Dan Kozak stopped puffing on his flute for just a moment to let out a hearty laugh when a college-aged man walked up to him and asked if he took debit.

I can’t even imagine the wonderful and entertaining conversations that happen with this man throughout the evening.

If you live in (or even have visited) Lawrence, then you are probably no stranger to Dan Kozak. You can usually find him at 7th and Mass, taking turns between the flute and saxophone. The image he creates of a lonely jazz saxophonist playing under a street light is usually something you imagine only in the movies (or The Simpsons. See: Bleeding Gums Murphy). But you know as well as I do that scenes like that always come to life in good old Lawrence, Kansas.

Sometimes Dan has an audience. Sometimes he goes it alone. Sometimes he plays in the freezing cold, but usually when I see him it’s so hot outside that you can see the condensation forming on his sax. And although I don’t know his schedule (or even if he has one), he’s there year-round.

Occasionally you’ll see him playing at a real venue, but I’m thankful he’s mostly at 7th and Mass, there for me while I wait impatiently on my fashionably late friends to meet me Downtown.

I’m too young and haven’t lived in Lawrence long enough to know the real story of Dan Kozak (please feel free to share your Dan stories below). But I’m always happy he’s there.

Go ahead and give him a gander: