Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories

Artpark 2012: Touring is old hat for Kansas

by jmaloni
Sat, Jun 16th 2012 01:40 am

Progressive rock band opens "Tuesday in the Park" concert series at Artpark

Preview by Joshua Maloni

Plain and simple, Kansas guitarist Rich Williams says, "I love what we do."

Even after five decades of touring, recording, signing autographs, taking pictures and dealing with record labels in what most people consider the worst industry on God's green earth, Williams wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

"One day you're playing in Cleveland, the next day you're playing somewhere in Sweden," he says.

On June 19, Kansas will be in Lewiston. The band behind hit songs "Dust in the Wind" and "Carry On Wayward Son" opens the "Tuesday in the Park" concert series at Artpark. Tickets are $5 Saturday, and $10 up until the 6:30 p.m. show.

"This is what we do," Williams says. "This is our 38th year of touring, so we've gotten pretty good at it over the years. We're a good live band. The music is pretty intricate."

"It's a musical experience for people to come see us," he adds.

Though the routine is old hat for Williams and his band, he says, "To watch it, it wears me out! It looks a lot harder (than it feels). ... It's a lot of notes; a lot of musical changes. We're a very musical band."

Kansas is still touring in support of "There's Know Place Like Home," a live DVD celebrating the 35th anniversary of the band's circa-1974, self-titled debut. Since the disc was released in 2009, the band has performed songs from it with symphonies and college orchestras around the country.

Williams says he especially enjoys the latter, when Kansas can help students raise money for their school music programs.

"To be around them ... they're at the beginning of their career. It's very inspiring," he says. Seeing the "enthusiasm" and "exuberance" of teens and 20-somethings, "It's very infectious to us."

Click here to find Artpark's complete summer schedule. For more information about the venue, or for tickets, visit www.artpark.net.

Hometown News

View All News