Topeka ? Gov.-elect Kathleen Sebelius’ office said Friday it had no idea how much would be spent on inaugural events, but the centerpiece gala will have a distinctly Lawrence sound featuring rhythm-and-blues singer Kelley Hunt and a blast from the past – The Fabulous Flippers.

Scott Allegrucci, who is coordinating the festivities, and Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran-Basso said the events would be modest compared with previous inaugurals because Sebelius wanted to be sensitive to the state’s tough economic times.

But neither Allegrucci nor Corcoran-Basso could provide an estimate of how much would be spent to produce four days of events, all of which will be funded through private donations and ticket sales. Gov. Bill Graves spent $327,000 on his 1999 inauguration.

Hunt said she was thrilled to be asked to play at the inaugural gala.

“I couldn’t be happier,” the Lawrence resident said.

Hunt said she had gotten to know Sebelius when the governor-elect was elected state insurance commissioner in 1994. Hunt said she had seen Sebelius and her husband, Gary, at some of her concerts.

And Hunt said she looked forward to hearing The Fabulous Flippers.

“They were kind of before my time, but I’ve heard they are a lot of fun,” she said.

In the Midwest, The Flippers, an eight-man show band whose members were Kansas University students, have become somewhat legendary since the group’s heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Dennis Loewen of Lawrence, a singer for the Flippers, said when the band members showed up with their trombones and trumpets, some youngsters accustomed to guitar-bass-drum bands would snicker.

But soon everyone was dancing, he said.

“We were doing a lot of old and obscure rhythm and blues,” Loewen said. “Nobody that we knew at the time was doing this. It just sounded good to us.”

As the band’s popularity grew, its members’ grades at KU suffered.

“It was really hard to concentrate on your studies,” Loewen recalled. “As soon as Friday classes were finished we were taking off for parts unknown.”

The band broke up in the 1970s but played reunion shows when it was inducted into music halls of fame in Nebraska and Iowa. The Nebraska Music Hall of Fame Web site says of the Flippers: “No band in the Central United States drew larger crowds, caused more excitement or had more influence over thousands of aspiring rock musicians than The Flippers.”

As musical tastes changed amid the social unrest of the Vietnam War, the band’s music became less popular. To Loewen, the Flippers were “really a throwback to when everything was innocent and fun and the deepest thought on everybody’s mind was to dance and hook up with a girl.”

The Jan. 13 State Dinner and Gala Dance will conclude the daylong inaugural festivities in Topeka for Sebelius and Lt. Gov.-elect John Moore.

Regional celebrations are planned Jan. 10-11, plus a Kansas Family Festival on Jan. 12. All events will be free except the state dinner and inaugural gala, which cost $65.