Brandon Sprague is an up-and-coming blues musician. He plays at the Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City — when he's not performing in New Orleans, Houston or other southern cities.

We're working on a special tribute to South Dakota Musicians for our Nov/Dec issue. To collect photos and info for the article, I spent several days in the Black Hills (yes, during the Motorcycle Rally which is another story). Mostly I just hung out around the bars and lounges, shooting pictures in the dark and talking to many of South Dakota's best musicians. It's a tough job but I'm willing to make sacrifices for the magazine. Pictured here are a few of the people I encountered, along with some notes on where you might go to hear them. If you know of some other local musicians performing in the region please share the info with our readers here on the website.



The Wilt Brothers have been entertaining in western South Dakota for several decades. The Wilts came to the Hills in 1976 and the boys started playing with their dad as youngsters. Laurie Humphrey (left), the drummer, formerly played with the popular Whiskey River group.



We photographed Midnight Sun at the Journey Museum where Gary Hargens (second from left) works. They play country rock, "not the tears in your beer stuff." Catch them at places like the Long Branch in Pierre, the Back Porch in Belle Fourche or White Buffalo Saloon in Buffalo, Wyo.

Grace Briggs (left) was consoled by her daughter, Maria Rivas, when a tornado lifted the roof of Grace's house on August 6.

By Bernie Hunhoff
Editor

We don't do "storm chasing" at South Dakota Magazine. Blue skies are our preferred travel weather, and that's what I was enjoying last Friday (August 6) while enroute to the Black Hills on Highway 18. But when I reached Batesland (midway between Martin and Pine Ridge) the sky darkened. The town was ok when I drove through about 5 p.m. But a few miles from town, the wind came up, big raindrops splattered on the car, and suddenly I saw several small twisters off to the west. They didn't seem that dangerous, so I watched awhile and took some photos (which we'll probably use in an issue next summer). Then I returned to Batesland and found that the twisters were more powerful than they seemed while dancing across the wheat stubble. Two trailer homes were nearly demolished. The school was beat up, and the roof on Grace Briggs' house was gone. Grace also lost a house in the Rapid City flood of 1972. She took it all in stride. "It needed new shingles anyway," she said.

If you've had some similar tornado experiences we'd be happy to learn about them.

Gardening is different in South Dakota than other places in the country. Remember -- a scant few generations ago a lot of folks thought the land west of the Jim River was desert country! Not long ago, we published a story on mile-high gardening -- how to grow flowers and vegetables atop some of the highest peaks in the Black Hills. Now that's a gardening challenge! But special problems (and solutions to them) exist in every region of South Dakota.

This all comes to mind now because I'm locked in a pumpkin-growing contest with my brother, Pat. He is a wonderful fellow who lives a simple life. All he really has to do every day is tend his garden. Last year, he took a liking to giant pumpkins (that's Pat, on the right, with me in the photo above) and so we decided to have a competition to see who could grow the biggest one in 2004.

My pumpkin plants are growing behind South Dakota Magazine's offices in downtown Yankton. Pat's are a few blocks away at mom's house. Pat even comes to help me weed and water mine. The other day, he looked at mine and politely commented, "I have some small ones, too." Apparently he has some monster pumpkins growing and I'm on the verge of losing.

So I've been asking for help. Does anyone have any tips on how I can get my pumpkins to grow bigger? Of course, I've tried Miracle Gro from Leo Kopetzky's hardware store down the street. A neighbor lady suggested that I put coffee grounds around the roots. Pat likes coffee, so he's all for brewing a pot but he thinks it's pretty funny to be feeding the grounds to the plants. Another person suggested I insert a straw in the vine just above the pumpkin and feed it, intravenously so to speak, with whole milk.

Any tips would be appreciated. But while we're at it -- why don't we share some other gardening success or horror stories from South Dakota? Do you know any other good gardening tricks?

Patrick O'Toole, who writes poetry and gardens on his small farm betwen Mobridge and Selby (near Blue Blanket Lake) recently told me that he developed a speedy way to plant potatoes. He used a 3-bottom Case Trailer Plow from the 1930s to dig a furrow. They dropped the potatoes in the furrow, and then came back along to dig another furrow and the 3-bottom plow was just wide enough to bury the first furrow. He planted 800 hills of potatoes in four hours. Last year it took him four days.

What worked for you? What do you need help with? Together we can grow better gardens.Together we can whip Pat in the pumpkin contest!

-- Bernie Hunhoff
Editor & Publisher