It's been such a wonderful weekend. Even the weather was wonderful, so kind of how can you get any better
than that? We are so grateful to have you all here today, and we're also really excited about our bands
today. I want to start with a land acknowledgement. To start, we want to gratefully acknowledge the
native peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant native communities
who make their homes here today. So in the spirit of this weekend, this weekend has just had so much
to offer. It was a whole new setup downtown. It was so interesting having the Arts Village on Kirkwood.
Who loved the Arts Village on Kirkwood? I thought it was just such a wonderful
Lotus never stays quite the same, right? We always change a little bit. And so having it there was really
something we appreciated so much, just having the space, having the city allow us to use that side of
the block, being able to have dance workshops there, having a parade that ended up there, all the activity
that happened there. So we're excited about what that brings to the future. I know you heard a lot of
amazing music and really several bands mentioned this too, that the joy of the music that we heard
is really an antidote to some of the political currents of our time just to have this joyful noise and
not just noise, music in our midst for a whole weekend. It's been wonderful. We want to thank, of course,
all of you for being here. We want to thank our amazing volunteers because you know this festival runs
on volunteers.
Our Lotus staff, of course, has worked so many hours that some of them have gotten maybe just three
hours sleep each night. But it has really been a testimony to how this vision comes to bear when everyone
is putting everything they have into making it happen. I also want to thank some of the people who made
our whole weekend possible. We're incredibly grateful to a group of people, the Lotus Scene Savers, who
raised nearly $25,000 to invest in the festival. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. To keep the 6th Street tent
up and alive. You already gave them a round of applause, so thank you. Again, we're just glad that you
are here for this final piece of the festival. Most of you know that Lotus is a charitable organization.
So for 33 years, we've been able to celebrate this diversity of the world's cultures
through Music and the Arts because of the support of our local community. So thank you. The ticker you
buy covers about 30% of our festival costs. So you know that we have to make up the rest through donations,
through business support. So we thank everybody who's a part of that. And so, of course, that leads
me to wanting to name our presenting sponsors. We just named the Lotus Scene Savers. If you know some
of these people, thank them. The IU Arts and
Humanities Council, who helped make the festival happen tonight or this whole weekend, and also Blockhouse
Studios. Did anyone see the projection mapping on the courthouse? That was pretty, pretty amazing. So
we're so grateful for them. We also want to thank the people who housed our artists, which is the Grant
Street Inn and Holiday Inn Bloomington.
and our benefactor sponsors, Bloom Magazine and Downtown Bloomington, Inc. Can we have a round of applause
for them as well? So, just as a last thing, I feel like we say this over and over again, but we really
are so grateful for all the individual donors, contributors, just not the festival, but Lotus Blossoms
and all the other things we do throughout the year, because
You give wherever Lotus needs it most and all our programming. It's not just about the festival, though
we are here for the festival. It's for all the things we do all year. We're so thankful for you. But
I am so excited about this band. I just want to tell you where I saw the band. I saw the band at Folk
Alliance in New Orleans this January, and I loved what they did. And I know you're going to love them
too. I just want to give you their background. They're rooted in the tradition of sacred steel and fueled
by the fierce
faith-filled spirit of modern gospel blues, Nicky D and the Sisters of Thunder are one of the
most electrifying and soul-stirring ensembles in contemporary sacred music. Led by powerhouse guitarist,
vocalist, and band leader Nicky D, the group delivers a sound that is traditional and yet innovative,
melding Holy Ghost Fire with blues grit. She loves that. Lou Ann Holliday, she loves that.
heartfelt worship, and a thunderous presence that lifts you up, up, up. Their performance overflows
with energy, emotion, musical synergy, all created by family. Joyful storms of blues riffs, gospel,
I'm just trying to read all the words here, hand claps, sanctified grooves, and testimonials, both personal
Universal. Will you please join me in welcoming Nikki D and the Sisters of Thunder?
Let's look for the purple banana for the clothes in the truck.
On guitar, we got the manager, my sister Gloria, and today's her birthday. Give it up! And then on bass,
we got my cousin, the music director, Tameka. Y'all give her a round of applause. Now on drums, we got
my nephew, but he gonna introduce himself. Can he do it, y'all?
Ladies and gentlemen, and his nickname is Chumblay. And I'm Nicky D. And the D stands for Dino Mike.
Now today, we're going to do some gospel. We're going to sing some soul. We're going to do some funk.
But right now, we're going to do some down home blues. Are y'all ready?
The blues is all right. Let me hear you say. Hey, hey, the blues is all right. Let's church them. Hey,
hey, the Lord is all right. Hey, hey, the Lord is all right. I said, don't, don't, don't. Go ahead,
y'all. Let the devil ride. Oh, don't. Let the devil ride.
I'm gonna play while they dance, is that alright?
Somebody got a neighbor that's the devil. Somebody got a coworker that's the devil. Sometimes your dog
act like the devil. But we here for a moment to shake the devil off. But we gonna do Tina first. Are
y'all ready?
I think I got four people over here and seven people right here and three people right here. So,
this side, if you don't mind, I want y'all to shake like this to the to that side, right? This side, I want
This side, just shake it in the middle, okay? But now we gotta do like how we go. We're gonna say, shake,
shake, shake. Shakeity, shakeity, shakeity. Shake, shake, shake, shake. So y'all gotta do it with your
feet. Are y'all ready? Say yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Here we go. Y'all ready? Come on and shake, shake,
shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake. Yeah! Shake, shake, shake, shake. In the middle. Shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake.
Shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, everybody. Shake, shake. Shake it, shake it, shake it,
shake it. Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it.
Come on. The devil been fooling with me all day. Can we hit the devil two times? There we go. Put up
our dukes on tonight. Can we hit the devil three times? Now, how many years have this festival been
going on? Ooh, I don't think I can hit the devil 30. You said 30 something years? 33? Wow. We'll be
here till Christmas if I hit him 33 times.
Let's put a three in there. He said, go, Kristen. So we're going to put a three in there. Somebody put
your number one through 20, but put a three in there. Yeah. But y'all got to put up your dupes to get
them 13 times. Are y'all ready? I know I had y'all working. I had y'all shaking. Now I got y'all fighting.
Y'all ready? Let's hit the double 13 times. Let's go.
a round of applause. Don't go too far. We got some more dancing to do. But I brought my god sister,
and she's an amazing woman. She's an amazing artist. And she's going to sing some Sam Cooke for y'all
tonight. Can she do that? Go ahead, Todd.
I've been running ever since It's been a long time
Are y'all going to do that? Come on. You know what? You know what? Come on down to the front. Come on
down to the front. And we're going to wait right here. We're going to wait right here. Come on down
to the front. Come on down to the front. We're going to wait right here.
Now listen if you didn't
Hey, honey, can I sing something for you? Any birthdays today? Any anniversaries on today? Well, can
y'all help me sing Happy Birthday to my sister Gloria? Any October birthdays this month? And I'm gonna
do a little something like this, y'all. Say happy, happy birthday to you.
Happy, happy birthday to you. You look good. Oh, you're looking fine. I'm so glad you are a sister.
Give her a round of applause. Come on, I found the love. One round. I found the love.
Give it up for Lataja, y'all. We gonna build it up, y'all.
Every little thing is gonna be all right. I don't know what you're going through, but don't worry about
a thing. Because every little thing is gonna be all right.
Yeah.
Buzz Kirk Chumlee, right? Okay, got that. So, my nephew was born on Valentine's Day, but when he was
born, my sister, she was there, and she nicknamed him Chumlee. So we call him, I know he's 25, but he's
still our Chum Chum, our Chumlee. And so, he gotta do a little something for Chumlee. Is that all right?
Is that all right?
So Chumlee, I want you to take your time, do a little something, then we gonna go back and forth, is
that okay? Do a little something for the people.
family discussion. We thank y'all again. Y'all give it up for The Sound. Y'all give it up for Tony,
Gabe, Wayne. I kind of think of my one guy name. We gonna do this song and we want to make room for,
is it pronounced Gaden? That's the group we got coming up, yes. Y'all give them a round of applause as well.
Oh man, thank you so much. So this instrument I'm playing, and I love what Lotus is doing, they do education,
they enlighten people on the arts, on music, on just everything, history with this town. So I just want
to give y'all a little history of this guitar. This guitar is called the Hawaiian guitar, came out of
Hawaii, originated. Now it's played different ways in country music,
of music and gospel music as you can see but we all got it from Hawaii. I'm sorry, Tony. I'm I'm I'm
ringing a little bit, Tony. I'm sorry. And so, this song, I just want to give you a little enlightenment
on because I was asked last night, how did you start playing this guitar? I was eight years old when
I saw it at at the church, Church of the Living God and so, I told my dad I want to play it and he
My other sisters were playing music and so I'm like, let me try this thing out. Now my y'all wasn't
good, I'm still not that good, but just a little story about my music, my family, and how I got my start.
And how I keep going because what my parents instilled in me, I'm gonna play it right here. It was a
Wednesday morning
when I heard my mother scream. So I went downstairs to see what that scream means. My daddy had a heart
attack, y'all. He passed away on the kitchen floor. I said, oh, God.
last time I see him alive anymore. Oh, no, no, no more. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no,
no. Well, this is the last time I see him alive, y'all.
I'm only 18 years old. But in the meantime, I gotta show y'all something. In the meantime, what my daddy told me.
Can you see me? I am in Bloomington, Indiana. It's in Bloomington, Illinois. I think it's in Minnesota,
but I'm in Indiana, Daddy. And Daddy, I remember when I was a little fellow, as you called me. You told
me that one day I would sing to the nation, Daddy. And here I am in a whole nother state, a place I'd
never been before. Oh, Daddy.
You taught me right. You showed me right from wrong. Let me let y'all into this conversation. So when
my daddy would show me different things on this guitar, he would tell me to make it talk. Can I make
it talk, y'all? And I would do something, a little something like this. It may not get over, but I'm
going to do a little something for you. Here we go.
I kind of sound like Charlie Brown teacher, but that's not right. Thank you. Thank you very much. And
my Elvis Presley voice. And then, my daddy would say, if that don't get him, little fella, say,
make it sing, and I would do something like this. Can I make it sing?
But that don't make them clap their hands. He said, now shoot the rocket. Now, my daddy called me Wild
Thing because he wanted boys and he had four girls. He called me Little Fella, I mean. He called me
Little Fella. My mother called me Wild Thing. And my sister called me Nicky D. Couldn't nobody say Nicky
D like Lynette could. So this is what I need y'all to do while we got about two more minutes. I need
somebody to say, play, Little Fella. Woo!
I need somebody to play, say Play Wild Thing. And I need somebody to say Play Nicky D. As I shoot these
rockers, are y'all ready? I gotta hear you play, little fella. Play Wild Thing, let me hear you.
Play Nicky D. I can't hear nobody. Here we go.
We wanna.
Are y'all so hard already? Are y'all ready for Gaben? Am I saying the name right? Since y'all up. Yeah.
You like that? You like that? This one a little more participation. We're going to do it real quick.
Y'all with us? Now, that's what we sing back at home at church, okay?
If I couldn't say a word If I couldn't say a word I'll just wave I'll just wave my hand I'll just wave
my hand If I couldn't sing a song If I couldn't sing a song
Everybody just wave your hands. Everybody just wave your hands. Everybody just wave your hands.
Come on. Everybody just leap for joy. Everybody just leap for joy. Everybody just leap for joy. Everybody
just leap for joy. Everybody let your light shine. Let everybody let the light shine. One more time.
Everybody just shine your light.
Just shine your light.