As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

On Thursday night, I attended a fantastic dinner at a “beer bar” called The Porter, in the colorful Little Five Points section of Atlanta. As my good friend Michael Lavorgna says, any place with the words “beer” and “bar” in its name has got to be at least half great. And The Porter, as it turned out, was all great. If you’re ever in Atlanta, go!

But before you go to The Porter, you should first go to Criminal Records, a wonderful record store. I didn’t go in on Thursday night, but Michael Fremer quietly wandered away from our group and snuck inside for a bit. As we sat around our table, drinking Dog Fish Head and Victory, we made guesses as to when Mikey would finally arrive. We were all wrong: We had had two rounds and had finished almost all of the appetizers by the time Mikey finally joined us. He came in with a stack of beautiful $1 LPs, and displayed them throughout our dinner.

“Have you ever heard this?” he asked me.

“No.”

“Oh, it’s great. Here, take this. I’ve got a bunch of them.”

And that’s the story of how I got a pristine copy of As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays. Thanks, Mikey!

COMMENTS
soulful.terrain's picture

I have ALL of Pat's work and this album is wonderful!

vclements's picture

Just got back from particpating in RSD.
Although Manifest records here in Charlotte NC is not technically a RSD participating store since they have another store in Columbia SC, they still operate in the spirit of an indie store (and they are closer to my home than Lunch Box) - so I chose to visit Manifest.

To my surprise, sitting out in the open at the front of a row of used vinyl was "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls". Still has shrink on it in great condition.
I figure if Stephen, Mikey and Soulful say it's good, and I am a Metheny fan - parting with 4 of my hard earned dollars is a no brainer. As soon as I run it through the cleaner along with my other finds, it will be the 1st of today's goodies to take the 33 1/3 spin.

Glotz's picture

I found it used, as well as the radio promo single for this, and they really harken to another time or place. Perfect for travel or seeing the Big Sky. Probably one of my favorites and really well recorded (for ECM at least)...

PS- Stephen, THIS is what is fun about CES, and your style fits perfectly into the fun of the trip...

funkymas's picture

Love the song September Fifteenth. Being the fact that I was born on that date, but it's also a great tribute to the great Pianist Bill Evans (Miles Davis -Kind of Blue). Lyle Mays does a woderful job making you feel that Evans is present in the room.

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