regardless, some of these petroglyphs are nearly 4500 years old BCE. They are an incredible lasting testament to an advanced civilization with the “same brain” as ours who put humans into space. This is something oft repeated by the guides and scholars of the area like the Shumla Institute’s Dr. Carolyn Boyd. https://www.texasobserver.org/if-these-walls-could-talk/
All day Saturday, the day of my concert and chuck wagon dinner, it was so incredibly windy and cold as a front moved through. I play woodwind instruments and heard many jokes that I could just hold my flutes up and the wind would play. Indeed. I kept saying the winds would calm for my music not to worry. I went to the edge of the canyon and said some prayers with my drum and asked the ancestors to help me. Well, they did though not until the middle of my third flute song “Americana Medley of Amazing Grace, Wayfaring Stranger, Oh Shenandoah. The first two, I had “help” from the wind shall we say.
Nick Morgan joined me on guitar for a couple numbers and Greg Williams; former director of the Rock Art Foundation read a beautiful poem by my version of Marty Robbins’s song “Man Walks Among Us.” It was incredibly special to have Greg join me.
Greg Williams Performing during my concert
The challenge of playing Native flutes in the wind is significant. There is no electric there so everything was human and battery powered and I’ve heard wonderfully generous compliments. I feel the Witte Museum staff did a great job of putting the Rendezvous together. I would encourage folks to check out their website and sign up for their newsletter. Hikes are led all year with the Rendezvous being once a year so far.
Here are a couple of videos from the weekend including a portion of Deep Peace, playing live at La Tinaja and Playing against the wind in the White Shaman Panel. I am actively seeking bookings for 2019 and will consider house concerts, small venues, churches, healing centers, festivals and just about any venue. Contact me and also bookmark my calendar. Thank you for reading.
Randy
Click this file to view Deep Peace at the Rock Art Rendezvous
Photos by Toni T Reese Backyard Photography, Video Nick Morgan, Editor Randy Granger