By Robert Moore, El Paso Matters To his friends, family and decades of music fans across El Paso, Russ Kalman was known for his smile.  “Russ is unique — crusty, yet charming, with a devious sense of humor. He has a heart of gold, which you can see on his sleeve if you look close enough,” said Doug Pullen, who has worked with Kalman at the Plaza Classic Film Festival.

But for the past three years, Kalman’s smile has largely vanished after he had all but nine of his teeth removed to prepare him for surgery for Stage 4 laryngeal cancer.  “I grew a ridiculous mustache to cover my upper gum line so that when I accidentally did flash a full smile it was somewhat camouflaged,” said Kalman, who now speaks with the aid of a voice prosthesis after his surgery. “Seriously, though, it became really

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