Live in yourTown

Kansas blues singer Kelley Hunt will perform a concert in Hays this week and will be giving something back to the community.

At Friday’s concert at the Fox Pavilion, donations of nonperishable food items or cash  for the St. Joseph Catholic Church food pantry, and Hunt will also donate a portion of her own proceeds from the concert to St. Joe. She’ll have a similar drive at her show in Wichita Saturday.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are $20, or for $45 you can also attend a dinner that starts at 6:30 p.m. You can get tickets at the Fox’s Web site or by calling (785) 625-4933.

Do you think you’re fooling anyone with “comments” like this:

I honestly enjoyed reading your blog and coagulate up it both scholastic and interesting.  I fancy be absolute to bookmark it and inflict it as again as I can.

The LOL and I can haz cheezburger cats have better word skills.

Seriously, I’m turning the comments off here. If you’d like to comment on something here, you can do so on the Facebook fan page.

For something a little different, the German civilization course at FHSU is hosting a German film series this semester. 

The movies will be shown on select Tuesdays in February, March and May at 7:30 p.m. in Albertson Hall 169. Admission is free (always good!)

Here’s the schedule of the films:

Just announced this morning, Tim McGraw will perform at Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena on June 11. Joining him will be Lady Antebellum and  Love & Theft.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 13 at the Intrust Bank Arena box office, all select a seat outlets or charge by phone at 316-755-SEAT.

Kansas Citizens for the Arts and the Kansas Arts Commission will sponsor Arts Day at the Capitol on March 11, to help support funding for local arts. Yes, money is very tight in the Legislature and everyone wants their share. But let’s not forget how important the arts are to our schools and communities. It’s one of the things that brings us together, enriches our lives and broadens our minds. If you go, you might remind your legislator that the National Endowment for the Arts says Kansas leads the nation in the creation of arts.

Educators, artists, arts organizations and patrons are encouraged to attend and lobby for the Legislature’s support of the arts.

Also that evening, the Governor’s Arts Awards will be given out, and Hays is among the recipients as an arts community.

News from Fort Hays State:

Fort Hays State University student Christopher Johnson, Leoti senior, was the collegiate division winner of the annual Kansas Music Educators Association Composition Competition. 

The award recognizes an original composition submitted by both high school and college music students who attend school in the state of Kansas.  Students submit an original piece of music written for one of three categories: solo, ensemble and electronic music. 

In addition to this award, Johnson has also served as the drum major, trombone section leader and student director at FHSU.  Johnson’s primary instruments are trombone and tuba. 

“I wrote the piece, called ‘Battle Canyon,’ when I was student teaching in Scott City in the spring of 2009,” Johnson said. “The director heard that I liked to write music and asked me to write something for his band so the students could get the experience of seeing the compositional process. I appreciate their support and the band’s support of the project.”

Kansas blues artist Kelley Hunt will return for a performance in Hays on Feb. 12. She’ll be at Fox Pavilion with her full band  — guitarist Kirk Fletcher (Fabulous Thunderbirds), drummer Bryan Head (John Doe, Dick Dale) and bassist Kenny Ames (Jason and the Scorchers) in addition to Hunt on piano and guitars.

The show starts at 8 p.m., but there’s a dinner prior to the show, too, starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the dinner and show are $45, while it’s $20 for just the show. Order at the Fox Web site or by calling 785-625-4933.

Working on an article for this for Wednesday’s HDN & here, but check out a short video for this concert for a good cause. 

Four bands will play the Fanchon Ballroom, with a big jam session at the end. Sounds like fun, and all it takes to get in is a donation for the Community Assistance Center.

The Kansas House is set today to discuss bill 2082, The Truth in Musical Performance Act, a bill that “would prohibit any person from advertising or conducting a live musical performance or production in the state through the use of a false, deceptive, or misleading affiliation, connection, or association between a performing group and a recording group.”

Basically, the bill make sure that a touring band is who it says it is. At venues like Hays’ Wild West Fest, it’s not unusual for them to book acts, especially from past days of rock ‘n’ roll, that have one or two original members of the band. That’s not always the case, though (video). The bill is sponsored by the Truth in Music committee of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, which is pushing the bill in many states as well as at the federal level.

The Kansas bill is touted as a “consumer protection bill,” but it also protects the musicians. Many of the impersonated groups are those do-wop groups from the ’50s and ’60s, whose members probably weren’t fairly compensated for their work anyway as they were churned through the American music-making machine.

Artists deserve to be paid for their work, if they choose, and a lot of these people have been ripped off by fakes. It’s one thing if an act bills itself as a cover band or tribute band, but to go out and try to fool the audiences into thinking its got anything to do with the original group when it doesn’t is, as the Truth in Music committee’s chairman Jon Bauman (“Bowzer” from the group Sha Na Na) said, is “a form of identity theft.”

With little opposition, the bill will probably quietly pass. But it’s one that, unfortunately, is needed.

(Thanks to Lawrence Journal-World’s Scott Rothschild for the tweet on the bill).

The Mall in Hays will once again host a concert in the old Midwest Drug location on the south end of the building, Friday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. 

Hays alternative band The Perfect Pursuit will be taking the stage. According the their myspace page, they got got together just last September and are just starting to perform around the area. Check out their samples on their page. They’ve got a good, edgy sound.

Great Bend’s pop-punk Double the Fall has been together since 2008, and has already recorded a 5-song EP and are working on more material. They’ve got the lyrics to their songs posted on the myspace blog. Check ‘em out. There’s some good stuff there.

The final act on the bill has a vastly different sound. Chase Horseman is an ambient/folk musician from Lansing. He’s got good stuff, it’s just an extreme difference from the pop-punk/alternative rock of the other two acts.

Admission is just 4 bucks for all three bands.