|
Outdoor concert expands horizons
By Rebecca Andrus and Joe Palmersheim
 Media Credit: Jessica Tonsfeldt Gloria �La Nina� Rivera with Robin �Adnan� Anders perform upbeat music at the outside Yang Stage at the Earth Mother Mind Jam at Powder Ridge Ski Area near Kimball Saturday.
|
|
 Media Credit: Jessica Tonsfeldt Jodea Wellumson and Sindibad O�Dell dance to the sounds of Gloria �La Nina� Rivera and Robin �Adnan� Anders at the Earth Mother Mind Jam at Powder Ridge Ski Area near Kimball Saturday.
|
|
 Media Credit: Jessica Tonsfeldt Fans (left) gather to listen and dance while Gloria �La Nina� Rivera and Robin �Adnan� Anders perform at Earth Mother Mind Jam at Powder Ridge Ski Area near Kimball Saturday afternoon.
|
|
The 13th annual Earth Mother Mind Jam rocked the Powder Ridge Ski Area Saturday, with a multi-cultural festival where people from all walks of life came together to expand their horizons.
According to Michelle Joiner, event coordinator, through the diversity of music showcased at the festival, audience members are subjected to styles they wouldn't normally see.
"We have people who came to see just the belly dancers, but in doing so, they may be exposed to something else that they like," Joiner said.
And belly dancers there were abundant, including SCSU's very own Global Dance Team, who performed several numbers.
But they weren't the only ones dancing. Members of the audience couldn't help moving their feet to the trance-like beat that filled the brisk air with incense.
The festival also featured Gloria Rivera, who serenaded the crowd with Cuban ballads.
She was just one artist on the 59 act bill including 420 All-Stars, Wookiefoot, and Vince Welnick, formerly of the Grateful Dead.
The festival also featured non-traditional poets such as Susu Jeffery, who altered the audience's state of consciousness with lyrical imagery set to bongo drums.
Non-corporate vendors lined the thoroughfare, selling everything from bonsai trees to woven blankets.
One booth sold glass art, items ranging from paper weights to tobacco pipes to goblets.
There was even a booth where tye-dye fans could obtain any article of tye-dyed clothing they could imagine.
The art of henna was displayed in Deena Drewes' booth, which was especially popular, and she could not have been happier.
"I started doing this for fun at parties, and people kept paying me, so I went professional," Drewes said.
Drewes' entrepreneurial spirit epitomized the independent nature of the festival.
Pets and children were also welcome at the festival. There was a play area set up with planned craft activities for children, including pottery making.
The people were friendly and open-minded as an easy-going vibe permeated the air. It was a truly diverse and unique crowd, where one would see an older gentleman standing next to a youth with piercings and dreadlocks, listening to the same groove.
All in all, it was a mind-expanding afternoon. It was almost like a mini-Woodstock in our own backyard. In these war-like times, everyone could appreciate an afternoon of peace and love.
|
|
|
|
|
|
