When Kirk Rundstrom of Wichita's Split Lip Rayfield died in 2007 after a yearlong fight with esophageal cancer, he was eulogized as the uncompromising, crazy-dedicated frontman who quit chemo to play shows — until he no longer could. Long before the diagnosis, California-based filmmaker G.J. Echternkamp was shooting reels of concert and tour footage that was originally intended for a music video. Instead, he produced a comprehensive documentary called
Never Make It Home: Kirk Rundstrom's Final Tour. "I felt like I had to do it," he says. "I really wanted to make it for people who didn't know the band as well as their fans." Echternkamp experienced Rundstrom's magnetism and charming sense of humor firsthand and strove to show Rundstrom's dedication to his family and his haunting last performances. "There's a personal thread in it about my relationship with Kirk ... . There's humor in it. It's sweet." The 7:30 p.m. screening at Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts, Lawrence, 785-749-1972) costs $10.
— Kent Szlauderbach
785-749-1972
