It's time for Positively Kansas.

It was a groundbreaking event in music history, and it happened right here in Wichita.

We'll revisit the performance 90 years ago.

That changed music forever.

Also, some of us love to take pictures of Kansas landscapes and sunsets.

Others loved to write about them.

We'll explore the works of this Lawrence poet who gives voice to both the ordinary and extraordinary in Kansas.

Plus, we'll give you some encouragement about the next generation of leaders as they learn respect, accountability and compassion.

And in our Kansas Wild Edge report, you'll see what happens when the situation turns catastrophic for a school of tadpoles.

I'm Sierra Scott.

Those stories are cued up and ready to roll on this edition of Positively Kansas.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 20 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 930,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, supports keeps.

Programs support provided by the off price cost Fund Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee.

Bringing you the Kansas Wild Ed segments on Positively Kansas.

An event 90 years ago in Wichita was a game changer in the world of music.

You might call it the concert heard round the world because this performance introduced a whole new sound that inspired musicians and music listeners around the globe.

Chris Frank has the story.

If you were to ask most, Wichita tends to name the most famous Wichita guitarist.

They'd likely say Joe Walsh.

Walsh of the Eagles.

And earlier, the James Gang was born in Wichita in 1947.

But electric guitars like Walsh and innumerable others owe some gratitude to the original electric guitarist Wichita in Gage Brewer.

Our place in the guitar story.

The electric guitar story is very unique because the the instrument was actually debuted first from Wichita.

The Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum is celebrating the 90th anniversary of Wichita's place in electric guitar history.

Turn it up to 90 recognizes essentially 2/90 anniversaries.

The 90th anniversary of the instrument is sometimes pointed to 1931, when the company wrote Patton, later known as the Rickenbacker, was started and the instruments were being developed.

And by 1932, they were put into production.

And Wichita guitarist Gage Brewer went to Los Angeles, where he had relationship with the company and developing these instruments to bring them back to Wichita, their debut.

And he was the first really to do that to to hit the stage with these in a big way.

Gage Brewer was a Wichita orchestra leader.

He was well known in Wichita, performing locally on live radio and at local clubs.

Brewer's Orchestra often performed at the Shadowlands Club on the outskirts of Wichita.

Brewer was known for playing Hawaiian steel guitars, which were highly popular then.

His steel guitar is on display here on Halloween night of 1932.

Brewer introduced the sound of the newly developed electric guitar to a Wichita audience.

He brings the guitars back from Los Angeles, and he and his orchestra use them in various performances around the county.

Most of these venues were outside of city limits, like the Shadowlands Club and others that he would go around and use.

And it was a real draw.

It was something that really captured everyone's imagination.

Attendance was picking up at the clubs because of the attention of the new electric guitar.

As a musical instrument, the electric guitar was becoming a star in its own right.

And as we now know, that attention was a comparable water drop in the ocean of attention to what the electric guitar now commands to turn it up to 90 exhibition tracks the evolution of electric guitars.

I've been playing electric guitars all my life, so I thought I knew a thing or two about them until I came down here to the museum and saw this display.

Well, the electric guitar for the first few years was quite a novelty and misunderstood, and many guitarists and musicians weren't quite sure what to do with it.

It took some time for the electric guitar to find its footing, but eventually, with the guitar's amplification, it could be heard better, which helped propel it to the front of the stage.

Eventually, in 1950, Leo Fender, who was already making Hawaiian style guitars, introduced the Fender Telecaster, an early solidbody guitar that put more affordable guitars in the hands of musicians.

Here's another Kansas connection, Cale says.

Leo Fender's, business partner then, was Doc Kauffman from Pratt.

Kauffman was with Fender as the Telecaster.

Then the precision bass and the Stratocaster guitars were growing in popularity.

Well, the electric guitar for the first few years was quite a novelty and misunderstood, and many guitarists and musicians weren't quite sure what to do with it.

The largest guitar company at that time, Gibson, was caught flat footed.

That despite guitarist Les Paul urging Gibson to manufacture a Solidbody guitar nearly ten years earlier, the Stratocaster really, really disrupted things, and Gibson felt it needed to respond in a strong way.

That's something that was very modern.

Gibson eventually came out with the Les Paul model.

Gibson also introduced these modernistic designs inspired by the space race going on at that time, all of which bombed within 18 months or so.

They realized the public wasn't ready for this design.

Cal says 20 years later, these same guitars became classics and were put into wide production.

These represent some of the wild designs you could get as crazy as you li There have to be 60 cultures.

Long singer guitarist Deke DICKERSON performs nationwide entertaining and reconnecting audiences with the roots of American music.

Something he was doing at this historical museum performance.

DICKERSON credits country and Western musicians with the early acceptance of the Solidbody electric guitars.

When the Solidbody guitar started in the late 1940s, it was not accepted by pop players or jazz players.

And what's interesting about the history of electric guitar is that a lot of innovations came from country western guitar players, basically, because those hillbillies would do it.

They would play anything.

If you put a solidbody guitar in their hand, they could just play the heck out of it.

But the jazz guys would look at it and say, Oh no, that looks too weird.

I don't want to be associated with that.

But the country guys, many of the electric guitar innovations all happened with country musicians.

So you can say country Western musicians helped kick start the Solidbody guitar business, but it was 1960s rock that made it explode.

The British Invasion of Music with the Beatles.

Dave Clark five The Rolling Stones and many more groups resulted in a spectacular growth in the sale of electric guitars.

Cale says guitar sales went from about 300,000 in 1958 to 1.5 million in 1965.

That happened as pop rock bands were guitar centered, often with lead rhythm and bass guitars.

So with this demand for guitars became a viable business.

And in Kansas, we have several guitar manufacturers, electric guitar manufacturers that became prominent.

And Kansas, known for agriculture and airplane manufacture.

He also made electric guitars and amplifiers.

One of those was in Chanute, where custom brand amplifiers and guitars were made.

The custom amplifiers were known for their tuck and roll Naga High covering, which was inspired by Hotrod upholstery at that time.

Custom amps were used by a wide range of musicians then and continue to this day.

That includes John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sheryl Crow.

Custom is now a part of the Panzer Music Group of Cincinnati, Ohio, also located in southeast Kansas.

Pullman, Waddell Guitars were made in Nyota Shea from 1965 to 1968.

During the height of the guitar boom.

There were several other smaller companies, like the Lawrence Amplifier Company out of Lawrence, Kansas.

So that was a boom time for electric guitar manufacturers.

That's what's really surprising is that you would not think for a state like Kansas that doesn't have a huge population, that there would be that much guitar history here.

And you can learn more about that history and see some fascinating and unusual guitars here, including one gifted to the museum by Wichita's most famous guitar son, Joe Walsh, for Positively Kansas.

This is Chris Frank reporting.

The electric guitar exhibit will be on view through most of 2022 at the Wichita's Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

There's lots of talk these days about the need for schools to teach kids more real life skills.

That's the aim of a Wichita program called Legacy Works, which offers at risk youth a variety of work experiences.

Anthony Powell shows us these kids in action.

From the outside, this home on South Wichita Street looks fairly ordinary.

But inside, you'll find extraordinary stories of hope, inspiration and achievement.

It's been very life changing.

This place, it's not only work, we do so much more.

I didn't really think it would change my life.

I think they're just going to be like a regular job.

Sergio Marquez and Daniel Hudson are two of the many young people who say they will be forever impacted by the Legacy Works.

A program created by Legacy Works Ministries in 2011.

Legacy Works focuses on kids who've had it tough.

Many come from Foster or group homes.

Here they learn a variety of skills, including on the job paid training.

What we do here is we create a a supportive community that gives them space to learn work skills and to work in a team.

One of the ways that's done is through Garden Works.

A part of the program in which kids get their hands dirty in a large lot adjacent to the legacy Works house.

Then they're harvesting, you know, everything that they've grown.

So they've seen those things through from seed to food.

Right.

And and then they're selling that product.

Pottery works is another way to learn a skill and earn money.

The kids in this program are always turning out new items, mugs, planters, even a dinnerware line.

And finally, there's coffee works where it's all about learning what makes the best cup of Java.

These kids have developed a palate like you would not believe and talk about coffee the way that some of us talk about why.

Like the vegetables that are grown.

The pottery and coffee are also sold to the public.

While the work can pay are very rewarding for the kids.

It's competitive to get to that stage.

These kids fill out a job application.

They come in, they do a job interview.

And then we hire from their.

Resume writing and leadership workshops are also incorporated into the program.

Perhaps most importantly is the encouragement kids receive to finish high school and make plans for the future.

If our kids want to go to college like we're here for that, and if they want to move into the workforce, we're here for that.

As grateful as the kids who go through legacy works are to have a paid job and learn so many real world skills.

Those we spoke to say what you can't put a dollar amount on is how Legacy Works has helped them grow as people.

Barista Donna Hobson says she used to have crippling social anxiety, but it's improved greatly.

It's taught me not to be scared and taught me how to get out of my comfort zone and how to make new friends.

This job has taught me how to think differently.

I used to be a very big perfectionist and I would constantly have anxiety attacks about Is that good enough?

And well, this place taught me that not everything has to be perfect right away.

Sergio says he's learning that in life, things are often far from perfect, like dealing with the public when the kids take what they've grown and made into the community.

We have farmers markets downtown.

We run those 8 to 1, and we have to deal with customers.

Not always a fun experience, but one of many.

The legacy works.

Kids get to experience, which will no doubt help them in later life.

These kids are learning things that I wish I had known at that age.

For Positively Kansas, I'm Anthony Powell.

Being a nonprofit, Legacy Works relies heavily on private donations.

The program is estimated to cost $10,000 a year per kid.

That includes paying their wages, staff salaries and facility costs.

And this week's Kansas Wild Edge, a drying waterhole strands gobs of tadpoles and local snakes start feasting.

Bullfrogs and other predators also getting in on the act.

Mike Blair shows us this common but seldom seen predicament.

A water hole bubbles in the heat of a late spring day.

No, it's not boiling.

Its surface is alive with breaching tadpoles gulping air.

Their water nursery is evaporated and the drying pool crowds them ever closer.

It's a race to develop before their crucial habitat is gone.

But that's not their only problem.

Bunched together with nowhere to hide, they're an easy mark for area hunters.

And today, snakes come calling.

Garter and ribbon snakes.

Small reptiles that prey on frogs, toads and developing tadpoles.

These snakes live in moist, grassy areas, and they never miss the chance for easy pickings.

When water holes dry up.

They slither into the fray, periscopes up to spot the closest meal.

Snakes see well, both in and out of water, and they vigorously rise and twist to catch frantic tadpoles.

Their small curved teeth grab their slippery victim so that escape is nearly impossible.

And then with mouths full.

They race for shore where they can better consume their dinner.

Some stop at the water's edge.

Others race in the cupboard to protect themselves while eating from even bigger hunters.

Not often does finding food come this easy.

Snakes work their jaws from side to side muscles, forcing the tadpoles down their throats.

And then they.

Return for.

More.

To gorge on the natural buffet.

It's a grisly party.

Bullfrogs and leopard frogs watch the feeding spree with disinterest.

They are safe from snakes this size, but they are predators, too.

And bullfrogs also relish large tadpoles that come close.

They eat constantly.

Ducks visit the water hole and join the hunt for this easy protein.

And even baby turtles like this red eared slider use the drying waterhole to hunt for smaller prey.

It's a common feast of hot summer.

If you find the right place and time.

It's nature's way.

A fascinating glimpse of life in the wild.

I'm Mike Blair.

Four Positively Kansas.

Next time, Mike shares the intriguing story of some colorful winged wonders from Coffeyville over to Garden City, up to Lawrence and everywhere in between.

A homegrown poet captures the history, whimsy and culture of our beloved Sunflower State.

And as Spencer introduces us to a writer whose recent publication gives voice to all things ordinary and extraordinary in Kansas.

What we did in my parent's garden we should have done for our marriage.

Plucked off brown, withering petals of the magnolia.

Dropped them in a black bucket so strong new buds could push through.

My mother showed us how to do it.

We did it in her garden, didn't do it at home.

And then it was too late for flowers.

Sitting on a bench at College of Emporia Park, Brian Baldauf reads from his recently published book, Kansas Poems.

Brian, originally from England, is a poet, author and senior lecturer at the University of Kansas.

He has called the Sunflower State home for the last 20 years.

His book of poetry is an ode to his adopted state.

Kansas has a kind of a slow charm.

I think it kind of grows on you.

It's not something like going to the mountains where it's spectacular right away.

So the poems in the book were written over at least a 20 year period.

And unlike my other ideas for books, I didn't set out with this idea and then worked on them and wrote the poems.

What I had to do for this book was to look through everything that I've been writing over at least 20 years, maybe even longer than that, and pick out the poems that were of this particular place.

And then I put them together into the book, and it made sense as I was looking through them to divide them into the seasons.

So the book is divided into the Four Seasons and obviously tied in with Kansas.

Brian says the poems have given him the opportunity to explore the people of Kansas and capture the places and things that make this state so special.

The writings in his book span both time and location, with poetry traversing decades in settings ranging from the cornfields of rural western Kansas to bustling little towns and even local cemeteries like this one.

Here we see Brian reading excerpts as part of a promotional piece for his book launch, an endeavor that was complicated by the pandemic.

Brian actually released two books during the stay at home order.

Kansas Poems and Words Is a Powerful Thing, a memoir of his work with inmates at the Douglas County Jail.

Brian has promoted his books via Zoom, saying Both the writing and the book launch have been creative efforts, leaving time for little else.

Well, the two books that I published this year, the Kansas poems that I read from, and the book about the jail, they're so important and they just cover large periods of my life that there's nothing that I feel right away that I want to add to that at the moment.

Maybe in a year's time I'll think differently.

But I have so much invested in these two books that I don't really think about publishing another book at the moment.

He also hopes to eventually continue his class at the Douglas County jail when COVID restrictions lift.

For now, Bryan returns to the classroom at CU this fall while he'll share his love of writing with his students.

It's kind of strange for me to think that I've spent more time in Kansas than any other place in the world.

I mean, that wasn't my intention, but that's how it happened.

And that's fine.

While England is technically home for Brian, his love for the heartland grows, proving there's no place like his adopted homeland.

Kansas.

In Emporia, I'm Anna Spenser for Positively Kansas.

Time's up for this week.

Send your story ideas to Positively Kansas.

KP Tesco.

Archie, we need them.

I'm Sierra Scott.

See you later.

Positively.

Kansas is brought to you in part by program support provided by the F price Kosman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee bringing you the Kansas Wild Ed segments on Positively Kansas.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 930,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, supports KPS.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 20 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.