Solo Acoustic Performance and Book Signing - Brad Colerick - Zintka!: Lost Bird of Wounded Knee - Zintkála Nuni

Date and Time

• Thursday, Aug 7, 2025  5:30pm - 6:30pm

Location

Categories

Music • Arts

Details

On Thursday, August 7th, musician and author Brad Colerick will be visiting Francie & Finch Bookshop to sign books and perform an acoustic set of songs that he's written! His new book Zintka! began as a song about a Lakota infant who survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee and the ensuing three-day blizzard. She was miraculously found alive — saved by the warmth of her mother’s dying body. The song was turned into an award-winning short film with his creative partner Scott Feldmann. The book also contains artwork from the film as well as sheet music (in lead sheet form) to the song. You don't want to miss this unique event and the fascinating story of Zintkála Nuni!

To order a copy of the book call Francie & Finch Bookshop at 402-781-0459.

About the Book:-
A true story of "found and lost" . . . and found again. Zintka! tells the troubled tale of a Native American girl caught between two worlds, accepted by neither. A Lakota (Sioux) baby and her mother who were fleeing for safety became victims in the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. The baby was found four days after a South Dakota blizzard, alive by the warmth of her mother's dead body. She was adopted by a prominent soldier and his famous suffragette wife to be raised in their white, high-society circles. Zintka was not accepted there because of racial prejudices in the era of forced assimilation. Neither was she was accepted by her own people when she sought out her roots, in part because she did not speak their language.

Named "Lost Bird" at the moment she was separated from her Lakota caregivers, Zintka was chronicled in newspapers from her discovery to her death. She attempted to succeed in show business, joining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, San Francisco's vaudeville circuit and as an extra in Hollywood silent films. Zintka died in the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920 and was buried in a pauper's grave in Hanford, California. Finally, in 1991 her story was discovered through efforts of her biographer Renée Sansom Flood. Lakota leadership from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota ceremoniously reburied her at the Wounded Knee Monument, near the mass grave of the disaster, which included her birth mother.

The name "Lost Bird" came to describe Native American children adopted off the reservation by non-Indians after the publication of her biography "Lost Bird: Spirit of the Lakota" (Scribner, 1995).

About the Artist:
When he’s not on the road playing music, Brad Colerick splits his time between South Pasadena, California and his Rocky Mountain getaway in Fraser, Colorado. The Nebraska native writes songs that seep into your heart with a single listen. His full-hearted lyrics find the poetry in everyday language. He built a successful career making music for commercials where he wrote and produced ditties recorded by such musical icons as BB King, Buddy Guy, and Johnny Cash. He has earned an Emmy Award, a London International Advertising Award Billboard Magazine, and other industry accolades. Billboard Magazine called him "one of a baker's dozen of acts to watch in the folk community around the world." Colerick's albums land firmly in the Americana wheelhouse with guest appearances by Suzy Bogguss, Chris Hillman, and April Verch.

Contributor Bio:
Scott Feldmann is an artist and animator who just returned to his first craft after a 35-year detour. A Disney artist for a decade, right after college at R.I.T., was followed by another decade heading up the creative agency Magic Pencil. Yet another decade passed with Scott at the helm of a small-town Chamber of Commerce, leading to a partnership with Brad Colerick and the creation of the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and Arts Crawl. During the Pandemic, a Saturday class at Art Center and an inspiring song by Brad Colerick led to Scott's directorial debut, as an animator, in the creation of a music video Manzanar (Yuki). The two now collaborate regularly, having formed the Deep Magic Song & Drawing Co. Feldmann lives in Pasadena, California

Praise for the book:
"This stunning YA debut transcends the confines of a single book, as the authors . . . employ song, ledger art, winter counts, and film with exquisite, emotionally charged images, ensuring that Zintka's story will never be forgotten." - BookLife Review, Editor's Pick

"I love the book... it tells such an important story with empathy and precision." - Mary Pipher, Ph.D., author of 11 books including 4 New York Times bestsellers

"Zintka mashes together Brad Colerick's haunting, thought-stimulating song with Scott Feldmann's dancing, juxtaposed visual imagery into a compelling portrayal." - Steve Fjeldsted, Director of Library, Arts, and Culture, South Pasadena Public Library from 2006 - 2019

"You have an amazing way of presenting history, and that needs to be shared broadly!" - Chris Hochstetler, Executive Director - Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer