Wichita music scene has lost ‘a one-man PR firm’ who was ‘the biggest fan’
Marc Hammann was not the kind of person who expected a news story about himself or his life.
The affable, suspender-wearing 69-year-old was a quiet though constant presence on the local music scene, where his hobby was promoting bands through photos, videos and social media posts.
“I truly do believe he may have been the biggest fan and most important person on the music scene in Wichita,” said Mike Furches of the Pastor Mike blues band.
“He did what he did out of his love for music,” Furches said. “No one — not a single person in this town — promoted music like Marc did. That’s just the flat-out truth.”
Musician Mike Whitman said Hammann “was like a one-man PR firm.”
“He would tell people, ‘Hey this person’s playing. Come on down.’ As a musician, you couldn’t beat the publicity he gave everyone. And then typically the next time you saw him in a week or so, he would come up to you, and he would have a 8-by-10 that he would just hand you of pictures he took of you.”
Blues musician Lynn Avants said Hammann encouraged venues to have more live music and was a huge proponent of acoustic jams at places such as the Cowboy Inn and the Rusty Nail.
“In fact, he went out and bought a guitar . . . for anybody to use.”
Hammann was not a musician. He was an avid ham radio operator, a photographer and cook.
“He liked to be called Chef Marc,” said Margaret Way, his cousin. “Anything Cajun, that’s what he liked.”
Hammann was known for his Chef Marc’s Cajun Gold rub.
He cooked at various bars and events. Though Hammann often charged for his meals, musician Aaron Underwood said, “Whether you could pay or not, if you were a musician, he’d hook you up.”
Several years ago, Whitman said, Hammann called him on a Friday night and said he’d like to cook for some musicians if they wanted to come over and make a little music. It turned into regular jams several times each spring and fall.
Then, a couple of years ago, Whitman said, Hammann took all the furniture out of his living room so “during the wintertime, he could put musicians in there.”
“I loved the guy. He was just a person that just was ate up with music.”
Whitman, who Hammann camped with at Winfield for the Walnut Valley Festival, said he was “just a real friendly guy that was knowledgeable about a lot of subjects.”
Way said she doesn’t know what prompted her cousin to start taking pictures of bands, “But people loved it, and they considered him kind of a historian of the music community and felt like he was valuable to the community.”
About a week before his Sept. 2 death, Hammann learned he had cancer. Prior to that, he continued going to shows most every day.
Musicians streamed through his hospital room and told Way about how Hammann had promoted them and “talked about how important that was to the music.”
“If everybody was a supporter like Marc was a supporter,” Underwood said, “we’d have a whole different music scene here, you know?”
A funeral service for Hammann will be at 10 a.m. Sept. 19 at DeVorss Flanagan-Hunt Mortuary.
Musician Jim McCann said there will be a gathering that night at Central Standard Brewing where the band Pretend Friend will play followed by a memorial a week or so later where a number of bands will perform.
There wasn’t a kind of music Hammann didn’t support, Whitman said.
“Chances are if you’re a local musician, you knew him and knew him well, and you’re going to miss the hell out of him.”
