Kansas to perform at Sky City Casino today

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — The rock and roll band Kansas performs at Sky City Casino Hotel at 8 p.m. today.

Kansas guitarist Rich Williams said the band is currently touring and is working on some new material in the studio.
There is also a new DVD that is possibly coming out later this year on the Sony label, with live recordings with symphony orchestras, Williams said.

He said the day of a symphony performance begins with Larry Baird, a conductor the band knows well and has worked with many times, sends out the music scores weeks ahead of time so the symphony can rehearse them.

Then, he arrives early in the day of the performance and rehearses with the band.

Members of Kansas show up in the afternoon and also rehearse with the band, going over minor and major technical points in the score and assuring that the symphony members know what the band is going to do and when.

“Our music lends itself well to symphony performances because of the way it is written,” Williams said.

The 35th anniversary album, with remixed, remastered original songs with new vocals and some outtakes will be out later this year , also on the Sony label.

Williams said the name Kansas was selected after the band performed under a different name, “White Clover,” and then recruited a band member from another group by its name “Kansas,” and which had broken up.

“We are from Kansas, so the name makes sense,” he said.

The band was formed in the early 1970s and hit national prominence in the last few years of that decade.
During that period, the band recorded a top hit single,

“Carry on Wayward Son,” and “Dust in the Wind,” also a hit single. Both singles were certified gold and sold more than one million records each at that time.

Two albums recorded during that time frame, “Point of No Return,” and “Leftoverture,” each sold more than four million copies in the U.S., during that time period as well.

Williams said because of the use of some the band’s music in films and being on the Internet, there has been a huge resurgence in teenage fans.

“Dust in the Wind,” has been used in the feature films “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Old School,” in a Suburu TV commercial and in several airings of the “Highlander” TV series.

In 2005, “Wind,” was certified as a gold digital download.
Members of the band drifted apart at times during the early 1980s, but with some new members, started touring again and recording.

Kansas was inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame in 1996.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.