The Glen Canyon Rises Tour is an art and advocacy tour organized by the folks at Glen Canyon Institute who are working to restore Glen Canyon. It is just one of MANY projects the organization is involved in to restore Glen Canyon to it's magical beauty and to support the flora and fauna that is spectacularly reemerging in the canyon after being inundated by the rapidly diminishing Lake Foul, er Powell, over 50 years ago. (https://www.glencanyon.org/)

On March 13, 2024, the tour commenced in Salt Lake City at Fisher Brewing Company (great folks! https://fisherbeer.com/) and this is a video of the musical portion of the show. I'm assuming more videos will be presented by GCI including more of the tour and in higher quality so watch their website.

The evening started with a presentation from writer Zak Podmore. His newest book, "LIFE AFTER DEAD POOL: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River", will be released in August of 2024. Through clear science writing and lyrical prose, "Life After Dead Pool" debunks the notion that the West's water challenges are unsolvable and invites us to secure a future where Glen Canyon returns in its wild glory and the Colorado River once again runs free.
You can preorder a signed copy and check out all the offerings from the absolutely amazing folks at Torrey House Press at https://www.torreyhouse.org/
More information about this awardwinning writer can be found at https://zakpodmore.com/

The evening also included a beautiful film from Dawn Kish, a Flagstaffbased photographer and filmmaker. Her short film, "Tad’s Emerging World: Glen Canyon Exposed", had its world premiere at the Banff Film Fest and its US premiere at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride. View the wonderful trailer at https://dawnkish.com/film/'>https://dawnkish.com/film/
Dawn Kish has many awards including being featured in the top 30 photographs in 30 years of National Geographic Traveler and the top 50 photos ever in Arizona Highways magazine. For more information about Dawn’s projects and art, https://dawnkish.com/

The evening wrapped up with songs performed by Peter McLaughlin and Jackson Emmer. As someone who love the rivers and canyons of southern Utah and feebly attempts to write songs about them, I was totally taken with the songs they performed and the camaraderie of the musicians and all of the folks who were involved in this Glen Canyon project. The spirit of Katie Lee, the goddess of Glen Canyon, was there this night as Peter played her guitar that she gifted to her longtime friend.

Peter McLaughlin is an acclaimed acoustic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, performer, and recording artist from Tucson, Ariz., who has been writing songs about the Colorado River for over three decades. (See Peter play “She Knows the River,” the song he wrote for Katie Lee, “the goddess of Glen Canyon,” here    • She Knows The River  .)
More info on Peter http://www.petermclaughlin.info/

Jackson Emmer is an awardwinning songwriter, folksinger, and genrebending producer from Santa Cruz, California. His work blends humor with heartache, and tradition with exploration. Emmer’s writing is often compared to that of John Prine and Guy Clark. He has toured the US since 2009, placed in numerous songwriting contests, and collaborated with several Grammywinners. Emmer’s music has been featured in Rolling Stone, Billboard, 2500+ Spotify playlists, and radio stations worldwide. (Watch Jackson perform his songs
   • Jackson Emmer  Tiny Desk Contest 202...  
   • Home Is On The Road  Jackson Emmer (...   )
More info on Jackson https://www.jacksonemmer.com/

While the folks at Fisher Brewing were so supportive and hospitable, the video is not the highest quality due to the fact of the background chatter from the bar (and some beerinspired yakking from some in the back of the concert!) and the low ceiling is not the best for acoustics. I located my camera in the back and had to move it to avoid people walking in front of it. After resetting it, I abandoned my video camera and moved to the front so not to miss the inspiring music. It's possible a tripod leg got bonked so the angle may be off a touch but the show is there. As I said before, watch for other videos at the Glen Canyon Institute website.
https://www.glencanyon.org/

Enjoy the tunes!