“Happy 4th of July” has about the same feeling today as it did in 1776. Then it was just another hot July day in Philly – with some men meeting to vote on something – like an Elks club meeting. Thomas Paine set it up this way: “until an independence is declared, the continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.” Afterward, strolling through the “largest” city of 40,000, they “represented” only 2.5 Million British subjects – until they could execute their Declaration. They did, but within only a few years, would fight again, and again, and eventually Kansas becomes integral to the story…
…the state 😉 We know that the Revolutionary War ended British Rule, with a Coda of the War of 1812, but executing governing these Libertarians was much more complex than anyone could imagine. In reading the great book April 1865, I learned that the first state to secede from the nation was…. Pennsylvania – the very state Philly was in 😉 In fact almost every state had issues with .. wait for it.. the taxes that were being leveled. As with business, follow the money. It is almost as if having proven together they could upend the superpower, heck, taking on this other 12 group of colonies would be easy. Whisky rebellion and tax issues percolated through the first 75 years, also as politics became nastier and more partisan. It started to come to a head (and apart) when they discussed the Kansas territory….
Returning to Kansas (the band), they wanted to choose something to “announce” the band. It was easy – they chose a painting from the inside of the Kansas State House, something Phil saw when he was 15 and literally said “if I ever have a band, this will be the first cover!” The painting is a mural, with a HUGE man standing with a rifle in one hand and Bible in the other – leading a large group of people – and airbrushed out of the album cover is Confederate Flag. Like many when I put it on for the first time I thought the music was amazing, and sorta know John Brown had some role in history. When we moved to DC, we took a trip to Harpers Ferry, and this is where the pieces started to come together for me.
Dave Hope was easy to find in early photos of the band – he always had a handlebar mustache, and a cigarette dangling from his lips – leading him to be called “Smokin’ Dave”. In my research he played defensive center… for the soccer team 😉 Like the others he rotated in and out of bands until tieing down the bass lines in Kansas. What is amazing about Dave (and don’t tell my wife…) he got all of the different sounds out of a single Fender Precision bass. This particular track starts with him playing octaves – the same note up and down the scale. For non-bass players, pay attention to when you “hear” him… and when he just blends in – the sign of a great player. He like Kerry Livgren would start really taking these lyrics to heart, become a Christian, and he actually is now an Anglican Priest.
As America continued the Jeffersonian spread west, enough had settled in a territory that they called Kansas, who petitioned to become a state. In the fall of 1859, John Brown would lead a band of slaves and others to start an insurrection in Harper’s Ferry – put down by… Robert E. Lee. Soon, the state would be granted admission – one more “Free State” that would cause the South to band together, much like the Philadelphia meeting. That man is the big man on that album cover, proclaiming “ABOLITION”. I thought he was screaming about the great music inside 😉 Today’s track was actually why I chose Kansas this week, an ode from these centrists to the whole country. We are seeing the same spirits around us this 4th, and while we think it is new, it is just a part of how we execute. My hope is that we can heed these words – “we stand upon our paradise, Dreaming of a place, our weary race is ready to rise” Song for America.
