Lawrence, Kansas to Plattesmouth, Nebraska Is About a 3 Hour Drive

A Rare, Good Decision Made at 3:00AM

I started working as a doorman at the Jazzhaus in Lawrence in 1986 and I stayed until I graduated from the University of Kansas and decamped for the west coast in 1989. It was (and, no doubt, still is) the coolest spot on the coolest street in the coolest college town in the US.

The Jazzhaus occupies ground sanctified by the victims of Quantrill’s Raid during the days of guerilla warfare in “Bleeding Kansas” just prior to the Civil War. Although I have both slave and free state ancestors, I consider myself a Free Stater and condemn Quantrill’s murdering cowards to the special hell reserved for slavers.

My job was to check IDs and collect the door charge, but it was not completely without incident. I got my ass kicked a couple of times, and I recall being dispatched to find singer Taj Mahal in the expansive, rear parking lot when he was late for a sold-out set (I found him and that is the end of the story and nothing else happened).

I was also chosen to de-escalate a volatile guitarist …