by Arigon Starr

(News From Indian Country)

Howdy! I’m Arigon Starr, an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. I’m a singer, songwriter, actor, playwright and artist. News From Indian Country has invited me to contribute a column about my travels to their fine publication.

I’m working The Red Road, my one-person comedy with music, produced by Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles which received rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times and Daily Variety. The show also features tunes included on a new CD called The Red Road Original Cast Recording.

My whirlwind September tour began in the Pacific Northwest at the Boys & Girls Club in Tulalip, Washington. Robin Carneen organized the event and hosts the long-running NAMAPAHH First People’s Radio on Mount Vernon, Washington’s KSVR-FM. A few days later, I drove to Warm Springs, Oregon, for a visit with KWSO-FM. Station manager Sue Matters’ dynamic leadership has garnered KWSO-FM a wall full of Oregon Broadcasting Awards. Brutha Wayne, Liz, The Wilman, Jennifer and Donna visited with me and I performed a few songs. Portland, Oregon’s KBOO-FM welcomed me with a live interview and performance with hosts John Talley and Eugene Johnson. The trip concluded with a stop at the benefit for Seattle’s Red Earth Performing Arts, where I enjoyed actress Elaine Miles’ very funny stand-up routine.

The next segment of the tour took place in Nashville, Tennessee. Singer-songwriter Ross Wine-Sky organized an “in-the-round” showcase at the world-famous Bluebird Café for me, with Rich Price and Kathy Chiavola during the annual Americana Music Conference. News From Indian Country contributor Sandra Schulman presented her documentary The Ballad of Peter LaFarge, and showcased some of the new tracks from the upcoming tribute CD.

It was great to see Sandra back in Nashville, along with many of my musician friends like Chuck Mead and Gary Bennett from BR549, Chris Scruggs, Gail Davies and many others. I also caught up with Richie Plass and the guys from The Flying Feather Band at the Mount Juliet Pow-Wow. A tornado warning cancelled the evening Pow-Wow, but the show went on at the band’s hotel with Cree singer Qua-Ti-Si, Chuck Mead and me performing with the super-talented Flying Feather Band.

Following the Americana Music Conference, I drove north with Richie Plass, then performed at the Lac Courte Oreilles Community College and on WOJB-FM. This was my very first trip to upper Wisconsin and it was dazzling. I visited with WOJB’s Nicky Kellar, Jeff St. Germaine, Carolyn Nayquonabe, Cleo and Dennis White and News From Indian Country’s Kim Hall and Paul DeMain.

The fall colors gave way to rolling corn fields as I drove southwest to the Meskwaki Sac & Fox Settlement in Tama, Iowa. Bill Marsh invited me to perform at the tribe’s K-12 School and the Tribal Center. Both shows were a rousing success. I won’t soon forget being mobbed by fifth graders.

I’m back in Los Angeles and writing a new radio series called Super Indian, which Native Voices at the Autry will showcase at the Festival of New Plays on November 4th. I’m also slated to present an excerpt from The Red Road at the National Performance Network’s annual conference in Cedar Rapids on November 11th and return to Oklahoma on November 18th for the Native Fall Music Festival at the Creek Nation Casino in Tulsa. (FYI, my mom Ruth Wahpecome is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma.)

Hope to meet some NFIC readers on my next road trip. Don’t be shy say hi and let me know you read my column in News From Indian Country.

Email me at wacky@arigonstarr.com