Friday, February 9, 2001
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The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Dance to benefit AIDS prevention education
By Livi Regenbaum writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Organizers hope this year's Valentine's Day dance for the Douglas County AIDS Project will educate and raise money for AIDS in the community.
Dan Wise, case manager for the project, said the dance was an important fund-raiser and event for the community. The dance will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Liberty Hall.
"The AIDS benefit dance is our largest fund-raiser," he said. "We see a wide variety of community members that come together at this dance to support CAP."
The AIDS project is a community-based organization dedicated to providing support for people with HIV, as well as promoting AIDS education throughout the community.
The project has had several programs this year, attempting to reach out to the community. Wise said.
"Our goal is to reduce the risk of HIV," he said. "We have created a collaborative committee drop-in center, which provides prevention client-care services to anyone who might need them."
Kelly Hunt, a well-known Lawrence blues artist, will perform at the dance.
Stan Handshy, Erie junior and Queers and Allies senator, said the dance was an important benefit for the community.
"I try to attend any benefit to fund AIDS research," he said.
"People are getting a little lax on the subject of AIDS, and this is a way to bring the issue up."
The dance will include a silent auction with various items donated by community members and businesses. Items will be out for display, and there will be prizes for the highest bids.
Sidney Hardgrave, executive director of the project, said the AIDS benefit dance was a dance for everyone in the Lawrence community to enjoy.
"The dance is not a couples-only
■ When: 7 p.m. Saturday
DOUGLAS COUNTY AIDS PROJECT VALENTINE'S DANCE
Massachusetts St.
Tickets: Available at Liberty Hall
Where: Liberty Hall, 642
Mannheim St.
Massachusetts St.
Tickets: Available at Liberty Hall or any Ticketmaster outlet for
event," she said. "It is a fun activity for the community to participate in. We developed this dance around Valentine's Day to honor the heart of the community."
$15.
Hardgrave said last year's ben-
Source: Sidney Hardgrave, executive director of the Douglas County AIDS Project
eft had raised $8,500, and this year's goal was to raise $10,000.
Tickets can be purchased for $15 at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., or any ticketmaster outlet.
Edited by Brandy Straw
Campaign to make protest productive
Fred Phelps rally turned into pledge drive for AIDS Project
By Livi Regenbaum writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Maggie Allen wants to turn protests by Fred Phelps and members of the Westboro Baptist Church into something positive.
Allen, organizer of "God Loves Fred - Count the Protesters Pledge Drive," which benefits the Douglas County AIDS Project, hopes to counter Phelp's protest at Saturday's Douglas County AIDS Project Valentine's dance with pledges and funding for the project.
"This pledge drive is meant to raise money for DCAP and to turn this negative protest into something positive," she said. "I thought it was very dangerous to cloud the issues of AIDS with hatred."
The pledge drive is set up by participants pledging any amount of money for every protester in attendance. If a participant pledges $1 and 20 protesters attend, the project would receive a donation of $20, said Allen.
Auten said she hoped this pledge drive would discourage hate groups from protesting.
"This pledge drive is a benefit for the DCAP," she said. "We hope with this pledge drive we can turn hate into an act of love."
Tracy Rutler, Kansas City senior and "God Loves Fred" volunteer, said she hoped the pledge drive would have a positive effect on the community.
"I want Fred Phelps to know the more he protests, the more money is going to a good cause that he hates the most," she said.
Sidney Hardgrave, executive director of the project, said the project was not involved with the pledge drive but was accepting donations.
Pledges can be made at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St. and at Murphy and Smith Halls.
Rutter said she hoped more Phelps counterprotests would follow.
"This pledge drive is a test run for what we hope will be more pledge drives in the future to counter Fred Phelps' protests," she said.
Edited by Brandy Straw
Local musician challenges blues' stereotypes
Groundbreaking artist to perform at benefit
By Sarah Smash wriller @ kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
Picture a blues musician.
Picture a blues musician. Here's one example: a 44-year-old White woman from Kansas.
White woman from Rumba
Not what you had in mind?
Not what you had in Kelley Hunt does tend to surprise people. Hunt, a Lawrence singer-songwriter-pianist, has garnered national acclaim with her unique blend of blues, soul, gospel, rhythm & blues, roots and boogie-woogie. She has built a career doing things her own way, however unorthodox that way may be. Hunt will perform her brand of the blues at the Valentine's Dance for the Douglas County AIDS Project at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Liberty Hall.
Blues is a music field grounded in covers and reinterpretations of existing songs, but Hunt relies exclusively on her own material. You won't hear her playing blues standards like "Born Under a Bad Sign" or "Stormy Monday." Instead, Hunt will give you her own "Talk to Me," or "Stronger Wings."
"I think it gets you more respect. Hunt said. "It allowed me to have a different repertoire when I go out to play for national audiences."
Those audiences have apparently come to appreciate Hunt's original take on the blues. Hunt has released two CDs of original songs, Kelley Hunt and the live album Inspiration. She has built a reputation as a crowd favorite and leader among national artists at blues festivals around the country. Hunt also owns her own record company, 88 Records, with agent and manager Al Berman of Out Loud Talent in Lawrence.
more conventional musicians.
Berman said Hunt's independent approach to the blues was most impressive because she dared to be original in the face of judgment from
"She's muscled her way onto these big festival gigs basically on the strength of her own material and on the merit of her live recordings," Berman said.
Hunt said everyday life was her source for that material, which combined traditional influences with words and delivery that are uniquely hers.
"I really pay attention to what's going on in the world — other people's experiences," Hunt said. She added that she offered a feminine perspective in a male-dominated musical genre.
"Being a woman, I tend to clue into a woman's experience." Hunt said.
Being a woman has also posed challenges in the work field to Hunt, already a minority in the world of blues as a White Midwesterner. Hunt said she overcame those challenges by having complete faith in herself and her music.
"If my being a woman is an issue for you, you have no business working with me," she said. "But if they like the music, they get over all that stuff."
Her colleagues definitely like the music. Hunt's guitarist is Miles Joseph, a Los Angeles studio veteran who served as Aretha Franklin's tour guitarist for seven years; bassist Reggie McBride is a studio and tour veteran with Stevie Wonder, B.B.K. King, Elton John and Etta James; producer Mike Finnigan is considered a legend on Hammond B3 organs.
Hunt, who minored in voice for more than two years at the University of Kansas, began in more humble company. At the University, she could be heard playing with Kelley Hunt and the Kinetics.
heard in the hit movie Dance With Me, starring Vanessa Williams and Kris Kristofferson.
Now Hunt's resume is extensive and varied. She has played four times on National Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion and has appeared on the PBS-TV music series Backstage Pass. Hunt received even more exposure in 1998 when her song "If I Don't Dance" from her debut album was
But Hunt's is hardly an overnight success story. She has spent decades making a name for herself. She doesn't plan on going anywhere soon. A new studio project is being planned and could be released as early as this summer.
"Kelley's career on a viable level has transcended dozens and dozens of hip, cool things in Lawrence that came and went," Berman said.
Hunt attributed her endurance to an honest connection with her music.
"I have a very strong will," she said. "I love what I do, and I believe in what I do."
— Edited by Matt Daugherty
Kelly Hunt, a well-known Lawrence blues artist, will perform at the Douglas County AIDS Project benefit dance at 7 p.m. Saturday at Liberty Hall.
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