Proto-Kaw

It generally takes a lot fewer than thirty years for decomposition to set in. What the bugs and hyenas don’t get slowly crumbles until all we are, indeed, is dust in the wind. Ah, but if you’re the original wayward sons, you have no choice but to carry on. Apparently, the Kansas we all know and shrug about was really version 3.0 in the annals of popular music. Who knows what the hell the first Kansas was, but we do know Kansas II was considerably more progressive, considerably more experimental and, perhaps, considerably more inebriated than the best state-themed rock band in history (much to the chagrin of Delaware, a hardcore trio of off-duty bus drivers who sing about the plight of life in Dover). But even though Kansas has reared its shaggy head in various permutations, this Friday will be the first time in thirty years that Kansas II performs live. Proto-Kaw is the renamed and reformed second version of the Sunflower State songsters. The band, featuring Kansas linchpin Kerry Livgren, celebrates the release of Proto-Kaw’s forthcoming album, Before Became After, which suggests the obvious: Somebody has his hands on some kick-ass embalming fluid.