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arts & culture
KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016
Aries ( March 21-April
191
Your head's full of ways to make money. Have faith in your own imagination. The next two days are profitable Discover a new beginning after a poignant ending. Follow your grandmother's advice and win
Taurus ( April 20-May 20)
advice and win.
You're confident and powerful for the next two days and longer, with tomorrow's New Moon in your sign. Begin a new personal phase. Ask for what you really want. Sweeten your sales pitch.
en your sales pitch.
Gemini ( May 21-June 20)
Close a deal or sign papers
Wind up one project before
beginning the next over the
next two days. Rest up for
unwilling opportunities.
upcoming opportunities.
Seek out serenity and peace.
Luxuriate in private. Relax.
Cancer ( June 21-July
Connect with friends over the next few days. Share resources and support your community. See how you can contribute to a shared cause. Work together for something bigger than one person.
bigger than one person Provide harmony.
Caroline Fiss/KANSAN
Leo ( July 23-Aug. 22)
Take on more responsibility over the next few days to overcome a challenge or pass a test. Share your talents. Make sure what you build is solid. Contribute from your heart.
Virgo ( Aug. 23-Sept. 22 )
You want to explore; go ahead without over-extending your physical energy or finances. Watch for bargains that fit your plans. Study different options to find the most cost-effective. Get creative for artistic solutions.
artistic solutions.
Libra ( Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Practicality and simplicity serve you over the next two days. Discuss joint finances.
Determine priorities and reach a determination or decision. Think creatively for mutually beneficial solutions.
Support each other along your shared path.
Sharp 9 guitarist and vocalist Joel Bonner performs during a show at the Jazzhaus in April. The eclectic eight-piece funk band's big sound can jump from straight funk to soul to hip-hop.
Scorpio ( Oct. 23-Nov.
21)
Collaboration is key today and tomorrow. Work together for mutual support. Negotiate for a compromise that has everyone win. Contribute to others, and let others contribute to you. Share your thanks and appreciation.
and appreciation.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-
Dec. 21)
Dec. 21)
Profit from meticulous service over the next few days.
You're entering a busy phase.
Make a wish list of what you'd like to make your work easier and post it visibly.
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Capricorn ( Dec. 22-Jan.
Follow your heart over the next two days. Relax and play with people you love. Learn from young ones. Generate some passion and enthusiasm. Savor sweet time together. Slip into something comfortable
more comfortable.
Aquarius ( Jan. 20-Feb.
Get into a practical domestic phase today and tomorrow. Conserve resources, and cook at home. Get into projects to beautify your home and garden. Score extra points for getting family
Pisces ( Feb. 19-March 20)
Study a subject of your fascination. Your ability to concentrate seems especially keen over the next two days. Write and share communications. Get into a social media campaign. Words flow with
ease.
The eclectic, eight-part funk band Sharp 9
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
The guitar chord E7 Sharp 9, to many, encompasses the entire blues scale. But, in that single chord, there are fragments of several other genres - rock, jazz, funk and disco.
The chord was used by the Isley Brothers, then Jimi Hendrix — whom the chord has since been named for — and Pink Floyd, among others, to add some funk to a band's sound.
"It's a very funky voiced chord," said Joel Bonner, guitarist and vocalist for Sharp 9 who graduated from the University in 2014. "We're just a very eclectic group of all the subgenres that really sprouted out of the jazz, soul and blues movements in America, and funk is a huge one."
When Rayyan Kamal, the band's trumpeter, and Tim Clark, the band's keyboardist, started the band in 2012, the nine in the name was not supposed to dictate how many people were in the band. But more band members shuffled in than out, with Kamal and Clark heading the band.
The Lawrence-based band Sharp 9, with its oft-funk-driven sounds, which can jump off to smooth jazz instantaneously, then, is aptly named. The broadbased collection of the band's eight members make up one of the biggest and rangiest sounds of any band in Lawrence.
But behind those two, who started the band while attending the University, are six others to make up the group of eight current members: Bonner, drummer K.R. Azad, bass player Anthony Edmonson, saxophonist Leslie Butsch, and vocalists Nadia Imafidon and Nate Nickel.
"The dynamic of our group is different; it's a very nonjudgemental space and we're all very intentional about how we treat each other," Imafidon said. "Playing music with people changes your relationship entirely. It just makes you closer. You really become a family with these people because you're sharing a lot of vulnerable moments with them with your instrument or your voice."
That number of members alone has made the band unique, but it's also created a family-like dynamic which has spurned what appears like unhinged, free-flowing creativity and collaboration.
The huge sound from
those eight current members is what draws people into Sharp 9 at shows, which the band tries to play once a month. But with eight members, much of what the band does is just that: trial.
though, from solos to
Playing music with people changes your relationship entirely. It just makes you closer. You really become a family with these people because you're sharing a lot of vulnerable moments with them."
When Bonner joined shortly after the band started in 2012, the band had about a dozen songs to rely upon. Now, with a hoist of stuff written mostly by Clark and Kamal, as well as some covers, the band has a setlist of about 25 songs. Some remain unwritten,
Nadia Imafidon vocalist
what Imafidon says is "improv."
And if it's not trial in music, it's trial in day-to-day functioning. With eight members, weekend rehearsals don't always work for everyone. Even more difficult has been setting up a time to record without interference.
To Bonner, the group's size is what makes it so dynamic, but it's also its biggest crux.
"The most consistent thing I ever hear after shows is, 'You guys are so cool, I had so much fun. Where can I buy a record?' And we have to break their hearts every time and tell them, 'We don't have anything yet,'" Bonner said. "It just hasn't been in the cards, for whatever reason."
But now, in a sense, the pressure is on. Not because people at shows have clamored for a record — though, that surely encourages the band — but because the clock may be winding down on the band.
Kamal plans to leave for medical school in Kansas City in July; Azzad plans to go to Kansas City as well. Clark also plans on leaving town soon.
For a band composed almost entirely of "townies"
— Kamal, Bonner, Edmonson,
Imafidon and Clark
went to high school together at Lawrence Free State it will be the separation between towns that will pull them apart.
That's something Ina-fidon is just beginning to realize as the band is slated to play its last shows this summer.
"It doesn't feel real; I'm pretty much in denial," Imafidon said. "It'll just be weird. These are all of my best friends now, and they've done so much for me — we've done so much for each other."
So, with a long setlist and family-like camaraderie, one thing is left on the table: recording songs. But it's not for fans — which the band has almost 500 of on its Facebook page — but for themselves to look back on and remember Sharp 9: the funky, all-encompassing eight-man (sometimes more, sometimes less) band.
"Our band is so weird; I don't even understand it," Imdidon said. "Logistically, we could record separately [...] but that's just not our vibe. We want to record together; we want to record live in the studio. We want to do everything together."
- Edited by Michael Portman
Opusnum 1952/ KANSAN
Sharp 9 vocalist Nadia Imafiond sings during one of the band's concerts at the Jazzhaus.
Caroline Fiss/KANSAN
Sharp 9, composed of eight members, performs at the Jazzhaus.
Caroline Fiss/KANSAN
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