Book release to celebrate life and legacy of Anthony Lookout
(TULSA, Okla.) Musician. Songwriter. Actor. Artist. Author. Anthony Lookout was not only larger than life, it seems there was no talent he did not possess.
A proud citizen of the Osage Nation and a member of the Hunka Division, Eagle Clan, Lookout’s last achievement, “Tilton and Grace Entokah: An Osage Story”, shares history through the lives of his great-grandparents, preserved through generations of oral tradition and recorded interviews from the 60s and 70s.
The book was released on May 1 by the University of Nebraska Press as part of the American Indian Lives series.
Sadly, Lookout fell ill shortly after learning his book would be published. He was hospitalized for several months before passing away in January.
Though he lived only long enough to hold a rough draft copy in hand, hardcover copies are now available for purchase thanks to the continued efforts of his wife, Kathy Lookout, and his daughter, Maddie Habeck, who served as copy editor.
“My goal was to make sure that we stayed true to the Indigenous perspective, the Osage perspective, and my Osage dad’s voice,” Maddie said.
On May 28, a book release will be held to celebrate Lookout’s life’s work at Magic City Books in Tulsa.
Maddie will facilitate the free public event, which will include a moderated panel with Kathy, Dr. Peter G. Stromberg, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Tulsa, and Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear.
“What I loved about him and my favorite thing is that he was always such a surprise,” Kathy said.
The pair were married for 28 years.
“He was doing so much in the background that I think a lot of people did not know,” Kathy said.
Lookout’s book is the final act in a lifelong list of creative accomplishments.
He produced six independent albums over the course of four years.
He played with the punk rock band The New Mysterians in the 70s and 80s, a pivotal time of underground punk preserved through the documentary “Oil Capital Underground”, in which he was featured.
He worked as an actor for two years with the Native American acting troupe Mahenwahdose.
But, his family says, it was his Osage cultural preservation efforts that mattered most of all.
His musical inheritance was both genetic and literal, after taped recordings of his father’s traditional Osage songs were donated to the University of Tulsa following his death in 2001.
Lookout restored the reel-to-reel tapes for the benefit of everyone.
“We went over to visit them one time, and just kind of lay eyes on them, and he was like, ‘These are just sitting here and they’re not going to be okay, and we need to get these’,” Kathy said. “So they are fully cataloged now because of what he did.”
Maddie said she is thankful to have the book and be able to share that with people as well.
“He fought really hard,” Maddie said. “I wish he’d been able to hold the book in his hands. But he just made me really proud.”
“He was the best, and I love him,” she said. “And I wish everybody got the chance to get to know him because he was just the coolest.”
“Anthony Lookout & Preserving Osage History Through Storytelling” will take place May 28 at Magic City Books from 7 to 8 p.m. Click here to RSVP.
For more information about Lookout’s life and work, visit www.tiltonandgraceentokah.com
