Native American Singer-Songwriter to Perform at Middle School

September 23, 2005 – Jack Gladstone, an award-winning singer-songwriter, will perform two concerts at Shaker Heights Middle School at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Monday, September 26. The concerts are sponsored by the Middle School’s social studies department, and Shaker parents and members of the community are invited to attend.

Gladstone draws heavily on his Blackfeet Indian roots, using original songs, masterful storytelling, and visual images to guide his audiences through an exploration of Native American ecology, history, and tradition.

Born in Seattle to a Montana Blackfeet father and a German-American mother, Gladstone was immersed in the rich oral tradition of the American West. His great-great grandfather Red Crow, legendary chief of the Blood Tribe from 1870-1900, was a great warrior and orator.

Many of the stories Gladstone shares were related to him by his Blackfeet grandmother who recounted the stories of her life and the mythology of their Blackfeet Indian people.

Gladstone was a standout athlete in high school and earned a football scholarship to the University of Washington, where he was on a Rose Bowl Championship team. After graduating with a degree in speech communications, he returned to his ancestral homeland and put down roots. He taught public speaking for four years at the community college on the Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana.

In 1985, Gladstone founded a lecture series for Glacier National Park, organizing and delivering presentations focusing on Blackfeet history and culture. This series has just completed its fifteenth season and was recently honored by The Council for American Indian Interpretation for "Excellence in the Interpretation of American Indian Culture." Gladstone was also recently presented a Human Rights Award for Outstanding Community Service by the Montana State University-Northern Human Rights Committee and has just been nominated for a Native American Music Award in the category of Songwriter of the Year.

Gladstone’s albums include "Buffalo Café," "Noble Heart," "Wolves on Sea and Plain," "In the Shadow of Mt. Lassen," "Buckskin Poet Society," "Legacy," "Buffalo Stew," "Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone," and "Odyssey West."  In addition to music, he contributed a chapter to the book War Against the Wolf by Rick McIntyre, describing an American Indian point of view regarding the wolf.

Gladstone’s program has been incorporated into the social studies curriculum at Shaker Heights Middle School.

More information about Jack Gladstone is available at www.jackgladstone.com.

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