Allen Blasco talks this Saturday’s Kansas Music Hall of Fame ceremonies

Founded in August 2004 by Bill Lee, Meredith Gordon and Allen Blasco, the Kansas Music Hall of Fame has been around only a short while. The inaugural class was inducted in 2005 and included such familiar names as Kansas and Big Joe Turner. For this year, its 10th group of inductees includes Junior Brown and the Bon Ton Soul Accordion Band, among others.

Much like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, there’s a process as to who’s eligible. First, the act has to have formed at least 30 years prior to its nomination. However – and most importantly – you have to have made your music, at least for a while, in the state of Kansas.

Blasco explains: “Gene Clark was born in Bonner Springs. But he didn’t just leave and go to California to be a big star: He started playing in the state of Kansas. He had his early music and initial bands here, and then moved off. Now, Joe Walsh was born in Wichita, but he never made music in the state of Kansas. He moved to Ohio as a young boy and basically started the James Gang and made his bones there. He wouldn’t be a nominee.”

And that’s what really makes the Kansas Music Hall of Fame such an interesting thing: While many of these acts didn’t go on to national acclaim, these are acts that truly can be said to be not just from the state of Kansas but also of the state of Kansas.

In addition to the musical inductees, there’s a director’s award, which is chosen by the board and goes to a lot of “nonmusical, nonperformers,” as Blasco explains. Many of the inductees have been recording engineers and the like, including this year’s winner, Ed Down of the recording studio Audio House.

The inductees are chosen in a pretty open manner.

“We have an open vote of the membership every October from a list of 50 proposed names, and then the top 10 vote-getters are looked at by the board of directors,” Blasco says. “We’re one of the few state music hall of fames that allows its membership a say in who’s nominated.”

While the induction ceremony has happened as early as January and as late as the middle of March, the organizers have settled on the first Saturday in March for this and all future ceremonies, “depending on the KU basketball schedule,” Blasco says.

While scheduling is important, it’s the performers that really draw in the crowds. Beast, the Bon Ton Soul Accordion Band, Glow, and Sanctuary are all scheduled to play this year’s ceremonies. Bon Ton has not played together in more than 12 years, making this a reunion of sorts – something that’s not uncommon for the ceremonies.

The 2014 Kansas Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Saturday, March 1, at Liberty Hall. Tickets and further information (including a complete list of inductees) can be found here. There will be an informal acoustic jam the night before, Friday, February 28, at Paddy O’Quigley’s in the Lawrence Holidome, as well.